He paused, sitting down at his desk once more. His head bent, he began to sort through the papers in front of him. ‘You’d better get Enid to talk you through everything, she knows what’s what, all right?’
Sensing the interview was at an end, Hannah walked to the door. She opened it before saying, ‘Thank you,’ but apart from a grunt the farmer did not speak or raise his head.
In the hall, Hannah stood for a moment. Her heart was racing and she put her hand to her chest. She was going to be the housekeeper in this beautiful farmhouse. Could she do it?
The steady ticking of a grandfather clock to one side of the enormous front door brought her eyes to its benevolent face. Nearly three o’clock on the first day of her new life. And that was what this was, a new life, and she would make it work no matter what she had to do. It might take a while but she’d have this place spick and span, and she’d sort out Mrs Shawe’s garden too. She would work till she dropped to make sure Jake didn’t live to regret bringing her here.
Chapter 10
‘I don’t understand why she’s took off like this, that’s what I’m saying. Miriam’s gone on at her more times than I can remember but it’s never caused the lass to walk out and stay away.’
‘Aye, well, perhaps this was one time too many.’
‘But to leave without saying goodbye to you and me? Something isn’t right, Edward. Are you sure Miriam’s telling us all of it?’Agatha stared at her husband. He was hiding something. She knew him far better than he thought she did and she’d bet her bottom dollar he was hiding something. She had sensed something was afoot last night when he’d come to bed. There had been a lot of what she could only term coming and going before he had come into the room, and then he had been strange, over-solicitous. She always knew when he’d been with Miriam because he acted in a similar way, but this had been different. If it wasn’t ridiculous she could have imagined he was frightened. And all this about having tripped over a crate in the yard and banged his face. She wasn’t sure if she believed that either.
‘Miriam told you they had an argument, didn’t she? That’s as much as I know. Apparently Hannah got so worked up she walked out and went round Naomi’s, and the next thing Jake Fletcher is on the doorstep demanding her things and saying she’s going to work at the farm. She’s over sixteen, Aggie. I couldn’t stop her, now then.’
‘No, I see that, but are we sure it’s all above board, him taking her to that farm? She’s a bit lass, Edward, an’ a bonny one at that.’
‘It’s a farm, lass, not a house of ill repute.’ Edward smiled, but when he saw his wife wasn’t having any of it, he added quickly, ‘Now come on, Aggie, stop worrying. Hannah’s not a bairn any more and she’s more than capable of taking care of herself. She knows where we are if she wants us.’
‘I don’t like it.’ For once, Agatha had the bit between her teeth. ‘And I’d like to know exactly what Miriam did to make the lass leave like that. She’s never been what I’d call a mother to Hannah, you know that.’
‘Aye, well, they’re still mother and daughter and what went on is between them, the way I see it. I know you’ve always been fond of the girl but she can be a handful at times. You don’t see it, confined to bed as you are. She always puts on a good show for you.’
Agatha looked at him in such a way he moved from one foot to the other and rubbed his nose with his thumb. He turned and walked to the door. ‘Now you sit and read that
People’s Friend
I’ve brought you.You’re following the serial, aren’t you? And don’t worry about Hannah. Likely she wants to spread her wings a bit, it’s only natural at her age. Just let things be and they’ll work out all right.’
Outside the room, Edward leaned back against the bedroom door for a moment, his eyes shut and his teeth clenched. Straightening, he walked through to the sitting room where Miriam was sitting waiting for him. ‘Well?’ She arched her thin eyebrows. ‘Still going on about Hannah, is she? She’s given me gyp all day on and off, driven me mad. Thinks more about that madam than you or me, that’s for sure.’
Edward didn’t miss the covert message in the words. Miriam had him over a barrel and he knew it. He also knew his mistress was fully aware of the truth of what had occurred in the backyard and was choosing to ignore it - for a price.
This was confirmed when Miriam stood up and draped her arms round his neck. ‘Don’t fret,’ she said softly. ‘Hannah’s gone, and Aggie thinks it’s because of a row with me like we decided. Even if someone said otherwise, if you and I keep to our story it’ll be all right. I love you, Edward. You know that.’
He swallowed hard, wishing he could extricate himself from her embrace but knowing he didn’t dare. ‘I didn’t touch the girl,’ he mumbled weakly.
‘I know, I know.’ She smiled. ‘Of course you didn’t. Why would you, when you’ve got me? And I’ll always do what you want, you know that, because we love each other. We do, don’t we, Edward? We love each other.’
‘Aye, aye.’
‘Say it. Say we love each other.’
Again he swallowed. His voice flat, he said, ‘We love each other.’
‘And we’ll forget all this with Hannah. She’s gone now, she’s out of our lives and she can rot at that farm, for all I care.You can get someone else to help you in the shop, a lad this time, I think. There’s so many out of work, after all.Young Bart Crawford’s just left school, you could have him.Yes, Bart will do very well, I think. I’ll have a word with his mother tomorrow. She’ll be pleased, what with her husband and Bart’s brothers being laid off from the pit months now. Aye, all in all, Hannah going is no bad thing, Edward. Look at it like that. Now come and sit down and put your feet up and I’ll get you a beer. Dinner will be ready in half an hour and it’s your favourite.’
Edward sat down. In his mind’s eye he could see the years stretching out, full of evenings like this one. Him and Miriam. Together.
A few yards down the street Hannah was also the topic of conversation in the Wood household. The twins were already in bed in the room they shared with Stephen and Peter, but the rest of the family were sitting round the kitchen table. The evening meal had been sparse and had consisted of a broth made with a ham shank and vegetables Jake had brought at the weekend. Even the thick wedges of stottie cake had been baked using flour from the farm.
It was Adam who was saying, and for the umpteenth time, ‘I still don’t see why she had to go with him, that’s all.’
