‘Another one, for old time’s sake?’

‘Yes, another one! Why not, Sarah Anne?’

The three women laughed as Edward Smith served them stout, then poured himself a whiskey, which he downed in one gulp.

 ‘Steady on, Ed, you know what you are like! Take it easy with the drink. One more misdemeanour, as Sir Templeton put it, and you are out on your ear, and not just from St David’s organ loft either!’

Sarah Anne Smith looked her husband up and down as he stumbled back to the bar. He had been handsome once; a real catch when she first met him. She had been Sarah Anne Jessop then, just beginning to make her mark on the Hartleydale music scene. The Gazette and Argus had found her performance of the soprano solos in Messiah &l...

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