Harry inched the car through the narrow archway, expecting to see dogs and chickens. But the only ones in evidence were sheltering behind the open door of a barn. The dogs started barking but fell silent when Diana wound down the window and shouted at them. He glanced around the cobbled yard. The buildings were all solidly built of stone and roofed with slate, but their wooden doors had been inexpertly patched with rough-cut timber and six-inch nails. Two or three hung drunkenly on broken hinges, seemingly on the point of collapse.
‘The design is more Roman country villa than Welsh farm.’
‘You’ve been to Italy, Mr Evans?’
Loath to admit it after their argument about poverty, Harry conceded an abrupt ‘Yes.’
‘Beautiful, isn’t it?’ she said drily. ‘And the Ellis Estate is old, but I doubt it’s two thousand years old, Mr Evans.’ Without waiting for him to help her out of the car, Diana opened the door. ‘But then, the Romans did reach Brecon, and there are the remains of a Roman road and fort not too far away, so you may be right about the foundations.’ She stepped out carefully, avoiding the piles of cow dung and chicken manure that littered the cobbles lest she stain her pale-grey cross-bar leather shoes. After unfurling her umbrella, she opened the back of the car. Startled, Martha looked around in confusion.
‘It’s all right, Martha, you’re home,’ Diana soothed.
‘Let me take her.’
‘I’m not sure that’s wise, Mr Evans.’
‘You know where we’re going, I don’t, and it’s too wet to argue. Here, she was carrying this.’ Harry lifted out the Gladstone and handed it to Diana. He covered Martha with his travelling rug to protect her and the blanket she was wrapped in from the rain.
Diana went to a door set in the centre of the left-hand building. It was badly in need of a coat of paint. She knocked once and opened it. ‘Mary?’
A thin girl of middle height with an abundance of black curly hair tied back with string, and eyes so dark they appeared almost as black as her pupils, ran to meet her. She was dressed in an old-fashioned, ankle-length black skirt, plain black cotton blouse and men’s working boots which were several sizes too large for her feet.
‘Miss Adams.’ She instinctively wiped her hands on her apron, and pushed her hair from her eyes. ‘Martha’s late. David and Matthew have gone to look for her …’ She looked past Diana and saw Harry lift Martha out of the car. ‘Martha! Oh my God, why are you carrying her? What’s happened to her? Martha …’ Oblivious to the rain, she ran out and folded the rug back from her sister’s face.
Diana followed and pulled her back. ‘She’s had an accident, Mary, but my father and I have examined her and she will be fine after a few days’ rest. Come on, let’s go into the kitchen and get out of this rain.’ Diana held the door open for Harry.
‘I just banged my head, Mary,’ Martha slurred.
Harry looked around for somewhere to put the girl. The kitchen was larger than any he’d seen in a private house. It was also immaculately clean, but he’d seen better-furnished church halls. The flagstones on the floor had been scrubbed white. If the walls had ever been plastered, they were bare stone now. A log fire burned in the open range, and a baby lay asleep on a rag rug in front of it. A wooden crate stacked high with logs was pushed against the wall to the side of the hearth; a rickety table stood within a few feet of the fire, two benches set either side of it. That was it. There was no dresser, no easy chairs, only a few pieces of crockery and half-a-dozen pots and pans neatly arranged on wooden shelves in a niche next to the range.
Mary grabbed her sister and tore her from Harry’s arms.
‘She really will be all right, Mary,’ Diana assured her, seeing the panic in her eyes.
‘Put me down.’ Martha began to struggle, and Mary set her next to one of the benches. Martha sank on to it and slumped, head in hands, over the table.
‘You said the boys are out looking for Martha?’ Diana reminded. ‘If you know which way they’ve gone, we’ll try to find them. The weather’s wild out there.’
‘They’ve gone down the mountain track.’
‘Where’s that?’ Harry asked, hoping to be of use.
‘It’s a lane that cuts down the mountain on the left-hand side of the road as you head back the way we came.’ Diana laid her hand on Martha’s forehead.
‘I’ll see if I can find them.’ He went to the door.
‘Who are you?’ Mary eyed Harry suspiciously.
