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kale pot on the hob, where the stock for the soup was bubbling. It was as if she had never left the house.

She had arrived yesterday and she and John had slept upstairs, that is after they had sat talking into the early hours with Moira and Daniel.

Moira was now saying to Pattie, Ìt was good of Janie to come with her father and brother. He's a very nice gentleman, her father.`

`Yes; they are a nice family.`

`She's got a way with the children an' all, for she's got them all up there now, sitting round Sean's bed and telling them stories as if she had been doing it all her life.`

`How long has Sean been like this, Moira? He's changed.`

`Well, it's a long time since you saw him, dear.`

Òh, I don't mean in that way. Yes, he's grown, I know, but I think there's something worrying him. He used to chat to me, but I couldn't get a word out of him yesterday.`

`Well, to tell you the truth he's not been the same since Maggie Ann met with her accident. He was very fond of her, you know, and she of him, and

he hardly ever leaves her side.` 351

Ìt isn't right that he should be like this. He's too old for a child; he's not nine yet.`

`He's always been old, Pattie, from the day he was born. He's not like the others, you know; he was one of twins.`

`Yes, so you've said.`

`They're always strange, the one that's left. Something missing in them, I think. Or on the other hand, as Maggie Ann said, something seems to be added to them; like two lives being spent in one.`

Ànd Daniel. You know, I hoped he would make a break and come into the town, but there's little chance of that now. Is there?`

Ì shouldn't think so. If I'm truthful, Pattie, I should hope not.`

Ìs it really all over between him and Frances?`

Àgain, I should say I hope so, but he mopes when he's not worrying about the farm, and the work, and the frustration of it all. I doubt if he'll ever get her out of his system.`

`He's a fool. She's a skittish piece. You know, I've seen her in the town with Ray Melton.`

`Well, I hope he takes her on and soon.`

`He will if her father has anything to do with it, because the Meltons are pretty warm, with all their shops.Àfter Pattie had scooped the vegetables into the pot she turned to Moira, saying, `Look, sit down; you look beat. By the way, when is it due?`

Òh, some time to go yet, early March, nearly eight weeks, I should say.` Then suddenly bending over, Moira exclaimed, Òh! Oh!ànd Pattie moved quickly to her, saying, `What is it? Sit down. Have you got a pain?`

Moira could not speak for a moment, and she had to lower herself slowly down on to the chair, and as she gritted her teeth together the sound was audible to Pattie, who almost whimpered, Òh, don't say something's going to happen, Moira. As you said, you're weeks away.`

`Don't worry, don't worry; it's just a stitch. I often get it. Look, will you heat me a drop of milk, dear, and put some ginger in it?Às Pattie busied herself with the pan of 353 milk, thrusting it into the brightest part of the fire, the door opened and Janie came in, and she paused a moment before hurrying forward towards Moira and saying,

`You're feeling ill?`

`No, no, dear; it's just a stitch. Anyway, it's gone now. Where are the children?`

Òh, they've gone up to the nursery. I've shown them a new game; at least, it's as old as the hills. But it's very competitive and it'll keep them going. And by the way, Sean got up and dressed; he's gone with them.`

`He has? Oh, that's good, that's good. He must be feeling better.`

`Yes.` Janie nodded. Òf a sudden, he sat up and said just that; "I'm feeling better; I'm going to get my clothes on."`

Pattie now poured the milk into a cup, added the ginger, stirred it, then handed it to Moira before turning to Janie and saying, Ìf you want to make yourself useful, you could carry those plates from the table over there into the dining-room.`

When Janie had left the room carrying a tray of plates Moira said, `You're on good terms, you two.`

`Yes, we are, because she's my type of person. She's teaching now, you know.`

Ìs she indeed? I would have thought there was no need for her to do that, with them being so moneyed.`

Òh, Moirà--Pattie laughed gently --`there's needs in all of us that money can't fill.`

`Yes, yes, that's true. It was a silly thing for me to say. Yet, at the same time, I would say that money can go a long way towards soothing the wants. It's a good salve, is money, and I hope that that lawyer man, when he gets going later on in the day, will be able to say that we're due for a good bit of salve. But as yet, we don't know whom Hector has left the farm to; and whether it's Daniel or me, there's three thousand pounds to be found for the bank. Well, if it's me, I can almost clear it, Pattie, for it may surprise you to know that I have two thousand, five hundred pounds to me name in the bank.`

