‘Could you take it round to the prison officers’ tennis court, please?’ Rose gave him a grateful, sympathetic smile since the poor fellow looked exhausted. ‘You’ll find a group of volunteers spreading it out to dry in the sunshine. Thank you so much.’
‘Sunshine? What bloody sunshine be that, then?’ he grumbled, turning towards the door. ‘Proper bloody sodden it is.’
‘Was that sodden or sodding, do you think?’ a voice whispered in Rose’s ear.
‘Marianne!’ Rose turned to her daughter, eyes wide with shock. But when she saw the suppressed amusement on Marianne’s face, she couldn’t help but chuckle. She wasn’t sure Seth would have approved, but the war was drawing women into a man’s world, and when news of renewed bitter fighting near Ypres had just reached them, a word of unsavoury language seemed pretty insignificant.
‘Better not let your father hear you talk like that,’ she warned nonetheless.
‘With him being in the army all those years, and then, well, you know?’ Marianne puffed out her cheeks and then dropped onto the hard chair beside her mother, pulling off her white cap.
‘How’s it going in there?’ Rose jabbed her head towards the rooms of the Imperial Hotel which had been given over to the project by the Prince of Wales.
‘It’s like an oven in the drying rooms, and so humid. I’d say they’re marvels, the women working there, spreading out the moss on the grills. As for the boiler man, I don’t know how he can stand it.’
‘Well, if we can recruit more volunteers, they can all do shorter shifts,’ Rose replied, consulting the timetables among the ocean of paperwork on her desk in the hotel foyer. ‘But I think we should all be very proud. We’ve only been going a couple of weeks, and we’ve already got a hundred sacks of dried moss ready for our first consignment to leave tomorrow, and nearly, let me see, five hundred prepared dressings. You’ve done so well to oversee that side of things, you know.’
‘I can’t take all the credit. The women are brilliant, picking over every little shred to remove every speck of grass or dirt. I’d be bored stiff. And then there’s weighing out exactly two ounces each time to put in the muslin bags.’
‘And how about the chaps putting them through the sublimate? They are adhering to all the safety rules, I hope.’
‘Don’t worry, Mum. Yes, thick rubber gloves and everything. They’d soon have problems if they didn’t. And the workers in the sterile room wrapping and packing the dressings are keeping to all the cleanliness rules. I’ve made sure of that.’
‘Well done.’ Rose presented her daughter with a proud smile, but then sucked in her lips. ‘I just wish it all weren’t necessary. All those young men wounded or giving their lives.’
‘Well, I reckon as a family, we’re doing our level best to help. We’ve already trained dozens of horses as well as setting this up.’
‘I know.’ Rose released a heartfelt sigh. ‘All the same—’
‘Ah, Mrs W!’ Princetown’s postmaster pushed his way through the door, beaming broadly. ‘I thought you’d be here. I’ve just had a telegram come through, and with its happy contents, I thought you’d like it here rather than waiting till you get home.’
‘A telegram? Oh, it’s not from Philip, is it?’
The postmaster answered Rose with a grin, and Marianne watched her mother tear open the telegram, suddenly aware of her own warring emotions. They had been so pre-occupied with all the wild horses the Remount Service had delivered to them for training, and setting up the collection centre, that she had scarcely spared a thought for her sister’s expected arrival.
‘A little girl!’ Rose cried joyfully. ‘Isn’t that marvellous? Among all this horror, a new life! And a girl, so now they have one of each.’
‘Yes, how wonderful!’ Marianne replied, startling herself with a sudden rush of elation. ‘And everyone all right?’
‘Yes, look! Mother and baby doing well. When your father comes to fetch us in the motorcar when we finish here, we can drive straight over to Rosebank Hall!’
Marianne knew her face split into a huge grin that she was helpless to suppress. All the resentment she had felt over this second child of Kate’s had miraculously disintegrated, and when she searched inside herself, Marianne realized that she was indeed delighted for her sister.
But why should she feel so differently?
