He felt he could never have enough of it, this marvellous movement over the ice, with the ghostly trees going silently past, and the ice-spray flying up from his skates, stinging and tingling in his face. He would skate back to the wooden platform where Charlie and Jack stood watching him and would circle in front of them like a young god.
‘Charlie, you was right!’ he said. ‘It’s exactly how you said it’d be! ‒ Wings on my heels, like Mercury!’
He would go skimming off again, faster and faster, in figures of eight, while the other skaters, circling nearby, watched him display his easy skill.
‘You’re an awful show-off, Mercybright!’ one of his school-mates said to him, but Robert merely gave a laugh.
Once such a charge would have made him squirm, but now it was nothing, it left him untouched. He would never take movement for granted again; he knew all too well how precious it was; and somehow the knowledge set him apart; gave him a special quality; something that was bringing him swiftly to manhood, even though he was only thirteen.
Charlie and Jack perceived the change and because they were men they understood it. The boy had a certain look in his eyes, as though he could see to the ends of the earth, and whatever he saw held no fears for him.
‘I wouldn’t mind being Robert’s age, with my life in front of me,’ Jack remarked; but then after a while he said: ‘Though the times won’t be any more easy for him than they have been for the likes of me.’
Jack had been laid off again that winter and Mr Lawn had made it clear that this time, when spring came around, he would not be taken back. Jack was now seventy-five. He had to accept that his working-life was over and done. Younger men needed the jobs and there were not enough to go round. But it was a bitter pill for him to swallow and Linn, as the winter months went by, saw him growing more morose.
‘Why can’t you accept it?’ she said. ‘All the hard work you’ve done in your life, it seems to me you’ve earned your rest.’
‘Rest!’ he exclaimed contemptuously. ‘I’ll get plenty of rest when I’m in my grave!’
‘Yes, and that’ll be sooner than you think, if you hang about the fields in this bitter weather! Why can’t you stay at home in the warm?’
And yet, when he did sit in the kitchen, his presence there was irksome to her.
‘Must you drop your ash like that? Those cushion-covers have just been washed.’
‘What’s a little bit of ash? It’ll help to keep the moths away.’
‘Can you move your chair for a moment? I want to sweep in the corner there.’
‘Yes, I’ll move!’ He rose from his chair. ‘I’ll take myself off, out of the way, while you make clean cleaner, like all your kind!’
‘You’re not going out in this east wind?’
‘The east wind is nothing to me. It’s the weather indoors I can’t abide.’
When springtime came and the weather improved he was more restless than ever because now there was work going on in the fields and he was not a part of it.
‘If only we had a bigger garden or could get an allotment for him,’ Linn said, talking to Charlie at bedtime one night. ‘I hate to see him moping like this, mooching about, getting so sour. He’s never been idle in his life.’
‘No, I know, but what can we do?’
One afternoon in early summer when Charlie, at the garage, had his head under the bonnet of Clew’s van, a smart motor-car drew up and a man got out to speak to him. ‘Mr Truscott?’
‘Yes, that’s right.’
‘I’m looking for some people called Mercybright. The girl at the Post Office sent me to you.’
‘You’ve certainly come to the right man. Jack Mercybright is my father-in-law.’
‘Then you must be married to his daughter, Linn.’ Charlie nodded.
‘Is anything wrong?’
‘No, nothing’s wrong. Quite the reverse. I’m a solicitor. My name is Todds. I have some business with your wife and I’ve come from Hotcham on purpose to find her.’
‘What sort of business?’ Charlie asked.
‘I don’t think I should tell you that until I’ve had a word with her. Can you direct me to your home?’
‘I’ve got a better idea than that. I’ll come with you and show you the way.’
Charlie went to the garage door and called out to Clew.
‘I’m just popping home for a while. I shan’t be gone long.’
‘Famous last words!’ Clew called back.
Charlie returned to the smart car and got into the passenger-seat. Mr Todds was sitting at the wheel.
