Lost Souls

12

Katie and Amber found their mum and dad hunched over a large, dark green, leather bound binder, filled to the brim with what appeared to be old newspaper articles.

​"What's that dad?" Katie asked, as she pulled out a chair, and sat down beside him.

​"Believe it or not, it's a kind of scrapbook. The locals used to put every piece of news about the town and surrounding villages in this, and the hundred or so back there."

​Katie watched her dads arm swing roughly in the direction of a bookcase in the farthest away corner. She saw that the shelves were straining to hold the weight of so many articles of truth, gossip and perhaps even murder. "It could take you weeks to go through that lot!" she pointed out disappointedly.

​"Ah, but not if you can persuade the librarian to nudge you in the right direction," her dad replied knowingly.

​"A charming young man at the desk was extremely helpful when we said we'd moved into Dovecot Manor House and wanted to find out a bit about it's back history. Told us the codes of the books we needed to get down. He even gave us a potted history of what he knew about the place," Mrs. Rusk added happily.

​"That's brilliant mum. Is there anything worth knowing? Anything that might help us find out about the children?"

​Her dad sighed heavily. "It's all a bit hit and miss to be honest. From what we can gather, the Galbraith family owned the house from 1782 until George Galbraith left for Australia, leaving his son Douglas to look after the place. It seems Douglas wasn't interested and tried to sell it several times down the years, but with economic difficulties and the size of the house putting many people off from even looking, Douglas decided to just abandon the place and leave it in the hands of a local executor.  Nobody has lived there since the early sixties, and neither Douglas or whoever seem in the least bit bothered."

​Katie's eyes opened wider in astonishment. "Why would anyone just walk out and leave such a huge house?" she asked.

​"Money sweetheart. The Galbraith's are very wealthy. Probably own half of Scotland I shouldn't imagine," Mr. Rusk said, with a hint of envy.​ 

​"Hardly darling," Mrs. Rusk said, smiling at her husband. "Although I agree they're very wealthy. Anyway, Katie and Amber, listen to this."

​Mrs. Rusk cleared her throat before she carried on. It was as if she was preparing to give the most important speech of her life. "The army did commandeer the Manor in 1942, and they paid George Galbraith a lot of money, but he wasn't at all happy having what he classed as scum living in his home."

​"Scum!" Amber said loudly, causing a few other people in the room to look at her and giggle. Amber smiled proudly at their reaction, although she didn't know what the word actually meant.

​"It's a naughty word people from rich families sometimes call poorer people," Katie offered, knowing her little sister had shouted the word out because she'd never heard it before.

​"People should be nice to other people, shouldn't they Katie?" Amber asked, before adding, "Even poor people."

​"That's right honey," her mum said, lovingly stroking Amber's hair.

​"Anything else mum?" Katie asked impatiently, desperate to find out what had happened to the children.

​"I've saved the best bit till last. Before the War, locals paid the Galbraith's to open a section of the house as a school. I can't find a reason why that would be, but I'd guess maybe a fire or something put a local one out of order and there wasn't enough schools in the area to cope. Anyway, teachers came in, and things went well until the outbreak of war. Galbraith then insisted the school close, and the kids go back to their parents. It says in one of the press cuttings that a huge row took place between George Galbraith and the local council, because these kids had no where else to go and everyone was already worried that the town might be bombed."