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when he heard the distant shouting, then the sound of banging and thuds as if the furniture in the study were being thrown around, the effect of which was heightened because that room was situated partly under his bedroom.

When the banging and thudding ceased there was a period of quiet for about ten minutes, and then his father's voice came to him as if it were outside his door, yelling, `Come back into the room, you bitch! I haven't finished with you; I haven't even started.`

There was the sound of a door being opened and banged closed, followed by a noise indicating that a door apparently wouldn't open, for now his father was thudding on it with his fists as he yelled, Òpen this bloody door or I'll kick it in. D'you hear me, you dirty Irish slut, you! All these years hoodwinking me: the innocent laughing girl, the sweet pure Irish rose! God in heaven! it's as that ignorant Paddy said, you made no fuss about where you would be married, and they would have let you be married in a brothel to get rid of you!`

When there followed the sound of kicking, Daniel got out of bed and stood near his door; but he didn't open it. And now he bit on his lip as

he heard his father use mouthful after mouthful 161 of cursing and filth to describe what he thought of Moira. When at last the tirade ceased, there came the sound of the children crying and he knew that she must have the two youngest in the room with her.

Àll right! All right!` his father was now yelling, `there'll come tomorrow, when you'll have to face me, and begod! you won't see out of your eyes for a week, I promise you, I promise you. And I promise you more than that, for there's going to be changes here. Oh yes, that fat hulk downstairs is going back across the water quicker than she ever moved before. And as for my eldest son ... are you listening? your stepmother's favourite boy. Well, pin your ears back, because from now on your soft job of tutoring is finished. It's a six to six day for you in future and day in and day out, and see how you like that. And you'll do it, won't you? because she's got you tied to her apron strings. Her blarney has got to you an' all, and from the beginning you've supped from her like a new born lamb! As the saying goes among that dumbheaded, treacherous lot of Irish, hell's cure to you!`

Òne pound, five shillings, Mr Stewart.`

Òne pound, ten shillings, Mr Baxter.`

Òh, come on, come on, Mr Stewart, have a heart, the place is swamped with carrots.`

Ìt may be, but these are clean and all of a size. One pound, ten shillings, Mr Baxter.`

Daniel smiled as he stressed the man's name and the wholesaler shook his head, saying Ì can't do it. I can't do it. If I let you push me up on this, it'll be the same for the beans and the peas an' the whole lot.`

`Well, there's always McIntyre's.`

`You wouldn't have the nerve to go to him after that do a few years back, would you?`

Òh, yes, I would, Mr Baxter; we're on speaking terms again. He just bid me good-day coming through the market. And anyway, you were in that do

yourself. Now weren't you?`

`No, no. I ... I never bought things on the side, nor gave backhanders, never, not from any of the carriers. And from your men, never. I might have given them the price of a pint now and again--`

Òh, yes, yes, the price of a pint. Well, we won't rake it all up. One pound, seven and six.`

The wholesaler shook his head, saying, Ì never used to have this trouble, you know, when your men brought the stuff in. Well, all right, all right, let's get it all reckoned up. What have we here? A hundredweight of onions, four hundredweight of taties. Oh, by the way--` he stopped in his reckoning, saying, `you know the fellow you sacked, Fairbrother, over the backhanding business? well he's on his uppers. He called in here yesterday and said if I saw you, would I put a word in for him, because he understood that things were bucking up on the farm, and you were thinking about taking on another man because his place has never been filled. You would have no trouble with him if you did.`

Òh,` Daniel jerked up his chin, `that

doesn't really lie with me; it will 165 depend on what my father says.`

`Will it, Mr Stewart?` The wholesaler was grinning now. Ì hear that for all that matters you're practically running that place now.`

`You should never believe all you hear, you know that, Mr Baxter. Anyway, what d'you make it?`

`Ten pounds and fourpence to the penny.`

The wholesaler counted out the money and laid it on top of a barrel, and Daniel, picking it up, said,

