Part 15 (1/2)
”But is co time”
”I see”
”He tires very easily”
”I won't stay long”
”You're a relative, you say?”
”Well, I'ht be On my husband's side”
”He has no family Not around here at any rate Sad, isn't it”
”Very”
”And, of course, when you get to his age, not that reat ”
”Do you happen to know if Mr Flett ever lived in Canada?”
”Canada? Well, I don't kno It used to be lots of our young o out to Canada for a few years Make their fortunes
There wasn't much opportunity here in those days”
”But about Mr Flett Therewritten down”
”All we know is he was living up at Sandwick before he ca a few vegetables, cutting his own turfs Folk who knew him then said he was a bit of a her”
”Jane Eyre”
”Yes, to be sure, that's the one”
”But when he came here to live, he must have had some papers, some old letters perhaps”
”Not that I know of, no letters, no personal papers, if that's what youlike that”
”A wedding ring, perhaps”
”I don't believe so, no Of course s, now, did they? Well, things are different now”
”That's true”
”He did have one old photograph, all folded up under his clothes We put it away for hi as you're family-”
”Oh, I'ot that photograph here somewhere in his folder
It's a bunch of women, a sort of portrait, if I remember-ah yes, here it is”
”What a pity it was folded, the faces all cracked Oh They're lovely though, what I can make out Oh”
”Yes, well, it was folded when he came in here He must have folded it himself We do our best to look after the personal effects of our patients”
”I didn'twritten on the back”
”Oh, yes It saysit says, 'The Ladies Rhythm and Movement Club' But there's no date”
”Early in the century, I should think Froo”
”Yes indeed Well, shall I show you in to Mr Flett's roo she noticed was a milky film over his irises And the white sheets, also the white coverlet that nus, the wanderer, the suffering ht of hi herself to be a wanderer too, with an orphan's heart and a wistful longing for refuge, for a door marked with her own na cadaver, all his old age depletions registered and paid for A tissue of skin A scaffold of bone; well, more like china than bone
”It's Daisy,” she said into his ear, unable to think of anything else ”Barker's wife”
A rustle from the cocoon of sheets
”Your son Barker”
Nothing
”You had a wife, Mr Flett Her name was Clarentine Clarentine Barker Flett Just nod your head if it's true”
No response
”Please” She waited, feeling foolish, and worrying that she ht cause his heart to stop ”Just blink your eyes, Mr Flett
Blink your eyes if Clarentine Barker was your wife”
A few seconds passed-she let them pass-and then he opened his mouth, which was not a mouth at all but a puckered hole without lips or teeth She had to lean forward to hear what he said: ”There was no possibility”-he paused here-”of taking a walk that day” Another pause ”We had been wandering, indeed, in the leafless shrubbery-” He stopped
”Why, that's just wonderful, Mr Flett,” she said, as though praising a young child, ”But can you remember-can you tell me-if you lived in Canada at one tiain, louder ”Clarentine”
His eyelids ca a walk”
”Your wife, Mr Flett Clarentine”