the maltese angel (57 page)

For the first time Carl spoke, and now harshly, saying, "Oh ... oh, no, he's not that. Well, what I mean is, it's something like shell shock he suffers from. God help him."

"Shellshock!" Jessie was indignant.

"He was never in the war really;

he was a conscientious objector. "

Carl dared to say, "Don't be silly. From what we hear some of them had the rottenest jobs imaginable. They were in the thick of it out there, stretcher-bearing and such."

Patsy turned her head and was smiling at them as she said, "That's it, have a row. It'll make a good start." Then looking pointedly at Jessie, she said, "You know, you should be grateful that she found something to hold her interest. What life had she here as a child? It really broke my heart to see her locked up in that cottage every time you came out.

And in this house it was the same; in fact, worse, for she only saw the bedroom. "

Tessie looked down at her fingers where they were plucking imaginary threads from her skirt, and she muttered, "I know, I know, but what else could I do? Have her run in here and bump into Father? It was bad enough when they crossed paths outside." She did not add, "And you're lying where you are because of one such encounter."

But Patsy did not pursue this trend in their discussion, except to look at Carl and say, "You know that piece of fancy talk you often come out with, which means let things be, leave them as they are?

Well, that's what you want to do now. "

Carl laughed and looked at Jessie and said, "Status quo?" And when Jessie, with raised eyebrows, nodded and smiled at him, he knew that she had as little understanding of the term as Patsy. Her reading

likely didn't touch on the daily papers, whereas his own got no further these days. And so he said briskly, "Well! to business. I'll leave you two to get on with your jabbering but I must get back to work.

Somebody must do it." He pulled a face, turning from one to the other, and then went out.

It would appear that Janie had been waiting for him to come out of the house, for she was there by the door, requesting straightaway: "Come into the tack-room a minute, will you, Carl?"

In the room and with the door closed, she immediately excused her

request: "I don't want Auntie Jessie to see me talking to you," she said.

"She'll want to know what I'm saying, as always," and she wrinkled her nose, then astounded him: "How much do you pay the farm-hands?" she asked.

"How much 'do I pay the farm-hands? Oh well, it varies. They get good money now, you know, since the war." He pushed out his chest in explanation.

"We're the feeders of the nation, you know. So we're

47i being recognised at last. Well now, you want to know what they're paid. Mike and McNabb get thirty-five shillings a week each. Rob gets thirty-three. Then of course any extra male help in the summer in the fields is paid by the hour. "

"Do women helpers in the summer get the same?"

"Oh no." The shake of his head was emphatic.

"Women never get paid as much as men, because they don't do the heavy work."

She thought for a moment, then said, "In the summer they do, lifting the stocks and all that, and they rake with the men."

He tapped her cheek gently, saying, "Now we're not going into politics.

Why d'you want to know all this?"

"Oh." She shrugged her shoulders, but she didn't answer his question:

what she said was, "I didn't think they got all that. How about if they slept in; I mean, had a place to stay and got their food; how about it then?"

"Oh then, well, a pound a week or perhaps a little more, a little less, according to their experience."

"As low as ten shillings?"

"Oh no, you couldn't offer a man ten shillings a week, even with bed and board. Anyway, what's all this about?"

"Well, I can tell you. I was thinking about ... well, I put it to Lady Lydia about employing someone, or perhaps two, to clear the ground and get some of it set for a crop or such. I'm going to pick all the fruit this year I might need a little help. We'll bottle it, and it could be sold like they used to do when Mr. Gerald was at home. But during the war and the soldiers tramping over everything, and then those village children coming in and scrumping, there wasn't much left. But it will be different this year, because now they can't get in since die Army mended the fences and the walls. Well, they went through them, didn't they, with their trucks? So that part's all right; it's just clearing the ground and getting it into shape again."

He now placed his hands on her shoulders and looked into her face as he said, "You're taking something on, aren't you? And, you know, you should still be at school?"