‘Take this first turning left,’ Charlie said, ‘and I’ll tell you the rest as we go along.’ He glanced at the stranger curiously. ‘Hotcham you’ve come from, did you say? My wife was born not far from there. A place called Niddup, I think it was.’
‘Yes, that’s right. At Brown Elms Farm.’
‘Is your business connected with that?’
‘Yes, Mr Truscott. It is indeed. A family matter, as you might say.’
‘Can’t you give me a hint what it is? I’m just about bursting to know!’ Charlie said.
The solicitor gave him a brief smile.
‘All in good time, Mr Truscott,’ he said.
‘Turn left here,’ Charlie said, ‘then it’s the second lane on the right.’
Robert, coming home from school and finding a motor-car at the gate, stared at it in astonishment. He walked round it, admiringly, and Mrs Ransome, on the watch, came to her hedge and called to him.
‘Seems you’ve got a visitor.’
‘Who?’ Robert asked. ‘Do you know?’
‘Gent with a brief-case. Stranger to me. Charlie came with him in the car. He’s been in there for two hours and the door’s been shut the whole time. Don’t ask me what it’s all about. You’ll only find out by going in.’
Robert walked slowly up the path. Sure enough, the front door was closed, an unusual thing in summertime, and it caused him some uneasiness. But when he opened the door and went in, and the four faces were turned towards him, he saw that whatever had brought the stranger there, it was nothing to cause anxiety. He sensed some excitement in the room; something unique in the atmosphere; the best Minton teaset was out, for a start, and some papers lay spread among the teacups and plates; and his mother, rising as he went in, had a warm pink colour in her cheeks.
‘This is my son, Robert,’ she said. ‘Robert, this is Mr Todds.’
The stranger got up and shook Robert’s hand. He said ‘How d’you do’ and sat down again. His manner was formal and somewhat stiff but he had a humorous look in his eyes.
‘Mr Todds has brought us some news. He’s come all the way from Hotcham to see us.’
‘It’s your mother he’s come to see,’ Charlie said.
‘What sort of news?’ Robert asked. Among the papers on the table he saw his mother’s birth-certificate. ‘Good news or bad?’
‘My Auntie Philippa’s died,’ Linn said. ‘She’s left me some money in her will. Mr Todds has been trying to find us for months. He put an advert in the papers, but we never saw it, I can’t think why.’ She turned towards the solicitor. ‘Such a worry you must have had, following us all over Worcestershire. The times we’ve moved, my father and me, you’d think we were gipsies, until we came here.’
Mr Todds smiled. He began gathering up the papers, sliding them into his brief-case. He pushed the birth-certificate towards her.
‘Well, at last I have found you, that’s the main thing. And now I really must be getting along.’ He closed his brief-case and rose from his chair. ‘I’ll leave you to talk over the good news with your family.’
‘Won’t you have another cup of tea?’
‘Thank you, but no. I’ve already lingered long enough, enjoying your hospitality, and it’s quite a long way back to Hotcham, you know.’ He leant forward and shook Linn’s hand. ‘You’ll be hearing from me again quite soon and Miss Guff’s legacy will be coming to you in due course. It isn�
�t a very large sum so there shouldn’t be any undue delays.’
‘You’ve really been very kind, Mr Todds.’
‘I’m only doing my job, that’s all.’
Charlie and Jack stood up and the kitchen suddenly seemed crowded. There was some jostling at the door as Mr Todds said goodbye to them, and then he was gone down the garden path, turning to wave to them from the gate. When they had seen him drive away, they came in from the step and Linn closed the door. She stood with a bemused smile on her lips, regarding her father, her husband, her son; and they stared back, in a moment of silence, the same smile lurking in each of them, because of this incredible thing that had come like an arrow out of the blue.
‘I can’t get over it,’ Charlie said.
‘It takes some believing,’ Jack agreed.
‘How much is it?’ Robert asked.
‘Try and guess!’ his mother said.
‘I dunno. How can I guess? The man said it was no large amount ‒’
‘Your mother’s been left five hundred pounds!’ Charlie gave the boy a shove. ‘What do you think of that, young Rob? That’s made you open your eyes, by gosh!’
