Strictly speaking, the town has moved on. The estate is not yet fully settled, but work had started up again in the shipyards, overseen by trustees rather than any individual. Joshua had been able to enter and search the offices, but that had turned out to be mostly a dead end.
The only lead that had seemed promising - that he had been able to access - was a ledger of transactions. Buried within it was a receipt for a deposit at a bank in another state, where Nathaniel's family lived, dated a month or so after the date of his marriage license - a single box, with no other identification, but which Nathaniel had apparently taken great care with, arranging for it to be shipped with an accompanying attendant by train and then by carriage to the very doorstep of the bank; there was a letter of confirmation from the bank of the deposit, received two weeks after it had been sent out which had been filed away with the receipt. But while he'd sent an inquiry to the bank, they had no reason to respond to him, and while he had a few other avenues to work with, for the moment, he had no other ideas.
Meanwhile, the house and furniture that had been all Alecto had left from his previous marriage (other than the ring he had pawned) had eventually been settled upon Nathaniel's remaining family; fortunately, no one had looked too closely at the story of the robbery, simply examining the house and accepting it in its existing state before essentially turning Alecto out of doors with only what he could carry so they could sell off what was left. He'd more or less shrugged and followed the familiar path back to the lighthouse.
And to Joshua.
By this point, the gossip has mostly died down. Alecto had needed a protector, a provider, and had managed to find someone willing. Whatever else had happened, whatever whispered secrets the town passed around, the two of them were and remained part of the community. Nathaniel's family were outsiders, and there was even a sight but significant shift in perspective towards sympathy for Alecto for his treatment at their hands. So there was less disapproval than usual when Alecto more or less officially settled in the cottage assigned for the lighthouse keeper. As traffic had increased and the necessity for additional coverage had become apparent, Joshua had also arranged for the hiring of a first and second assistant keeper from within the town, to better distribute the duties. While the gesture had been appreciated - providing wages and job training to two of the local lads - the slightly more light-hearted gossip seemed to enjoy the narrative of their hard-working keeper, returned from an education and training elsewhere, being bewitched by a local beauty and wanting to spend more time at hearth and home.
Joshua comes home early on a sunny afternoon late in the spring, eyes bright with excitement.
[On Golden Sands]
Strictly speaking, the town has moved on. The estate is not yet fully settled, but work had started up again in the shipyards, overseen by trustees rather than any individual. Joshua had been able to enter and search the offices, but that had turned out to be mostly a dead end.
The only lead that had seemed promising - that he had been able to access - was a ledger of transactions. Buried within it was a receipt for a deposit at a bank in another state, where Nathaniel's family lived, dated a month or so after the date of his marriage license - a single box, with no other identification, but which Nathaniel had apparently taken great care with, arranging for it to be shipped with an accompanying attendant by train and then by carriage to the very doorstep of the bank; there was a letter of confirmation from the bank of the deposit, received two weeks after it had been sent out which had been filed away with the receipt. But while he'd sent an inquiry to the bank, they had no reason to respond to him, and while he had a few other avenues to work with, for the moment, he had no other ideas.
Meanwhile, the house and furniture that had been all Alecto had left from his previous marriage (other than the ring he had pawned) had eventually been settled upon Nathaniel's remaining family; fortunately, no one had looked too closely at the story of the robbery, simply examining the house and accepting it in its existing state before essentially turning Alecto out of doors with only what he could carry so they could sell off what was left. He'd more or less shrugged and followed the familiar path back to the lighthouse.
And to Joshua.
By this point, the gossip has mostly died down. Alecto had needed a protector, a provider, and had managed to find someone willing. Whatever else had happened, whatever whispered secrets the town passed around, the two of them were and remained part of the community. Nathaniel's family were outsiders, and there was even a sight but significant shift in perspective towards sympathy for Alecto for his treatment at their hands. So there was less disapproval than usual when Alecto more or less officially settled in the cottage assigned for the lighthouse keeper. As traffic had increased and the necessity for additional coverage had become apparent, Joshua had also arranged for the hiring of a first and second assistant keeper from within the town, to better distribute the duties. While the gesture had been appreciated - providing wages and job training to two of the local lads - the slightly more light-hearted gossip seemed to enjoy the narrative of their hard-working keeper, returned from an education and training elsewhere, being bewitched by a local beauty and wanting to spend more time at hearth and home.
Joshua comes home early on a sunny afternoon late in the spring, eyes bright with excitement.