by Diane Allen
‘I’m exhausted. Am I expected to do that every day of the week? Bert Bannister never shut up about my grandmother, and said I had to learn from the bottom of the firm upwards, just like she had. Can’t I be in the office, Mother, or even learn to dressmake, if I have to?’
‘It won’t do you any harm to know the warehouse, and to deal with the orders coming in and out – Bert’s quite right. You’ve got to know how the firm works, and get to know everyone we deal with. After all, one day it will all be yours, just as my mother has left it to me.’
‘But, Mother, I could help Father develop his photographs and help tidy his studio. Anything but be with old Bert Bannister; he’s so slow and everything has to be done so precisely,’ said Jane.
‘You respect your elders, madam,’ said James. ‘And it is “Mr Bannister” to you. No matter what position he has or age he is. Manners will get you a long way in this life.’
Jane scowled at her father. What did he know? She was sure he had never been her age. ‘I’m going out to look at the foal in the paddock. I could hear her whinnying at the sound of us arriving. She must be lonely, she’s been used to having someone looking after her all the time.’
‘If you find Luke out there, tell him we are going home shortly. I think he said he was going down to the river,’ shouted Isabelle after her daughter, as Jane scurried out across the hallway. Turning to James, she pulled him close to her. ‘We are going to be so happy here – I love Windfell.’ She kissed him on the lips and smiled, knowing that she had everything a woman could wish for.
‘Perhaps we have too much. I have a strange feeling, when things are going this well, that something is bound to go wrong.’ James smiled at his wife and held her tightly as she sighed with contentment.
‘Don’t be such a pessimist. Nothing – and no one – can touch us now. God bless my dear mama. I do realize that I owe her everything.’ Isabelle pulled James closer to her.
‘You’d do well to remember that, and dear Archie. He’s about to give up his home for you.’ James hoped Isabelle’s feeling of self-importance would pass quickly. He was uneasy that everything in her life had come easily to her and that sometimes she took things for granted.
‘She’s a bonny thing, isn’t she?’ Ethan leaned over the drystone wall and chewed a grass stalk as he leaned back and admired the foal and the young woman standing before him.
‘She is, she’s got spirit.’ Jane watched the young chestnut foal race up and down the paddock, its short stubby mane and tail blowing in the wind as it played in excitement at being able to enjoy the freedom of the warm summer’s day. ‘I wish I was her, wild and free. Not be-holden to anyone.’ She flashed her eyes at Ethan and smiled at the dark-haired lad, whom she knew her cousin, Rosie, had feelings for.
‘You moving in here then, next week? My father says he’s going to miss your grandfather and hopes we will all be keeping our positions.’ Ethan moved closer to the lass he’d partly grown up with. He was now starting to realize just how beautiful the ugly duckling she had once been had become, and that he had to acknowledge Jane as the next heir to Windfell, along with her brother.
‘Yes. Mother says we are moving in next Monday, once Grandfather has moved out. I can’t see her changing any of the staff, so your father needn’t worry.’ Jane turned to look at Ethan, who stood just inches from her face. ‘Why, would you miss me, Ethan Haygarth? Would it break your heart not to see me each day?’ She smiled.
‘Aye, I’d miss looking at you every day. We’ve always been good friends.’ Ethan reached for her hand and pulled it towards him. He’d been building up the courage to kiss the girl, who was now nearly a fully grown woman. The flash of eyes and the warm smile had confirmed Jane’s true feelings, and now was the time to make his move.
‘What do you think you are doing? I don’t want to hold your hand. Remember your place, and be thankful that you’ll be keeping it, as stable boy,’ Jane spat.
Ethan pulled her towards him and held her tightly as he kissed her hard on the lips. She might be the granddaughter of his late mistress, but she’d been flirting with him for months, of that he was sure. He held her against him as she wriggled and protested, finally giving in as she kicked him on the shins.
‘How dare you!’ Jane slapped Ethan hard across the cheeks as he let go of his grip. ‘You dirty gypsy, don’t you dare put your hands on me again,’ she screamed. ‘I’ll tell my parents, and you and your family can start packing your bags.’
