"It is better to have loved, and lost...and lost..."?

The sleek black limousine sailed into the empty car park and parked, fussily but neatly between the white lines.  To one side, on top of a landscaped mound, a sapling bent and quivered with the force of the northerly wind skimming across the landscape.  A few white clouds scudded across the pale blue winter’s sky and a weak but willing sun tried its best to illuminate, despite the disadvantage of hovering just above the horizon.

“Are you sure he will be here?” The woman asked.

“I am…reasonably sure” The man replied, with some hesitation, “I know he came here when his grandmother passed”

“His grandmother!  I had no idea she had gone!”

“Oh no, not that one” The man smiled and patted her hand, “she is, to the best of my knowledge, all too alive and well.  I meant his other grandmother, he was rather close to her and I know he felt her loss, keenly”

“I should come with you” The woman said, firmly.

“Thank you, my dear, but no” The man shook his head, “this is my duty and I should deal with it.  Besides, I feel somewhat… responsible for the turn of events”

“That is nonsense!” She snapped, “no-one could have predicted this outcome”

“Be that as it may…” The man shook his head, sadly, “I fear he may not take that view.  I should go.”  He went to open the door.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?”  The woman closed her hand over his and looked deep into his eyes.

“It is kind of you to offer” He smiled, “But I suggest you stay here, in the warm.  I will return, presently”

He stepped out of the car and hastily buttoned up his long, dark overcoat against the biting wind, donned his bowler, slipped on his gloves and marched off.

Once past the artificial mounds, which provided some meagre shelter for the car park, he could see a clump of trees in the distance, sheltering a bench on which a figure sat, hunched and alone.  The man set off toward the figure with measured steps.  Eventually, he stood beside the bench and looked down at the occupant.

“Hello, Archibald” he said, quietly.

“’Lo Mr. O.” Archibald nodded but continued to gaze into the distance.

“Would you mind if I joined you?”

Archibald shrugged and shuffled a few inches along the bench.  Josiah sat down, took off his gloves, placed them neatly in his lap and surveyed the view.

“I’m really very sorry, Archibald” Josiah began.

“You’ve heard then?” Archibald replied.

“Indeed.  Egbert told me”

“He would!” Archibald sniffed.

“I think he had your best interests at heart” Josiah suggested.  Archibald shrugged again and carried on staring into the distance.  “Would it help to talk about it?”  Josiah asked.

“Nope!” Archibald folded his arms and screwed up his face.

“You might find that it does” Josiah urged, “I know that I have always found it a comfort.  As they say, ‘a trouble shared…’”

“Makes two people miserable” Archibald muttered.

“That is a somewhat cynical point of view, Archibald” Josiah admonished,

“Right though, innit?” Archibald hunched his shoulders and looked down at the ground.

“I gather erm” Josiah tried to find the right form of words, “I gather there was someone else involved?”

“Egbert again?” Archibald raised an eyebrow.  Josiah nodded. 

“Yeah, that’s right” Archibald sighed.

“Would it be impolite to ask, who?”

“One of your mate Ezekiel’s kids” Archibald replied, glumly.

“My mate…?  You mean Ezekiel Cadwallader, the proprietor of Cadwallader and Carruthers?  Electra’s boss?”

“Yeah, him”

“Really?” Josiah thought for a moment, “I have to admit that I was not aware that Zeke had any sons”

Archibald turned and looked at his employer, for quite a while.

“He hasn’t” He replied, eventually.

“Oh…ah…I see…I think” Josiah was at a loss for a suitable response.

“Goes by the name of Tiff&EE” Archibald went on.

“Tiffany?”

“No, Tiff und EE.  It’s got an ‘und’ in it” Archibald drew a rough figure eight in the air.

“An ampersand?” Josiah looked surprised.

“If that’s what you call it, I just thought it was an ‘und’”

“I’m surprised that Ezekiel, who is a very traditional, and somewhat religious, gentleman, gave her such an unusual name” Josiah mused.

“Oh no, she didn’t get that at the font” Archibald shook his head, “she identifies as Tiff&EE, I think she started out as a Bathsheba”

“Ah, yes,” Josiah coughed, “you can see why she might have wanted to change that”

“Well, yeah” Archibald nodded, “sounds like somebody telling you to wash the dog, dunnit?”

“I was concerned…” Josiah began, then fiddled with his gloves, in an effort to make them even neater than they already were, “I was concerned that my offer of a position with Oakshott and Underwood, to your Ms. Ryder, might have precipitated events”

“Well, yeah, maybe” Archibald conceded, “I reckon that might have, kind of, tipped things over the edge, but you know how it is, working long hours together, under pressure, I suppose it was inevitable really.  Then, when she was forced into a decision, she chose Bilston!”

“Bilston?  I thought you said the name was Tiff&EE?”

“Bilston’s where they’ve gone” Archibald explained.

