Read Online A Mother's Courage by Dilly Court - Free Book Online

she was rapidly
losing the war. Hilda might have appeared to
have given way but in reality had consigned her
daughter-in-law to a servant's room. However,
that was the least of Eloise's worries. She cared
for nothing as long as she was close to her babies,
and she made herself as comfortable as possible
in the austere surroundings of her new room.
The one advantage was that she would be able to
hear the children if they cried in the night, which
was just as well as it turned out that the new
nanny, a hefty country girl with a bovine expression
and, Eloise suspected, very little between
her ears, was an extremely heavy sleeper.
    On the first night away from her children,
Eloise had just only just fallen asleep when she
was awakened by the sound of Beth's wailing.
She leapt out of bed, not stopping to put on her
wrap or even to snatch up a shawl, and she
hurried into the nursery to find both children
awake and sobbing. Nancy Thwaite was sound
asleep, lying on her back and snoring. Eloise
picked up the children and took them into her
room. The fire had gone out and the room was
bitterly cold. The curtains barely met in the
middle of the window and the sashes rattled as
the wind howled round the house, hurling
handfuls of sleet at the glass. Eloise scrambled
into the bed, holding the children close to her
until their sobs quietened. Beth fed hungrily and
Joss snuggled up against Eloise's side and was
soon asleep.
    Eloise had intended to take the children back
to the nursery, and she had certainly not meant
to fall asleep, but she was awakened suddenly
by someone shaking her shoulder. She opened
her eyes to find Nancy standing over her
holding a lighted candle in her hand which was
shaking so much that melted wax was dripping
onto the coverlet. 'What's wrong?' Eloise roused
herself with a feeling of panic, which subsided
as soon as she realised that Beth was sleeping
peacefully in the crook of her arm and Joss was
breathing softly at her side. 'What's the matter,
Nancy?'
    'I saw her, mistress. She were leaning over the
cots. I thought she'd taken the babes.'
    Eloise could barely understand what she was
saying, as Nancy's teeth were chattering together
and she was shaking from head to foot. Eloise
raised herself on her elbow, speaking softly so as
not to frighten the children. 'As you see, they
were with me. You must have been having a bad
dream.'
    'Nay, mistress. She had come for them, the
ghost of Cribb's Hall. I seen her with me own
eyes. She were six foot tall at least and she had
eyes like burning torches. I tell you, I seen her,
mistress.'
    'Nonsense, girl. There are no such things as
ghosts. You must have had a nightmare.'
    'I were warned about the wandering woman,
mistress. They told me below stairs that she
roams the house by night. I tell you I seen her just
now.'
    Eloise chuckled with sheer relief. 'They were
teasing you, Nancy. It sounds to me very much
like a joke, a rather cruel one, but a joke nevertheless.
Go back to bed, like a good girl.'
    Nancy shook her head vehemently. 'I'll not
sleep in there. I'm scared.'
    'Very well, then I'll sleep in the nursery with
the children. Hold Beth for me while I get out of
bed. You shall sleep in here tonight, Nancy. I will
take your bed and I will prove to you that it was
just a bad dream.'
    Eloise put the children back in their respective
cots. Then she went over to the fireplace and, on
discovering a few glowing embers, she used the
bellows to get the fire going again. With a
satisfying blaze warming the room and creating
a comforting circle of light, Eloise climbed into
the bed that Nancy had recently vacated and she
lay down to sleep feeling much happier now that
she was in the same room as Joss and Beth. She
smiled to herself as she thought of Nancy's vivid
imagination and the enormously tall ghost with
flaming eyes.
    She must have fallen into a deep sleep for
when she was awakened by a soft shuffling
sound, Eloise sat bolt upright. In the faint glow of
the dying fire, she