‘I’m sorry, I should have introduced you, Mary.’ Diana stood between them as though she were effecting a formal introduction at an afternoon tea party. ‘Miss Mary Ellis, Martha’s elder sister – Mr Harry Evans. He’s a relative of one of our patients, Mary. He drove me and your sister here.’
Harry extended his hand. ‘I’m terribly sorry, Miss Ellis. I wish we could have met under better circumstances. I caused your sister’s accident. There was a mist. I didn’t see her until she was in front of my car -’
‘You knocked my sister down in a motor car!’
‘I’m afraid I did. But as I said, I didn’t see her -’
Mary didn’t give him the opportunity to explain further. She flew at him and grabbed him by his collar. Yanking him towards her, she lashed out, tearing his skin with her nails.
‘Mary!’
Harry heard Diana shout, but he didn’t attempt to defend himself. One of the principles Lloyd had instilled in him, especially after the births of his sisters, was that no man ever hit a woman, regardless of the situation. Too terrified to try to keep Mary at bay in case he inadvertently hurt her, and too choked to cry out, he stood and took the punishment she meted out.
‘Mary, it was an accident. Mr Evans didn’t mean to hurt Martha and she is going to make a full recovery.’ Diana closed her fingers around Mary’s wrist, but the girl dug her nails even deeper into Harry’s neck, throttling him.
The room dimmed, Harry’s lungs burned along with his throat. Grey shadows crept upwards from the floor.
‘Mary, if you hurt Mr Evans, you’ll be prosecuted. Think about your brothers and sister. What will they do without you to look after them?’
The baby opened his eyes and wailed.
Harry never knew whether it was Diana’s threat or the cry of the child that permeated Mary’s rage. But, to his relief, she loosened her hold and Diana Adams managed to prise her fingers from his throat. He fell back against the wall, gulping in air. Something warm and wet trickled down his cheek and neck. He lifted his hand to it then saw his palm was covered in blood.
‘Are you all right, Mr Evans?’
Diana Adams was looking at him. Too choked to speak, he nodded.
Mary went to her sister and stroked her head. ‘I can feel a lump, and Martha doesn’t look all right to me.’ She glared accusingly at Harry.
Diana lifted the baby from the rug. His body was unnaturally warm, his cheeks flushed. On the premise that the girl was less likely to attack Harry again if she was holding the child, she thrust the baby into Mary’s arms. ‘Luke needs you, Mary. And Martha needs to rest. Why don’t I help you to put her to bed while Mr Evans goes out to look for David and Matthew? And after we’ve seen to Martha, I’ll examine Luke. He seems feverish.’ She signalled to Harry with her eyes but he didn’t need the hint; he was already backing towards the door.
‘Luke’s cutting more teeth. He’ll be fine when they come through. He always is.’ Mary lifted the baby on to her shoulder and patted his back.
‘It is just as Mr Evans said,’ Diana added. ‘There was a mist. He didn’t see Martha until she was in front of his car. And he couldn’t have been driving very fast. If he had been, Martha’s injuries would have been much worse. After a day or two’s rest she’ll be back to normal.’
Harry was grateful for Diana’s support, especially after the heated words they had exchanged earlier. ‘I’m sorry,’ he croaked, his throat so sore he could hardly make himself heard. ‘It was an accident. I really didn’t see her.’ He reached into his p
ocket and pulled out his wallet. ‘Obviously I’ll pay for Martha’s treatment and cover her wages while she’s ill.’ He removed a five-pound note and held it out to Mary.
‘Keep your filthy blood money.’ She knocked the note from Harry’s hand. ‘And get out of my kitchen! Now!’
Diana retrieved the money from the floor and handed it back to Harry. ‘I won’t be long,’ she whispered.
Harry went outside. Glad to be alone, he latched the door behind him and leaned against it. His sisters could be boisterous when the mood took them, especially Edyth – he uttered another silent prayer that she would recover – and they had gone through a phase of emulating Douglas Fairbanks’s sword fights after visits to the picture houses. But none of them had ever attacked him as violently as Mary Ellis.