‘It’s made us all open our eyes, myself included,’ Linn said.
‘I never even knew you had an Auntie Philippa,’ Robert said. ‘You never mentioned her before.’
‘It’s all such a long time ago, that’s why. My Auntie Philippa owned Brown Elms Farm and your granddad acted as bailiff for her. But she and your granddad fell out, you see, and we’ve never had any contact with her, not since coming away from there. I was only five years old. I don’t remember her very well.’
‘Seems she remembered you,’ Charlie said.
Robert looked at his grandfather. He knew nothing of the old man’s life in those far-off days at Brown Elms Farm.
‘What was Auntie Philippa like, that you should’ve fell out with her?’
Jack removed his pipe from his mouth and pressed the tobacco down in the bowl. He scratched his bearded cheek with the stem.
‘Miss Philippa liked to run folk around. I didn’t care to be run around so I upped sticks and came away. And that’s about all there is to it.’
‘What’s happened to the farm?’
‘Seems she left everything to the church, except for two or three legacies, like the one your mother’s to get.’
‘I can’t get over it!’ Charlie said. ‘To think I married a wealthy wife! Any chance of a bit of a loan?’
‘I haven’t got it yet,’ Linn said.
‘Well, just put me down for a couple of quid!’
‘Isn’t it time you got back to work?’
‘Yes, you’re right, just look at that clock! Clew will have something to say to me!’ Charlie put his cap on, pulling it down at the side of his head. ‘I haven’t come into money,’ he said. ‘I’ve still got my living to earn!’
When he reached the door he paused, looking back at Linn’s bright face.
‘Five hundred pounds! Just think of that! What are you going to do with it?’
‘Goodness, what a thing to ask! I haven’t had time to think yet!’
But in fact she knew what she meant to do. The idea had come to her almost at once, within a few minutes of hearing the news, and in the two hours that had passed since then, a definite plan had grown in her mind.
Robert was sitting talking to Jack, asking questions about Brown Elms Farm, and Linn, as she prepared his tea, listened to them talking together and now and then put in a word. But all the time, at the back of her mind, her great plan was taking shape.
‘Robert, are you going out?’
‘Yes, I was going down to the farm.’
‘Well, some time I want to talk to you, but later will do, when you get back.’
‘Is it about the legacy?’ He looked at her with a teasing smile. ‘Had I better stop at home?’
‘No, there’s no hurry,’ Linn said. ‘I want to talk to your granddad first.’
When Robert had left the house, Linn made her father sit down with her, with pencil and pad on the table before them, and a local newspaper, some days old, open at the columns of ‘Land for Sale’.
‘I’m thinking of buying a little farm.’
‘Glory be! So that’s the idea? I knew you’d got something in your mind.’
‘What do you think of it?’ she asked.
‘I reckon I’d better light my pipe.’
‘Old tobacco-face, puffing away! I suppose you can’t think without all that smoke?’
‘Tell me about this farm of yours.’
‘What I’ve got in mind is a smallholding, twenty or thirty acres, perhaps. Something we can work by ourselves. I thought we’d go in for poultry. There’s money in that, don’t you agree?’
‘So long as you don’t expect to get rich by it …’
‘If we can make a living from it, that’s all I ask. It would be worth it, wouldn’t it, to have a bit of land of our own?’
‘It’d certainly give me something to do.’ He looked at her from under his brows. ‘That’s the idea, ent it?’ he said. ‘That’s why you want to buy a farm, so’s I’ll have something to do with myself?’
‘Well, and what’s wrong with that?’ she asked.
‘Nothing, so far as it goes,’ he said. ‘I’m just thinking of Charlie, that’s all. That money you’ve got coming to you could set him up in his own garage. Maybe you should consider that.’
Linn frowned. She gave it some thought. But after a moment she shook her head.
‘Charlie can get work easily. He’s still a young man and a skilled mechanic. Mechanics earn good pay and he could do better if he had more push.’
‘Will he mind moving from here?’
‘I don’t think he will. It might even do him good if he has to shake himself out of his rut.’
