by Val Wood
Solemnly they surveyed the pile of bricks. They were swathed in bramble and a small hawthorn tree was growing through the middle of them.
‘If it’s been a house, where’s ’chimney pot?’ Susannah said in a sullen voice. If it had been a house, her house, how was it that it was burned down?
Thomas eagerly searched around. ‘We could build a den wi’ all o’ these. Look,’ he said excitedly. ‘Here’s a bit o’ chimney pot – it’s all blackened inside. And here’s a hinge! Bet that’s off ’door. ’Door would’ve burned.’
‘I want to go home,’ Susannah said suddenly. ‘I don’t want to stay.’ She felt frightened. She needed Aunt Lol to tell her that it wasn’t true. That Daniel had been making up stories. A dark shadow settled about her head and shoulders and it wasn’t just the rain clouds which were gathering above them. It was an obscure feeling of gloom and unhappiness; an awareness of raw emotion which she didn’t understand, but which seemed to linger here. There was a sudden agitation and beating of wings and a flock of Brent geese rose quivering from the saltmarsh and flew in across the lonely land, their haunting cry calling, ‘Come back. Come back.’
Thomas got a smack from his mother when she discovered where they had been, and they were told that they were not to go so far out of the village again. Susannah found that she couldn’t ask about the burned-down building, for she didn’t know what questions to ask, but she did see Aunt Lol take Daniel to one side, and with a pointing finger give him a warning over something.
She and Thomas were given jobs to occupy them for the rest of the summer. Susannah was told to pick beans and peas and shell them, and Thomas to dig up the new potatoes that were ready, and to search for fallen tree branches and chop wood for the coming winter. When autumn came, Susannah went back to school, but Thomas was allowed time off to help with the harvest.
In November they shared their birthday celebrations as the dates were so close, and on the day before Susannah was eleven she made a cake. ‘Is it a bothday cake, then?’ Thomas asked, poking a finger into the mixture and tasting it. ‘Tastes like ginger parkin to me!’
‘It is ginger parkin,’ Susannah said. ‘But it’s still a birthday cake, cos we’ll eat it on our birthday tomorrow.’
‘It’s not my bothday till December,’ Thomas said. ‘But I’m still older than you.’
‘I know that, silly,’ she replied, giving him a shove with her elbow. ‘And get your fingers out of it, or there won’t be enough.’
‘My last week at school, then,’ Thomas said gleefully. ‘Da says I don’t have to go any more after I’m twelve. Bet you wish it was you!’
‘No, I don’t,’ she said calmly. ‘I like going, and Miss says that I can help her teach ’little ones next year.’
Thomas jeered. ‘Anyway, I’m off out fer a bit.’
‘Don’t be long,’ his mother called after him. ‘Supper’s nearly ready and your da will be in any minute.’
‘I’ll just be larkin’ outside.’ He opened the door, and then said, ‘Somebody’s coming. I think it’s ’agent coming for ’rent.’
‘I hope not,’ Lol muttered. ‘It’s not due yet, or if it is, I haven’t got it.’
They were going through a difficult period just now. Ben had taken a good deal of time off work due to his aching bones, and his wages had been reduced. Sometimes when he came home from work he could hardly put one leg in front of the other, and although he had made a stout stick to lean on and help him walk, he was in a great deal of pain.
It wasn’t the agent. It was Joseph Ellis. He dismounted and took off his hat as he came to the door, and asked Thomas if he would hold his horse’s reins. He glanced at Susannah standing at the table with a wooden spoon in her hand.
‘Baking?’ he asked, pressing his fingers to his mouth.
‘Yes, sir,’ she said diffidently. ‘It’s my birthday tomorrow and Thomas’s in three weeks, so I’m making us a cake.’
He nodded, his eyes on her. ‘How very grown up you are becoming.’ His voice was low and husky. He turned to Aunt Lol. ‘I have come, as ever,’ he said, sounding tired, and Susannah glanced curiously at him.
‘You don’t need to, sir,’ Lol said quietly. ‘In fact, I think it’d be best if you didn’t. Years are passing. Everybody has to get on with their lives. It’s going to be more awkward as time goes on. We can mek some other arrangements.’
Susannah saw him give a silent sigh which seemed to come from deep within him, and he said softly, speaking to Aunt Lol but looking at her, ‘I think you are right, Mrs Marston. You always were wise.’
