The Miner's Wife

by Diane Allen

  ‘No, there’s nowt fresh, Mother, it’s just the same as ever.’ Jack smiled. Sam had been in a mood for days now, and it was all because he thought he’d been dumped by the lass from over at Appersett. Perhaps she had heard about Sam’s wicked ways with women and had thought better than to let him string her along, like he had the others.

  ‘Well, I’ve a bit of news. The shop’s back open, now poor Mary Battersby’s been buried. I went there for some candles for you two today, and good job that I did, seeing as neither of you have any brass. The lass there seems to know you both. She asked about you both last time, if you remember.’

  Betty sat back and watched as both her sons raised their heads.

  ‘Her name’s Meg. I told her straight about Harry. When I said she’d not get any help from him, as he was too busy getting his leg over the woman that runs that boarding house for what that haughty minister of ours calls “colluvies”, she seemed shocked. I think that she thought Harry was as white as snow. She was even more shocked when I explained that “colluvies” is another word for the scum of the earth, according to the minister. She thought that he had no right saying suchlike.’

  Sam stopped eating his dinner. ‘You didn’t say anything to upset her, did you? Did you watch your language?’

  ‘Why, is she something special? She’s nobbut a shop lass. I said you two would probably be calling on her, once you knew she was here. I knew, once I saw her, that she was too bonny for you two to ignore.’ Betty watched as Sam pushed his chair back, leaving half his supper behind on his plate.

  ‘Here, don’t you leave your supper! Where are you going?’ she shouted after Sam, as he walked quickly across the kitchen floor and slammed the door behind him. ‘Well, it seems he knows her better than she was letting on!’ Betty scraped what was left on his plate onto Jack’s. Here, you have his leftovers – it’s too good to waste.’ She looked at Jack, his face telling her everything.

  ‘All I ever get are Sam’s bloody leftovers. Why haven’t I got the gift of the gab, Mother? He’s always one step ahead of me, because of his mouth and his charm. He makes me sick.’ Jack put his head down and finished his extra portion. Better to have a full belly to help soothe his aching heart, he thought, as he gazed out of the window.

  ‘So, she’s taken your eye and all, ’as she? Well, lad, faint heart never won a fair maiden. But don’t you hurt your brother, and don’t let her part you both, else she’ll not be welcome in this house. I didn’t know our Sam knew her that well. We’ll have to see where it goes. Nowhere, I hope. You are my two lads, and I don’t want to part with you yet.’ Betty sighed. ‘Find yourself a different woman at the Reeth Bartle Fair. I’ll give you both some money out of the savings box. It’ll do you both good, but no arguing over that flibbertigibbet in the shop. She’ll not be worth the pain.’ Betty ruffled Jack’s dark hair. ‘There’s a lass out there for you somewhere, lad, she just hasn’t met you yet. But as I say, your mother still needs you, so there’s no hurry in finding her.’

  ‘But I know where she is, and she shouldn’t be with our Sam – he’ll break her heart. He loves and leaves each one and doesn’t care. But this one’s different, Mother, she’s kind and she doesn’t deserve to be treated badly.’ Jack hung his head.

  ‘Well, happen your brother will change with this one. Happen this time he’s serious.’ Betty kissed her eldest son on his brow and went to the stone sink with the dirty plates. How she wished the bonny lass in the shop had not come to Swaledale. She could see that her lads were smitten with her, by the look on Jack’s face, and there were bound to be tears and words between them before, hopefully, she went back to her true home.

  11

  ‘Meg, there’s somebody hammering on the shop door. Go and tell them we are closed, and that they’ll have to come back tomorrow,’ Harry yelled as he ate the bacon-and-egg pie that Meg had taken out of the oven and served him, on his return from his long ‘walk’, which had strangely kept him away from home all day.

  ‘Yes, Uncle Harry.’ She quickly came out of the pantry and walked through the shop, unbolting the door as it rattled to another round of blows. ‘I’m coming, but we are closed. Can you not read?’ Meg drew back the bolt and opened the door, stopping short in her tracks when there in front of her stood Sam, leaning with one hand on the door lintel and the warmest smile on his face she had ever seen.

