Like Father, Like Son

by Diane Allen

  ‘Hello, hello, Polly!’ Tobias caught sight of her striped dress as she fled around the side of the barn. ‘Polly! Polly, can I have a word?’ He took off his riding gloves and started walking over to the group of buildings that he had seen Polly vanish behind.

  ‘Can I help you, Mr Middleton?’ Edmund came out of the porch upon hearing the arrival of a horse in the yard and then a man’s voice calling for Polly. He was surprised to see the flamboyant form of Tobias Middleton in his yard, and even more surprised that he knew Polly’s name.

  ‘Hmm, yes. Mr Harper, I presume . . . ?’ Tobias held out his hand to shake.

  Edmund stared at him. He’d heard plenty about the lad who stood in front of him, but up until now he’d had nothing to do with him. His father had been a wrong ’un, but his mother and the lad who stood in front of him seemed to be hard workers. Albeit a different kind from the quiet living that Edmund and his family were used to.

  ‘Aye, that’s me, what can I do for you?’ Edmund shook Tobias’s hand and looked at the neatly dressed young man. From the way he was dressed, he would never have thought Tobias was a farmer, if he hadn’t have known otherwise.

  ‘Mmm, I believe I have something that belongs to you, Mr Harper. Are you missing a Herdwick with triplets?’ Tobias waited for an answer, while trying to keep in his periphery the farm buildings and the skirt that he could just spy, hiding at the side of the shed.

  ‘Aye, I am, lad. Have they made their way up to you at Grouse Hall? They must have run like the wind to have gone that far.’ Edmund couldn’t believe they had walked so far, especially the lambs.

  ‘Well, Jed Mathews tells me that they are yours, so I’ve penned them in my barn, until it’s convenient to pick them up.’ Tobias watched the elderly man, as he thought about the distance between farms and the probability of the sheep being his.

  ‘Oh! Well, if Jed says they are ours, he’ll be right. He knows his sheep, does old Jed. Does he still shepherd for you then? He must be a good age – he’s older than me, is the old devil.’ Edmund smiled.

  ‘Yes, he’s a good man. Bit of rheumatism in his knees, but he’s a good help. I’d have been lost without him this lambing time. I’ve taken on a bit too much, I think.’ Tobias leaned against the garden wall and looked around him. ‘You’ve a grand farm here, Mr Harper. Lovely position, and it’s got a stunning view across the valley.’ Tobias smirked as he saw Polly’s face quickly glance around the side of the building.

  ‘Aye, I’m lucky fifth-generation here. It does us proud. We manage to keep our heads above water anyway, and that’s more than a lot can say, in this day and age. Now, about these sheep, do you want me and our lass to come and pick them up?’ Edmund thought it was only right that he offered to bring them back home.

  ‘If you could. I’ll keep them in the barn until you have the time. They aren’t any bother to me.’ Tobias walked to his horse.

  ‘Polly and I will be along this afternoon. Did I hear you shouting her name? She was cleaning the calf-hut out.’ Edmund questioned the young man as he mounted his horse.

  ‘I think you must be mistaken. I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure of meeting your daughter yet, Mr Harper. I look forward to meeting her later in the day.’ Edmund pulled on his gloves, tightened his reins and kicked his dapple into motion. ‘See you later, sir!’

  Edmund watched as the landed gent made his way down the path, and he watched as Tobias opened the gate without bothering to dismount, before he crossed the bridge. How the hell had the old sheep, along with its three lambs, managed to walk nearly five miles in such a short time? It was a marvellous animal, if he was telling the truth.

  ‘You can come out now. I can see you hiding by the side of the shed,’ Edmund shouted to Polly. ‘What are you skulking for anyway? He was shouting your name, wasn’t he?’ Edmund watched as Polly walked with her head down across the yard.

  Polly blushed.

  ‘How do you know him?’ Edmund asked as she brushed past him.

  ‘I met him when I was on my walk up Mallerstang. He only asked my name and wished me a good day.’ Polly looked shyly at her father.

  ‘Aye, well, keep it that way. I’ll have to take you to help with these sheep, but don’t you encourage him. He’s not like us. He’s been brought up different, our Polly, and he perhaps wouldn’t treat you right.’ Edmund put his arm around Polly’s shoulder.