‘Oh, my little sweetheart,’ Rose cooed over the miniscule, crunched up bundle in her elder daughter’s arms. ‘Don’t you forget how absolutely tiny they are!’
Beth Pencarrow smiled back serenely from the foot of the bed. ‘I know. Even though I deliver almost every baby in all the local villages, I can never get over how small they are. ’Tis their fingernails that always fascinate me.’
Rose nodded in agreement. ‘Come on, let me have a hold.’
Kate relinquished her new baby daughter into Rose’s practised arms. Rose instinctively began to rock the infant gently and was soon engrossed in conversation with Beth over the babe’s head. Watching them, Marianne knew they would be chatting for some minutes, so she drew a chair up beside the bed.
‘You look tired,’ she sympathized with her sister.
Nevertheless, Kate’s eyes danced in her face. ‘But very happy,’ she sighed in utter contentment.
‘Was it a long labour?’ Marianne surprised herself by asking. ‘Weren’t you scared?’
‘I knew what to expect, didn’t I?’ Kate chuckled. ‘And Beth’s so brilliant, so, no, I wasn’t scared. A bit apprehensive, I suppose, but mainly because you hope the baby’ll be all right. Elliott’s coming later to check us both over, but Beth’s sure everything’s fine.’
Something soothing she couldn’t explain wrapped itself around Marianne, and she found herself squeezing Kate’s hand. It seemed that in the euphoria of the moment, all their differences had been swept aside.
‘Look at those two.’ Kate used her head to indicate her mother and mother-in-law still marvelling over the baby. ‘It must be hard for Mum sometimes, don’t you think?’ Kate whispered. ‘I know it was nearly forty years ago, but she must sometimes think about the little girl she lost, our half-sister. Just a babe-in-arms, wasn’t she?’
Marianne gazed at her sister, and her heart gave a strange lurch. She had been thinking exactly the same, and it filled her with joy that she and Kate seemed to be as one again.
‘Dad’s wetting the baby’s head with Richard downstairs,’ she said to cover her emotions. ‘He said there was no point coming up straight away as he wouldn’t get a look in with all us women flocking round the baby. Expect he’ll be up in a minute, though.’
‘Well, you’d better have a hold afore he does, then, Marianne,’ Rose declared, catching the end of their conversation as she turned back to them. And she slid the tiny scrap of life into Marianne’s arms.
Oh. She couldn’t get out of that now, could she? Marianne expected to feel uneasy, but her heart instantly melted and she found herself instinctively supporting her little niece’s head. With a sudden, all-encompassing wonderment that utterly astounded her, she gazed down on the button nose and rosebud mouth with enchanted reverence. The child was beautiful, sleeping peacefully, though her fairy fingers twitched as if she couldn’t wait to discover what life held for her.
‘What colour are her eyes?’ Marianne asked eagerly, overtaken by the desire to know everything about the miracle that lay in her arms.
‘I’m not sure,’ Kate replied. ‘A sort of grey, but I can’t decide if it’s bluish or brownish.’
‘They’re more likely to turn brown or at least hazel, given her heritage,’ Beth told them. ‘But then Adam has Kate’s blue eyes, of course, though I reckon that could only be because both Richard’s father’s and my father’s were blue. It were like you and Seth, Rose, having both the girls with blue eyes, although Hal’s are hazel, of course, aren’t they? Did one of Seth’s paren
ts have blue eyes, has he ever said?’
Marianne had been listening intently, all the time praying that the infant wouldn’t start crying and she’d have to hand her back to Kate. She almost wished. . . . But, no, she mustn’t. Even to consider motherhood would break her vow, and she couldn’t have that! All the same, in the deep recesses of her mind, a little voice asked her to recall what colour Albert Thorneycroft’s eyes had been.
Oh, that was ridiculous!
‘You’d better have her back now, Kate,’ she said tersely, and handed the helpless being back to its mother as if it were a red-hot coal.
