Read Online Luckpenny Land by Freda Lightfoot - Free Book Online Page B

silence. Unable either to read or write, Joe Turner was nevertheless frugal and adept at saving money. And if he could make that money work for him by lending it out at a good rate of interest, nothing pleased him more. He kept track of every penny owed him on tally sticks which he kept in a sacking bag hung behind the pantry door. One for every client. He never made a mistake and Meg had seen grown women weep as they begged for more time to pay, and him just turn and walk away. It sickened her sometimes but it was infinitely worse to see it happen to a friend.
    ‘He never likes extending the loan period. I do know that. Is there no other way you can get the money?’
    Sally Ann looked bleak. ‘I earn what I can at the Co-op shop and we’re very careful. But Mr Shaw says he has to cut me hours from next week so I won’t be able to pay so much back. And the little ones are needing boots for their feet, not new ones you understand, but teacher says they can’t go to school without. The house we’ve found, well, hovel more like since we had to leave Quarry Row...’Sally Ann rolled her eyes as if trying to make a joke of it . . . ‘needs a coat of distemper if only to kill the bugs. We can’t go on like this much longer.’ Her voice broke, betraying her resolution to remain calm.
    Hearing her friend’s problems filled Meg with shame. She was in the depths of despair any day she missed seeing Jack, agonising over where he was and who he might be with. Only when she was with him was she truly happy. Jack was also growing more ardent, his hands seemed to be everywhere and she worried about how much longer she could control him. She loved him so much and she did want him, she did truly. Only she was afraid of what might go wrong if she gave in. Meg thrilled at the new excitement that had come into her dull life, delighted that at last someone cared, but it worried her all the same.
    Yet really it shouldn’t, she told herself, not in comparison with Sally Ann’s lot.
    ‘I’ll call and see your ma. We’ve more vegetables here than we know what to do with. And I could spare a bit of milk and eggs now and then, for the little ones.’
    ‘Oh, she’d be made up.’
    ‘I wish it could be more.’
    ‘Just tell your pa that I. . .’ Footsteps sounded across the yard and Sally Ann stopped speaking, clamping her lips together as Dan swaggered towards them. Meg poured her brother a mug of tea, buttered a large scone and handed both to him without a word.
    He settled himself with a sigh on a low stone wall and looked across at the two girls seated on kitchen chairs before him, brown eyes speculative while he consumed his tea.
    They talked for a while of inconsequential matters, mutual friends they knew who had married or given birth recently and various members of Sally Ann’s large family. At last Meg turned to Dan with an enquiring smile.
    ‘Do you know what time Father will be home? Sal has come to see him on a matter of business.’
    Dan gave a grunting laugh as if she’d said something amusing. ‘Women don’t know owt about business.’
    ‘That’s not true,’ Meg refuted stoutly. ‘Women aren’t given the chance, that’s all.’
    Dan glowered at his sister, bristled brows twisted in scornful mockery. ‘You think you’re so smart.’
    ‘Maybe I am. ’
    ‘Smarter than me, a humble farmer, I suppose?’
    ‘Most people are smarter than you. I certainly work as hard as you, great lazy lump that you are, and don’t pour money down me throat. What Father would say if he found out that’s what you do, I don’t know.’
    ‘You’re going to tell him, are you? Miss-Goody-Two-Shoes.’
    ‘No, I’m not the tell-tale round here. Stop trying to pick a fight, Dan, and just tell me what time Father’ll be home so Sally Ann knows whether it’s worth her while waiting.’
    Clearing her throat, Sally Ann spoke up, perhaps thinking to stop this argument before it got quite out of hand. ‘It’s only about the