Bonds of Earth, The

by Thompson, E. V.

  ‘Then it’s likely to stay empty for a long time. I doubt if I’ll be marrying in the foreseeable future.’

  ‘Don’t be too certain about that,’ Agnes said, enigmatically. ‘There’s none of us can look into the future, and life has a habit of coming up with surprises.’

  Deciding that the subject of his marital status had been debated for long enough, Goran said, ‘Well, I suppose having the extra land would also add value to the farm in the long run.’

  ‘As I have no intention of ever selling up that’s not a consideration, but I’ll let you know when everything is settled.’

  Goran left Roach Farm still convinced that the price Agnes was paying Sir John for the strip of land was too high, but once he had accepted that she was going to buy it anyway, he spent the remainder of the day making plans for the addition to his two farms.

  Sir John Spurre’s solicitor arrived at Roach Farm a few days later, accompanied by the lawyer who managed Agnes’s legal affairs and Goran was called in to act as a witness to her signature. When the legal formalities were completed, Agnes’s lawyer remained behind and she asked Goran to stay too, explaining, ‘If anything were to happen to me right now everything I own would go to Elworthy and there is no telling what would happen to it, so I have had a will drawn up. I would like you to read it.’

  The lawyer passed a number of sheets of parchment to Goran, each filled with neat but bold handwriting and he read them with increasing astonishment. Before he had finished reading the whole of the document he looked up and said, incredulously, to Agnes, ‘You’ve left everything to me … everything! Why?’

  ‘Who else should I leave it to? You’ve been the closest thing to a son I’ve ever had, but it doesn’t come to you without conditions for taking care of Elworthy, if necessary.’

  ‘Ma and me would care for him anyway, Agnes.’

  ‘I know you would – and that’s another reason why I’m making you my beneficiary.’

  ‘I … I’m absolutely flabbergasted! I just don’t know what to say!’

  ‘Then don’t say anything – to anyone. If news of it gets around you’ll have every mother in the area throwing her daughter at you in anticipation. Now, I’ve kept you here long enough. Away you go, you have a farm to run.’

  Acting on impulse, Goran did something he had never dared do before. Crossing to where Agnes was seated, he put his arms about her and kissed her. Then, standing back, he said, ‘I’ll never be able to thank you enough, Agnes … never, but may it be many, many years before the farm becomes mine.’

  Pink with pleasurable embarrassment, Agnes said, ‘Now you’re being almost as foolish as Elworthy. Away with you now before I have second thoughts about it all.’

  Goran had reached the door before Agnes called him back. ‘Goran…?’

  When he turned back to her she said, ‘Don’t waste your kisses on old women. There’s a certain young lady you ought to be charming with them before she gets away from you once again!’

  Goran left Roach Farm scarcely able to believe that one day both Elworthy and Roach lands would belong to him, but he was bewildered by Agnes’s parting words. She could only be talking of Nessa, but how could she possibly know of his feelings for her? Not that it made any difference to anything, she obviously did not know of Nessa’s intention to marry Father Michael.

  Nessa returned to the Wheal Hope the next day, having met Father Michael’s family, and she immediately went on to Morwenna’s house, where Alan had developed a fever which the doctor declared was probably caused by one of the pellets fired by gamekeeper Grimble having infected him.

  The doctor was confident the pellet would not cause Alan long-term problems, but for now it was an anxious time for Morwenna and Nessa was giving support to her sister.

  While Nessa was there Sally remained behind at the Wheal Hope but spent most of each day at Elworthy Farm where she thoroughly enjoyed working about the farm, being quite happy to take on the most menial and mucky tasks – especially if it was helping Jenken.

  Watching her one morning as she was helping Jenken clean out the stables where a number of horses were kept for work about the farm, Goran was joined by Harriet Bolitho, who said, ‘Jenken is going to miss Sally when she returns to London. It’s a pity she can’t remain here, especially as things are going to be difficult for her there when Nessa is married and she needs to make her own way in the world.’

  The thought of Nessa being married to someone else was something Goran constantly tried to push to the back of his mind and her words jolted him. ‘Do you think Nessa and Father Michael will marry?’

  He asked the question in the faint hope that Harriet might express a doubt that might give him a glimmer of hope that such a marriage would not take place. Her reply did nothing to fuel such a hope.

  ‘Sally seems to think so. It seems Nessa got on so well with his parents that Sally thinks they might well announce a date before they leave Cornwall.’

  Chapter 51

  HARRIET’S WORDS CAST a pall of gloom over Goran for the next few days, during which he tried very hard to come to terms with the thought of Nessa being married to someone else. He might have felt better about it had he been able to build up a fierce hatred for the man she was to marry, but Goran admitted to himself that not only was Father Michael a very likeable priest, he was also an exceptional one and a good man. He realized in his more honest moments that Nessa could not have chosen a better man for a husband.