Marianne drove the horses around the edge of the school, dusty in the August heat, and brought them to a halt next to where her father and brother were watching them. Although the animals were harnessed as a pair to drag the heavy log behind them, Marianne was astride the one on the left, just as the Remount Service had explained they would be driven in the army. She reined them in and both creatures responded obediently by coming to an immediate halt.
‘They’re looking really good,’ Hal praised her. ‘And when you think they were virtually wild a couple of months ago.’
‘They always looked the most promising pair, though. And they seemed natural friends.’
‘Doesn’t mean to say they’d pull well together, mind,’ Seth put in. ‘But you’d think those two had been working together all their lives. We could use them to help train others. The army often need teams of a dozen or more to pull the really heavy guns. We’ll get them pulling the wagon tomorrow, and if that goes well, we’ll hitch them up as the lead pair in a foursome.’
‘Sounds like a good plan,’ Marianne agreed. ‘But if I take them round one more time, can you let off one of those detonations when I’m over the other side, and we’ll see how they react?’
‘Better let me take them, then, sis—’
‘I’m perfectly capable of handling them!’
‘No, your brother’s right,’ Seth broke in firmly. ‘Now you get down, missie.’
Marianne gave a snort of exasperation, but nevertheless obeyed. A minute later, she’d forgotten all about it and was observing with satisfaction the fruits of her labours as Hal took the pair around the school again. But even he had decided to lead them rather than act as mounted driver. When Seth activated one of the small explosive devices the army had provided for training purposes, the horses shied away but only slightly. At a soothing word from Hal, they were calmly on track once more.
Seth nodded approvingly. ‘Pretty good, I’d say. Well done, Marianne.’
Marianne’s chest swelled with pride as she basked in praise from this beloved parent. ‘Thanks, Dad.’
‘You deserve a reward for your hard work. I’ll go and make sure Patsy’s got the kettle on the go.’
Marianne caught his wry, teasing wink, and a twinge of sadness tugged at her heart as she saw him make his way towards the house at a much slower pace than he used to. But she must put such thoughts out of her mind, and instead she waited for Hal to bring the horses round again. She sprang forward to help her brother unhitch them from the log and then opened the gate so that they could lead the animals back to their field.
‘All in all, things are going well,’ Hal mused. ‘This last batch from the Remounts are nearly ready, plus half a dozen of our own. And several of our mares are about to foal. We’re making reasonable money from the horses, at last.’
‘But not nearly enough to compensate for not being able to make much on the Stock Exchange since it reopened.’
Hal glanced at her askance. ‘No. We are surviving, but the sort of profits we were making so that I could afford such a luxurious motorcar as the Napier are long gone. And who knows if they’ll ever return. I think Dad will need me to go up to London for him again in the autumn to have a meeting with our broker and see if there’s anything to be done.’
Marianne cocked an inquisitive eyebrow. ‘And will you see Louise while you’re there?’ she asked cheekily.
‘Maybe,’ he answered, narrowing his eyes. And began whistling jauntily as they walked along between the fields of grazing horses.
CHAPTER NINE
Low cloud drenched the moor in a grey, dismal shroud that seemed to seep into every crevice. From the tall window in her bedroom at the back of the house, Marianne could see for perhaps a hundred yards before the landscape evaporated into the mist. Ah, well, it was November, so she shouldn’t grumble. There were days on Dartmoor in July when you could barely see your own hand in front of your face.
A sudden cacophony of shouts and neighing drew her attention towards the stable yard. Just beyond it, her father, Hal and Joe were driving a pair from the latest delivery of wild horses from the fields where they were being kept to the school at the end of the yard. The poor beasts had only just arrived frightened and defensive, the previous week, and the Warringtons had spent that time trying to gain the animals’ trust. But this morning, Marianne knew, Hal was going to take the next step with what, by observing the herd’s behaviour, they had identified as the dominant stallion and mare. If they could tame them first, the others would follow more easily.
