‘Morwenna made him kiss her?’
Grinning at the memory of the occasion, Jenken said, ‘Well, it was supposed to be a kiss but he hardly touched her cheek and then jumped back as though he was frightened he might catch something from her. I don’t think Morwenna was very happy about it!’
With so many thoughts tripping over themselves in her mind, Nessa tried to put them in some logical order and, thinking aloud, said, ‘But if she wasn’t seeing Goran…? Perhaps Alan has been around here for a lot longer than we realize. She was probably seeing him when we all thought she was with Goran. That’s why…!’
She almost mentioned Morwenna’s miscarriage but stopped herself in time. It was a secret that should never go outside the family, but Jenken was shaking his head.
‘I believe Alan only came to this part of Cornwall recently, with Jacob Barlow, and I saw Morwenna up on the moor with gamekeeper Grimble’s nephew, but he’s gone off to America now so she won’t be seeing him again.’
Listening to Jenken, everything suddenly fell into place for Nessa. First Morwenna’s claims that she was going to Elworthy Farm every day to meet Goran, then her unexpected taunt that Nessa could have Goran back. She would have been desperate to find a father for the child she was carrying before it became evident to everyone she was pregnant. That would mean she probably realized she was pregnant before coming to the Wheal Hope. What seemed certain was that it could not have been Goran who was responsible!
With this knowledge it felt as though a huge weight had been lifted from her mind. She believed that both Goran and Grimble’s nephew had been targeted as prospective husbands because of Morwenna’s desperate need to be married. The man undoubtedly responsible for her condition had to be Alan Toms and it would explain why she had been so upset when he had refused to come to the Wheal Hope with the other miners.
Putting all the facts together, Nessa suddenly felt desperately sorry for Morwenna and the problems she had been forced to grapple with alone, not daring to tell anyone else about them.
Then Nessa remembered the manner in which Morwenna had come between herself and Goran, and had made no real attempt to put matters right, even when she must have believed she had succeeded in persuading Grimble’s nephew to marry her.
Turning to Jenken, Nessa said, ‘You stay here and wait to see the badgers. I don’t think I will be able to settle down enough to watch them tonight. I’d probably be so fidgety it would frighten them off. I’m going back to the cottage – and I hope Morwenna is awake: we have things to talk about!’
Chapter 32
WHEN NESSA RETURNED to the mine cottage she hurried upstairs to the bedroom she shared with her sisters. Morwenna was asleep – but so too was Jennifer. Nessa knew that what she and Morwenna had to say to each other would be so heated it would certainly wake the younger girl. Frustrating though it was, she realized the showdown with her sister would need to wait until morning if Morwenna’s miscarriage was not to be disclosed to the family.
Returning downstairs, she found Harriet Bolitho ready to return home and offered to go and fetch Jenken, but Harriet said she was quite happy to go home alone and leave him watching the badger sett, adding, ‘He works hard during the day and has very little time to do things he enjoys. He loves all animals and birds and if he sees a badger it will be an unforgettable experience for him.’
When Harriet had left the cottage, Annie said to Nessa, ‘I presume Jenken has told you Alan Toms is here, on the mine?’
‘He told me Alan is around again, but he wasn’t sure whether or not Pa had taken him on, or whether he’s staying in the area.’
‘He’s been given work at Wheal Hope, but only to help clear water from the mine and not as a miner. Pa wants to know Morwenna’s feelings about him before taking him on. In the meantime he’s moved in with a few of the miners who have taken over a cottage halfway between here and the Caradon mines. But I heard you go upstairs when you came in, were you going to tell Morwenna about Alan being here?’
‘I had a number of things to say to her and that was one of them, but she’s asleep and I didn’t want to disturb Jennifer, so it will need to wait until morning.’
Nodding approval, Annie said, ‘I think we both have a few things we want to discuss with Morwenna, but I’d rather you left saying anything until your pa has spoken to her about Alan. He was hoping to do it tonight but she went to bed early and he’s late home so that too will need to keep until morning.’
