A Dinner Of Herbs (84 page)

produced in the city.

Like much else that had happened in her life it wasn’t understandable.

So they had to take on a new man. And in this they had been lucky. Oh yes, very lucky.

Willy Harding

would be worth his weight in gold on any farm for he could turn his hand to anything.

Well, was it from

when he came that Maggie had changed? Sometimes this thought worried her but she

would push it out

of her mind. No, it was from the day Jimmy Broadbent from over Allendale way came to

the house with

the sole purpose of asking her to marry him. That day, there had been an explosion in this very kitchen,

for Maggie had threatened to throw a part of hot stew over him and scratch his eyes out.

And she might

have done so at that if John hadn’t restrained her.

Jimmy’s wife had been dead for six months. She had left seven children all under ten, the youngest

fourteen month sold She had died trying to deliver her eighth. And it was common

knowledge that

Jimmy had just used her for breeding, for he sought his pleasure with his fancy woman, a widow who

lived in a cottage over in the dale. Apparently, he had expected this lady to come and take charge of his

household while he got on with his work, which was mostly horse dealing, but he had

been disappointed.

His proposal to Maggie was covert and couched in terms as if he were doing her a favour by presenting

her with a ready-made family because she was so far gone in her spinsterhood that it was very unlikely

that she would breed now.

That day it appeared to Mary Ellen that her daughter had been sleeping for years and had just woken

up, for after staring into the man’s grinning face in utter silence for a full minute, she had emitted a sound

like a screech, crying, “You dirty pot-bellied whoring swine!

You dare think I would come within a mile of you or your tribe? “ And she had swung

round, looking

for something to grab at. There was the long black handle of the iron pan sticking out towards her from

the hob and, gripping it with both hands, she lifted it up, still screaming, “ Get out! Or you’ll get this over

you. “ Then, because the weight of it was so heavy, she did an unheard of thing, she

dropped the

sooty-bottomed pan on to the long white scrubbed table, then advanced round it on the

hastily retreating

man. And she would have pounced on him if she hadn’t been prevented by John gripping

her from

behind, while at the same time yelling to Jimmy Broadbent, “ Get yourself away, man!

And don’t come

back. “

It was on that day too, and for the first time, that she heard an amicable exchange

between Maggie and

her father, because when Hal had come in saying, “Jimmy Broadbent passed me on the

road galloping as

if the devil was after him. He didn’t stop for a word. What’s afoot?” she had told him, and at that he

had sat down on the settle where Maggie had been sitting stiff and tight staring into the fire, and he had

put his hand on her shoulder, saying, “My! lass, it was a pity you didn’t swipe him. The insulting bugger,

I’ll spit in his eye the next time I see him. I was about to buy a couple of shires off him, now he can go to

hell. You could have had your pick of the countryside. I know that.”

Her father’s unusual kindness towards her had resulted in her bursting into tears and

rushing from the

room. Anyway, it was after that that she did her hair in a different style, and started wearing pretty prints

again, and would now often go into the market on a Saturday.

Yet the change brought forth no more suitors. This apparently didn’t seem to bother her.

Yet at times

Mary Ellen felt th^re must be something bothering her daughter for she would become

edgy and go a

whole day without opening her mouth.

Mary Ellen told herself again and again that Maggie was no company, and yet at the

same time she

didn’t know what she would do without her, for she worked from early till late both

inside the house and

in the byres and the dairy where she did a great deal of the milking. She seemed to like the milking more

than any other work on the farm, whereas at one time she had hated all outside work.

“She knew while

she was there she talked to Willy. And it was this knowledge that made her say now, “

Has he said

anything about leaving? “

“No’—Maggie pulled her starched apron tight around her hips-’but with the windfall he

got last week,

he could start up on his own, couldn’t he?” She turned and looked fully at her mother, and Mary Ellen

said, “A hundred pounds won’t go very far.”

“I understand Dad started on very little more and ill-got at that.”