“Isn’t that where her sister, Noreen, went to set up a fish and chip shop?”  Josiah instantly regretted bringing this up, given that Noreen and Archibald had also been an ‘item’ in the past.

“Yeah, that’s right.  Her and Romeo”

“AKA Brian, if I recall?” Josiah prided himself on remembering the details of his conversations, even the labyrinthine meanderings of Archibald.

“That’s him!” Archibald nodded, “any road, Electra’s gone there to be nearer her sister, and her and Tiff&EE are going to set up a branch of Cadwallader and Carruthers”

“Wider still and wider, doth Ezekiel’s boundaries cease” Josiah mused.

“You what?” Archibald looked at him in puzzlement.

“I’m paraphrasing ‘Land of Hope and Glory’”

“Whatever floats your boat!” Archibald shrugged.

“I appreciate you must be very disappointed, Archibald” Josiah said, kindly.

“If I’m honest, I’m not all that surprised” Archibald said, glumly, “we’ve hardly seen owt of each other for months, what with her work and studying and stuff, and then when we did, she was right off with me”

“I see now why you were less than keen on embarking upon studies yourself” Josiah sympathised (see Educating Archie?)

“Well, yeah, I thought if I were studying an’ all, we’d never see nothing of each other”

“Whereas, Ms. Knight and I hoped it might bring you closer together, if you had a shared interest”

“She didn’t take kindly to it.”  Archibald shook his head, “I think she thought I would be round there all the time trying to crib off her and, of course, when you weigh it all up,” Archibald sighed, deeply, “it wasn’t me she wanted to be with, was it?”

“It is a hard lesson learned, Archibald, and you have my deepest sympathy.” Josiah looked at his dejected employee with concern.  “However, you cannot sit here for hours”

“I thought I’d come up here and be nearer me Gran. Somebody to talk to, if you know what I mean? They reckoned they spread her ashes just over there” He nodded toward another stand of trees, a little way away from the crematorium buildings.

“If it gives you some comfort, then there’s nothing wrong with that, Archibald” Josiah patted his employee on the shoulder.  “But I think it’s time to go, now, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I guess” Archibald conceded, easing himself up from the bench.  “It’s just…one minute I had plans, you know, and now… I’ve got bug…nowt!” He corrected.

“Yes, I do understand, really I do” Josiah nodded, slipping on his gloves.  “I will avoid any such cliches as ‘plenty more fish in the sea’ or ‘it’s always darkest before the dawn’”

“Yeah, don’t do that” Archibald shook his head, vigorously.

“But it is, often, the case that when things seem particularly bleak, something comes along that opens up new opportunities” Josiah smiled at Archibald.

“You could have fooled me!” Archibald muttered.

“In fact,” Josiah began, and immediately began to mentally kick himself for what he was about to say, “there is a particular opportunity that comes to mind…”

“If you mean studying for that Certificate, I’m not sure me head’s in the right place at the moment”

“No, that was not what I had in mind” Josiah shook his head, “Rather, I have, today, been given a commission to repatriate a body from the continent”

“Do what?” Archibald looked puzzled.

“The remains of the late Sir Lewisham Carnock.” Josiah explained ”His widow has asked me to recover his body from Spain, where he suffered what was, I believe, an unfortunate, and fatal, sporting injury.  We will then carry out the funeral, here in the U.K.”

“Alright for some!” Archibald said, glumly.

“I doubt that Sir Lewisham would concur!” Josiah frowned, “What I’m trying to say, Archibald, is that I will need someone to accompany me on this mission.”

“Well, that’s Ms. Knight, surely?” Archibald suggested as they strode toward the car park.

“In the normal way of things, yes, I would agree” Josiah nodded, “however, I need to leave the business in good hands during my enforced absence, albeit for a couple of days, and after the unfortunate situation which developed during Mr. Dimchurch’s tenure (see ‘The Trouble with Horace Dimchurch’), I think it might be prudent to leave Ms. Knight here to ‘mind the shop’, as it were”

“Oh, right, yeah I guess that makes sense” Archibald nodded. “Egbert then?”

“Archibald!  I’m trying to suggest that you might wish to accompany me!”  Josiah said, in exasperation.

“ME? Go abroad? With you?”

“That is the suggestion, but if you…”  Josiah began, hoping against hope for an unexpected ‘get out’ clause.

“Oh yeah! Not half!  Cor, you wait till I tell the others!” Archibald’s eyes, previously dimmed and watering with tears, suddenly came alive.

“I would prefer it, Archibald, if you would keep this to yourself, for the time being” Josiah suggested, “it might generate a degree of envy, which would not be conducive to esprit de corps”

Archibald turned and looked at him blankly.

“Team spirit, Archibald” Josiah explained, “I would also prefer it if you did not mention it to Ms. Knight, either, at least for the moment”

“No?” Archibald looked surprised.

“No, Archibald” Josiah said, firmly, whilst thinking ‘not until I’ve had a chance to explain it to her first’.  A conversation to which he was not looking forward!