‘Is what she says likely to make a difference to anything? I thought Pa didn’t like Alan very much.’
‘I don’t think Pa is particularly fond of him, but he did say that Alan has gone up in his opinion for the way he’s behaved over this business with Jacob Barlow. He said Alan wasn’t taken in by Barlow’s claim to represent the rights of the miner and left him as soon as he could. It would appear Alan has shown more common sense than Pa gave him credit for. But whether or not he’s taken on as a Wheal Hope miner depends on what Morwenna has to say about him.’
Nessa thought that had Alan put in an appearance some days earlier Morwenna would have had him in church before the young miner knew what was happening to him … but now?
‘Harriett told me Morwenna’s story of spending much of her time at Elworthy isn’t true and that she hasn’t been near the farm,’ Annie said.
‘Jenken told me the same thing – and that’s something I intend having words with her about,’ Nessa said firmly.
‘Well, save it until Pa has spoken to her, I’m sure we’ll all be able to sort everything out.’
When Piran Pyne took his eldest daughter to one side after breakfast the following morning and asked her to walk to the mine with him, she was concerned about what he might have to say that could not be discussed in the presence of the other members of the family. Deciding it must be something to do with her state of health, she felt able to face such questioning with far more confidence than had it been a few days earlier.
Their conversation began very much as she had anticipated and she was able to tell her father with honesty that she was feeling much better and confident she was on the mend.
Then he said, unexpectedly, ‘Have you got over feeling upset about leaving Alan Toms?’
It was an unexpected question, but carefully composing herself, Morwenna replied, ‘I still think about him sometimes.’
‘If the opportunity arose do you think you would take up with him again?’
‘I’m never going to know, am I?’ she retorted. ‘We’re not likely to go back down west again.’
‘That doesn’t answer my question. Would you, or wouldn’t you?’
As Morwenna pondered the possible reason her father might have asked the question, he said, ‘Perhaps there’s someone else who’s taken his place since you came here?’
The question caused her a moment of panic, thinking her father might have somehow learned about her affair with Tom Miller – from Nessa, perhaps?
She breathed easily once more when he added, ‘… Goran Trebartha, for instance?’
Shaking her head, Morwenna replied, ‘There’s nothing between me and Goran.’ Suddenly remembering she had used seeing Goran as a cover for the time she had spent with Tom Miller, she added hurriedly, ‘Although I did think at one time there could have been, but why are you asking me about Alan now, after all this time?’
‘Because he’s here and wants me to take him on at the Wheal Hope.’
The reply left Morwenna stunned. For a few moments she struggled for words before asking, hesitantly, ‘Have you … taken him on?’
‘Not as a miner. I’ve said I’d use him to help drain the mine and get it working again before I made a decision. But I would-n’t employ him until I’d spoken to you. If you’ve found someone else it would be an embarrassment for you to have him around … and your feelings are important to me and your ma.’
‘Has Alan mentioned me at all?’
‘Yes, he asked after you and said he realized he’d ma
de a mistake in not coming with us when we moved here.’
‘He would say something like that if he’s desperate for work, wouldn’t he?’
‘He would,’ Piran Pyne agreed, ‘and there’s always the possibility he could upset you again, but he told Albert Bolitho that the reason he hadn’t come with us in the first place was because you were so keen on being married it frightened him. It was only after we’d left and he’d had time to think that he realized he’d made a great mistake in letting you come here without him.’
‘He actually said that?’
‘That’s the gist of it, I think.’
‘And you believe him?’
‘I do – and the way he’s conducted himself over the last couple of days has caused me to reconsider the opinion I had of him when we were down west.’
Telling Morwenna of the events involving Alan over the past few days, he added, ‘But, as I’ve said, I’ll not take him on if it’s going to upset you.’