  ‘I know, my mother said,’ cried Polly as she entered the kitchen with her father.

  ‘Mother, you never told me that the Middleton lad had been talking to our Polly.’ Edmund’s voice was raised.

  ‘Cause there was nowt to tell. He only wished her the time of day. It must be over a month ago now. Anyway, I told her not to bother with him, that his father was a bad ’un. So don’t you yell at me, Edmund Harper.’ Ada put her hands on her hips and glared.

  ‘I only said hello!’ Polly sat down in the chair and looked at Ada and Edmund.

  ‘We know, lass. We are just looking after you.’ Ada put her arm around her shoulders. ‘Your father and I are too protective, perhaps.’

  ‘Mmm! Well, don’t encourage him when we pick them sheep up. In fact, keep in the cart until I fetch them out. I don’t trust him an inch.’ Edmund still didn’t believe the sheep had travelled that far. Something was amiss.

  Polly had to hide her excitement as she sat next door to her father on the way up to Grouse Hall. He was still in a bad mood and Polly was grateful for the silence between them, just in case her enthusiasm for her visit to Tobias’s house showed. She’d changed her dress and washed while humming to herself privately in her bedroom, coming to a sombre mood as she climbed up into the cart with her father. She’d never been to Grouse Hall, but it wasn’t that she was bothered about; it was Tobias – the one everybody was warning her of – that was sending the blood pulsing in her veins. They reached the bottom of the track to Grouse Hall and her father turned to her.

  ‘Now, think on. You say nothing, and you stop in the cart until I pass the sheep and lambs to you.’ Edmund looked at his daughter as she nodded in compliance.

  As they reached Grouse Hall they could see that they weren’t the only visitors to the house. The horse and trap that belonged to the police sergeant from Hawes was parked outside the garden gate, with one of its officers seated in the trap.

  ‘Afternoon, sir. I’m afraid Mr Middleton is being questioned by the sergeant at the moment.’ The officer got down from the trap and held the reins of Edmund’s horse. ‘He’s not receiving visitors.’

  ‘But I’ve come for my sheep, which strayed onto his land. A Herdwick with its three lambs. He asked me to pick them up this afternoon. I’m not going back without them, and it’ll be nothing to do with what you’re talking to him about.’

  ‘And you are, sir?’ The officer looked at him questioningly.

  ‘I’m Edmund Harper from Paradise Farm, and this is my daughter, Polly.’

  ‘Just a minute, sir. Wait here until I get my sergeant.’ The officer walked off, entering Grouse Hall and leaving Edmund cursing Tobias Middleton, and swearing to Polly that he took after his father.

  Tobias and the two policemen came out of the hall, with Tobias shouting and cursing in front of them.

  ‘I told you I hadn’t stolen the sheep. That silly old fool down in Garsdale must have been seeing things. Why would I go and tell a man I was holding his sheep, when supposedly I’d stolen them?’

  ‘Mr Brunskill said he’d seen your horse on top of the river bridge and that he’d heard noises, and subsequently there was a sheep and her lambs missing from Paradise Farm. What were we supposed to think, when we found the sheep and the lambs he described in your barn?’

  Edmund climbed down from his trap after hearing the conversation.

  ‘I’m sorry, Sergeant Meadows. Mr Middleton came this morning to tell me he was holding my old Herdwick and her lambs. I think Len – Mr Brunskill – has perhaps let his imagination run away with him. If you’d spoken to me first, none
of this need have happened.’ Edmund looked at the red-faced sergeant and his embarrassed constable. ‘I don’t think you’ll find there’s been any sheep-rustling here, and anyway they’re not worth a lot. The old ewe’s nearly on her last legs.’

  ‘Thank you, Edmund. I’ve been trying to tell them that.’ Tobias Middleton sighed in relief.

  ‘Well, we had to follow the report through. There’s been a lot of sheep-rustling down Mallerstang, and we don’t want it creeping into our patch.’ The sergeant motioned to his constable to get into the trap.

  ‘Perhaps it was a case of giving a dog a bad name. Nobody in this godforsaken place can forget what my father was like. I am not him, and never will be,’ Tobias yelled at the police as they got into the trap and set the horses in motion.