  ‘So, my mother was right: it is you working here. I didn’t dare believe it. I thought she must have got it wrong.’ Sam stepped forward and almost entered the shop.

  Meg pushed him gently back onto the street and closed the shop door behind her. ‘I can’t let you in. Harry’s in the back, having his supper, and he’ll tell my mum and dad that you’ve been calling, when they come to check up on me and deliver the butter on Thursday.’ She smiled at Sam and started to laugh, as she noticed that his braces were hanging loose at the sides of his trousers. ‘Haven’t you had time to dress to come and see me?’

  ‘Oh, my mother told me over the supper table that you were here. And I’d just had a wash and I always leave the braces hanging, before putting them on for the rest of the evening. I’d forgotten, I was in such a rush to see you.’ Sam ran his fingers through his curly black hair and then pulled his braces over his shoulders, tucking his white shirt into his corduroy breeches. ‘I had to see if it was true, check that Mother wasn’t seeing things, and know why you didn’t come and meet me the other week.’ He propped his hand against the doorway and looked down on the girl who had taken his fancy – the one he hoped to have his way with.

  ‘I couldn’t. Aunt Mary had died and then there was the funeral. But I’m working here every day now for the next month or so, until Uncle Harry gets back on his feet.’ Meg looked up into Sam’s blue eyes and longed to kiss him. It was true: absence did make the heart grow fonder, and she’d wished for this moment.

  ‘Meg! Who is it? Tell them to bugger off. We are open long enough. If they can’t get what they want in the hours we are open, then they needn’t come knocking on my door,’ Harry yelled from within.

  ‘I’ll have to go! Meet me down at the turn-off for Crackpot, next to the big bridge over the River Swale, about seven tomorrow evening.’ Meg turned to go and opened the shop door, hoping that Harry had not heard the conversation.

  ‘Aye, I’ll be counting the minutes – nay, even the seconds, come to that.’ Sam grinned and then shouted, ‘Thanks for the gripe-water. If that baby doesn’t stop crying, I’ll chuck it and the missus out onto the street.’ He blew Meg a kiss and ran back home along the street.

  Meg watched him and then locked the door behind her.

  ‘Who was that, then?’ Harry grunted.

  ‘Some miner, by the looks of him. His wife had sent him for something for colic, so I gave him a bottle of gripe-water from the top shelf. Poor devil, he looked fraught.’ Meg put the plates away, hoping their lie would not be detected.

  ‘He should have made it cinder tea. Drop a red-hot cinder into some warm water – that’s the best cure. Still, if he wants to spend his brass with me, who am I to complain?’ Harry stretched out and looked at his young assistant. ‘You look as if you’ve been busy today, and the shop takings are good. Perhaps they prefer to see a bonny face behind the counter, instead of this miserable ’un.’

  ‘I think everyone was just glad you were open again. They’d missed the convenience,’ Meg said as she tidied the supper things away.

  ‘Aye, well, I enjoyed my day of freedom, so I might do it again tomorrow. I feel a lot better for it. But I’ll have to be about when your mother and father come on Thursday. Otherwise, I think the shop’s in good hands with you running it. And my belly certainly appreciated your cooking this evening. Mary was right, God rest her soul. She knew that you’d look after me.’ Harry sighed and then went to sit next to the fire.

  ‘Would you mind if I went for a walk myself of an evening, to get a breath of fresh air and clear my head before bedtime? I’ll be back before twilight,’ Meg a
sked Harry coyly, paving the way for her meeting with Sam the next evening.

  ‘As long as you’ve done what there is to do, the time’s your own. But you take care, walking around on your own at dusk. The miners over here come from all walks of life, and some wouldn’t think twice of taking advantage of a young thing like you. There’s more bairns born out of wedlock than in, over in this dale. But perhaps I’ve said too much; it’s up to your parents to keep you straight over suchlike.’ Harry reached for his pipe and newspaper and left Meg washing the dishes.

  She smiled to herself as she thought about her rendezvous with Sam. The hours could not pass quickly enough for her to get back to her lead-miner. He was different from the rest; he wouldn’t take advantage of her or lead her astray. Yes, he was confident, but surely that was a good thing. Her parents were definitely wrong when it came to Sam. Anyway, he’d found her, so that was nothing but good, in her eyes. As for Harry and his daily ‘walk’, well, that was good too, for she was her own boss and she quite liked being a shop girl and housekeeper for him.