`Well, I guess you'll make twice as much out of that lot.`

Òh, listen to you. Listen to you. You don't take into account the overheads and the stuff they bring back from the stalls that'll be rotten in a couple of days. Double the amount? I'll be lucky.`

`You always have been, Mr Baxter, you always have been. Good-day to you.`

`Good-day to you, Mr Stewart.Ànd now the wholesaler watched the tall young fellow in the tweed jacket and the brown leggings stalk out of the warehouse, and he shook his head as he said to himself,

`You wouldn't believe it, would you? the difference in that lad, or the lad that was two or three years ago. Then, he hardly knew a bull from a bullock, and look at him now, running that place, and the house gardens, too, with only three hands, it is said. Of course, there was his father, but everybody knew what his father was like, hardly ever sober, all since that trouble with his wife, he understood, the Irish woman, when her fortune didn't transpire. He had been banking on that for years, apparently. And it was rumoured too that he used to have a woman in the town, but she went off to America with some bloke, and he had a drinking bout then an' all. At one time that farm and house were classy, but that was when the young fellow's mother was alive. Quite a lady she was, but very reserved, not like the present Mrs Stewart, a full-blown woman, but bonny and pleasant, Oh aye, as pleasant as they come.`

He turned now and examined the produce that Daniel had brought in and he nodded to himself, saying,

`That was a good guess; perhaps not double, but near enough. Good quality stuff. Yes, good quality stuff

...`

Daniel drove the cart round the outskirts of the market, across the main thoroughfare and into a side lane that was bordered by a field, and it was

into this that he turned and brought the horse 167 to a stop facing the way he had come, and sat waiting.

Leaning back against the iron rail that supported the high seat, he let himself indulge in a moment of satisfaction. He reckoned that on the whole deal he had raised Mr Baxter four and sixpence. Then his body stiffened as he thought, And he's not getting that, or even half of it. I'll pay the men first, then take my own wage, and give Moira her due, and a pound extra for shoes for Patrick, Sean, and Annie: then he'll be lucky to get what's left.

In his mind now, he began to wonder as to how this present situation had come about. He had hated his father before the night when he had aimed to kick Moira's door in, but since then he had despised him as he watched him slowly disintegrate into a drunken sot.

There had been a period of bawling and shouting and threatening which Moira seemed to sail through unperturbed. This had been replaced with a sullenness, when he would hardly speak for days until he had taken on another load of drink,

after which it would be maudlin talk of his ruined life and the no-good family he had reared.

But when the real cause of his father's trouble had been made known to Daniel he found it hard to believe. One day Moira had said to him, `You've got to be sorry for your father, Daniel, and I mean that.

He's lost something, the only thing ... person he ever loved in his life. The woman, or the girl as she was then, became as much of a torment to him as she was to your own mother. Well, she hasn't been a torment to me, for I understood his need. He never loved me, nor I him. As I told you, I loved one man and unfortunately for your father, he loved only one woman. And one night he threw her at me: he told me all about her. At the time he wasn't fully drunk, just talkative. Apparently he had known her since she was fifteen ... known her in all ways. And then he had tried to give her up when he married me, because at that time there was still a sense of fairness in him. However, it was no good; he found he couldn't live without her. Well, his little girl grew up and he must have tried to hang on to her by spending the money on her that should have been spent on the farm and the children, if not on me. But it obviously wasn't enough, for she left 169 him for another man and he's been lost ever since.`

Staring along the road towards where he knew Frances would appear at any minute, he asked himself if he were to lose her, would he feel the same as his father had done about that girl: would he go to pieces?

For a moment he received no answer, but when it came he was surprised, because it said, No; you would fight to keep your pride. But then he actually shook his head: what was he thinking about? That would never happen to him.

