Read Online A Safe Harbour by Benita Brown - Free Book Online Page B

can’t tell me himself, he would have wanted you to tell me.’  
    ‘I’ve telt you. Jos said Adamson had to be stopped.’  
    ‘But how?’  
    ‘I’ve said enough, Kate. This isn’t women’s work.’  
    ‘Oh, for goodness’ sake!’  
    ‘And it’s no use you getting into a paddy. That’s how you get your own way, losing your temper with folk, isn’t it?’  
    ‘No!’ Kate was stung to hear her brother criticize her.  
    ‘Yes, it is. You might not realize it, but you can fair frighten folk when yer bonny green eyes blaze like that.’ Thomas was smiling now and Kate could see that she’d lost the battle. ‘And I’m not going to let you get your own way this time.’  
    ‘This time?’  
    ‘Aye, as you have done ever since we were little bairns. I might be the lad but you’ve been the leader. But not any more. You’ll just hev to believe me that Jos was right and what we’re doing is for the best.’ He raised his chin and stared at her but when he saw the way she was clenching her fists he looked down at the ground. ‘Anyway, I’ve got to see Matthew now, so if you’ll—’  
    ‘Wait a moment.’  
    ‘What now?’  
    ‘Does William know?’  
    ‘No. And you’re not to tell him.’  
    ‘That’s easy – I still don’t know what this . . . this plan is, do I?’  
    ‘That’s right. And you’re not to bother William. Jos didn’t want him involved. So if you respect Jos’s memory, keep quiet and forget you heard anything.’  
    ‘I wish I hadn’t!’  
    Kate stepped aside and Thomas went out into the lane without looking at her. She watched him go and then turned and crossed the yard, but she stopped at the open doorway. Inside the cottage she could hear her parents’ voices. She couldn’t make out what they were saying but her father’s tone was harsh and, as usual, her mother’s was conciliatory. It had always been this way. Never mind that what Henry Lawson said when he was in one of these moods was often nonsense, Nan would pretend to agree just to keep the peace and avoid a violent outburst.  
    Kate sat down on the chair that her brother had just vacated. She had believed that she was going to escape from scenes like this; that a new and happier life was about to begin in the Lintons’ home. She leaned back against the wall of the cottage and closed her eyes. She was vexed and weary. She’d learned nothing from the conversation with Thomas and she realized that, for once, she wasn’t going to get her own way. Her brother would tell her nothing.  
    She wished, now, that she hadn’t heard one word of whatever it was they’d been plotting at the funeral tea. Ignorance would have been better than knowing that the man she was grieving for had been planning something that she suspected was unlawful and possibly dangerous. But she decided to let it go. Whatever they were going to do no longer involved Jos. He was beyond harm. Her brother Thomas would have to look out for himself.  

Chapter Four
     
    Kate would have liked to sit for a while and take pleasure in the warmth of the sun. How agreeable it would be to relax and let the summer heat soothe her weary bones. But through the open door of the cottage she could hear her father’s voice rising in a crescendo of anger and her mother’s responses sounding ever more conciliatory. Should she go inside so that her mother would not have to face him alone, or would her presence only aggravate him further?  
    What she heard next made her leap to her feet. She stood there, shaking, as her father burst out of the back door. He glanced at her balefully before he crossed the yard and stormed off down the lane. Kate wanted to rush in to her mother. She had heard her cry of pain, but she found that her heart was pounding. She had risen too swiftly. She turned and grasped the back of the chair, letting her head drop until the surge of her own blood subsided.  
    Then she went into the cottage. Her great-grandmother was