“Maggie!” The name was a growl.

“I’ve told you before never to mention that. It’s gone, forgotten. You came on that

knowledge because

you’ve got ears like cuddy’s lugs. What is it, girl? At times you seem bent on upsetting me.”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Maggie wagged her head, and Mary Ellen looked away towards

the window

again she had heard the sound of a horse’s hoofs from the stone yard and she said stiffly,

“That must be

your dad back. Let’s have no more of it.” And she lifted up the great wad of dough and flopped it onto

a floured board.

Her face tight, obliterating the good looks it normally still bore, Maggie now made

towards the kitchen

door, but it opened before she reached it and both she and her mother exclaimed

simultaneously “Kate!”

Then Mary Ellen added, “What’s wrong?”

Kate, now a woman turned forty who seemed to have grown even taller and broader,

looked first at her

mother then at Maggie. And it was to Maggie she said, “Fraser our young Frag. He’s run off again.”

“No! not again. I thought... well, he had promised.”

Kate nodded at Maggie now, saying as she moved past her, “As Mam is always quoting,

promises are

like pie crusts made to be broken.”

Maggie had turned back into the kitchen and, quietly, she said, “But he’s been good for a year now.”

“Ten months to be exact. This’ll put the finish to Ben.”

“How is Ben?” Mary Ellen was pouring some boiling water into a large brown teapot,

and Kate

answered briefly, “The same,” as she sat down in the rocking-chair to the side of the

fireplace. Then

looking from one to the other, she demanded, “Why does he do it? That’s what I’d like to know.” And

it was Maggie who answered her, saying harshly now, “He hates to be cooped up. He was

born to

roam.”

“Born to roam!” Mary Ellen’s voice broke in high now, crying, “He wants a horsewhip

taken to him.

He knows how he upsets everybody. How did you find out?” She looked at Kate.

“By a special delivery letter from the headmaster. He must have got out last night. His bed hadn’t been

slept in.”

“It’ll be the drovers again. They’re down from Scotland. Hal was saying they’re camped in a field just

beyond Corbridge, fattening the stock up afore taking them into market. But how would

he know where

they were? Still, he’s got the devil in him. Always had. He’s the spawn of Satan. He

should be....”

“No! Mam. No, don’t say that. He’s not got the devil in him. He’s.. “

“Aye, well, you tell me what he is. He’s caused you heartache from the time he could

walk. He thinks

of nobody but himself.”

“That isn’t true.”

“Oh, you’ll defend him with your last breath. Tis natural I suppose.

But he’s been at this game since he was five. He was five, wasn’t he’—she turned her

head towards

Maggie, bobbing it now ‘when he first went after the drovtrs? And that old Scot who

stunk to high

heaven brought him back. Then a year after he did the same. And how many times after

that has he

joined one or other-of them? He’s a byword, he’s become notorious. If I had my way, I’d let him go

his way and join the roadsters and live like the animals they’re drovin’. It might have been funny at first,

prankish, but now here he is coming up sixteen and looking all the world eighteen or

over. Well,

something must be done finally with him. It’s up to you, ‘cos Ben’s in no fit state to deal with him. Aw,

here’s your dad. “

As the sound of Hal’s voice came from the yard, Kate rose to her feet, saying, “I’ll be off.”

“Now look.” Her mother turned to her, muttering under her breath now, “Don’t walk out

the minute he

comes in.”

“Well, I won’t be able to stand his rampaging. Anyway, you needn’t tell him until I’m

gone.”

“Did you tell John?” Mary Ellen was looking towards the window again.

And when Kate answered, “Yes,” her mother said, “Well, your dad’s talking to him

now.”

“Oh, my God!” Kate leaned against the side of the table and Maggie, looking at her with concern, said,

“Don’t

worry. John will go after him. He usually does. “

“John’s got enough on his plate; he can hardly get through the work now.” Mary Ellen bit on her lip, then

turned her head away, saying, “Aw, lass, I’m sorry, but that lad’s forever upsettin’ me.”

