Page 4

Chapter 4

November 1910

Ursula sat in the silent office.

As usual, she was the last person to leave.

She liked the edges of the day best; the first moment when the noisy printing presses came to life in the morning, and then the satisfying sight of stacks of leaflets and programmes and catalogues all piled up ready to be shipped out to customers at the close of business.

She knew she was going to miss it all.

The company’s keys lay beside her gloves on the desk, next to the bottles of black and red ink.

She took a sheet of headed paper from the drawer and threaded it around the typewriter roller, rested her fingers on the keys, looked ahead and began.

Friday, 18th November 1910

Dear All,

I have come to know and respect each one of you since I arrived at Black’s from London three years ago, and I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the well-wishes you have expressed today.

Your generosity of spirit has warmed me greatly.

As I am sure you all realise, I could not have anticipated leaving the company under such circumstances and your kindness is very much appreciated.

From Monday, my place will be taken by Miss Wilma Jackson, who is joining the office staff from the Education Department at Edinburgh Corporation.

I think she will be a little better prepared than I was when I started to work here.

Specifically, I have ensured that there is no point in sending her to the warehouse for ‘a long stand’, and while you may have caught me with ‘tartan ink’, I’m sorry to say that won’t work either.

Ursula smiled at the memory of her embarrassment.

She had learned that these pranks were only played on people who were liked; the more officious members of the team were left well alone.

It’s a little early, but since this is my last day, and I won’t be here in the office to speak to each of you in person when you collect your wages, I want to wish you and your families a peaceful Christmas season and good health for 1911.

With very best wishes,

Ursula Smith

*

Ursula climbed the stairs to her top-floor tenement flat in Comiston.

As she walked past the door of the flat below, she heard a key turn in the lock.

There wasn’t time to escape.

She pasted a smile onto her face and turned to greet her downstairs neighbour.

‘I hear you are leaving us, Miss Smith?’ The woman’s tone was somehow accusatory.

‘There have been quite a few people marching up and down these stairs, for a viewing.’

‘I am indeed. I hope they haven’t caused too much noise.

’

Miss Gibb sniffed, determined to get as much information out of Ursula as possible.

‘Where is it that you are off to, then? I saw the intimation in The Scotsman last week. Quite a step upwards, I think.’

Why is it, Ursula wondered, that some people simply cannot be happy about the good fortune of others?

Not a word of congratulation or good wishes was being offered, even though a little warmth would cost Miss Gibb nothing.

‘Thank you. As I’m sure you will remember from the newspaper, our wedding is next month, so I will only be here for a few more weeks.

’ She deftly avoided giving any information about her new address.

‘The landlord has asked me to find someone suitable to take over the tenancy for my flat and I have met their request.’

‘Who will we be getting above us, then?’ Miss Gibb was clearly unhappy.

‘I hope they will be quiet and respectable. As you know, we cannot abide disturbance.’

Ursula smiled.

‘A respectable married couple will be moving in. I believe they have a young daughter and there is a new baby expected early next year.’

‘A baby?’ Horror was written all over Miss Gibb’s face.

‘They are delighted to be so near to the primary school. I think they intend to stay until the children are quite grown up. It will be good to have some stability, don’t you agree?

There is nothing worse than new tenants moving in and out all the time.

’ She paused. ‘I’ll be leaving behind most of my furniture, so at least you won’t have the disruption of a removal company carrying wardrobes and tables up and down the stairs.

’

A man’s voice came from within the flat, impatient and demanding.

‘Margaret!’

‘Yes, Father, I will be with you in a moment.’ Miss Gibb seemed suddenly weary.

‘Come here! Come here right now. I need my dinner cut up and it’s going cold.

’

Miss Gibb melted back into the flat without so much as a goodbye.

As Ursula climbed the last flight of stairs, she chided herself for being uncharitable.

The new family would inevitably make noise, and Mr Gibb would moan endlessly to his daughter because he was housebound and there was no one else to complain to.

And Miss Gibb, who had never said ‘please just call me Margaret’, and who rarely left the flat because of her responsibilities, would have to cope with it all.

Ursula thought about how different her own life was going to be, and how fortunate she was to be loved by a good man.

She knew it would not make Miss Gibb any happier to be told about Library Terrace, nor the people who lived there.

It might even have the opposite effect.