Jack gave a grunt.
‘Seems we shall all be shook out of our rut, now you’ve come into money,’ he said. ‘And what about Rob? Have you thought about him? He’s set his heart on getting a job at Bellhouse next year.’
‘Now he won’t have to, will he? He’ll have his own farm to work on instead.’
‘Raising poultry? He won’t care for that.’
‘Why ever not, for goodness’ sake? My little farm will be his one day. Surely that’s better than working for someone else all his life?’
‘I dunno. I ent so sure. I reckon you’d better talk to him.’
‘Yes, well,’ Linn said. ‘I don’t think I’ll mention it to him yet. The first thing is to find our farm.’
‘Farms are easy enough to find. They’re going begging everywhere. But whether they’re worth having or not is another matter altogether.’
‘At least land is cheap just now.’
‘Oh, ah, it’s cheap as dirt. I’ve heard of land going for sale for as little as five pounds an acre in recent times. That was over at Riddington. But a place of the size you’ve got in mind, twenty or thirty acres, well, there’s nothing like that in this neighbourhood. You’ll have to look further afield.’
‘What about Spatesbridge or Etherington?’ Linn, with the newspaper in her hand, was reading through the advertisements, marking the possibles with a cross. ‘Twenty-five acres at Gudgington … That won’t do, there isn’t a house … Smallholding at Newton Kings … Sixty acres, that’s too big …’
Jack, puffing away at his pipe, looked at her through the rising smoke.
‘Shouldn’t you speak to Charlie and Rob before going any further?’ he said.
‘There’s no harm in seeing what’s for sale.’
Charlie and Robert, when they heard of her plan, stared at her in astonishment. Charlie’s blue eyes opened wide.
‘Buying a farm? Are you serious? Why, no one can make it pay these days!’
But gradually, as Linn explained, he began to come round to the idea. A smallholding. Yes, of course. Poultry and eggs, there was profit in that. They could keep a couple of cows, perhaps, and any surplus milk they had c
ould go to fatten a pig or two. So long as the farm was small enough, they could manage the work themselves. It would mean security, in a small way, and they would have a house of their own.
‘I reckon maybe you’ve got something there. What does Jack think of it?’
‘Oh, I go along with the tide,’ Jack said.
‘Dad and me have talked it out. He’s in favour. Of course he is.’
‘It didn’t take you long,’ Charlie said, ‘to decide how to spend your legacy.’ He was full of admiration and looked at her with wondering eyes. Then he turned towards Robert. ‘Your mother’s a woman of enterprise. She knows how to make up her mind about things. She’s given us something to think about, eh?’
Robert smiled and gave a nod. He, too, was looking at Linn.
‘I’m just trying to imagine it … Mother as farmer, milking the cows …’
‘Is it so strange?’ Linn demanded. ‘I’ve seen enough cows in my life, heaven knows!’
‘You’ve never milked them, though, I bet.’
‘I can soon learn, can’t I?’ She went to and fro about the kitchen, setting their supper in front of them. ‘Anyway!’ she exclaimed. ‘I’ve got three men to do things like that!’
‘There!’ Charlie said, winking at Robert. ‘It’s started already. I knew it would. The grand lady farmer, flouncing about, telling us what we’ve got to do. She’s beginning to play the part and it just about suits her down to the ground. See how she puts her nose in the air? That’s what money does for folk!’
Linn sat down at the table with them. Charlie spoke more seriously.
‘There are no smallholdings hereabouts.’
‘No, it’ll mean going further afield.’
‘What about Charlie’s job?’ Robert asked.
‘Oh, that’s nothing to worry about.’ Charlie brushed the problem aside. ‘There’s plenty of work for mechanics and such.’ Linn’s plan had taken hold of him. He was warming to it more and more. ‘When are you going to start looking round?’
‘I thought I’d wait till the money came.’
‘Much better start straight away. It’ll save time when the money does come.’
‘Well, I have marked two places in the paper …’
Seedtime and Harvest (The Apple Tree Saga Book 5) Page 10