Rain gusted over him on a cold blast of wind. The cuts and scratches on his face and neck throbbed painfully to life. He dabbed at them with his handkerchief, took a deep breath to steady himself and headed for his car. When he reached it, two boys walked through the archway. One was shorter than Martha, the other taller, but it was difficult to ascertain their ages as they were wrapped in grey blankets that covered their backs and most of their heads.
The taller yelled a command. A sheepdog ran up to Harry and sank its teeth into his ankle.
Crippled by the pain, Harry struggled to free himself. He shouted, ‘Please, call your dog off.’
‘Hold, Merlyn! If you don’t move the dog won’t hurt you.’ The boy tossed his blanket aside and walked up to Harry. ‘This your car?’ He was as dark-haired and wild-eyed as Mary, and looked even more aggressive. Harry knew that he had found the girls’ missing brothers without even looking.
‘Yes.’ The dog’s teeth were no longer sunk into his leg, but Harry could still feel its jaws closed around his ankle. Anxious to diffuse the tension, he forced a smile, but it wasn’t returned. The boy was younger, smaller and lighter than him, but he suspected that his physical inferiority wouldn’t stop him from throwing a punch any more than it had his sister.
‘What you doing here?’
Harry crossed his arms across his chest because it was the least hostile stance he could think of adopting. It was still raining steadily but he was so wet anyway it simply didn’t matter. ‘I drove Miss Adams and Martha up here from Craig-y-Nos. Martha’s had an accident -’
‘What kind of accident?’ The boy’s face was so close, Harry could feel the warmth of his breath.
‘A road accident,’ Harry answered evasively. ‘But she’s going to be fine. Miss Adams is with her now.’
‘If you brought her home, what you doing lurking in the yard?’
‘I came out to look for you,’ Harry explained patiently. ‘Your sister said you’d gone down the mountain track to look for Martha.’
‘If you had been looking for us we would have seen you on the mountain. You’re a thief, that’s what you are,’ the boy declared angrily. He looked for confirmation to the younger boy, who nodded vigorously.
‘I’ve only just left the house, so I hadn’t time to go down the track.’
‘You were looking for chickens and eggs to steal.’
‘If I was looking for things to steal, I’d sneak into the yard, not drive my noisy car in so you’d hear the engine.’ The dog’s jaws tightened on his leg and Harry leaned against the Crossley for support. The boy appeared immune to both sense and argument, and he braced himself to receive another bite.
‘Only a bloody toff talks the way you do and wears clothes like that!’ David took aim and sent a stream of spittle towards Harry’s feet. It hit the toe of his shoe on the foot the dog was holding. ‘If you’re not here to steal, then the agent must have sent you, and everyone knows he’s a bloody thief.’
‘No one sent me. And I haven’t a clue what agent you’re talking about. I told you I drove Martha home -’
‘Liar!’ The boy finally lashed out and punched Harry in the stomach. The dog growled and closed his jaws.
Harry had been expecting the bite. He’d even had time to tense his muscles to receive the punch, but he didn’t bargain for the force the boy used or the strength that was surprising in someone so small and slight. He groaned involuntarily as he straightened his back and the dog tightened its grip.
‘David, Matthew, is that you I hear talking?’ Diana interrupted from the back door.
‘Miss Adams?’ Both boys turned to her.
‘Call Merlyn off Mr Evans, David, there’s a good lad. Mary needs you two inside.’
‘Did you come here with him, Miss Adams?’ The older boy poked a grimy finger into Harry’s chest.
‘Yes, David, I did.’ She put up her umbrella and, stepping carefully again, crossed the yard to the car.
‘He,’ David jabbed Harry again with his finger, ‘said that Martha’s had an accident.’
‘She has, but she’s all right now. And I’ll be up in the morning to make sure she stays that way.’ She looked at Harry. ‘Are you all right, Mr Evans?’
‘I will be when he calls his dog off,’ Harry muttered between clenched teeth.
‘David?’ She appealed to the boy.
‘Good dog, Merlyn, heel.’
‘Thank you,’ Harry breathed gratefully, rubbing his ankle. He believed that Diana Adams was actually enjoying his discomfort.
Diana turned back to David. ‘I’ll pick up the eggs for the sanatorium every day until Martha’s well enough to come back to work.’ She glanced from him to Matthew. ‘Both of you had better get inside and change quickly before you catch cold. Mary’s enough on her plate with nursing Martha. And Luke’s teething has given him a slight fever. Go on, off with you.’
