"Arrival in 20 minutes, Ladies and Gentlemen. Arrival in 20 minutes!"
Thomas William Delahay gazed up briefly from his newspaper when he heard the train conductor's voice. The locomotive announced the upcoming end of the three-hour trip with its loud whistle.
Delahay gazed out the window at the lush green lawns and the old timbered houses passing by, telling him that he was now in the middle of Cornwall´s heart.
He looked forward to spend two relaxing weeks here in the country after all the work for his final exams at St. Vincent College. Finally it was done!! He would graduate and after the farewell ceremony in three weeks, he would begin to study law in London after his summer holiday. Due to his father's intervention, he would be able to make his first additional income in Mr. Murray's Law Office. Delahay couldn't have a better taskmaster: Mr. Murray was the owner of one of England´s biggest and most successful law offices!
But above all, Delahay was happy to see Neil Barclay again, his fellow student from college and his friend. After graduation, Neil would be in London as well to study economics. After his education, he would accept the legacy of his deceased father, who had brought wealth and prosperity to the family with textile trading. Though it wasn't easy in nowadays; the global economic crisis had left its traces even on Great Britain. A lot of people still were poor and without income. Of course, in Barclay's and Delahay's society, nobody liked to speak about things like that. Even the fact that Barclay Enterprises already was in trouble before Neil Barclay Sr.'s sudden death was kept secret. The Barclays was still one of England's most respected families and Neil Barclay Jr. was convinced that these difficult times the country was going through would be over soon and a new era would dawn.
Delahay had been very happy about Barclay's invitation to visit his Aunt Maggie at her cottage in Cornwall after the exhausting final exams. Delahay met Aunt Maggie just briefly at the funeral of Neil's father last year. She seemed to be a bright, docile, warm-hearted lady who was always happy when her niece and nephew would come for a visit. Her own children were out of the house for a long time already and since her husband's death, she was living all alone at her big cottage. Neil's tales gave Delahay the impression that Aunt Maggie felt responsible for his two children after her brother's death and now she was trying to help both in her own way and be there for them as best as she could.
However, Mrs. Eleanore Barclay, Neil´s mother, was rather a conservative, reserved woman who never seemed to return to life after her husband's sudden death. It was almost as if she was living in her own small world, far away from the problems and frictions going on, especially between Neil and his younger sister, Elaine.
Elaine was three years younger than her brother and according to Neil, she always had been "Daddy's darling." She had been his princess and Neil was angry about it a lot of times. In his opinion, she has been pampered and spoiled by her father way too much. But everybody knew how much Elaine loved her father and her world had been broken with his death.
Delahay still remembered her as a little girl when he saw her the last time about two years ago. Indeed, Neil invited him for lunch at his parent's home a lot of times, but Elaine was at a girl's public school in North England and rarely at home. Probably Mrs. Barclay and not least Neil were quite glad about it as after Mr. Barclay's death. Neil said she always had been pig-headed, but after her father's loss, she had become even rebellious and didn't allow anybody to get really close to her. The only person having access to her somehow was Aunt Maggie, according to Neil.
For a moment, Delahay had to think of the day of the funeral. He and his family had attended the funeral to pay their last respects to Mr. Barclay. The day ended with witnessing Mrs. Barclay, Elaine and Neil yelling at each other and Elaine leaving the house in tears and not returning the rest of the day. Delahay could remember Elaine´s tear-stained face just briefly as she ran past him, but even there he noticed already how much she had changed over the last two years.
Last year had been a difficult year. Mr. Barclay´s death, then the entire thing with Martineau and the turmoil at St. Vincent … and above all not to forget Guy Bennett!
Delahay was just glad, that after his punishment, Bennett took the decision to leave school voluntarily after the next semester. This way, many problems and a lot of Delahay´s secret fears, vanished without having anything to do about it. He didn't want to think about the avalanche Bennett would have triggered with his behaviour!
Now everything just can get better.' Delahay thought and was startled when the train stopped with loud bucking and squeaky wheels.
He had arrived at his destination!
Quickly, Delahay folded his newspaper, left the cabin and stepped out of the train, where his good friend, Neil Barclay, was already waiting for him.
The young men's greeting was formal and reserved as was expected from them; though they were glad to see each other and spend some time together, far away from the college's campus. No doubt, soon they wouldn't be Gods anymore at St. Vincent College, but now the entire world was open to them and through their graduation, they already had become much closer to their dreams of a prestigious and socially-approved position.
The chauffeur loaded Delahay's suitcases into the car while Barclay and Delahay were still standing on the platform, talking to each other.
While they walked to the car in slow steps, Delahay sent his parent's regards to his friend and Barclay told him how much Aunt Maggie had prettied the cottage this year.
"How is your aunt doing, Neil?" Thomas Delahay asked politely.
"Oh, fine … Yes, she is doing fine." he answered, smiling lightly.
Delahay nodded in agreement.
"I´m happy to hear that."
"But I need to warn you, Thomas," Neil said in a dry voice and stopped walking. "There is something you don't know yet."
Delahay stopped and frowned.
"Elaine is at the cottage as well. I don't want to put Mother at risk and leave her all alone with her the entire two weeks." Barclay said and took a deep breath. "Besides that, Elaine seems to have picked up courage again as she behaved well the last time. I think she deserves some diversion."
Delahay didn't quite know what to say. Although he knew that Neil loved his sister, he always talked about her negatively the last time.
And besides that, Delahay barely knew Elaine. Maybe he had said maybe two or three sentences to her over the last two years. How could he judge her or to say what was good for her and what was not? But of course, this was something he couldn't tell his friend. Staying neutral and supporting Neil in his decision seemed the right way to him.
"Well, I'm sure that you have made the right decision," Delahay said and smiled lightly while the two young men got into the car. "Anyway, I'm happy to be here and to see your aunt and sister again."
The chauffeur sped up the car and left the train station. And the more Delahay thought about what Barclay had told him about his sister, Elaine, the more he wanted to see her again.