Authors: Yelena Kopylova
been just too late to secure the cottage, for the owner, who now resided in Corbridge, had let it to a local
Haydon Bridge family.
Her mother and Hal too were concerned that Ben should still be living up in the wilds, but she knew that
he spent many a night at Rooklands now that the builders and decorators had gone. There was one
room in the house that he had really made comfortable with the furniture that they had stored there. This
had been another bone of contention between her father and Ben, the storing of the
furniture.
They had made several trips into Newcastle and to house sales, and had secured some
very good pieces
of furniture. When she had first intimated to Hal that Ben was going to store them at the farm, he had
again become irate, saying he would clear the loft. But, as they all knew, the loft was already stacked
with the residue of his own visits to sales over the years, and so, reluctantly, he had to realize the
inevitability of this, at least until they were able to decide on the house in which they would be going to
live.
A dispute, too, about their future home had arisen.
There had been a farmhouse and land going quite near, which Hal had been
wholeheartedly for their
taking, but Kate had had to point out to him it wasn’t exactly what Ben wanted. And
when he had
demanded, “What does he want, I’d like to know?” for the first time she had snapped
back at him, “Not
a little farmhouse on your doorstep,” which had silenced them both and caused a rift
between them for
days.
Her marriage, as was Florrie’s, was set for the spring of the following year, and so over the past weeks
every spare minute of the day and the long evenings was taken up with the sewing of
bedding and gowns
to fill each of their several chests.
It became an added irritation to Kate that every time she went out to meet Ben, Hal would say to her,
“You’re not going near that house now, are you?” And she would promise him that she
wasn’t going
there, at the same time knowing that that was where she would find Ben.
The same would happen when Ben came to call to take her out.
“You’re not taking her near that house now, are you?” Hal would say, and Ben always
had to swallow
deeply before answering. Once, when all he answered was, “Don’t worry, sir,” Hal came
back at him,
yelling, “I do worry. She’s not to go there. Do you hear?” and when Ben, not only to
Hal’s but also to
the surprise of the other members of the family, had replied in much the same manner, “I hear, sir; as yet I
am not deaf,” before walking out, there was revealed to them that the American was not all soft-spoken
geniality, and that he was perhaps becoming a little tired of being dictated to.
It was noted, too, that Kate was losing weight. Hal put it down to too much horse riding.
“Gallivanting around the countryside would shake the flesh off anybody,” he said. But
Mary Ellen had
different ideas.
As she herself knew only too well, it was worry that stripped the flesh off your bones.
And her Kate
was worried; all the time she was worried. It seemed that since she had met this
American she had never
stopped worrying. But what about? Bannaman’s farm had been sorted out; they were
going to get
another place. And that was something else. There must be dozens of houses round about that would or
should have suited him, but he always found something wrong with them. She wished she
could get to
the bottom of it . the bottom of him. She still wasn’t sure about him, although she
wouldn’t voice her
thoughts to Hal because he was on constant edge as it was about Kate’s going.
Kate was standing now in her bedroom tying a long scarf around her bonnet. It had been freezing hard
for the past week, but yesterday a slight thaw had set in, and although today wasn’t so cold there was a
high wind blowing. She picked up her gloves from the dressing—table, then went out and down the
shallow stairs to the hall. Tom was crossing it, and he said, “There’s a smell of snow in the wind, you
might get caught.”
“It won’t be the first time.” And she smiled at him.
“Brr!” He pursed his lips. The for the fire. We’ve got the last of the sheep down. Aye’—
he paused
‘that fellow of yours must be tough. Up on those hills would freeze the backside off a bull. I don’t know
how he stands it; he doesn’t seem the rough type. “
“Never judge the man by the suit, Tom.”
“Aye, there’s something in that,” he laughed, and went on towards the sitting-room.
In the kitchen she was surprised to see Maggie also ready for the road, and she looked at her. But
Maggie did not give any explanation, it was Mary Ellen who said, “She’s taking some
patterns for
embroidery to Betty Boston, and carrying some butter and cheese from me. They
appreciate home
stuff.” It was as if she was apologizing for Maggie going visiting. Then she added, “Lass, you’ll be blown
away up on those hills.”
“I’m well wrapped up.”
“Does he know you’re coming?”
Kate hesitated for a moment before she said, “Yes, in a way, it being Wednesday.”
“But what if he’s not there? He could be in the town seeing about a house again.”
“Well, if that’s the case, I’ll only have to come back.”
Mary Ellen stared at her for a moment, then said, “Well, time yourself. You don’t want to be caught up
there in the dark, and there’s snow in the air.”
“I’ll be back before dark, Mam.” She nodded towards Mary Ellen, then went out.
And Mary Ellen, looking at Maggie, said, “That goes for you too, mind.
Don’t get chattin’ too long. And take the trap gently, we don’t want an axle broken. Go on now, and
give Mrs. Boston my regards. “
Maggie said nothing, but lifted the parcel from the table and went out.
Terry already had the trap into the yard and as he gave her a hand on to the seat he said,
“Go careful,
Miss Maggie, and don’t rush him;
he’s been out once the day and he’s a bit fractious. “
Again Maggie said nothing, but she cast a disdainful glance down on the man as he
handed her the reins,
which she jerked and put the pony into a trot whilst still in the farmyard, all the time asking herself why it
was that everybody was getting at her, hiding the fact from herself that for the past five days she had been
in a state of irritation. And the knowledge that the whole family knew the reason didn’t help.
