Read Online Children of the Tide by Valerie Wood - Free Book Online Page A

joined Masterson and Rayner as a very junior clerk who would learn the company business from the bottom up, and in time, if he proved adaptable, would become a director. William, Isaac and their brother Arthur had shares in the company, with Isaac in control as managing director, for he was seen to be the one with the most interest and expertise in the whaling industry.
    William wanted only to continue farming at Garston Hall as he had always done, whilst Arthur, whose business was the railways, lived with his wife and three daughters in York, the northern base of railway operations. He had seen the fall from grace of the great George Hudson and assumed a complacent satisfaction, which he never failed to talk about, at his business acumen in having moved his shares from the Railway King’s company at just the right time.
    Johnson negotiated the clumsy old carriage through the busy High Street, and Ellen looked up at the name above the company building: Masterson and Rayner. A name well thought of in the shipping industry.
And the name of Foster is still perpetuated
, she thought as the carriage pulled into the yard. Sarah Foster, her mother-in-law, who had married John Rayner, had been proud of her background, tellingin her gentle manner to anyone who was interested, that she was the first Foster to be born in Monkston and that her father Will, who had been an ordinary whaling seaman from Hull, was the bravest man who had ever lived. And in his memory, as well as Sarah’s, the Foster name was continued through their children and grandchildren.
    ‘Mr Rayner is not in the office at present, ma-am,’ said the clerk who greeted her. ‘Perhaps I can assist you? Or young Mr Rayner is here – Mr Gilbert.’
    She stared at him for a moment and then blinked. ‘Oh, er, no. Perhaps I could see my son for a moment – Mr Billy Rayner? I won’t keep him long.’
    ‘I beg your pardon, Mrs Rayner, I didn’t recognize you.’
    ‘No reason why you should.’ She smiled faintly at the embarrassed clerk, and pressed her fingers to her temple; she was starting a headache and his words had triggered a train of thought which was muddling through her mind.
    ‘Hello, Ma! What brings you here?’ Billy kissed her warmly on both cheeks. ‘Come upstairs into Uncle Isaac’s office, he won’t mind. He’s out at a meeting somewhere, but he’ll be back soon.’
    ‘Will you be home this weekend, Billy?’ He didn’t come home every weekend and she missed his exuberant chatter.
    ‘Perhaps not. One of the fellows here has asked me if I want to join him and a party to visit the theatre, and afterwards there’s a glee.’
    She surveyed him anxiously. He was very handsome, everyone said so, it wasn’t just a mother’s pride. At nineteen he was tall, slim and willowy as a reed, and with a shock of hair as fair as hers, unlike his siblings who all had a tendency towards shades of red. She was understandably anxious: living in Hull, he was no longer under her influence. He was bound to be attractive to women, she thought affectionately, and vulnerable too – look what happened to James!
    ‘A glee?’
    ‘Yes. You know, music and singing and such.’ He smiled down at her teasingly.
    ‘Yes, I know what a glee is, Billy, but you won’t take strong drink, will you? Just drink a little wine, it’s safer.’
    He pulled out a leather chair for her to be seated. ‘All right,’ he said, amused. ‘I will. Don’t worry. Let me send for some tea for you, you look tired.’ He opened the door and called out to someone below.
    She looked around the room, she hadn’t been in it for a long time. The large desk which her late father-in-law, John Rayner, had once used, was still set near to the window with a view onto the river below; a wooden filing cabinet on the opposite wall held private papers. Two embroidered texts sat side by side on the window wall, which she guessed were Mildred’s work, and opposite the desk were two portraits, one of John