Marianne screwed up her lips. She and Rose were going to the collection centre to close it down for the winter. The bogs were becoming too dangerous to gather moss, and all but the most experienced moormen could become disorientated in this sort of weather. Besides, the first stage of drying the moss outdoors would be impossible until spring came round again. Every ounce of gathered moss had now been processed and the final consignment was to be collected by Red Cross lorry later that morning.
But surely they didn’t need to leave for another ten minutes, and she simply must watch this most critical stage with the horses. She careered down the stairs and out through the back door, pausing only in the boot room to thrust her stockinged feet into her boots and grab her old coat from the peg.
‘I thought you and your mother were going into Princetown?’ Seth questioned her as they collided on the doorstep.
‘We are. Tell Mum I’ll be along later if she doesn’t want to wait.’
Seth rolled his eyes at this madcap daughter of his, but Marianne didn’t notice as she scooted along to the school. Joe had obviously taken himself off to some other chore, and she was alone as she hung over the gate to watch. Hal was standing in the centre and acknowledged her presence with a nod, while the two horses were trotting nervously to and fro along the far side.
Marianne knew exactly what her brother was going to attempt, but it wasn’t going to be easy with these exceptionally spirited beasts. Like so many wild animals which had little contact with man, horses instinctively saw human beings as predators, but that fear needed to be turned into trust. But there was no time to do so in the conventional way, building up that relationship over months. The theory behind this quicker method was to make the creatures see man as their protector. But these two were already the leaders of the herd, so was Hal likely to succeed?
He began by growling, not so loudly as to startle them but to make them aware that he meant business. Then he started repeatedly slapping his left hand against his thigh in a noisy, exaggerated movement, while with the long driving whip in his other hand, he gently touched their hocks. Not wanting to come any nearer to him but wary of the whip, they scuttled around the edge of the school in the direction Hal had intended.
So far, so good. Hal kept the horses going round and round, gradually making less noise so that they became less tense. The whole process slowed down until the animals were walking, their hoofs a dull, rhythmical plod on the soft sand of the school’s ground, and Hal simply stood, turning round in the middle with the whip outstretched behind them.
Marianne held her breath. It must have been half an hour, and Rose had doubtless left without her, but this was mesmerizing. She knew Hal wouldn’t be rushed. It was absolutely essential he didn’t make the next move until he felt th
e horses were totally calm and relaxed. It was so peaceful, the mist that clung to her eyelashes deadening all sound, and the magnificent creatures seemed to sense that tranquillity.
At last, Hal must have felt the moment was right and he stepped briskly forward right in front of them, looking them straight in the eye. They stopped, and Marianne felt as if her heart had stopped beating. With a disgruntled snort, the male backed away and turned round, the mare following, although both appeared unhurried as they trotted around in the opposite direction and Hal took up his position in the centre once more.
Time and again, he turned them until they began to predict what he was going to do the instant he went to step forward, and they turned at once as if they understood what he wanted. Marianne knew she should go to join her mother, but this was too good to miss. These wild creatures were beginning to obey Hal, to see him as their superior. They were learning that he had no intention of harming them, but that he had the upper hand. And as their leader now, they would look to him for protection.
Marianne knew what the next stage was. Would Hal feel these two were ready? Evidently he did. He leapt in front of them now, waving his arms to drive them away, just as the dominant animals of the herd would reprimand naughty foals. Taken aback, the two horses shied away, and Marianne bit her lip in anticipation. Would it work? Would Hal’s patience be rewarded?
Marianne watched, on fire with excitement, as Hal turned his back and slowly walked away. After a moment’s hesitation, the two chastized animals wanted to return to the safety of the herd and their new protector, and walked up to stand behind Hal.
He winked at his sister as he walked towards the gate, followed by the horses. The lesson was over, and with any luck the pupils would go calmly along the drove and back to their field. Marianne quietly opened the gate, as the last thing they wanted was to disturb the trusting relationship Hal was building with the animals.
‘Let’s hope they remember their lesson tomorrow,’ Hal whispered as he passed, but they went determinedly back to their field without the slightest problem and settled down to grazing within no more than a minute or two.
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