Free Jenny Telfer Chaplin by Hopes, Sorrow

one up and examined the delicately engraved four-leaf clovers that decorated the base and stem. She turned it over and gasped. On the base were hall marks like the ones on Matron Calder’s silver at the Cottage hospital. The marks Matron had explained to Mary.
    “There was some sort of cloth on the bottom, but it was real manky so Ah took it off when Ah cleaned the candlesticks. They fair needed it.”
    “The cloth would be green baize or felt. They’re lovely, Granny. One on each end of the mantelpiece with Elenor’s cup in the middle. Ah know these will bring us luck. But ye got a better bargain than ye thought.”
    Mary pointed out the hall marks and explained their significance to Granny, who laughed. “They were at the bottom of an old cardboard box Ah rummaged through. To think the barrowman said Ah could have the lot for the same price – it was just some old junk he’d picked up at a house clearance sale.”
    “Right, Granny, teeth in or out, are ye ready for yer first tea in our new house?”
     

 
     
    Chapter Seventeen
     
    Once back at Ivylea and again in ‘the bosom of the family’ as it were, Mary knew it would be all too easy to slip into the role of the prodigal daughter, sit back and enjoy having Elenora organise life for her and Elenor. But after a very short time she realised that such a pampered lifestyle was most definitely not for her. With a twinge of guilt she knew exactly how Ted had felt all those years ago, when, having struck a blow for independence, he had all but frogmarched her on to a ferry bound for Glasgow.
    So when Miss Patten’s cook/housekeeper gave her notice three weeks after Mary’s arrival, Mary insisted that no replacement should be looked for. She and Granny would take over.
     
    One evening as Mary and Elenora sat alone in the drawing room Mary explained how her feelings had changed towards Ted, regarding his ‘dragging’ her away from Ivylea.
    “Ah now know that that particular phase of my life was an essential facet of my ongoing spiritual journey.”
    Elenora nodded. “Now that you have accepted that and even come to terms with your past suffering, I would say you are most definitely gaining in spiritual knowledge and enlightenment.”
    With tears in her eyes and choking her voice, Mary said: “It’s all thanks to ye that Ah have learned anything of such matters–”
    “No, please do not thank me. It’s spirit who – all right through me, I suppose – it’s spirit who are teaching and helping you. The best thanks you can give them is to be kind to everyone you meet in this life and remember, whatever brave front a person puts on with which to face whatever life throws at them, in the troubles of life, we are all fighting a hard battle.”
    “Ah think now Ah understand that whatever problems, anxieties, even disasters that come into our lives in facing up to them and dealing with them as best we can, we emerge stronger and better prepared for the next challenge.”
    “Yes, Mary, you are indeed learning. There is another great truth to hang onto: you will never get more than you can cope with. Things will always be as they are meant to be. In fighting your way through, you are, at the end of it all, in a much better position of real hard-won experience to help others in their hour of need.”
    As Mary left the drawing room that evening her head was buzzing with ideas.
    Ah know now why spirit has brought me back to Ivylea at this time. We should hold psychic evenings, parties, with lectures from Elenora on spiritual enlightenment, trancing and healing sessions. Where could anyone find a more lovely setting than right here? Of course, we’d need more domestic help. Ah’ll discuss this with Elenora. Surely with the help of our spirit friends it can be done.
     
    In no time at all, it seemed as if Mary, Elenor and Granny had never known any other lifestyle beyond that of Ivylea House, Stable Cottage and the hills and glens of Argyll. Not only were they all