‘No, no, Miss Jane – I thought that was what you wanted. You looked so jealous when Rosie and I were talking together the other day. And just then you smiled and encouraged me. You shouldn’t have led me on, with your false feelings.’ Ethan stood back from the angered young woman.
‘I most certainly did not, and I wasn’t jealous of farm girl Rosie – you are decidedly wrong. You and she are welcome to one another.’ Jane stomped away from her long-faced would-be suitor, stopping only to shout back at him, ‘Your days are numbered, Ethan Haygarth,’ while she made her way down to the river at the bottom of the parkland, in order to find her brother, Luke.
Jane walked hastily through the flowering grassland, the stalks catching in her laced boots and long skirts as she looked back and saw Ethan following her. This made her break into a run as she tried to escape from him, although secretly she wanted him to catch her. She shouted down towards the river bank in a bid for Luke to hear her, realizing what Ethan could do to her if he caught her, and wanting Luke to be aware of her presence, as back-up.
‘Luke! Luke, where are you?’ She held onto an ash tree’s trunk as she picked her way over its roots and the slippery white limestone of the river’s edge. She lifted up her skirts as her feet crunched over the shingle while she made her way to what she knew to be Luke’s favourite fishing pool, just below the mighty roar of one of the many waterfalls along the River Ribble. She was aware that she was moving slower than her pursuer, impeded by her long skirts. ‘Luke!’ she yelled out, as a hand moved over her mouth and Ethan whispered in her ear to be quiet.
Above the waterfall, Luke suddenly heard his name being yelled, and peered over the moss-covered falls to see Ethan and his sister talking and what appeared to be arguing. He waved with his spare hand as he balanced on a particularly slippery boulder, with his rod in the other hand. He edged nearer the falls and waved his rod at the couple, who seemed to be urging him towards them. Picking his way in bare feet, he balanced on the edge of the falls, trying to find an easy way down, as he looked into the gushing waters and the deep pool below him.
‘Luke!’ Jane yelled out as Ethan suddenly stopped arguing, after realizing the danger Luke was in. Gone were all his thoughts about trying to amend the misinterpretations of earlier, which were what had led him to follow Jane down to the river’s edge. Now he had to make sure no harm came to Luke, who was oblivious to the depth of the pool below him.
‘Can he swim?’ Ethan asked a frantic Jane, as he untied his boots. They both watched Luke balance his rod and wave at both of them again, not concentrating on his actions and deafened by the roar of the river in flood.
Jane shook her head. She screamed as Luke picked his way on the slime-covered stones, only to lose his footing, his rod flying up into the air as he bounced off the moss-covered rocks through the gushing white falls into the deep, dark pool below.
‘Stay there, I’ll jump in and get him.’ Ethan pulled off his waistcoat and pocket watch and quickly jumped into the pool, leaving Jane at the side, frantically yelling Luke’s name and peering into the frothy waters of the river. The cold water caught his breath as he dived below the falls, filling his lungs with icy shards while searching deep down for the white shirt of Luke. Ethan gasped for breath as he surfaced and then dived again, after noticing Luke’s body trapped between two boulders at the side of the falls.
Jane watched, counting every second that both were under the water, fearing the worst for her brother.
Ethan appeared spluttering, pullin
g Luke behind him as he splashed awkwardly out of the side of the pool. ‘Go and get your father – he’s alive, but he’s hit his head and is bleeding badly.’ Struggling with Luke, Ethan pulled the boy’s body out of the water and laid it on the sand and shingle at the pool’s edge. ‘Go, Jane, go and get help.’
She froze for a second or two as tears ran down her face while she gazed on the lifeless body of her brother. Blood ran down his forehead, staining his white shirt and trickling into the water’s edge.
‘For God’s sake, go!’ Ethan yelled as he pummelled Luke’s chest to clear his lungs of water.
Jane fled just as Luke was drawing breath. He coughed and spluttered as Ethan talked gently to him and sat him up, before pulling off his own shirt in order to tear a shred off to bandage Luke’s bleeding head. Ethan watched and said a silent prayer as Luke whispered his name. Thank God he’d not drowned; he would have been to blame, that was for sure, and he was certain he would have lost both his own and his family’s positions, if Jane had opened her mouth.