  Tobias, Edmund and Polly watched as the police went out of the yard, barely believing what they had all been a part of.

  ‘Thank you again, Edmund. They had accused me of stealing, and I’d never do that.’ Tobias sneaked a look at Polly as he spoke. ‘Would you both like to join me for tea? It’s the least I can offer you, for proving my case.’

  ‘It’s “Mr Harper” to you, lad. And no, we’ll not be having tea with you. Just point us in the direction of my sheep and we’ll be away.’ Edmund didn’t know why he’d spoken up on behalf of Tobias Middleton, as he knew damn well that the old Herdwick hadn’t wandered that far away from home without help.

  ‘Of course. I’m sorry, I’m forgetting my manners. And good afternoon, Miss Polly, I’m sorry if this has caused you distress.’ Tobias looked up at Polly. His plan hadn’t quite worked out the way he had planned it, but it was worth it, just to get a glimpse of those sparkling blue eyes.

  ‘I’ll give you a good afternoon, if you don’t get me the sheep and lambs. You needn’t look at my lass like that. She’s not for you, and never will be, so just think on!’ Edmund stormed off to the barn’s doorway. ‘Now get on with it. The sooner we are away from here, the better for everyone.’

  Polly lay in her bed and thought about the day. She could hear her mother and father talking quietly in the next-door bedroom. No doubt they were talking about her and Tobias Middleton. Her father had been so angry, but Tobias had still dared to look at her. And how her heart had fluttered at his sultry good looks. She’d felt herself blush as his eyes read her deepest thoughts. She had hoped her father would accept the offer of tea at Grouse Hall, just to be neighbourly, and for her to see how Tobias lived. But he wasn’t falling for Tobias’s pleasantries. Her father seemed to see straight through the young man’s charm offensive and was putting a stop to them seeing each other, making his feelings as clear as the crystals that adorned Sam Allen’s shop shelves.

  Polly hugged her pillow close to her and thought of his dark, swarthy looks and fine clothes. Somehow she would see Tobias again – she had to. She knew for sure that she loved him.

  5

  ‘Look at this letter, Mother. What do you think?’ Edmund tried to pass Ada a letter that had been delivered by the postboy as he was walking out of the door. ‘He’s offering a ha’penny a pint. It’s picked up here, and he’ll supply the milk-kits.’

  ‘Who’s offering what?’ Ada had sweat running down her nose as she stirred her weekly wash in the dolly tub with the wooden three-legged posser. Doing the washing was hard, back-breaking work and she could have done without the interruption. She reluctantly stopped for a moment to glance at the letter that Edmund wafted under her nose.

  ‘That Bill Sunter and his new dairy. He’s saying he’ll pick up the milk from all the surrounding Dales and take it to Hawes, to make into butter or cheese, and he’ll pay a ha’penny a pint – like I said, if you’d been listening.’ Edmund waited for her response.

  ‘Well, are you going to take him up on it? Evie in Liverpool will be disappointed if you stop supplying her when she wants the occasional kit. But I’ll not complain; it seems good money, and it saves me from making as much butter with the spare milk.’ Ada stood with her hands on her hips and watched as Edmund read the letter again.

  ‘I don’t know. I’m not keen on Bill Sunter.’ Edmund put the letter down on the table and stood thinking.

  ‘You’re not keen on anybody at the moment, Edmund. It seems to me that it’d be a good thing, especially when winter comes. You’ll not have to trail up to the station when our Evie asks for an extra supply, but you’ll still be paid just for putting it in his kits. He’s all right, is Bill. It’s his wife that’s the flighty one, and that Maggie, their lass. Bill’s a worker, else he wouldn’t be doing this.’

  ‘I’ll think about it. In fact I might go into Hawes and ask him about it. I’d rather do business face-to-face than through a letter.’ Edmund had been curious for a while to see what was going on at the building of the dairy, and this was his chance.

  ‘Aye, go from under my feet. I want to get on with this washing, and you aren’t helping by rabbiting on about the price of milk.’ Ada pummelled her clothes again, as steam from the dolly tub filled the kitchen. ‘Take our Polly with you, she could do with a look out.’

