Read Online Bonds of Earth, The by E.V. Thompson - Free Book Online

animal frisked in the field it shared with its mother.
    One evening, after paying a final visit to the foal Elworthy must have failed to properly secure the gate to the field and it blew open during the night. As a result both mare and foal wandered out of the field and were not to be seen the next morning.
    After a frantic search involving men and women from the nearby village, the disconsolate mare was spotted standing dangerously close to a long abandoned exploratory mine shaft on the moor. The foal was discovered lying at the bottom of the shaft, its neck broken by the fall.
    Inconsolable, Elworthy had disappeared in the same manner as today. Goran had eventually located him in the hayloft above the stable, but he could not be persuaded to leave his hiding-place until Agnes had been fetched from the neighbouring farm. She had then spent more than an hour consoling her distraught brother and convincing him it was not entirely his fault the foal had died.
    Making his way to the hayloft now, Goran climbed the steep, wide-stepped ladder from the stable and entered the loft. There was a strong aroma of musty hay here and it was too dark to distinguish anything very clearly. Gingerly making his way across the ancient, woodworm-infested boards, Goran opened the door through which newly mown hay would soon be forked from hay-wagons, and late evening light flooded into the loft.
    Turning back from the open door, he heard a scuffling from a far corner where the remainder of last season’s hay was piled and saw the legs of Elworthy extended across the dusty boards, much of his upper body concealed behind a cross-beam which was supporting a roof truss.
    â€˜Close the door, I don’t want no light.’
    The words were muffled and indistinct and the simple farmer sounded desperately unhappy.
    â€˜What’s the matter, Elworthy, what are you doing hiding away up here?’
    â€˜Go away, I don’t want to talk about it.’
    â€˜You have to talk about it, Elworthy. Unless you tell me what it is that’s making you so unhappy I won’t be able to do anything to make it better. You can’t stay up here for ever.’
    â€˜You can’t do anything to help me, I’ve been silly. Very silly.’
    Goran’s eyes were becoming accustomed to the poor light in the loft and he could make out Elworthy’s face now. It was evident he had been crying.
    Crouching down with the beam between them, Goran said sympathetically, ‘We all do silly things sometimes, Elworthy, and I’m sure that whatever you’ve done is nothing to be so upset about. Come down with me and have some supper. Ma’s cooking it now. While we’re eating you can tell us what you think you’ve done wrong.’
    â€˜I don’t want any supper – and you can’t help me, nobody can, not now.’
    â€˜That’s probably not true, but we can’t help until we know what it is you’ve done. Does Sir John Spurre have something to do with it?’
    The silence that greeted the question was an answer in itself and Goran said, ‘You mustn’t take any notice of anything Sir John says to you, Elworthy, he’s not a nice man and if ever he tries to bully you you’re fully entitled to order him off your land. He may think he’s a great man because everyone on the Spurre estate bows and scrapes to him, but on this farm it’s you who’s in charge, you who gives the orders and you who decides who’s allowed here.’
    Instead of reassuring him, Goran’s words seemed to upset Elworthy even more and, suddenly, he blurted out, ‘I can’t tell anyone what to do here, Goran, because I don’t own the farm any more. I’ve told Sir John he can buy it. He’s coming here in the morning with papers for me to sign selling it to him.’
    Looking up at Goran, bottom lip pushed out and his chin trembling, Elworthy added, tearfully, ‘Agnes is going to be