Amidst the driving rain the co-mayor of Little Avoning offers small words of encouragement to those making the long and difficult march to Leeds. It was a small thing to make Nick “co-mayor”. Just words, really. Without substance - even when there was still a town to hang them on. Yes, without substance but not without meaning, because without them there would only be the relentless drive of his sister’s march. People need discipline in desperate times, they need someone to drive them, but they also need civil leadership, compassionate leadership, they need leadership established by consent rather than necessity. One of Madeline Mackenzie’s last acts was to give them this, in Nick Stuart. Co-Mayor was only words when she said them, but for the people on this desperate exodus it is so much more.
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When Paul, Ethel, Philip and Bridgit arrive at the Mackenzie family town house, it is with broken backs, broken hearts, and broken wills. There, though, they are met with warmth and care, as the family’s servants move quickly to tend to their needs. The sodden and muddy rags are taken from them and replaced with new clothes, fresh and warm and impeccably tailored. Even in his desperate state Paul seems somewhat restored as he admires the quality of the work. Madeline sent instructions for them to be taken care of, and Amelia’s money, it seems, buys some very attentive care. They are provided with food, hot and rich, at a dining table where Ethel holds silverware for the first time in her life. Soon afterwards they are shown to their rooms. A welcoming new home can’t wash away the injuries of the last week, but it can help bear their weight.
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A gallery opens an exhibition for the art of Emily Smith in Leeds. Here, in this one time, in this one place, she will be thought of and remembered as an artist. It is a tragedy she was not here to see it. Better, though, to be seen for her own merits and not who she was to others, here, once, than never. The exhibition is surprisingly well-attended. It has provided a bittersweet reunion for those from Little Avoning who have the time and resources to indulge in the arts. Beyond that, the promoter Madeline hired seems to have done their job well. It is a small affair, and perhaps too quickly closed to the public, but those who knew Emily, or at least thought they did, linger far longer. This final gift is perhaps at once Madeline’s most meaningful and her most hollow. It is an easy thing to measure a favor to the living, far harder to evaluate its benefit to those who will never receive it.
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Madeline Mackenzie was the last mayor of Little Avoning. Some today might say she was its greatest, and that would be a kindness to her memory, but not much more. Still, there is much to be said for guiding one’s home to a dignified end, and the end of Little Avoning was met with order and dignity.
No one can say otherwise.