"Oh, Carl, I'm at school every morning. History, geography,

arithmetic, English. She ... she keeps me on such childish things, Carl. If she knew of the books that I look at in the Hall library, she'd have a fit."

He laughed now as he asked, "What kind of books?"

"Oh, all kinds, about gods and goddesses. And then there's stories, marvelous stories. You could spend days reading the stories. But I hardly ever get one finished, because I can't stay long enough." She now turned from him and walking towards a saddle hanging on the wall, she stroked the leather for a moment as she said, "I'll never live in that house across the yard, Carl. Although he's gone I feel he's still there. You know what I'd do with it?" She swung round to him.

"Set fire to it and make it into a sort of funeral pyre like they used to do in Egypt and put it on his grave."

"Oh. Oh, Janie, you shouldn't think things like that. Oh, my dear."

"I do think things like that, Carl. I hated him when he was alive and I can't stop hating him now because he's dead. And another thing,

whichever one was my father he couldn't have been as bad as he was, not so cruel, so cold. He hated me because of what those men did to my mother and I was the result. But they only did that to my mother

because he'd had a woman put in an asylum, the sister of one of

them."

"Shh! Shhr He had her by the shoulders again.

"You shouldn't think about it. You shouldn't talk about it. And anyway, she was put in the asylum because she had done very wrong

things to your grandfather. She had, in a way, killed your

grandmother. Now there's two ways of

looking at this matter. You should try to see the reason for your

grandfather's actions. "

"I ... I experienced his reactions, Carl. I ... I knew there was something wrong with me right back when I was a child and had to be locked in the cottage. And ... and I wanted to be loved and' she now bit on her lip " Auntie Jessie's love was a different kind. I can't explain it. She was always saying she loved me then doing hard things.

"

"She had her reasons, too, dear; she was trying to protect you."

"Oh well' she now flung her arms wide 'it doesn't matter any more, well not much. I'm me, and I've known I'm me for a long time. I'm .. I'm different from others. I know I am. Yet Her expression now changed to one of slight pleasurable surprise as she said, " One of the girls from the village spoke to me the other day. Do you remember me telling you about the ones I went boo! to? Well, she was the tallest one. She

was by herself on the road when she half stopped and spoke to me. "

"What did she say?"

"She said, " Hello", and I was so surprised that I didn't answer. And then she said, " Isn't it cold? " And I said, yes, it was. And then she said, " Good bye", and I said, " Goodbye"."

"When was this?" His voice was low now.

"Oh, the day before yesterday."

Well, well! Could it be with the passing of the thorn in the

villagers' flesh that their attitude would change towards the child and she would be finally accepted? But would she want to be accepted?

Did they but know it, they were dealing with someone as strong-willed as ever her grandfather had been; only there would be no vindictiveness in her strength.

She was saying now, "If ... if Lady Lydia decides to take on a man, would you on the quiet, come and check him over for her? I mean, to tell us that he was capable of hard work and was of good character?"

He now put his two fingers to his forehead and flicked his hair back, saying, "At your service, ma'am. Any time, at your service, with no charge."

As she laughingly pushed at him so he put his arms around her and held her tightly for a moment; and he, laughing too, said, "Any time you want help, my dear, you come to me, and it won't cost you a penny."

And now they were pushing at each other, their laughters mingled. And Mike, passing by in the yard outside heard the laughter and, as he remarked to the others, he had never heard such a gay sound in this yard since he first came into it.

"We've made seventy-four pounds out of the fruit and jams this year, and there's still a month to go to Christmas."

"Yes, my dear." Lady Lydia nodded at Janie.

"But that's only because Carl has been so kind as to loan us his transport and a driver. And we can't expect to take advantage of him again at Christmas and ..."

"It isn't taking advantage, and he likes helping. It takes his mind off .. well. Patsy's going. He's still mourning her, I think, and

it's now over seven months. Anyway, he said we've just got to ask

him.