‘Not really, sir.’ Lol stood with her back to Susannah, so that her view of Mr Ellis was obscured, and she bent her head to give the mixture a final beat. When she lifted her head, Aunt Lol had moved and had put her hand in her apron pocket.
Joseph gazed down at Susannah and gave her a wistful smile. ‘I trust you’ll have an enjoyable birthday, Susannah – and a happy life.’ He dug his hand into his pocket and took out a gold sovereign which he placed on the corner of the table. ‘That’s for you to buy yourself a special present,’ he said. Then he took out another coin and, going through the door, gave that to Thomas. ‘Are you still at school?’ he asked the beaming boy.
‘Onny till my bothday,’ Thomas said. ‘Then I can leave and look fer work.’
‘Come and see me,’ Joseph said. ‘I’ll see if we can find a place for you on the estate.’
‘He’s give me a shilling!’ Thomas said after he had gone. ‘A bob for me to spend!’ He caught sight of the shiny sovereign on the table and reached to grab it. ‘What’s that? Is that worth more’n a bob?’
‘No.’ His mother scooped it up away from Thomas’s grubby hand. ‘This is Susannah’s and it isn’t for spending like a shilling. She’ll keep it until such time as she needs it.’
CHAPTER NINETEEN
In June the following year, Uncle Ben died. He came home from work, ate his supper, sat in his chair with a freshly filled clay pipe in his hand, and left them.
‘I allus knew he’d make no fuss,’ Aunt Lol said, her face drawn but tight-lipped and dry-eyed. ‘He was nivver one to be any bother. Allus treated me right. Nivver once hit me. But oh dear me, now what shall we do?’
‘I’ll soon be able to work, Aunt Lol.’ Susannah knew exactly what she meant. Without Uncle Ben’s wages, there would be serious shortages. Sally had left home. She had said that she might as well be paid to be a drudge in someone else’s house as be an unpaid one at home; but the wages were poor, as were those of Jane, who still worked in the kitchen at Burstall House, and neither of them could send much money home. Daniel worked as a farm labourer, but he flitted from job to job and earned barely enough to keep himself, whilst Thomas had only just started work as least lad, the lowest horse lad on Mr Ellis’s estate, and wouldn’t be paid wages until the following Martinmas. As for the others of Aunt Lol’s large brood, they had all gone their separate ways and came home infrequently.
‘I could go to ’new mill in Patrington, Aunt Lol,’ Susannah said. ‘They’re taking some bairns as half-timers.’ Enholmes flax mill had opened in 1848. The wages were better than average and workers were flocking there. There were even houses being built to accommodate them.
‘I’ll mek some enquiries about that,’ Lol said, and Susannah assumed she meant that she would ask about a job of work for her. But Lol put on her best bonnet and shawl and took herself off to speak to Mrs Ellis – senior, not the French one; when she came back she told Susannah she was to stay on at school. Lol then found some work in the village, where she hired herself out as a washerwoman in some of the farmhouses where they kept only one servant.
‘We’ll manage fine now,’ she said. ‘There’s onny ’two of us, after all.’
Two of them, but soon to be three. Jane came home in tears, having been dismissed by the cook at Burstall House.
‘She’s nivver liked me,’ Jane sobbed. ‘And now she’s got an excuse to get shut o’ me.’
‘You daft lump,’ Lol shouted at her. ‘You should’ve known better than carry on wi’ somebody from ’same place o’ work.’
‘Well how’m I supposed to meet anybody from anywhere else?’ Jane retaliated. ‘We nivver had a minute to go out and meet other people. Anyway,’ she snivelled, ‘he says he’ll marry me.’
‘So who is he?’ Lol demanded. ‘This darling duck. This honey pot!’
‘Wilf Topham.’ Jane wiped her eyes. ‘He promised me it’d be all right.’
Lol grunted. ‘And you believed him! You’ve less sense than I gave you credit for. What does he do at Ellis’s?’
‘He works wi’ hosses. Wi’ Jack Terrison. Our Daniel knows him.’
Lol gave a big sigh. ‘He says he’ll marry you? Is that what you want?’ And at Jane’s tearful assent, she said reluctantly, ‘I’d better go and see him then.’
‘He goes to ’Sun in Skeffling on a night,’ Jane said. ‘That’s where he meets our Daniel and some of ’other lads. I’m sorry, Ma. I nivver thought it’d happen to me, not like—’ She glanced at Susannah.
‘That’s enough said,’ her mother barked. ‘You’re old enough to have known better. It’ll not be easy, you know,’ she added. ‘Having your first bairn at nigh on twenty-six.’