  ‘Polly!’ Edmund shouted up at the bottom of the stairs. ‘Polly, do you want to come into Hawes with me? I’m off to see Maggie’s father about his new dairy.’ Edmund listened to footsteps racing down the stairs and waited for the beaming Polly to appear.

  ‘Aye, I thought you’d be quick down them stairs when there was an outing to be had. I wish you’d show as much enthusiasm over hanging this washing out.’ Ada smiled.

  ‘Are you off to Maggie’s? Can I go in and see her while you look around the dairy?’ Polly’s day had suddenly improved.

  ‘Aye, if you want. I’m sure you’ll have plenty to talk about – all rubbish, I’m sure.’ Edmund picked up his cap and the letter, placing it safely in his jacket pocket.

  ‘Mind what you’re doing, Missy. No daft talk about lads and, if you walk into Hawes, behave yourselves. At least it’s a weekday, and that Bannister lad that Maggie’s sweet on will be at work at the lead-mines.’ Ada wiped her brow as she watched both Polly and Edmund go out through the kitchen door. At least she’d have a bit of peace with them out from under her feet. She might even be lucky and be able to have forty winks after she’d hung the washing out to dry.

  Edmund and Polly stood on the cobbled bridge overlooking the river in the centre of Hawes and looked upstream at the gushing of the fosse and the millwheel that was attached to what now was becoming the new dairy.

  ‘I remember when that wheel never stopped. Old Ben Chapman had it then. It ground corn into flour, and now Bill’s making it into a dairy. It needed using, it was beginning to look a bit dilapidated.’

  ‘That must have been a long time ago, Father. I can’t remember it ever turning.’ Polly looked at the whitewashed lettering on the three-storey building, telling the world of its new ownership.

  ‘Aye, it was Polly, well before your—’ Edmund stopped in his tracks. He’d nearly said, ‘Well before your father was born’, but had realized just in time. ‘Looks like he’s making a splash: Bill Sunter, Milk, Cheese & Butter. Well, you can’t miss where he’s at, with lettering as big as that. Let’s go and have a look inside, and see if I like his set-up.’

  ‘Now then, Edmund, what brings you to my doorstop?’ Bill Sunter stood with a clipboard in his hand and a pencil behind his ear. ‘Have I tempted you with my new scheme?’ He grinned and ran his hand through his greying slicked-back hair. He knew damn well that Edmund must have been tempted to have a look, else he wouldn’t be standing in front of him. ‘If it helps, the Aldersons, Thwaites and Lunds have all signed up, from down Garsdale, so I’ll be passing your gate every morning and night. They seem to think it’s a good idea. There’s a market out there for Wensleydale cheese and butter. Folk are visiting all the time, now the train lines have opened these Dales up. What’s better than taking a bit of Wensleydale cheese back home, to remind you of Hawes and your visit?’ Bill was a true salesman and knew his patter off by heart.


  ‘Aye, no doubt you are right, Bill. It’s just that I send our Evie milk occasionally to Liverpool. To back up her supply. I maybe couldn’t supply you all the time.’ Edmund glanced around the whitewashed walls of the dairy. There were huge wooden trays waiting to hold the milk, and for rennet to be added, before beginning the process of cheese-making, and equally big butter-churns ready to be turned into action.

  ‘I tell you what, Edmund. Come and have a look around with me, and I’ll convince you that if you sign up with me, it’ll be the best thing you can do. Polly, Maggie’s in next door, and this will only bore you to death – it’s men’s business. Do you want to pop your head in and say hello?’ Bill put his arm round Edmund’s shoulders to guide him around the building, while he winked at the bored Polly.

  ‘Can I, Father?’ Polly was relieved that Bill Sunter had suggested that she visit Maggie, as she wasn’t really interested in the dairy, when a gossip with Maggie was in the offing.

  ‘Well, I thought you might want to see how it’s all going to work. After all, one day it’ll be your milk that comes here.’ Edmund looked disappointed as he saw that his daughter was more interested in seeing her friend.

  ‘Edmund, let her go, it’s not women’s business. And besides, I’ve a suggestion I want to make to you first.’ Bill watched as Polly was torn between her friend and her father’s wishes.

  ‘Go on then. I’ll shout to you before I go home.’ Edmund turned to Bill. ‘Come on, show me how it works.’