And so with the money that you've got, you could take this man on. It would be a start. "

"It would mean buying extra food, my dear, and men eat a lot. And then he'd have to have a wage, and I read that some of them are demanding two pounds a week."

"I think this one would be glad to take anything. And anyway, as Carl once told me, it comes down by practically half if they have bed and board."

"But where's the bed, my dear? Those rooms above the stables have never been used for years. They are dank and ..."

"If a man has been a soldier he's used to sleeping on anything, I should say. In any case, we could soon fix that up; in fact, he would fix it up himself, I think. And this one's young and strong-looking, not like some of the older ones that come begging. But his shoes are in holes. They must be because one sole is loose. I noticed that."

Lady Lydia sighed as she said, "What don't you notice, my dear? But there is another thing: I don't think I would be able to cope with labour; I mean, giving orders and seeing that they do their work. And, you know, I'm away a day or more in every week now that Gerald is

closer to home."

"Well, I'm not afraid of giving orders."

Lady Lydia chuckled as she said, "No, you certainly are not. But you are still a very young girl for all your height and all your' now she wagged her finger at the tall girl standing at her knee 'for all your height and for all your talk you are still a young girl. And that's how men would see you."

"Not for long they wouldn't."

Lady Lydia's chuckle became louder as she said, "You're an awful child, you know."

"I know I am. But, Lady Lydia, I don't feel a child. I can't remember ever feeling a child."

The smile went from the older woman's face and her voice was soft as she said, "That is a great pity."

"No, it isn't, because I'm able to see things that so-called girls don't. I mean ... well, I'm not silly."

"No' there was a chuckle again 'you're far from that. Well now, to get back to the business that I don't want to take on. I think we had

better take advantage of Carl once more and ask him to come and vet this applicant of yours, because he's not mine."

"Well, you'll have to pay him."

"Yes, I'll have to pay him, but you will have to oversee his labour.

You say you have stopped your lessons in the mornings? "

"Oh yes, some time back. Well, ever since Patsy went, because Auntie Jessie is taken up with re-doing the house inside."

"But she still lives in the cottage? I mean, you both live in the cottage?"

"I told you, didn't I? I would never live in that house. She might.

Oh, yes' she nodded now 'she might sometime. "

"Well, away with you! and ask Mr. Carl if he can spare the time to come and see me; then, if he

finds that the man is suitable, you will have to take him and show him where he's supposed to sleep, and that will likely turn him away. "

"Not by the look of him, it won't." She bent slightly forward now and placed a light kiss on Lady Lydia's cheek, whispering as she did so, "I love you." Then, as any young girl might, so she acted and ran from the room, with Lady Lydia sitting shaking her head as she wondered, for the hundredth time, what she would have done without her. And yet, she thought, if it hadn't been for Janie, Gerald would have come back with her two months ago. During that visit, while she sat talking to him, she had happened to say that Janie now practically lived in the house, except that she didn't sleep there, and that her bright personality lit up the whole place.

For some weeks up to then he had been talking to her slowly and

sensibly. But on that day, as they were sitting in the garden, he had one of his choking fits. It wasn't one that would need attention, but it was a signal that he was distressed. And when later he had calmed down he had said to her, "If... if I ever come back, it ... it won't be to the house. I ... I don't want to see anyone." He had then brought his face close to hers to say slowly but somewhat aggressively, "Do ...

you ... understand, Mama? No-one! When ... when I come back it will be to the cottage .. the woodman's cottage . alone, or else . I don't come . at all. "

So vehement were his words that they were still imprinted on her

mind.

When, later, she had spoken to the doctor about him, he had said she could take him home at any time. He might still be withdrawn and not want company, but it would be better if he had an occupation of some kind. And yes, there was no reason why he should stay any longer,

unless he wanted to. He wouldn't press him either to go or to stay.

And then he had smiled as he said, "You could say he is one of our successful cases. Would there were more like him."