Kate was saved further soul-destroying introspection when she felt a gentle pull at her sleeve and an enamel mug was placed in her hands, together with the words: "Drink that down ye, lass. A good strong cup of tea, it'll do ye good. And forbye, I've added a generous tot from the medicinal bottle."
      At these words, Kate managed a wintry smile. She knew from past experience in dealing with the dramas of life in these crumbling Glasgow tenements, that the minute the carefully-hoarded medicinal bottle was produced from its habitual hiding place, then Granny Gorbals would be right there.
      With this in mind, and ever-conscious of her duties as a Candleriggs neighbour, Kate managed to hold on to her hard-won smile. She leant forward and placed a hand on Granny's bowed shoulders.
      "Granny! Ye surely cannot be thinking that I'll be drinking doctored tea all on my own. For the sake of your own beloved Saint Michael and all his Angels ... get yourself a tinny and join me."
      Scarcely were the words out of Kate's mouth, than Granny Gorbals, arthritic limbs or not, bounded towards the bottle of good Scotch whisky with all the energy of a woman half her age. Then, having taken Kate entirely at her word, and leaving barely enough room in the mug for the tea itself, Granny carried her precious burden across the room. With due and proper respect for the solemnity of the occasion Granny Gorbals settled herself in the chair which had once been the sole preserve of the master of the house.
      Once settled, Granny Gorbals sipped at her mug of tea and with a smile of contentment, it was clear that she was enjoying to the full the luxury of the roaring fire, the inner glow of whisky, and her important, if self-imposed, role of comforter of the recently bereaved.
      "Aye, lass. So, that's yer good man away to his eternal rest. God keep his soul. Well, he'll be in good company. Just imagine it. Our beloved Queen Victoria and Pearce arriving at the gates of heaven within the very same week."
      With Granny's eyes taking on a faraway look, at once Kate had a mental picture of Pearce escorting a crowned and bejewelled Queen Victoria to the nearest heavenly cloud with its attendant harp-playing angel. It was all Kate could do to stifle a giggle.
      In a bid to get over this, she said: "Put it this way, Granny. Pearce always did like to be in high society. So, what with Her Britannic Majesty on his arm and his floating around the realms of Heaven like the Laird he always imagined himself to be, he'll never get any grander or more regal than that."
      Granny nodded in total agreement with this sentiment.
      A silence hung between them until at last the old woman said: "Aye! But life goes on. There's still Hannah, Jenny, and Wee Theresa here at home with you. Not to mention your many bits of work outside. And you're not an old woman yet, Kate. You've a deal of living still to do ... and don't you ever forget it."
      No sooner were these words spoken than Kate, with an inner glow, not entirely due to the effect of the whisky, recalled her meeting with Terence O'Neil at the funeral tea.
      As if almost reading her mind, Granny suddenly leant forward and with the look of someone ready for a good old gossip, said: "Oh! 1 meant to ask ... and just who would that fine handsome Irishman be who appeared out of the blue?"
      Determined to get a bit of fun and hopefully, at the same time, to send Granny off on a false trail, Kate said, with an exaggerated look of amazement: "My word. Granny, but you must be real desperate for a man if ye think old Shuggie to be a fine figure."
      At once appreciating the joke. Granny gave a cackle which then grew to a real belly laugh.
      "Katie Kinnon! You've got a real dirty mind if ye think a decent widow-woman like myself would look that way at any man, After I planted my sainted Patrick in the Emerald Isle there was never anyone else for me. In any case, it wasnae old Shuggie I meant. It was the other one."
      The mention of 'the other one' at once gave Kate a vivid mental image of Terence O'Neil with his book barrow. Yes, Granny was right.
      "So, Granny. Ye've got a great taste in men Indeed, a fine upstanding man. Aye, come to think of it, Terence O'Neil would be just grand for you."
      When Jenny arrived home with Hannah and Theresa from their walk, it was to the sound of laughter as Granny Gorba1s and Kate howled their merriment at their shared, but secret joke.
      Yes. Life would go on.

As Kate sat looking out over sweet Rothesay Bay at the glory of the morning, she could sense the slipping away of the past and all the misery, drudgery, and heartbreak that had gone with it. The glorious God-given scene set out before her not only seemed like a million miles distant in time and space from the bustling ant-hill of Glasgow's Candleriggs, yet at the same time and in some strange way, such natural beauty as this well-named 'Madeira of Scotland' was providing the backdrop for the future.
      Still deep in the magic wonderland of her thoughts, Kate jumped in surprise when she heard a voice at her elbow.
      "Mother. Honestly What are you like? I said, and I will say it again ... are you still daydreaming like a lovesick lassie over that Terence O'Neil?"
      Kate turned her head, in time to catch the glimmer of amusement in Jenny's eyes. As her own eyes filled, such was the emotion of the moment that Kate could do nothing other than reach out a hand and place it on her daughter's arm. When she could again trust herself to speak, Kate smiled and said: "Jenny, lass, isn't it just truly wonderful how things have turned out? Here you are, happily married to Hamish, in your own wee cottage and a seafront one at that. And here am I, at peace with you, with the world at large and thanking God for all His Blessings. Aye. A strange world altogether."
      Jenny wiped away a trickling tear, and for a few moments, there was silence between mother and daughter. Then Jenny leant over, gave Kate a great bear hug and finished by whispering words for Kate's ears alone.
      As she listened, Kate's eyes widened in surprise.
      "Oh, Jenny, my love ... there's no need for you to do all that, to go to so much trouble. Really, my dear, I just don't deserve it, and especially not after all such terrible rows, differences, and emotional battles as you and I have had in the past."
      Jenny paused before speaking, as if to draw from some inner reserves of emotion. Then finally she grinned and said: "Listen, Mammy ... what you've just said ... well, is that not exactly why I do want to make such an occasion? If nothing else, it will underline the fact that amazingly, and after all these years, we now understand each other so very much better. Not only that, but we are now setting ourselves free, with mutual respect and blessings, to get on with our separate lives."