`What?`

`Yes, yes. You can open your mouth that wide, but it's money sent to me from me daughter, and Daniel wouldn't touch a penny of it. It was he who made me put it away in me own name in case Hector got his hands on it. And 355 I know now that if the place has been solely left to him, I'll have to fight to hand that money over to the bank.`

Ì think that whoever it's left to, Moira, the other can claim a share. In law I think the wife is due for a third of the husband's property and if it's left to the wife the eldest son can claim some, so John was saying. But two thousand, five hundred pounds! That's a small fortune. And it's been lying there all this time and you needing things. Why didn't you spend some of it on yourself and the children?`

Ànd where could I explain I had got the money from? Eh?`

`Yes. Yes, of course, there is that. But that amount would put the place back on its feet.`

`No, no it wouldn't, Pattie. It will ease the debt. But this place will have to work for itself before it's back on its feet. And Daniel has pointed this out all along. But now that he'll have a free hand we'll just have to wait and see how things go. One thing I do know, there'll be changes here, whether for the good or the bad, I don't know.`

`By the way,` said Pattie now, `did

Father never press you to ask for help from your daughter's people?`

`No, because although he knew about her, he never met her. He was in a deep drinking bout at the time.

Yet, I thought it strange, for her private carriage and liveried driver couldn't have passed through the village without comment. Of course, they may not have known where it was headed for, but because little escapes any one of them, I waited for Hector to put the question to me. He never did, and I was peeved in a way, 'cos I wanted to brag about her.` She looked down the length of the kitchen now as if gazing into the past, and she repeated softly to herself, `She's the only thing I have to be proud of.Ìt was as if she had never borne another child.

9

The voice of the village said there certainly were changes being made on old Stewart's place since the young one took over. Going around like a terrier after a rat, he was, stirring up everybody. The only thing he couldn't stir up or alter was the weather and, according to Arthur Beaney, that seemed to be frustrating him. And then there 357 was the fact that he wasn't selling the Westfields, which surely indicated that things weren't as bad as had been made out. Farmer Preston had confided in Davey Rington, who owned the inn, that to his knowledge old Stewart had been up to his neck in debt to the bank and they were just waiting to foreclose. Well, apparently something had stopped them from foreclosing, and that could only be money. But where had it come from?

This was explained, at least to the villagers, at the end of February, when a fine carriage stopped at the inn before making its way to the farm. It had leaked out earlier through Rosie Dunlop that Mrs Stewart, the Irish one, had had a daughter before she married Stewart, and the said daughter had been brought up as a lady and had married a rich Frenchman. And they had stopped at the inn, and the man himself, the Frenchman, who spoke English as good as the next, bought two bottles of whisky, a bottle of port and several bottles of wine, and had his driver carry it out to the carriage. Now would you believe that?

This last piece of gossip from the inn was fresh, because it had happened only that morning. And now Monsieur Jacques Fonière and his wife Melissa were seated at the dining table with Moira, Daniel, and a lady who had been introduced as a family friend, Janie. And Janie and Monsieur Jacques were getting along splendidly, for as Janie said, she hadn't had the chance to practise her French on anyone for a long time. She admitted that her father could speak the language, but he had asked why he should do so when he could get all he wanted in English. As for her mother, she said, her French was limited to what she had learned in the schoolroom.

Daniel had to admit that his knowledge of the language was on the schoolroom level, too, and Moira noticed he seemed to be looking with new eyes at Janie, an animated creature now as she conversed fluently with the attractive Frenchman.

The wine that had accompanied the dinner had relaxed them all, for earlier in the day there had been a very emotional meeting when Moira had taken her daughter in to see Maggie Ann. Moira had prepared her for what she would find, but nevertheless the sight of the woman entrapped in her mound of flesh, her face already carrying the death pallor on it, had shocked her to the extent that she was unable to speak for a time. And when the two 359 soft, bloated hands held hers the tears had sprung from her eyes, until Maggie Ann, her own eyes wet, had said, Òh, my dear, my dear, don't cry over me. This is one of the happiest moments of me life for, you know, I was the first one that held you.