Susannah glanced up from her school books with interest. She hadn’t realized that Jane was so old. She seemed young. Small and thin and quite childlike, and without much to say about anything except what happened in the kitchen at Burstall House. But then, Susannah considered, Jane had never been to school and hadn’t been taught how to think. Yet even this puzzled her, for she knew that Aunt Lol hadn’t been to school either and she was as sharp as could be and had an opinion on most subjects.
The following night Lol tramped the three miles to Skeffling. Susannah offered to go with her, but it was a cold rainy night, and Lol said there was no use in them both getting wet. She put on Ben’s rubber boots, his cap and her two shawls and set off, planning what to say to this man who had seduced her daughter. He would say, she was sure, that Jane was old enough to do as she wanted. She wasn’t a child but a grown woman.
‘Which she is. But she’s not right sharp,’ she muttered as she bent her head against the rain. ‘And I thought she’d be safe at Burstall.’ And if I’m honest, she reflected, I never thought that any man would want her. But there, you can never tell. On the other hand, though, perhaps he took advantage of her. Yes, that’s it. That’s the route to go. He’s taken advantage of her because she’s gullible. Well, we’ll see what sort of man he is.
She waited, shivering, in the doorway of the Sun Inn and eventually saw Daniel and an older man approach.
‘Ma!’ Daniel came up, shaking the water from his hat. ‘What’s up? What ’you doing here? Has summat happened?’
‘Aye, you could say that! I’m waitin’ on Wilfred Topham. I hear as he’s a friend o’ yourn.’
‘Why – this is him!’ Daniel turned to his companion. ‘What do you want wi’ him?’
Lol was surprised to see how old Topham was; at least ten years older than Jane, she thought, and not a handsome man either. He was short and bow-legged with a mean craggy face. ‘Are you ’fellow that’s been carryin’ on wi’ my daughter Jane? ’Chap that’s got her into trouble?’
Topham sniffed derisively. ‘Why would it be me? What makes you think that? I hardly know her.’
‘You know her all right, cos she says so. Got dismissed from work cos of it.’
‘Why – you owd devil!’ Daniel burst out. ‘Wi’ our Jane?’ He lifted his fist but his mother intervened.
‘We’ll have no violence,’ she said. ‘We’ll sort this out once and for all. Are you a married man?’ she asked Topham. ‘You’re old enough to be!’
‘I’m not,’ he said, his voice surly. ‘Nor likely to be.’
‘That’s what you think!’ Daniel said. ‘If Jane’s got caught then you’ll marry her.’
‘Says who?’ Topham snarled. ‘It could’ve been anybody!’
Daniel caught him by his collar. He was taller by far than the older man. ‘She doesn’t lie.’ He glared at him. ‘She don’t know how to. She’s not that bright. You’ve tekken advantage of her!’
‘Put him down, Daniel,’ Lol said. ‘If he doesn’t want to get wed, then that’s all right; but I’ll mek sure that Mr Ellis knows you’ve dishonoured an innocent young woman and we’ll see how long it teks for you to pack up and leave.’
‘He wouldn’t do that,’ Topham blustered, but Lol noticed that he fidgeted uneasily.
‘I think you’ll find that he will,’ Lol said firmly. ‘And don’t think that I’ll welcome somebody like you into ’family, cos I won’t; but our Jane can’t support herself wi’ a bairn to look after, and I find it hard enough to mek ends meet anyway.’
‘Hey, Ma!’ A young voice came out of the gloom. ‘What ’you doin’ here?’
Lol turned in astonishment to see Thomas coming towards the inn. ‘What ’you doing, more like?’ she answered.
‘I said I’d meet Daniel.’ He grinned. ‘I’m going to have my first pint of ale.’
‘You’ll have nowt of ’sort!’ Lol reached out and smacked Thomas across the side of his head. ‘Get yourself back to ’farm and off to bed. Is this what you get up to when I’m not here to watch you?’
‘I’m nearly old enough.’ Thomas rubbed his smarting ear. ‘Dan said it’d be all right.’
‘Did he?’ Lol glared now at Daniel, who gave a shrug. ‘Well I’m telling you it’s not! Now get off back like I tell you. You’ve a job o’ work to do in ’mornin’ and you’ll not be able to do it wi’ a skinful o’ beer. Time enough for that when you’re older and able to handle it.’
Thomas slunk off and Lol folded her arms in front of her chest. She was feeling really cold, but determined to get the matter finished. ‘So,’ she said. ‘We were saying.’
