Constance “Connie” Beattie was born in North Berwick in November 1901. At the time, her mother was employed as Hattie’s housekeeper, but, as was the way at that time, she left to look after her baby. [This was how the current housekeeper, Mrs. Gilliver, came to be employed. Later, Mrs Gilliver was quite uncomplimentary about Mrs Beattie, only one of the many reasons Connie didn’t like her.] Connie was very self-reliant as a child. Her father died when she was 6, meaning that she was well used to doing “odd jobs” to make money from a young age. At the start of the war, Connie was 13, and her mother announced that she was moving to Falkirk, a distance of about 50 miles, to secure work in munitions factories which, at that time, were offering significantly more money than local employers. Connie refused to go, and said that she’d leave school, get a job and look after herself “as her mother wouldn’t”. Lydia, who was Connie’s teacher, was horrified at all of this. She was disappointed in Mrs. Beattie, and both fearful for Connie, and frustrated at the opportunities which would be denied her. With Hattie, she hatched a plan. Connie was legally old enough  to leave school (at 13, although the age was about to be raised to 14), and hence to work, so she was “employed” as an assistant live-on housekeeper to Mrs Gilliver, but on minimal hours so that she could stay on at school, which she did. She was encouraged to stay at school until she was 17, a source of great consternation for Mrs. Gilliver who regarded Connie as a nuisance and getting in the way of Hattie employing a “proper” assistant housekeeper. Lydia had, however, agreed with Connie that, if nothing suitable came along by her 18^th birthday, she would support her to start attending some kind to college to train for a professional occupation. In the event, as book 1 unfolds, Connie is to become Verity’s partner in Veritas.

Connie was lacking in self confidence, although assertive when she felt that it was necessary. After she moved into Marine Drive, she came to regard Verity as her older sister. Although they didn’t always see eye to eye about things, and Verity could be very focused and single minded, they would run over hot coals for each other. Connie’s secret weapon in some ways was that she was 5’4” and little more than 7 stone soaked through. This, combined with her age, meant that she could be very easily underestimated.