‘You’re alright, mate, you fell down the bloody falls. We are going to have to learn you to swim this summer.’ Ethan leaned back and watched Luke gain his breath, looking up at the green foliage of the whispering trees above, as they swayed quietly in the gentle summer breeze. He waited for what felt like an age before Jane appeared, with her father and Ethan’s behind her.
‘Oh my God, Luke – are you alright?’ James Fox bent down and picked his son up in his arms, gasping at the sight of so much blood on the white-shirt bandage and at Ethan catching his breath. ‘What were you thinking of? How many times have I told you to steer clear of this deep pool?’ He helped a sobbing Luke up from the river bank and then passed him to the stronger arms of Jethro. ‘Thank God you were there, Ethan – he’d have drowned for sure if you hadn’t have jumped into the river after him.’
‘I did nothing, sir; really you should not be thanking me.’ Ethan hung his head and felt ashamed at the fact that he was standing bare-chested in front of both his master and Jane, waiting for the chastisement that was certainly going to come. He’d dared to touch the new master’s daughter and had nearly caused his son’s death. He’d be lucky not to get a thrashing.
‘Nonsense! Jane told me how you did not hesitate for a second to save Luke. We will always be in your debt.’ James held his hand out and shook Ethan’s firmly, before turning and running quickly to catch up with Jethro, who was halfway across the field and making his way to the manor, holding Luke up under his arms.
Ethan looked at Jane, who was standing at the river’s edge staring at him. ‘You didn’t say anything to your father?’
‘What was there to say? You saved my brother.’ She made her way up from the river bank and stood at the edge of the field, waiting for Ethan as he put his boots and socks back on. ‘Besides, I lied. I have been flirting with you on the quiet, and I deserved all that I got. Which I must say was very fine, Ethan,’ she giggled. ‘However, I was only trying to make my milksop cousin Rosie jealous. She’s the one who really likes you, but you are too blind to see it. You are a typical man! I’ve no intentions of courting anyone yet; indeed, I don’t think I ever will.’
Ethan hopped on one leg as he pulled his boot onto his left foot.
‘Rosie doesn’t like me in that way, does she? I thought she was just showing interest in the horses.’ He walked quickly to catch Jane up as she ran her hand through the long grasses.
‘You are so gullible, Ethan Haygarth. And I’m sorry I slapped you and called you a gypsy.’ Jane grinned. ‘But yes, Rosie has confessed to me that she thinks you are handsome.’
‘It’s no skin off my nose. I deserved it, and I’m quite proud I’m part gypsy.’ Ethan smirked, thinking about Rosie. So he had taken her eye. That was quite something he could be proud of, and Rosie was the nicer of the two girls.
‘Well, let’s remain friends, and don’t you say a word to Rosie about me telling you that she likes you.’ Jane stood and waited for his reply as she watched her mother and father lift Luke into the waiting carriage to take him home to Ingfield.
‘Won’t say a word, I promise. And thanks for not telling on me.’ Ethan blushed and looked down at his feet, knowing that he had pushed his luck.
‘Jane, come quickly, we need the doctor to look at your brother,’ shouted Isabelle as she climbed into the carriage.
‘Coming, Mother,’ Jane yelled as she rushed across the pebbled drive to join her parents and brother.
Ethan watched as the carriage made its way out of the gates, before joining his father in the stable.
‘That was a near do.’ Jethro stood by his son and looked at him. ‘It could have ended in tragedy. As it is, I think Luke’s just knocked the front of his head badly. Better to spoil his beauty than his brains – not that he’s got many.’
‘Aye, he’s going to have to learn to swim. I’ll teach him this summer.’ Ethan lifted the horse harness that he’d been cleaning earlier, before he’d got distracted by the sight of Jane admiring the foal. He put it back on its peg on the stable wall.
‘Now, lad, I’m giving you a bit of advice. There’s them – the posh ’uns – and there’s us. You can look, but you don’t touch. We are not in their class and never will be, and an ill wind will always blow if you dare to do any other. You let his father teach him to swim, if Luke wants to do so. And as for Miss Jane, you leave her be, lad. She’s not right for you.’ Jethro spat his mouthful of tobacco out and looked at his son.