The answer to his original question had never been in doubt in Morwenna’s mind and she suddenly felt happier than at any time for many weeks but, trying not to sound too eager, she said, ‘I don’t think he would have come to the Wheal Hope asking for work unless he meant what he’s said and, if he really means it, I’m willing to give him another chance – although I shall make him prove to me that he is serious this time.’
Chapter 33
MORWENNA RETURNED TO the mine cottage in a state of euphoria – but she soon discovered that not everyone in the family shared her elation. The first person she met was Nessa, carrying water from the butt which caught rainwater channelled from the roof and taking it to the copper in the wash-house built on to one end of the cottage. When filled, a fire would be lit beneath the copper to boil water for the family’s washing.
‘Hello, do you want some help with that?’
The two sisters had hardly been talking for so long that Morwenna’s cheerful and unexpected offer almost caused Nessa to drop the bucket she was carrying.
‘I gather Pa has told you that Alan has been to see him about coming to work at Wheal Hope.’
‘You know about it? Who told you – and when?’
Lowering the heavy bucket to the ground, Nessa said, ‘I was coming to speak to you about it last night, but you were asleep.’
‘For news like that I would have been happy to be woken up. Has Pa told you Alan’s realized he made a mistake by not coming here to be with me in the first place? He’ll marry me now, for certain.’
‘Don’t be too cocksure about it. He’ll want to know what you’ve been doing since you came here – with Goran, for instance.’
‘Oh, I’m not worried about that, I’ll tell him all he needs to know.’
‘I think you’d better tell me all I need to know about it, first.’
Belatedly realizing her sister was seething with scarcely concealed anger, Morwenna shrugged dismissively. ‘What does it matter now? What’s done is done.’
‘That isn’t good enough. You’ve told everyone so many lies about you and Goran that I don’t know what to believe – so I want you to tell me. Was there ever anything going on between the two of you?’
‘Why don’t you ask him? Although he’ll no doubt tell you only what he thinks you want to hear, men are like that, aren’t they?’
As Morwenna turned to go inside the cottage, Nessa said, ‘I don’t intend asking Goran and since you won’t give me an answer I’ll get Alan to ask you. While he’s about it he can ask you about gamekeeper Grimble’s nephew too – and your miscarriage. I did believe that Alan had probably fathered the baby but I suppose when he knows the facts he might feel it was Goran’s, or even Grimble’s nephew’s. Who knows?’
With this, Nessa lifted the bucket of water and began walking towards the wash-house once more.
Running after her, Morwenna demanded, ‘Who told you about Tom Miller? What do you know about us?’
Responding in a similar manner to that adopted by her sister, Nessa replied, ‘I’ll tell Alan what I know and you can ask him.’
‘You wouldn’t, Nessa,’ Morwenna pleaded, ‘Not after all I’ve been through. You wouldn’t spoil my chance of marrying Alan now – it would break my heart, truly it would!’
‘Everything you’ve been through has been entirely your own fault, even though you behave as though you’re the most hard done by person in the whole world and everyone is against you. They’re not, but I’m going to be against you for the way you’ve behaved toward me and what you’ve deliberately done to upset my life.’
Entering the wash-house, Nessa raised the heavy wooden bucket with difficulty and the noise of the water pouring into the copper made further conversation impossible until the bucket was empty.
‘Please, Nessa, I beg you. Please don’t say anything to Alan. I want to marry him more than I’ve ever wanted anything. I always have. There was never anything between me and Goran, I swear it. It was you he was sweet on, not me.’
‘But I thought he gave you a passionate kiss when you gave him the dictionary … that’s what you told me.’
Desperately unhappy and close to tears, Morwenna pleaded, ‘It wasn’t true, I swear it wasn’t. I didn’t know what I was doing, or saying. I just wanted him – or anyone – to marry me. You know why. He did kiss me, but only because I demanded it as payment for taking the book to him and it certainly wasn’t passionate. It was hardly a kiss at all. He just pecked my cheek, then stepped back so quickly I never had a chance to do anything in return. That’s the truth, Nessa, honestly!’