Rose stared at her son. If he said that once more she would box his ears, big as he was.
‘And you needn’t look at me like that, Mam. She could have bedded down with Naomi in the kitchen.’
‘The desk bed isn’t big enough for one let alone two, and how would I feed another mouth? The chances of her picking up work just like that are few and far between and you know it. And it was me who asked Jake to take her, I’ve told you. Apart from anything else she needed to get away from her uncle.’ Rose glanced at Peter and Stephen as she spoke before her eyes returned to Adam. The younger children knew nothing of the circumstances that had caused Hannah to leave.
Sulkily, Adam said, ‘He’ll love this, playing the big man. And I’m supposed to go to the farm, cap in hand, and ask to see her?’
‘Give me patience!’
Rose stood up abruptly, her voice sharp as she said to her two younger sons, ‘Get yourselves away to bed and don’t wake the twins. I want no playing about the night.’ Not that the poor little devils had much energy for playing up, she thought in the next moment. Everybody was skinnier and quieter these days and her lads were no exception.
Once the two boys had left the kitchen, Rose stopped clearing the table. Speaking to Adam but intending her words for Wilbur too, she said, ‘I’m sick and tired of you griping about Jake. There’s no way we could have had Hannah here the way things are. Have you looked in that cupboard lately? Have you? Well, don’t bother, there’s nowt in it. And you might not like to hear it but if it wasn’t for your brother you’d likely be going to bed on an empty stomach.’
‘That’s right, rub it in. It’s not my fault we’re locked out.’
‘I know that.’ She was conscious that Wilbur had kept his head down and had remained silent. More than anything else in the last weeks and months, it brought home how bad things were. ‘I know that,’ she repeated more softly. ‘But it wouldn’t hurt you to show a little gratitude now and again. He’s never once made a show of what he brings and you know it, Adam. And what he gives keeps our heads above water, make no mistake about that. Fanny Boyce’s youngest has just died with pernicious anaemia and there’s two or three others in the street with it.They’ve stopped the free school dinners for the bairns and folk are eating stuff that’s only fit for pigs. Whole families are going into the workhouse and last week another man jumped off the Wearmouth bridge—’
She stopped as Wilbur got to his feet. Not that the movement was abrupt, in fact it was slow and measured and seemingly without heat.Without looking at anyone, he reached for his cap and put it on his head, and again the action was unhurried, even leaden.When he walked out of the kitchen into the scullery, Rose remained standing where she was, and it wasn’t until they all heard the back gate swing to in the yard that she rounded on Adam, saying, ‘Now look what you’ve done.’
‘Me? I haven’t done anything.’
‘Joe, go with him.’ Rose glanced at her son. ‘You too, Naomi. Talk to him, lass. Tell him something funny that’s happened at work. Make something up if you have to.’ When Adam made to stand with the others, she added, ‘You, wait a minute. I want a word.’
‘What?’ Once they were alone, Adam’s voice was defensive.
‘I’ve not asked before because it’s none of my business but this last going-on changes things. How serious are you about Hannah?’
She could see her son was slightly taken aback and his voice stammered a little when he said, ‘W-w-what do you mean?’
‘You know what I mean and I want a straight answer. Is she the same as Flora Upton and Dolly Weatherburn and some of the other lassies you’ve walked out with in the past? Or does she mean more to you? If she doesn’t, now is the time to leave well alone. She’s going to have enough to cope with at that farm without you adding to it if you’ve no intention of playing fair with the lass.’
‘That’s good, that is. I thought mothers were supposed to think the best of their bairns.’
Rose stared at him, a hard look.‘Don’t act the injured innocent, not with me. And I’m not blaming you for sowing your wild oats, it’s natural enough, especially with the lassies throwing themselves at you. But Hannah’s a good girl. You know that. And she’s still only a bit lass. You’re her first lad.’
‘I know, I know.’
‘Aye, well, just so long as you do. She’s not like Dolly or that last one you knocked about with for a while, what was her name?’
‘Lily Hopkins.’
‘Aye, her. Got a name for herself, she had, but Hannah’s a different kettle of fish. So, I say again, are you serious about the lass or is it just her bonny face that’s the attraction?’
‘What difference does it make with things the way they are? It’ll be a long time before I can take on a wife and family.’ Adam glared at her as though the current situation was her fault. ‘Anyway, it takes two, don’t forget that.You asked Hannah how she feels? No, I thought not.’
Ignoring Rose’s call to stay put, he stamped out of the kitchen, banging the door behind him.
Rose stood with her hands leaning on the kitchen table staring after him. He hadn’t answered her question and that bothered her. She loved her son and on the whole he was a good lad; even when he’d been in work he hadn’t been one for the drink and he always spoke civilly to her and with affection. But that was Adam, charming and easygoing when he was getting his own way and everything was rosy. But his weakness was the lassies. And she didn’t altogether blame him, no, not when some of them were brazen in their encouraging. That Lily Hopkins had stood waiting for him at street corners for weeks after he’d finished with her, even waylaying him outside the church of a Sunday morning once or twice.
Sighing heavily, Rose began to clear away the dirty dishes, reflecting bitterly that they barely needed washing, so clean had they been left. The broth hadn’t been thick enough to stick to her family’s ribs, that was for sure, and there was no way Wilbur and the lads would bring anything in this week. Nobody had any money left to give for any odd jobs, even the big houses on the outskirts had been pestered to the point they were locking their gates. Privet hedges had been cut so many times they were bald, scissors and knives worn away with sharpening and re-sharpening, tea cosies and doorstops and clippy mats were piled up in the houses of folk who’d been kind enough to buy and keep buying, and anyone who wanted a bit of painting and decorating undertaken had long since had it done.