Yes, I took you from her womb`--she had turned her eyes on to Moira --ànd I laughed as I held you, for you yelled into my face. But my laughter turned to tears, even to wails, when later they took you away. But thanks be to God they did. Oh, yes, thanks be to God they did, for you're somethin' to be proud of, me dear. And your mama is that proud of you! Sit down, sit down, and tell me all about your life.Ànd Melissa had sat down; and she had talked to this old woman, who had apparently been on the point of death for weeks, but was still clinging to life. And she understood how her mother loved this woman and what a loss she would be when she went.

At one point Maggie Ann had said, `Have you ever been to Ireland; I mean, have you been back since you were taken away from it all those years ago?Ànd Melissa had said, `No, I haven't; but it is strange that you ask, because my husband was talking about us going there for a holiday later on in the year.`

Òh, you'll love Ireland,` Maggie had said. Ànd you must go and see the house.Ànd then she had stopped and closed her eyes for a moment before she had added, `No, don't go near the house where you were born, because you'd meet up with the lot of them there, an' they're like leeches; they'd suck you dry an' you won't know they're doin' it. Am I right, Moira?` She had turned and looked at Moira now and Moira had answered, `Yes, in a way you're right, Maggie Ann, as always.` ...

It was later that night that Melissa said to Moira, `Have you ever longed to go back to your own people?`

After a pause, Moira said, `No, not so much to my own people but to the land itself, yes. But then, I ask you, who doesn't long for the place of their birth, the land of their birth? But here I am, and here I must stay. It seems to be God's will. The only thing that's worrying me at the moment is that the one inside mè--she patted her belly-- `will not come before Maggie Ann goes. Or if that is not to be, it will wait until she's 361 put to rest.`

`You're having a hard life, Mother.`

`No, no,` said Moira, now shaking her head, `life is much easier than it's been for years.` She didn't say, since my husband died. Ànd if the weather turns good, the farm should look up this year, and things will be easier all round. And I pray for them to be easier for Daniel.`

They were sitting alone during this conversation and now Melissa leant forward and in a low voice she said, `You hinted that Daniel has had a bad love affair. Has it ended?`

`Completely, I hope. Oh, yes, I pray to God, completely. But he still pines for her.`

`Miss Farringdon ... Janie; she is such a nice person. Do you think he might turn to her?`

`That is another thing I pray for, but I know it is useless, because he treats her just as a friend, as if she were another man friend. I've always thought that a man could never make a real friend of a woman, but he seems to have done so, and she likewise. The

way they talk at times, you should hear them, about books and the state of the country and who should be up there in Parliament and who shouldn't. Oh, it goes on from one thing to another.Às Moira smiled widely and shook her head, Melissa said, Ìt's a pity, but perhaps she is already affianced.`

`No. No, nothing like that, and that's because men are stone blind.Ànd now she asked her daughter, Àre you happy, dear? Really happy?Ànd to this Melissa said, Ì haven't words to answer that question correctly. At times I feel guilty at being so happy, and other people so sad. He is wonderful, don't you think, my Jacques? Mama wasn't happy at first about the association because he is almost twice my age, but now she too thinks him perfect. And he is so kind; kind to everyone. But as he says himself, it is no effort to be kind when you've got the wherewithal with which to be kind. But as I see it, many people have money and they are not kind. What do you say, Mother?`

Ì say the same as you, my dear. The more money some men get the more they want and stick to.` Then she leant forward and gripped her

daughter's hand, saying, Ì'm so 363 glad you're going to stay the night here and will meet Pattie tomorrow. You'll like Pattie. She is another Janie, although not a bit like her brother Daniel. Chalk and cheese they are, yet they get on like a house on fire.`

When the door was opened quickly and Daniel entered the room, Moira immediately asked him, `What is it?Ànd for answer he replied, `Maggie Ann has had a turn. She's breathing heavily, finding it an effort to speak. Janie is with her and Jacques too. I sent the children upstairs. We were all in the room together.