  His unhappiness was compounded every time he opened the drawer in his bedroom and saw the box containing the bracelet he had bought for Nessa at Liskeard Fair. He wondered what might have been had he not been so busy on the farm and had Nessa not gone to London when she did.

  Nessa soon returned to the Wheal Hope because the condition of Alan Toms had improved and Morwenna was confident of being able to cope with looking after him without help. That evening Nessa came to Elworthy Farm to find Sally, who was being taught by a dairy-maid to milk a cow.

  Goran took Nessa to the milking shed where Jenken was watching the proceedings with benign pride as Sally tried to master the skills required to milk a cow. She was not aware of their arrival and Nessa said quietly to Goran, ‘I have never seen her so happy, she is going to miss all this when she returns to the Old Nichol.’

  ‘Jenken is going to miss her too,’ Goran replied. ‘He thinks the world of her.’

  ‘And she of him,’ Nessa said, ‘They make a lovely young couple.’

  There was a silence between them that was beginning to last for too long when Goran asked, ‘Don’t you sometimes miss the countryside too, Nessa?’

  After some hesitation she replied, ‘There are some things I miss very much. I’d forgotten quite how much until I came back here…’

  At that moment the cow being milked drew up a back leg up and kicked back at the bucket. Only swift action by Sally prevented the loss of the milk it contained and as she pulled the bucket clear the milk-maid took her place on the milking-stool, at the same time chiding the cow for its action.

  Standing clear, flushed and happy, Sally announced that she was now ready to return to the Pynes’ home with Nessa.

  Lying in bed that night, thinking of all the events of the past few days, Goran decided upon a course of action that, while it was not what he would have wished, might help to lay the ghost of one of the matters that troubled him more than any other.

  The following morning, leaving Jenken to deal with things at Elworthy Farm, Goran made his way to the Wheal Hope home of the Pynes with a heavy heart. When he arrived at his destination he knocked at the door and waited for someone to appear, trying to compose himself for what lay ahead.

  The door was opened by Annie sho said immediately, ‘Hello, Goran, this is a nice surprise, come inside.’

  ‘I’d rather not, I just want to speak to Nessa briefly, is she up yet?’

  Annie was inclined to insist that he come into the house but there was something in his expression that gave he
r pause. ‘Yes, I’ll call her.’

  Retreating a few paces inside the house she called to Nessa, who, after a few moments appeared at the top of the stairs that led from the bedrooms. Seeing Goran, she hesitated, but before she could say anything, he said, ‘Nessa, I wonder if you would come outside for a few minutes, there is something I would like you to have.’

  Standing back from her daughter when she reached the foot of the stairs, Annie Pyne looked concerned, but Nessa said, ‘Of course, what is it?’

  At that moment, Father Michael put in an appearance from one of the downstairs rooms and, initially nonplussed, Goran gathered his wits and said, ‘Perhaps Father Michael should come too … it really concerns you both.’

  Nessa and Father Michael exchanged quizzical glances, but they both left the house and followed Goran to the gate that was the entrance to the cottage’s small garden. Once there, he turned to them and from a pocket took out the small box that had been in the drawer in his bedroom for more than two years.

  Proffering it to Nessa, he said, ‘I’d like you to have this … both of you. I bought it for you Nessa, before you went to London. It was to be a “Thank you” for the dictionary you gave me and for which you paid Morwenna with a bracelet. I should have given it to you then, but somehow the time was never quite right. It wouldn’t be right now if I gave it only to you, Nessa, but as you and Father Michael are to be married I’d like you to accept it as a gift for when you have a daughter – as I’m sure you will, one day.’

  Nessa exchanged yet another glance with Father Michael before accepting the gift. Opening the box she gave a gasp of delight. ‘It’s beautiful, Goran, but … you say you bought it for me before I went to London? Then what was the bracelet I saw you give to that girl when Jenken was having a ploughing lesson?’

  Goran was puzzled, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, I’ve never given a bracelet to anyone else. This is the only one I’ve ever bought.’

  ‘But I saw you,’ Nessa insisted. ‘You gave it to her and she put it on her wrist looking very happy.’

  Goran was genuinely puzzled … but then he remembered the incident to which she had to be referring. ‘You must be thinking of when Horace Rundle came to Elworthy with his plough and horses and his niece came to see him there. She showed me the bracelet he’d bought for her birthday – from the same man I got this one from. She was very proud of it.’

  Nessa was looking at Goran with increasing dismay. ‘You mean … you never gave her the bracelet?’

  ‘As I said, I’ve never bought a bracelet for anyone else – but I didn’t see you there that day.’

  ‘No, I didn’t stay.’