“Goodbye, Mam.” Kate made for the door, and she had reached the yard before Hal

turned from John

and saw her. Coming swiftly towards her, he said, “That bugger at it again, I hear?”

And she retorted in a similar fashion, “Yes, you’re right, you’ve heard, the bugger’s at it again.”

“Kate!” Whether it was the tone of her voice or the repeating of his words that brought his sharp

reaction didn’t matter. But he went on more quietly, “I was only saying.”

“Yes, Dad, I know you were only saying. But he’s my responsibility and Ben’s, and we’ll deal with

him.”

At this his manner reverted to natural and he cried at her departing back, “Aye, like hell you will. He’ll

make you sup sorrow, that one, afore he’s finished.” And he continued to stare after her until the sound

of Mary Ellen’s voice calling from the kitchen door, “Enough!

Enough! Come away in,” made him turn about.

Pushing past his wife, he threw his tall hat onto the settle and dragged off his coat and now threw this

towards Maggie crying, “The buckle end of a belt, that’s what he wants. That’s what he should have

been given from he could walk. The money that’s been wasted on his school in’. I said all along, put him

to work. Aye, even at the pit or the mill. That would have cured him. But no, no.” He

turned now on

Mary Ellen, his finger stabbing towards her as he cried, “But one of these days, mark me, she’ll

remember my words, because there’s a Bannaman in that ‘un if I ever saw an inherited

streak of

rottenness in anybody....”

“Hal, stop that! Now don’t start that again. The lad’s a rover and that’s all there is about it.”

“Rover be damned!” He now went to where Maggie had placed his coat on the back of a

chair and,

thrusting his hand into a side pocket, he brought out four letters, saying as he did so, “I met the postie at

the end of the road. There’s one for you.” He took the top letter and threw it onto the table, saying, “It

must be from the lads, but they’re altering the handwriting I would say.”

As Mary Ellen picked up the letter, Maggie, looking at her father, said, “Is John riding out?” and when

he answered briefly, “Aye,” she said, “In that case I’d better get over to the milking; Willy can’t do it all

himself.”

“Willy!” Hal turned to Mary Ellen now, saying, “What’s the latest, do you think, I heard in town the

day? Old Picker Robson has been at Willy to go in with him. It’s got round about his

windfall. The

cartin’ business isn’t as bright as it was since the railways came on the scene. Moreover, he’s likely got

his eye on Willy for his lass, her kicking thirty an’ hope gone. Anyway, I squashed that one flat.

I. “

“What did you say? You’re going to raise his wages to keep him here?”

He swung round on Maggie now, crying, “Don’t you be saucy. He’s well paid to begin

with, and he’s

got a cottage on his own.”

“They give dogs kennels.”

Hal’s mouth opened wide, and his eyebrows seemed to rush up to the deeply grizzled hair sprouting

from the top of his brow.

“Your tongue, miss, will get you a slap across the mouth one of these days. You’re not too old for that.”

“I wouldn’t try it.” Maggie walked calmly to the back of the door and lifted from it a head shawl which

she put on and tied in a knot under her chin before turning once again and looking at her father, saying,

“There’s one thing certain in this life: you go out of it the way you came in;

you can’t even take your bank-book with you. “

As the door opened, Mary Ellen sprang round the table and caught Hal’s arm, saying,

“Leave over.

Leave over.” And when the door closed on her daughter she added,

“She’s in one of her moods the day.”

“But did you hear what she said?”

“Yes, I heard what she said and she’s right in a way; and another way an’ all, ‘cos I think you should

raise Willy’s wages. A shilling a week won’t hurt you and it might save you pounds in

the end, for you’ll

never get another like him. And, as I told you last week, Terry won’t last much longer.”

He pulled away from her and walked to the window, saying, “All this, because that one

puts me in me

place. Be damned! if I will.”