Chapter 23

“Think so. Yes, Bertie.” Then, “I’m sure that was his name.” He let go of Dot’s hands and thanked her. “What happened to Bertie?”

“My memory isn’t what it used to be.”

Leslie went back to the couch and sat next to his brother, waiting for her to respond.

“He had an aunt. What was her name? Rose Barker. Lived somewhere up north in Yorkshire. No, Baker. Definitely it was Rose Baker. I remember I was in the kitchen baking muffins for breakfast when she came for him and—”

“Came for him?” Robert said.

“Oh, yes. She heard he was at St. Andrew’s. Don’t know how but said he was her sister’s child. She had a letter with her. Proof they were related.” Dot lowered her voice as if the infants in their cribs might overhear. “Not sure the sister was married, if you get my meaning.”

Both men nodded, the message received.

“Then Bertie can’t be the—” Leslie began.

“I don’t see how he could be the boy they found,” she said. “Not if he left us.”