  Father Michael had been listening to their conversation with great interest and considerable sympathy and now he said, ‘There appears to have been an unfortunate misunderstanding which – if I read it right – is probably the reason you left Cornwall and went to London, Nessa?’

  She could only nod miserably and Father Michael said, ‘I always felt there was some such story in your life … and now there has been another misunderstanding which might have resulted in very similar consequences. Fortunately, this is one that can be swiftly resolved.’

  Addressing Goran, he said, ‘What makes you think Nessa and I are to be married?’

  Taken aback by the question, Goran sought an answer. ‘Why? Well … everyone says so! Isn’t that why you’re both here in Cornwall together, so both your parents can give you their approval?’

  Father Michael smiled. ‘I am afraid everyone – including you – is jumping to a very wrong conclusion. There are a number of reasons why we came to Cornwall together but marriage is certainly not one of them. In fact, as Nessa has always known, when I took over the parish of the Old Nichol I realized I had been set the God-given task of improving the lot of those who lived there. It’s something I took so seriously I made a solemn vow of celibacy in order that I might devote the whole of my life to the task.’

  Aware that Goran was not likely to have come across the word ‘celibacy’ among those he had learned from his dictionary, Nessa said gently, ‘It means that Michael will never ever marry, although he is a wonderful friend to me and to everyone in the Old Nichol.’

  Aware he had made an utter fool of himself, Goran looked from one to the other of them and then, his gaze settling on Nessa, he said, ‘You’ve known about this all along?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Then …’ Not daring to think of what the implications of Father Michael’s words could be for the future, he said pessimistically, ‘But you’ll be going away to London again soon?’

  ‘Now all our stupid misunderstandings have been cleared up that will depend on you, Goran. I don’t know whether Agnes has said anything to you, but she intends having a school built here, in the village. She asked Michael to draw up a design for her and when the subject of teachers was mentioned, Michael suggested I would be the ideal person to teach the older children, with Sally teaching basic lessons to the very youngest.’

  ‘And what did you say?’ Goran waited in an agony of suspense for her reply, but it was Father Michael who spoke for her.

  ‘Nessa felt she would be letting me down by not returning with me to the Old Nichol. I have tried to convince her that thanks to the success of our ragged school I will have no difficulty finding other teachers and I truly believe there is an urgent need for her teaching skills here. Yet I feel her decision will depend very much on what you have to say about it, Goran.’

  Despite his confusion, Goran was never in doubt about what he would say, the only difficulty being how his reply should be phrased. Eventually, he said, carefully, ‘I think Sally is going to enjoy teaching here and Jenken will share her joy. As for Nessa and me … I just can’t find words to tell you exactly how happy I feel about knowing she isn’t to marry you. But, having said that … perhaps you’ll be able to return one day – soon I hope – to marry the both of us.’

  By the Same Author

  THE MUSIC MAKERS

  CRY ONCE ALONE

  BECKY

  GOD’S HIGHLANDER

  CASSIE

  WYCHWOOD

  BLUE DRESS GIRL

  TOLPUDDLE WOMAN

  LEWIN’S MEAD

  MOONTIDE

  CAST NO SHADOWS

  SOMEWHERE A BIRD IS SINGING

  WINDS OF FORTUNE

  SEEK A NEW DAWN

  THE LOST YEARS

  PATHS OF DESTINY

  TOMORROW IS FOR EVER

  THE VAGRANT KING

  THOUGH THE HEAVENS MAY FALL

  NO LESS THAN THE JOURNEY

  CHURCHYARD AND HAWKE

  THE DREAM TRADERS

  BEYOND THE STORM

  GOD’S HIGHLANDER

  HAWKE’S TOR

  BLUE DRESS GIRL

  The Retallick Saga

  BEN RETALLICK

  CHASE THE WIND

  HARVEST OF THE SUN

  SINGING SPEARS

  THE STRICKEN LAND

  LOTTIE TRAGO

  RUDDLEMOOR

  FIRES OF EVENING

  BROTHERS IN WAR

  The Jagos of Cornwall

  THE RESTLESS SEA

  POLRUDDEN

  MISTRESS OF POLRUDDEN

  As James Munro

  HOMELAND

  Copyright

  © E.V. Thompson 2012

  First published in Great Britain 2012

  This edition 2012

  ISBN 978 0 7198 0848 7 (epub)

  ISBN 978 0 7198 0849 4 (mobi)

  ISBN 978 0 7198 0850 0 (pdf)

  ISBN 978 0 7090 9965 9 (print)

  Robert Hale Limited

  Clerkenwell House

  Clerkenwell Green

  London EC1R 0HT

  www.halebooks.com

  The right of E.V. Thompson to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  mpson, E.V., Bonds of Earth, The