‘You said no violence, Ma, but you’ve just given our Tom a clout,’ Daniel commented. ‘And that’s what I’ll give this lover here if he doesn’t wed our Janey. Don’t think I won’t,’ he said to Topham, ‘just because I know you.’
‘Now hold on!’ Topham said. ‘I didn’t say as I wouldn’t. It’s just come as a bit of a surprise, that’s all. Me and Jane have had a bit of a fling and I’ll do ’right thing by her if ’bairn is mine.’
‘He won’t want to lose his job and that’s a fact, Ma,’ Daniel told her as if Topham wasn’t there. ‘He was took on as head waggoner last Martinmas. Jack Terrison wanted ’job, but he was given it instead.’
‘So you’re earning good money?’ Lol said. ‘Able to keep a wife?’
‘I suppose so.’ Topham grimaced. ‘But it’s not what I’d planned.’
‘Should’ve kept your breeches buttoned then, shouldn’t you?’ Lol said bitterly. ‘I know it teks two, unless you forced her—’
‘I didn’t, missus,’ he interjected. ‘Honest to God, I didn’t. She were willing enough.’
‘So you’ll marry her?’ Lol said. ‘Mek it legal and pay for ’bairn?’
‘Aye,’ he said reluctantly. ‘If I must. But I live in; what’ll we do about that? I’ve got no house.’
‘Jane can live wi’ us for ’time being,’ Lol said. ‘We’ll sort summat out later.’ She glanced at Daniel. ‘You’ll mek sure he keeps his promise? He’ll not change his mind after a few beers?’
‘He’ll not, Ma.’ Daniel glared menacingly at Topham, and told him, ‘You’ll not want to mess about wi’ Ma. If she says she’ll go and see Ellis, she will.’
‘That’s what I reckoned,’ Topham said later, as they sat over their ale. ‘Your ma looks ’sort who could stir up trouble if she’d a mind to.’ He rubbed his hand across his mouth. ‘I hadn’t planned to settle down wi’ a wife, though. I can’t see me livin’ wi’ your Jane. I mean she’s not ’sort you’d want to be tied to, is she?’
‘Just watch your mouth!’ Daniel said sharply. ‘Any road, Ma wouldn’t want you to set up house wi’ he
r; they’ll just want your name on ’birth certificate. So it’s not a bastard like young—’ He stopped abruptly and gazed into his tankard. ‘It means a lot to Ma,’ he said awkwardly. ‘Doing things right and proper.’
Topham eyed him curiously. ‘Like young who?’ he asked.
‘Nobody.’ Daniel lifted his tankard to his lips. ‘Forget it.’
‘Oh, I’m so cold!’ Lol was soaked to the skin and shivering by the time she arrived home. ‘Who would think it was summer? I thought I was nivver going to get here.’ Her teeth chattered. ‘’Road was full o’ potholes and I kept cocklin’ into ’em. Stoke ’fire up, Susannah. Jane, you fill ’kettle and mek me a drink. I’m going to get into bed to try to get warm. I’ll catch me death otherwise.’
Susannah and Jane scurried round and Susannah took a blanket from her own bed and put it round Lol’s shoulders. ‘Shall I put a brick in ’oven, Aunt Lol? That’ll warm you up.’
‘Yes, please.’ Lol huddled down beneath the bedclothes. ‘Anyway, Topham says he’ll marry you, Jane. Our Daniel’ll see that he sticks to his word. Not that I liked him,’ she muttered. ‘You can get shut of him as soon as you’re wed. Just so long as he gives ’babby a name and meks a contribution towards its keep.’
‘Where’s ’sense in that?’ Jane said, holding the cup of hot tea. ‘He’s got to help me bring it up. I’ll not be able to manage on me own!’
‘Give us that tea, you dozy ha’p’orth.’ Her mother stretched out her hand for the cup and sipped. ‘You can live here wi’ ’bairn! We’ll help you, me and Susannah. We don’t need him. He lives in at Ellis’s anyway, which is just as well cos I don’t want him here and that’s a fact.’
The next morning Lol was sweaty and had a head cold. ‘I’ve caught a chill,’ she mumbled. ‘Susannah, you go wi’ Jane down to ’choch and arrange for ’banns to be read. Tell ’parson it’s got to be quick – no hanging about. He’ll know what you mean. And if he’s not in ’choch,’ she added, ‘you’ll have to walk over to Holmpton cos that’s where he lives.’