Ethan dared only glance at his father. Was there nothing he didn’t see or know? He’d never noticed him there when he’d tried to kiss Jane.
‘Aye, alright, Father.’
Jethro watched as his son sloped off to the barn to fill the horse hay-racks. He leaned against the stable doorway and looked across at the manor house. It didn’t seem five minutes since he had had the same feelings for Charlotte, who was at that time the new mistress of Windfell. But he’d known better than to show them. Instead, he’d always been there to support her. Commoners and posh folk should never mix, especially when young Jane had pointed out that they were only gypsies. Her grandmother would never have been so cutting and demeaning. There was a new breed shortly to inhabit Windfell, of that he was sure, and Ethan would be better off away from them. The lad had ideas above his station in life, ideas that were going to get him into trouble.
Back at Ingfield House, Isabelle and James stood over Luke’s bed, watching their son sleep.
‘Thank God he’s alright. The doctor says the wound on his head looks worse than it is. There was so much blood.’ James reached for the hand of his fretting wife. ‘He’ll be fine in the morning.’
‘I thought we were going to lose him – he looked so white. I can understand now how Harriet felt when she came home to the news of the twins being dead. Our sons and daughters are the most precious things we will ever have. No wonder she cannot forgive Mama and myself for dragging her in to work that day. Thankfully, in our case Ethan was there to pull him out of the water, otherwise we too would be without our son.’ Isabelle ran her hand over Luke’s brow and smiled as he turned in his sleep. ‘What Ethan was doing down in the river, I don’t quite know. Perhaps tickling one of our finest trout, knowing him. Like father, like son. I’ve seen Jethro down there many a time when I was growing up. Mother and Archie used to turn a blind eye to it. However, I don’t see why we should.’ She walked to the gas light and turned the flame down, before urging James out of the room.
‘The odd fish or two won’t hurt, Isabelle. It matters not that it is not Ethan’s right to fish in that part of the river. We need to keep our staff on our side, and if that’s what it takes to keep Ethan and Jethro happy, and encourages them to get my horse and carriage ready for me first thing in the morning, then I’m satisfied. Besides, he saved your son’s life,’ James whispered as he closed the bedroom door silently behind him.
‘It starts with one fish, and then we’ll find him liming the river for all the
fish. I think we should watch that lad. Mazy should never have married into a family like that. She was worth more than becoming a gypsy’s wife.’ Isabelle strutted along the landing, her skirts rustling as she reached the top of the stairs, and stopped sharply.
‘I think you are wrong. Jethro and Ethan have always been good with your family.’ James knew that disagreeing with his wife meant harsh words to follow, for she always spoke her mind.
‘James, leave the running of Windfell to me. I am the new mistress and I aim to make everyone know that. I appreciate your participation, but the household is my concern. Your help with business is more than enough worry for you, along with your photography studios. After all, you have studios in Leeds and Bradford in our stores – you seem to be always busy with them, the amount of time you spend there.’ Jane waited for his reply.
‘Yes, my dear. Of course you know best. But I am here, if you ever need—’ James was stopped in his tracks.
‘I am my mother’s daughter. She taught me everything I know. Just like I’m teaching Jane. I was brought up to be strong, and that is what I’ll be; and while I know you are more than capable of running the household, it is my job.’ She descended the stairs without looking back at her husband.
‘Yes, dear,’ whispered James. He was married to a stubborn woman.
5
Things had not been easy between Danny and Harriet since he had announced his father’s intention of coming to live with them at Crummock. And today was no exception.
‘You never once thought of consulting me, did you? You just said, “Of course it will be fine with the wife,” because my wants don’t even come into it.’ Harriet felt stressed. Ben was back on form and had decided to do one of his disappearing tricks, making up for the weeks that he had been confined to his bed with German measles. Plus baby Georgina was still not 100 per cent, crying at the least little upset. On top of that, it was clipping time, and the sheep were in the normally tidy farmyard waiting to be sheared and have their thick woollen coats removed for the hot summer months ahead. The noise of their bleating was driving her mad, and the mess that would have to be swept up after they had been shorn would be unbelievable.
