This is a story which has been writing itself for a very long time.

Started in 2016, sadly the origin of the initial ‘prompt’ which got me going has long gone!

It begins in Ireland with Charles Horspool, the third son of a large landed family.

Born in 1796 when he becomes of age (21) in 1817, Charles inherits his alloted share of the family fortune.

A wayward child and youth, his family were pleased to be rid of him and Charles was glad to be free of living under the thumb.

The story moves to London, briefly, then Yorkshire and then to Glasgow: first to Garnet Hill, then Pollokshields, Newlands and Pollokshaws.

Other threads of the web of intrique emerge.

Annette Birkley appears and the story centres on her as it reaches its conclusion in 1946.

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Again I offer my apoligies for any errors. One aspect which gave me the greatest difficulty was keeping track of dates and ages of the characters. Hopefully I have lined all my ducks in order but if there are errors, let me know and I will try to correct them.

Ditto for spelling errors and typos. As in recent pieces, I used ‘Read Aloud’ in Word to guide me i my self-editing endeavours.

If you find an anomaly, please use your best judgement as to meaning and do, please, forgive and read on.

Thank you.