  Customers came and went all day. Frank Metcalfe delivered his baking and smirked when Meg told him she was in charge once again. A delivery of chandlery goods was made, which Mary had placed before she died, and Meg found herself raiding whatever money she had earnt to pay for the goods, leaving her short of change for the next customers. She would have to say something to Harry that evening. She was balancing the books purely with the money that came in through the till. Surely he had extra funds, for goods ordered? Along with that, no money or wage had ever been mentioned to her, but now Meg was beginning to think that perhaps she was being used as slave labour while Harry wandered with his love, if the gossip was true.

  Her heart fluttered as she finally turned the notice on the door to ‘Closed’. Another hour and she would be meeting Sam, down by the banks of the Swale. She was glad the weather had held; the clouds had threatened rain all day, but now, as evening approached, the sun had broken through and it was warm and inviting outside. Meg heard the latch of the kitchen door being lifted. She’d give Harry his due: he timed his return spot-on, and by six o’clock on both evenings he had appeared like magic, just as the day’s work in the shop had ended.

  ‘That you, Uncle Harry?’ Meg shouted through to the kitchen as she discarded her shop apron behind the counter, before stepping into the kitchen. The smell of mutton stew cooking in the side-oven filled the room as she made her way through the doorway.

  ‘It’s me, Megan. I did knock, but you didn’t hear me, so I tried the door.’ Jack stood in front of her, looking down at his shoes, aware that he’d not officially been invited into the living quarters of the village shop.

  ‘Jack, what are you doing here? Is Sam alright? Has he sent you to tell me he can’t join me later?’ Meg looked worriedly at the quiet man.

  ‘No, but I’m here to warn you not to meet him. Sam’s a good man, but when it comes to women, he breaks their hearts and doesn’t care. Don’t you give your heart to him, Megan, you deserve better.’ Jack bowed his head, knowing that to say such things about his brother was not showing any family loyalty.

  ‘You mean perhaps I deserve you? Could this be jealousy between brothers? I’m meeting Sam, and you can’t stop me. If he is like you say, I’ll find out in my own time,’ Meg snapped. She’d expected better of Jack, as she thought both brothers were close.

  ‘I just wanted to warn you. I don’t mean to upset you. I’ll be on my way. But take care, that’s all I’m saying. Sam sometimes shows no respect to his women. He’ll use you, Meg, like he has so many other young women. Please don’t be fooled by his charming ways.’

  Jack walked slowly out of the kitchen door, leaving Meg wondering what his confession about his brother was all about. She breathed in and got on with laying the supper table, thinking all the time of the words said by Jack. Surely it was jealousy; she’d seen how the quieter of the two had looked at her. But it was Jack’s loss – he should have been more forward, like his brother. His warning only served to make her more determined to court Sam, and convinced that Jack should mind his own business.

  ‘Now then, lass! Was that Jack Alderson I saw, coming away from here? He’s not been bothering you, has he? Him and his brother are a bit wild. That Sam is a bugger with the women, so I understand; broken many a lass’s heart. So you keep them two at arm’s length, else your father will have something to say to both of us, I expect.’ Harry threw his cap onto his fireside chair and sat down at the table. ‘Timed that well, haven’t I? Supper smells good.’

  ‘No, nobody’s been here, apart from the usual customers in the shop. I don’t know the Alderson lads, and I’ll keep away from them if they are that bad.’ Meg placed the dish of red-hot mutton stew on the table and started to spoon it out onto plates, ready for eating.

  ‘Aye, it’s as well you do. I promised both your mother and your father I’d look after you, and we will have no trailing tomcats calling, when you are under my roof. Now how did the shop do today? I forgot to tell you: if you get a delivery, the brass is in the desk in the other room. Just make sure you lock the desk and leave me a receipt of what you’ve paid for.’ Harry smiled across at her.

  ‘I paid for some chandlery goods that were delivered from Richmond out of the till’s takings, but I do have a receipt.’ Meg looked across at Harry as they both ate their meal.