A month ago when Andrew Boston had been home for the week-end and hadn’t called on
her, she
accepted the excuse from his mother that he had only been able to stay overnight and had to leave early
the next morning because of pressure of work in the office. Then on Saturday, on the road into Hexham,
they had passed him on the brake accompanied by his father; she had waved to him and
he had
answered her salute.
And after returning home she had waited for his visit, and again all day on the Sunday.
But he hadn’t
come, and she had been filled with indignation that touched on rage. She had felt
humiliated.
When on Monday, her mother had taken her aside and asked if he had spoken in any way
and she’d
had to admit truthfully that he hadn’t, Mary Ellen had said, “Well, as I see it, it’s your own fault. You act
too bold, it puts them off.” And this had caused her to retort angrily, TheI act too bold.
You don’t say
that to our Kate, who’s the talk of the place running over the hills to that fellow every minute of the day.
How often does he come here, I ask you? Too bold? My goodness me, Mam. It’s well
seen who you
are for and who you are against. “ And her mother had become angry and retorted that
she’d never
made flesh of one and fish of another, and that she should be glad Kate was going to find a little
happiness.
Kate! Kate! Kate! It was all Kate. Even Florrie and Charles were thrust into the
background. Not
that it seemed to affect Florrie, she was too slow to take in anything. Sweet natured, they called it. She
jerked hard on the reins, but the pony did not respond and she cried at it, “Get up! there.”
At the crossroads, she turned her head and looked into the distance to where she could see the hills
mounting upwards, but she caught no sight of Kate, and she thought, Terry would not tell her not to
gallop Ranger because he had been out already today. Oh no, she could fly to her
beloved. And she
almost spat out the last word. She was a disgrace. Now, if it had been herself doing that, even
attempting to do it, her father would have locked her up. But not so his Kate.
The horse slowed down at the steep hill at the top of which the Bostons’ house was
situated behind a
barrier of trees, planted to shelter both house and garden from the winds that swept down over the hills
beyond. It was as the horse slowly reached the top that she happened to glance to her left and was
about to look ahead again when her head jerked round and she pulled the horse to a
standstill. There,
where the land sloped away to a valley bottom before rising again to the hills, was a
treeless road, and on
it was a figure on a horse, and unmistakably she recognized Kate. She’s not going up into the hills, she
thought;
she’s going to that house. And she said she never went. The big sly two-faced thing.
Well! . It had
been her intention to stay at the Bostons’ and enquire delicately when Andrew would be coming home
again. But once more things did not go as she had intended, for Mrs. Boston received her in a manner
that held some reserve: she seemed surprised to see her, but thanked her most warmly for the gifts she
had brought from her mother, while stating that Betty had gone to spend the day with
friends in Haydon
Bridge. Then without any prompting, she gave Maggie the information for which she had
come: she did
not know when Andrew would be next home, because he was spending most of his spare
time now at
the Quigleys’.
Mr. Quigley happened to be a dear friend of Mr. Boston. She was so glad that Andrew
was going
there, it saved him the long journey home, and at the same time provided him with a
family atmosphere,
for they had three sons and a daughter, and Andrew had known them since they were all
children
together. And, she had ended, she would be pleased to see Maggie on the usual day for
their sewing
hour.
She had been snubbed! Her teeth were clenched and her anger and humiliation were such
that she
wanted to lash out, and literally she did when she turned the horse in the direction of home.
But it was when she again reached the crossroads that she drew the horse to a standstill and sat thinking
for a moment before, with a “Get up! there,” she turned it on to the narrow path along which she had
seen Kate riding a little over half an hour ago.
There was only one thing clear in her mind, she wanted to confront Kate and tell her to her face that she
was a liai and was deceiving them at home.
She did not drive the trap right up to the gate of the farm but led the horse on to the wide grass verge
and linked the reins over a low branch of tree. Then cautiously she moved alongside the wall and to the
gate, which she noted was a new double one, half of which was open. She noted, too, that all the yard
was paved, whereas their own was only half done in this way;
also that all the outhouses looked spruce with new stone tiles on the roof here and there.
And in the row of horse boxes one half-door was open and she saw Ranger. She was
actually amazed
at the size of the house. It was the first time she had seen it, for since she was first allowed to go out on
her own she had been told never to go near it; and in consequence it always appeared like the ogre’s
castle. “But now she could not help the materialistic side of her being impressed. She looked along to
where the front of the house showed the door sheltered by a stone-pillared porch, but she did not go
towards it. Going quietly, she went further into the yard and, keeping close to the wall, she passed two
windows with iron bars across them, then a closed door, then two more windows, one of
them looking
into what appeared to be a large pantry, and the other just a small bare room. There was another door
ahead, but before that there was a window, and standing to the side of it, she slowly
turned her head and
looked in. It was a kitchen, but it was empty even of furniture.
She moved on to the door which was ajar. She pushed it open, her head making small
wagging
movements the while as she thought of the shock her sister would get, that’s if she was alone. She had
caught sight only of Ranger, which would suggest that she was alone, and, also, that she had access to
the house by a key. Oh, the sly individual.
Just wait till she got home and told them.
Almost boldly now she walked up the room towards a far door. But here she paused
before opening it
quietly. And now she was looking into a hall, the size and decoration of which amazed
her. Slowly and
still quietly she went in and she had almost reached the middle of it when the sound of voices brought her