The Lost Art of Gratitude Read online

  Isabel sat in silence. It was a painful discovery to make, but one very much better made before she married him.

  “The end of Bruno,” she muttered.

  “Yes,” said Jamie. He pointed to the salmon steaks on their plates. “Don’t let the salmon get cold.”

  She lifted her knife and fork. Cat had made numerous mistakes, and seemed destined to make more. One day she would stop—she would have to—and take stock of the men she had chosen. Every one of them had been unsuitable, in one way or another, apart from Jamie, that is. But then Jamie had been unsuitable for Cat—principally because he was so suitable for virtually anybody else. Poor Cat: Could she not see the problem?

  They exchanged glances. “Let’s be honest,” said Jamie. “It would have been a disaster. Those elevator shoes.”

  Isabel was thinking more of his temper, but she agreed that the elevator shoes were a problem too. And the tightrope walking. And the stunts. And Oil.

  “You’re right,” she said.

  They finished their meal. Then Jamie said, “I composed something today. The words are by somebody else; the music by me. Would you like to hear it?”

  Isabel said that she would. She would make coffee and bring it through to the music room. He could go through and get ready.

  She ground the coffee, alone in the kitchen, savouring the smell of the grounds. She thought of Italy, and of the little coffee bar in Siena where she had stood at the high tables and drunk coffee with her friends. That was many years ago, and she was a different person now, and they were scattered to the four corners, as so many of us are. Were they happy? she wondered. For she wanted for them only that—happiness and wisdom, if their hearts were open to these two things, these principal things, that were the foundation of the good. I have been so fortunate, she thought, and Cat so unfortunate. She was grateful for that—for her own good fortune, that is, she was grateful. And she hoped that things would change for Cat, but she feared that they would not. We are condemned to repeat our failures, she thought, and some do so all their lives, to the very end, elderly children who have never learned.

  She took the coffee through and put the cups down on the small table beside the piano. Jamie, seated at the keyboard, had his fingers on a chord and played it gently. Isabel sat down and waited for him to begin.

  “Go on.”

  It seemed to her that he was blushing. It was unusual for him to be embarrassed to play before her; they had done that countless times before. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  “I’m not sure how it’s going to sound.”

  She sought to reassure him. “It’ll sound just fine. It always does.” She looked at him. “You don’t have to—if you don’t want to.”

  “No, I will.”

  She asked whether he had given it a name, and he thought for a moment. “No, I don’t want to. It’s just a tune I’ve made up. Nothing important.”

  “What’s it about? Olives? Or potatoes dauphinois?”

  He smiled. “I suspect nobody’s ever written a song about potatoes dauphinois.” He played another chord, as if he were looking for something on the piano. “This is about losing things,” he said. “About thinking you’ve lost something, and then finding you haven’t.”

  Isabel sat down next to him, on the piano stool. I would go ten thousand miles for you, she thought; as she was now sure he would for her. That was another song altogether, something about turtle doves.

  Jamie began.

  What we lose, we think we lose for ever,

  But we are wrong about this; think of love—

  Love is lost, we think it gone,

  But it returns, often when least expected,

  Forgives us our lack of attention, our failure of faith,

  Our cold indifference; forgives us all this, and more;

  Returns and says, “I was always there.”

  Love, at our shoulder, whispers: “Merely remember me,

  Don’t think I’ve gone away for ever:

  I am still here. With you. My power undimmed.

  See. I am here.”

  The music accompanying the words was simple, but it followed their mood closely, fittingly, as a well-made garment will follow the shape of the body. When he reached the final sentence, the notes became softer and died away.

  Isabel sat transfixed, as did Jamie, and nothing was said for a long time; nor did they move—they were quite still, as they were when they heard the noise outside, the yelping sound: Brother Fox.

  Isabel looked anxiously at Jamie. “I hope he’s not in distress.”

  “No,” said Jamie. “He’s singing.”

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Alexander McCall Smith is the author of the international phenomenon The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, the Isabel Dalhousie series, the Portuguese Irregular Verbs series, and the 44 Scotland Street series. He is professor emeritus of medical law at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and has served on many national and international bodies concerned with bioethics.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2009 by Alexander McCall Smith

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Pantheon Books, a division of Random House., Inc., New York. Originally published in Great Britain by Little, Brown, an imprint of Little, Brown Book Group, London.

  Pantheon Books and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

  Excerpts from poems by W. H. Auden appear courtesy of Edward Mendelson, Executor of the Estate of W. H. Auden, and Random House, Inc.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  McCall Smith, Alexander, [date]

  The lost art of gratitude / Alexander McCall Smith.

  p. cm.

  eISBN: 978-0-307-37857-6

  1. Dalhousie, Isabel (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Women editors—

  Fiction. 3. Women philosophers—Fiction. 4. Investment bankers—

  Fiction. 5. Edinburgh (Scotland)—Fiction. I. Title.

  PR6063.C326L67 2009 823′.914—dc22 2009022618

  www.pantheonbooks.com

  v3.0

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Other Books By This Author

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  About the Author

  Copyright