‘That’s what I’ve been told, but I wanted to hear it from you. You’re absolutely horrible, you know that? You must be the worst sister anyone has ever had. I really don’t believe Alan deserves someone like you, he’s not a bad person.’
‘Please, Nessa! I beg you!’ Tears were streaming down Morwenna’s cheeks now.
Pushing past her in order to fetch a final bucket of water, Nessa said, ‘You needn’t worry, I wasn’t going to tell anyone, anyway. All your nasty secrets are safe enough with me, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to trust you again.’
Feeling almost sick with relief, Morwenna followed her sister to the water butt. ‘I’ll never do anything like that again, Nessa, I promise. I won’t ever need to. If Alan marries me, and I’m certain he will, I’ll try never to do a nasty thing to anyone ever again – especially not to you.’
Nessa knew her sister meant every word – at this moment – but she made no reply. Now she knew the truth about Morwenna’s supposed affair with Goran she had other things to think about. There were plans to be made. Pleasant plans…
Chapter 34
AFTER A LENGTHY discussion that went on until far into the night in the privacy of their bedroom, Piran and Annie Pyne agreed they would not seek answers from Morwenna about what she had been doing during the time she claimed to have been at Elworthy Farm with Goran and the following morning when Piran went to the mine he sent Alan to the cottage to talk matters over with Morwenna.
Knowing the couple had a great deal to discuss, Annie agreed to allow them to walk together on the immediate moorland in order to settle their future relationship – if there was to be one.
The young couple were away from the cottage for two hours and when they returned Alan went to the mine and Morwenna joined her mother in the cottage. It was immediately apparent to Annie that there was a complacency about Morwenna that bordered on smugness.
She explained that Alan had apologized abjectly for not coming to Wheal Hope with her after the long and close relationship they had enjoyed together in West Cornwall. He had pleaded to be given another chance, declaring he had been thoroughly miserable during their time apart and had come to appreciate just how much she meant to him.
He further promised that if she forgave him he would ask her father for permission for them to be married as soon as was possible and would do everything within his power to make her happy.
Although Alan was offerin
g her everything she had ever wanted, Morwenna allowed him to think she needed time to consider whether or not to take up with him again – but she did not keep up this pretence for too long.
When she appeared to relent and agree she would marry him, Morwenna stipulated that a physical relationship would not be resumed until they had been made man and wife in a church – and that depended entirely upon her father accepting Alan as his future son-in-law.
When Annie queried why Alan had not returned to the cottage with her, Morwenna explained that he had work to do at the mine and intended finding her father and asking for his permission to marry her.
There were no doubts in the minds of either mother or daughter that Alan’s offer would be accepted, but as time passed with no sign of either Piran or her would-be fiancé, Morwenna became increasingly agitated, remembering that in the past her father had never approved of Alan.
She would have gone to the mine to learn what had gone on between the two men but Annie pointed out this would be seen as unseemly eagerness on Morwenna’s part.
Morwenna accepted her mother’s advice. She had been able to dictate terms for her relationship with Alan that morning and, wishing to continue to hold the advantage, was forced to curb her impatience and wait until her father returned to the cottage at midday. He brought Alan with him, explaining that he had invited the young miner to come and eat with them.
The head of the family’s announcement that Alan had asked for Morwenna’s hand in marriage and had been accepted was greeted with delight by Morwenna, but when Piran said the acceptance was conditional she became suddenly apprehensive. But Piran explained.
‘I’ve told Alan that in view of the fact he and Morwenna haven’t seen each other for some time I feel they need to get to know each other again. I also want to satisfy myself that his foolish escapade with Jacob Barlow was no more than that – a foolish escapade. He now needs to prove to me that he’s ready to settle down to what he does best – mining. I’ve agreed that Alan can marry Morwenna, but the wedding will not take place until spring next year. When that time comes and he’s proved himself to my satisfaction I’ll be pleased to welcome him into the family.’
Bonds of Earth, The Page 17