  ‘You must have made some money today, then, if you were able to do that? I’ll fill your till up and check the stock while you go on your walk. You deserve a bit of time to yourself. And I’ll wash the pots. Else the day will be nearly done by the time you get out.’ Harry tucked into his mutton stew and said nothing more as they both ate.

  ‘I’ll be away, then.’ Meg wrapped her shawl around her and made for the back door.

  ‘Aye, be back by nine, else it’ll be pulling in dark. The dinner plates will be washed by the time you come back.’ Harry yawned as he watched Meg close the door behind her, and thought he’d rest his eyes for five minutes before tackling his one chore of the day.

  Once out on the street, Meg started to run down the road, passing over the bridge that spanned Gunnerside Gill and past the market cross surrounded by well-weathered stone cottages, then down the road, which was still bordered on either side with late-flowering cow parsley and buttercups, until she reached the wide river bridge that spanned the mighty River Swale. There she could see Sam, waiting for her on the arch of the bridge. He was looking down into the deep waters, concentrating on something that had caught his eye. She had mulled over the words of warning said by Jack about his brother, and those of her Uncle Harry, but had decided to dismiss them. One lot had been made through jealousy and the other because her parents had lectured Harry about keeping her virtuous.

  ‘Sorry I’m late. Uncle Harry has only just finished his supper, and I didn’t close the shop until gone six.’ Meg stood breathlessly next to Sam. She looked at him and felt her stomach churning. She’d never felt like this before, almost light-headed and stuck for words, as she felt a flush come to her cheeks and urges that she had never previously experienced.

  ‘No matter, you are here now. Besides, I’ve been admiring tomorrow night’s supper. Look at the big bugger – it’s the largest salmon I’ve seen up here for a long time. I’ll come back later and catch it.’ Sam gazed down into a still part of the river, where the salmon was floating gently in the shelter of the shade of the bank. ‘I hope it stops where it is. I can lie down on the side of the bank and tickle it. Anyway, never mind the fish – you are here, and that’s all that matters.’ Sam turned round and grabbed Meg’s hand. ‘Come on, we’ll go and sit under the bridge and then nobody can see us.’ He showed Meg the smile that had captivated her. He pulled on her arm and led her down by the riverside, to a sandy and pebble-strewn river bank, where he took off his jacket for them both to sit on. ‘There, my lady, just for you.’ He sat down and held out his hand for Meg to join him.

  ‘Why thank you, sir, you are
so kind.’ Meg held Sam’s hand and pulled her long skirt around her legs, to join him beside the river.

  ‘So, how was your day? I still can’t believe you are here in Swaledale, after all those lectures your parents gave you. And then they let you come and stay.’ Sam looked at Meg as she threw a stone in the river, scaring his fish. ‘Hey, don’t disturb my salmon!’

  ‘Oh, sorry, I forgot. No, I can’t quite believe it, either. Although Uncle Harry is watching me; he gave me a small lecture before I came out – not as bad as my mother and father, though. Anyway, he can’t say anything. I think he’s got a woman in Reeth he visits every day, and I’ve hardly seen him since I came to live with him. As long as his breakfast and supper are on the table, and the shop is looked after, I don’t think he’d say a word to anyone. He just needs an easy life.’ Meg looked at Sam.

  ‘Aye, that will be her that has the boarding house on the green. Everybody knows he’s been going with her, even though Mary was so ill. I suppose he had to get his oats somewhere, the old devil.’ Sam chuckled. ‘There’s no fool like an old fool, so my mother says. But perhaps he’s not such a fool – a kiss and a cuddle make life go round.’ Sam placed his hand round Meg’s waist and pulled her towards him. ‘Give me a kiss, Meg, just one. You know you want to.’ Sam squeezed her tightly and put his other arm round her.

  ‘I don’t know if I should, Sam. Please don’t hold me so tight.’ Meg pushed him away slightly.

  ‘Go on, Meg, don’t be such a prude – you don’t know what you are missing.’ Sam squeezed her tightly again and closed his eyes, then kissed her passionately, while Meg protested at first and then, enjoying the first real act of love ever shown to her, relaxed and let him kiss her again. Both of them lay back on the shingle beside the stream. Sam decided he’d try his luck a little further and ran his hand up the outside of her skirts, only for Meg to smack his hand and sit up straight.