David finally opened the back door and ushered Matthew into the house, but gave Harry one last antagonistic glare from the doorstep before slamming it shut.
‘Thank you,’ Harry murmured. ‘Two attacks from two Ellises in as many minutes are as much as I can cope with.’
‘He hit you?’ Diana asked.
‘I know better than to tell tales after I’ve played with rough boys in the school yard,’ Harry rejoined flippantly.
‘Did he hurt you?’
‘Not anywhere that can be seen.’ He picked a dock leaf from a clump that was growing at the foot of a horse’s mount and wiped his shoe.
‘You should pick another and wipe your face.’
‘Is that medical advice?’
‘It’s a foolish doctor who dismisses all the old country remedies out of hand. And the Ellis boys aren’t vicious, just over-protective towards their sisters.’ Diana opened the car door and climbed inside. She shook her umbrella, closed it and set it at her feet.
Harry winced when he sat beside her. ‘After seeing the children, I wouldn’t like to meet the parents.’ He ran his hands through his hair brushing out as much water as he could.
‘They have no parents, Mr Evans.’
‘They run the farm themselves?’
‘They have done for the last year. Although it’s anyone’s guess as to how much longer they’ll be able to carry on. It’s common knowledge in the valley that they owe a fortune in rent.’
‘So that’s why the boy accused me of being sent by the agent,’ he mused. ‘But they’re so young.’ He started the car and drove out of the yard.
‘I wouldn’t let them hear you say that should you ever meet them again. Mary’s nineteen, David fourteen, and they consider themselves quite grown-up enough. Given the responsibilities they have taken on, they have every right to. I’ve seen farmers in better circumstances than the Ellises give up and take their families to the workhouse.’
‘Did their parents leave them?’
‘In a manner of speaking. They are both dead. You’ve a dog-bite that could turn septic and from what I saw of your face in the kitchen, your cuts need to be properly cleaned and dressed. So you’d better drive me back to my house so I can do just that.’
He lifted his hand from the wheel and fingered his throat and face. ‘I’ve had wo
rse and lived.’
‘I dare say, but if they get infected, they’ll spoil your pretty looks.’
‘Pretty?’
She smiled mischievously. ‘I’ve forgotten how touchy men can be about that word. I meant handsome.’
‘Really?’ he enquired sarcastically.
She dropped her mocking tone. ‘We seem to have got off on the wrong foot, Mr Evans.’
‘If we have, do you think that is my fault or yours?’
‘I’d say about fifty-fifty.’
‘I’m big enough to apologize for misjudging you earlier.’ He dropped down a gear as they descended the steep hill. ‘It’s obvious from the state of that kitchen that those children are living hand-to-mouth and you only employ Martha to make sure that some money goes into the house.’
‘I’m amazed you thought my father capable of exploiting a child after seeing our work at the sanatorium.’
‘I was upset, angry and feeling guilty after the accident. I’m sorry for what I said. What more can I do other than apologize?’ he asked.
‘Nothing this evening, Mr Evans. Turn right into the drive just before the hospital entrance. I’ll dress those cuts for you and tend to any other injuries you’ve sustained, including the ones that can’t be seen – that’s if you’re not too embarrassed to take your shirt off in front of a female medical student.’
Chapter Seven
Mary ladled out three bowls of soup. She set two in front of her brothers and mashed the vegetables in the one she had poured for herself with a fork, before taking Luke from David.
‘So, the toff came in here.’ David lifted a spoonful of soup to his lips and blew on it to cool it.
‘How many times do you want me to tell you that he did?’ Mary sat opposite her brothers and settled Luke on her lap.
‘You haven’t told me what he had to say for himself.’
‘Not much.’
‘So why did you let him in?’
‘I told you,’ she reiterated impatiently. ‘He carried Martha in. Miss Adams said his name was Mr Harry Evans and he’s related to one of the patients in the castle.’
David took the crust from the loaf she had sliced and dunked it into his soup. ‘He’s rich. You only have to look at his clothes to see that. And he had a car.’
Finders and Keepers Page 12
