Mathew's Tale (28 page)

Chapter Forty-Eight

‘M
ATHEW,’ LIZZIE ASKED
, AS
they stood on the Glasgow quayside, ‘can you not talk him out of this, even at this last minute? Cleland is dead, by his own hand they’re saying, to beat the hangman. The cause of Matt’s anger is removed. I thought we could settle down to a calm life, yet the boy insists he is determined to travel, to see the other side of the Atlantic.’

He had not told her the truth of what happened under the copper beech, nor would he ever. ‘I could talk him out of it,’ he admitted, ‘if I chose to. But if I did, the hankering would return sooner rather than later, and he might even go further away.’

‘Is there anywhere further away than Massachusetts?’ she murmured.

‘Oh yes, my love,’ Mathew said, ‘and a lot less hospitable.’

‘This is all so sudden.’

‘Maybe, but a passage has come up on a ship bound for Boston, and the opportunity is too good to miss. He will not be alone, though. Ewan will go with him and stay for a year at least, until we see how he settles down. They are not short of money, nor will they ever be, so they may live and travel in comfort.’

He laughed. ‘I have a notion, too, that he will pay his way over there. America is a vast market for saddles, and he carries with him drawings and prices for mine, with testimonials from across Europe. And for the luggage too: those United States are vast, and folk have no choice but to travel distances. You know how good at selling Matt is in the shop; I fancy we will have orders coming back soon, from far away.’

‘Not only leather goods,’ Matt added. ‘I have read that they are already starting to build railways to link the states. One day they will cross the continent. Mother, this will be an adventure.’ He came to her and hugged her, then bent to kiss his sister and ruffle young Marshall’s hair.

‘I know what you are thinking,’ he told her. ‘You are remembering when I was your age and Mathew went off to the army. Well, I am going to fight no one,’ he said. ‘I am going to travel, and I am going to study on the way, and when I come back in a few years, I will have learned more than I would at any university. Jane knows that and she says she will wait for me. Look after her as Granny Fleming took care of you and trust me to come back safe and sound.’

‘I trust you, son. It’s the other buggers in the world I will worry about.’

‘Then do not, for I will be fine.’ As he spoke a whistle sounded. ‘I have to go now, or Ewan will be crossing the Atlantic on his own.’ He laughed. ‘The poor man! Weeks without looking up a horse’s arse. How will he manage?’

‘You have your passport document?’ Mathew asked.

Matt nodded.

‘Good. You are called Matthew McGill Fleming on it because my name may open doors, even over there, but you know who you are, Matt, and you always will. Go on now.’ He hugged him close, and whispered, ‘I will send word when I believe it safe.’

‘God keep him, Mathew,’ Lizzie whispered as she watched him jog up the gangplank. ‘He is so young.’

‘That lad will get by on his own,’ he assured her. ‘He is the sort that new nation needs. I have a feeling that we may go and visit him, before he returns to us. Be honest, now. Did you really want him stuck in Carluke for the rest of his life?’

She thought about his question for a while, as the ship cast off and eased away from the quayside. As it moved to midstream, heading for
the Firth of Clyde and the great ocean beyond, she whispered, ‘No, not really. Our old world is not for him.’

Her husband laughed aloud. ‘Master and mistress of Cleland Hall,’ he exclaimed. ‘I am not sure that it’s for us either, but let us go home and find out.’