Edward Kane, Advocate in A Promise is a Promise: Chapter 2

The old lady had secured the boy’s head inside the crook of her left arm, and she was twisting his ear. Kane recognised the boy’s face. This was the same lad who had delivered that morning’s instructions!

Edward Kane, Advocate in A Promise is a Promise

It appeared that the boy’s first day at work was not going smoothly.

“Ow...ow...OW!”

Kane cleared his throat: “A-hem...”

The old lady looked up. She reminded Kane of a cat that had just been interrupted in the licking of its hind quarters.

“I apologise for the interruption, madam...”

“Yes?”

“I was looking to speak to a Mr McAdam...”

But before the lady could answer, the captive child looked up and pointed: “That’s him, Mrs M! That’s him!”

The old lady looked at Kane: “Could I have your name, sir?”

“I am Edward Kane, Advocate.”

The lady nodded: “Ah, so it’s you, sir.” She pointed to the messenger boy, still trapped under her arm: “This...this fop-doodle lost the piece of paper with your name on it. All that he could remember was that your name had something to do with cattle...”

Kane racked his brains for a moment: Ah - ‘kine’ - a good old Scottish word for ‘cattle’...

“So Mr...Kine...”

The young Advocate corrected her: “Kane...”

“So, Mr Kane, how can I be of assistance, sir?”

It struck Kane that this discussion with the old lady could be more efficiently conducted if she were to stop throttling the boy. He nodded towards the child.

The captive was released: “Get away wi’ ye. Get back to your sister in the cash room...”

The boy rubbed his neck and bowed. “Thank you, Mrs McAdam. Thank you, Mr Kine.” and dashed off.

The lady watched him go and shook he head (somewhat fondly, Kane thought): “Oh, that lad, Wee Timmy. We only let him work here because his sister begged us.”

The lady introduced herself as Mrs Morag McAdam, mother of the solicitor Murray McAdam. Her son was out of the office but returning shortly. Some tea in the meantime?

As Kane was being led into McAdam’s office, he passed a small, windowless room. Looking in, he saw an extremely pretty girl – mid-twenties, perhaps - immersed in clacking through a large abacus before her. The girl looked up and caught Kane’s eye. She smiled. Kane blushed. Then Kane noticed, sitting behind the girl, was the wee lad whose ear had been so recently abused. Ah - the cash room - the cash girl - the cash girl’s brother! The resemblance was obvious now – that red hair!

Murray McAdam, bustled in. A burly, brisk man in his mid-50s. The conversation was brief. McAdam got straight to the point: “So no hearing tomorrow, then. I shall send word immediately. The other side’s Advocate can appear for both sides. You are released from your instructions, sir.”

Kane nodded, somewhat wistfully - some paying work had just evaporated. McAdam noted this: “But you will, of course, be paid for your day’s exertions.” He proffered a pen and a piece of headed notepaper across the desk: “Just detail your fee on this, and I will arrange for immediate payment. Would cash be preferable?”

Cash? Oh happy day! Kane sat and wrote out the fee note. McAdam studied it and gave a little snort: “I wager you will not die rich, sir, if you continue to under-value your services thus. Come - we can settle this immediately”

They entered the small cash room and Kane again noted the presence of the pretty cash lady and her brother. McAdam barked: “Rose?” The girl, who had been submerged in totting up a column of numbers on the ledger before her, looked up with a start. Re-surfaced, she gave a compliant smile: “Yes, Mr McAdam?”

“This Mr Edward Kane, Advocate...”

The girl stood up and gave a little curtesy. Kane bowed in response.

“...and he has a fee note here that he should like to be settled today. In cash. Immediately, if you please.”

The girl knotted her eyebrows: “Oh, Mr McAdam, I don’t know that we have sufficient cash for the fees of an Advocate...”

McAdam laughed: “Rose. I venture that the petty cash will be sufficient here.”

McAdam turned to the girl’s brother, who was sitting on his hands, swinging his legs to and fro. “And you, young sir. I have a letter here for Baxter and Bruce in Castle Street. Do you know where that is, boy?”

“Aye, sir...”

“The hop to it, boy!”

The boy snatched the letter and ran off.

McAdam shook his head and turned to Kane: “I understand that the boy Timmy made a pig’s ear of your letter of instruction today?”

Kane caught a glimpse of the cash girl’s face. He thought that he detected an imploring look in the girl’s eyes: Please don’t make it any worse.

“Not at all.” Kane smiled. “Master Timmy was extremely courteous, and I am sure that – given time - he will prove an asset.”

The receipt having been prepared and signed by Kane, he was handed his fee in cash: two guineas! Kane bid his goodbye to McAdam and - as he was passing the little cash room - looked in again at the cash girl. Initially absorbed in her numbers, the girl looked up, gave a sad little smile and mouthed the words: “Thank you...”

*****

As Edward Kane turned round the corner, smiling and jangling the two guineas in his pocket, he noticed that a crowd had formed near the entrance to his common stair. Everybody was pointing up. But at what? Snow was falling now, and Kane shielded his eyes as he looked up. He made out a figure. It was a man standing, swaying outside on the window ledge. It was the window ledge of Kane’s own apartments. What was that fellow doing on the ledge? It looked all the world as if he was about to jump.