He now sat bolt upright on the seat: there was his girl, his lovely Frances. The sight of her in the distance, even the way she walked, the way she held her head, everything about her enchanted him. They were to be engaged at Christmas. It would have been at this time last year, except that her father put a stop to it, saying she was too young, which was a stupid reason, because only a few weeks previously she had been bridesmaid at her cousin's wedding, and the bride had been eighteen years old. No; her father wanted to see how he made out. He had even asked him if he was thinking of taking a farm of his own when he eventually

got married, not saying openly that he wasn't going to allow his daughter to start her married life in her father-in-law's house, with two Irish women and the madcap squad of children that roamed wild around the place. And, of course, her father was right, because he, Daniel, could never bring Frances back to the house as a bride; he'd have to have some place of his own. How it was to come about, though, God only knew. He would just have to follow Moira's advice: take things as they came and it would all work out in the end. He had done so before.

He jumped down from the cart and ran towards her, and there being no-one in the lane, he put his arms around her and kissed her; and she kissed him back, saying on a gasp, Òh! Daniel; it's like escaping from prison trying to get away on my own. I wouldn't have managed it this morning but we met up with Janie and her mother. So Father left us to go into the market, and Mother, good soul that she is, said,

"Off you go! Ten minutes, no more." Oh, Daniel.` She lay back in the circle of his arms and moved her head slowly as she said, `Why weren't you born a rich man?Ànd he smiled at her, saying, Ì was, comparatively; well, what you would call warm; but things have cooled down a lot since 171 then.`

She laughed gently as she stroked his cheek: `You have a wonderful way of looking at things. You never seem to be without hope.`

Òh; oh, don't you believe it: I'm devoid of hope every night when I lie in bed awake yet dreaming and hoping for the day when--` his jaws tightened now and he pulled her roughly towards him, and again he was kissing her.

After a moment and slightly breathless she said, Ì was over having tea with Janie yesterday, and who do you think called in? Your dear friend, Ray. You know something? He's sweet on her. I used to think it was me.` She pulled a face at him. `But no; there they were talking twenty to the dozen. To tell you the truth I felt out of it; their conversation went over my head. They were talking about Wilkie Collins. I don't know whether he's just died, but they were chattering away about him and Matthew Arnold. Apparently he died last year. I asked them if they had been left anything in his will, and of course our Luke had to butt in, saying, "Don't show your ignorance." But I told them, the three of them, I knew as much about books as they did and, I bet, more about Mrs Henry Wood's stories. Anyway, there it is; you're not the only one that's going a-courting, Mr Stewart; your dear friend, I'm sure, has his eye on our Janie. Of course--` she drew herself from his arms and they walked up the path towards the horse and cart as she went on, `they'll be well-matched because she's brainy. I've always envied her.

You know, Daniel, nature is not a good divider: it often gives you a pretty face, but not much on top--`

`Don't talk such rot. You've got a mind that can match Janie's any day.`

She stopped and looked at him and said tenderly, `You think so, Daniel? You really think I'm as clever as Janie?`

Ìt isn't a matter of being clever; you've got everything that Janie hasn't: you've got beauty and personality.

Oh, my dear ...` His arms were around her again, and he pressed her close as she replied, Ì'd like to believe you, oh, I would, but I know you're just being kind as usual. Compared with Janie I'm a numskull.`

`Don't you say that ever. To me 173 you're beautiful and bright. Oh, my dear, my own Frances, you're like a star, one single star shining in a dark sky. And you know, sometimes that's what my life is like on the farm: a dark sky, and I can't see a way out. Yet you keep me going with hope that some day

... some day ... Must you go now?`

`Yes, darling, I must.` She had pressed herself from him, `Look`--she now thrust her hand into the pocket of her dust-coat--Ì picked up this bent penny from the road this morning. Carriage wheels must have gone over it. Look.` She held it up before his face. `You know what they say about a bent penny; it's lucky. Take it and prove it right, because ... oh--` she bit on her lip for a moment before whispering, Ì want us married, and soon. Oh, Daniel,ànd in an impetuous movement she now flung herself on him and her mouth covered his; then quickly thrusting him away again, she sped down the lane, leaving him trembling.

When she had passed from his view he looked down at the black bent penny and his hand closed around it, and he gripped it until his nails dug

into his palm. Then he turned and went back to the cart and drove home; and there the bent penny was to demonstrate its luck.