Morton carried the register back to thehelp desk, returned it to Max and was then issued with the log book for theschool. It was an A5-sized, leather-bound book that retained the typicalmusty smell of such an old document. He could spend hours poring oversuch wonderful embodiments of history, but knew that he needed to prioritisehis searching to the relevant time period. Sitting back at his workstation, Morton opened the ledger and flipped to 1896. The book was aday-by-day account of the comings and goings of school life, recorded by theheadmaster, Mr P. Vaughn. Morton read the entries with keen historicalinterest. Despite their lack of direct connection to the Mercer Case,it painted an interesting and colourful picture of Mary and Edith’s early life.
25th January 1896
Nofewer than 9 children have left the school lately, their parents being obligedto leave the village in search of employment. The children, who haveleft, were among the best in their various standards.
2nd February 1896
PoliceConstable Groves came this morning about some boys using catapults &damaging the church clock. They were cautioned and their instrumentstaken away.
4th May 1896
Averagelower than last week, owing to the "measles" having broken outafresh, and amongst the elder children. It has hitherto been confined tothe outskirts of the village—now it is in the midst of us.
15th October 1896
Schoolroutine resumed as usual though the holidays have been lengthened owing to thedelay in picking, caused by rains, the school was not fully attended.
19th January 1897
Nomore than 6 children presented themselves…
30th May 1897
Theattendance is very thin indeed. The children are employed with theirparents in the hop gardens—knitting discontinued.
25th November 1898
Four boys away "beating" for LordRothborne. Anything seems to be allowed in this village…
23rd January 1901
Gavea short lesson on the death of our beloved Queen, who peacefully passed away onTuesday evening at 6.30 in the year 1901 at Osbourne House, Isle of Wight.
3rd March 1901
Singinglessons on Friday morning instead of the usual arithmetic lesson. MaryMercer and Martha Stone kept in the whole dinner-time on Friday for playingtruant on the previous afternoon.
Mortonread the previous entry several times. It was simple and yet spokevolumes about the two girls and their friendship. He hoped that whateverhad happened to Martha would be noted in the coming pages. He returned tothe ledger and carried on his searches into 1902.
8th February 1902
Theschool is very cold this morning. The correspondent says we cannot haveany more coal. The week opens with a very thin attendance owing to theprevailing epidemic of influenza.
10th February 1902
Stillno coal, and the school very cold. Obliged to let 2 boys saw up Hop Polesto warm the rooms a little, infants nearly crying with cold.
18th February 1902
Iregret to say that influenza has again broken out amongst the children and onechild, Martha Stone died this morning.
Morton stopped reading and stared at theentry, transfixed.
Chapter Twenty-One
Howwas this possible? Asif the headstone had not been proof enough, here it was in black and white:Martha Stone had died. And yet, in 1911 Martha Stone had apparentlyemigrated to Nova Scotia, where she had remained until at least 1925.
Morton’s mind went into overdrive as hebegan to make tentative links between the facts that he already knew, thetheories proposed by Jenny and the newly acquired knowledge of Martha Stone’sdeath. At the moment, it was still tentative to say the least. Heneeded more—much more—to even consider suggesting anything to RayMercer.
Morton photographed the entry and movedon. On the following page, Martha’s burial was noted.
1st March 1902
Thelittle girl (Martha Stone) who was taken ill a few days before the annualinspection was buried to-day. The children sent a wreath & a crosswhich were placed on her grave. The teachers also sent a wreath &cross.
Afterphotographing the page and continuing his search, Morton quite soon foundanother entry that made him sit up with interest.
18th March 1902
Onegirl, Mary Mercer punished, by wearing two placards on her coat, before thewhole school, for appalling conduct during her dinner-hour. Her recentconduct has been the subject of a managers’ meeting last week.
Mortoncould only speculate at Mary’s behaviour. One possibility was thatMartha’s death had had a severe impact on her.
‘Anything?’ Jenny suddenly asked, peeringover his shoulder at where his index finger pointed. ‘Oh. Naughtygirl!’
Morton turned. ‘Yeah. I justfound Martha’s death—she died of the flu.’
She lowered her glasses and looked atMorton. ‘Are you now thinking that Mary travelled to Canada under apseudonym, using her dead school friend’s name?’
‘It’s certainly a theory,’ Morton saidnonchalantly.
‘Oh, come on, Morton,’ Jennypersisted. ‘It’s looking much more probable than a theory.’
Morton was indignant in his belief that heshould never accept something as fact without substantial proof. Hisusual ideal was three pieces of separate evidence. ‘We’ll see. Howare you getting on?’
Jenny turned her nose up. ‘Notgreat. I found George’s baptism fairly quickly. It was in November1911, just a few weeks after his birth. I’ve taken a photo of it, butthere’s nothing unusual about it—same for his marriage. I’ve spent therest of the time on the Findmypast website digging around, but nothing so far.’
From the desk in front of him, Mortonnoticed his phone light up. Juliette was calling. ‘Just need totake this—can you watch my stuff for a moment?’
‘Of course,’ Jenny replied.
Morton answered the call with a hushedwhisper. ‘Hang on,’ he said, as Max pressed the door release, allowinghim to leave the Reference Room. Once safely in the lobby, Mortonreturned the phone to his ear. ‘Hi, Juliette. You okay?’
‘Yeah, fine. You?’ Juliette said.
‘Interesting day—will tell all later,’ hesaid, taking a seat at one of the small round tables. ‘I’m doing someresearch at The Keep at the moment. Oh, that reminds me—I’m going to callin on Dad on the way home—do what you suggested and talk to him about AuntyMargaret and the wedding.’
‘That’s good. I’ll be finishing workin about
