ponies for the children and a library where the family children learn to read and write, which would be a very great advantage to your little Milly. I can understand you not wanting to leave your friends, but it could be the chance of a lifetime. Besides which it’s a mere half mile from your mother’s cottage, happen even less. Your parents live on the Fitzwilliam land, do they not?’
That was an argument to give Jane Jerdon pause. To be near her mother was something she’d wanted all year long. ‘Well …’ she said. ‘There is that.’
Mrs Hardcastle pressed home her advantage. ‘Indeed there is,’ she said, ‘and not to be sniffed at. I daresay they’d allow you one of their carriages to take you visiting. Then you could take Milly along and your ma could see the both of you.’
Jane was torn. It would be a wonderful thing to be able to see her ma whenever she wanted to but she didn’t want to take on the care of another baby – and somebody else’s baby at that – nor to be at the beck and call of a family of strangers. She noticed that Milly had taken one of the lettuces from the trog and was busy tearing one of its leaves into small pieces but she couldn’t summon up the energy to take it from her. Not when she had all this to think about.
‘I’ll have to ask Aunt Tot,’ she said, thinking, if she says she can’t spare me, which she well might, then the matter will be settled and I won’t have to go.
‘Of course,’ Mrs Hardcastle said and stood up at once. ‘That child is eating the lettuces,’ she said. ‘It won’t do her digestion any good.’
That child allowed her mother to remove the half-chewed leaf from her mouth and was delighted to be lifted onto her hip. Then they all walked into the farm so that Aunt Tot could settle their fate.
It was rather a disappointment to Jane that her aunt had no doubt about it at all. ‘Of course tha must go,’ she said. ‘’Twould be folly not to.’ And when Jane made a grimace, ‘You’ll never regret it, believe me. It could be the making of you. And think of that poor baby with no one to nurse him. Oh no, you go, child. You’re just the right one. We shall miss you, there’s no gainsaying that, but you must take your chance.’
So Jane had to pack a bag with her belongings and Milly was given a sugar plum from Aunt Tot’s jar so that she would have something to keep her happy during the journey and Audrey came running up from the dairy to kiss them goodbye and then they were climbing into the carriage, which was very grand and gave Jane second thoughts about the advisability of thatsugar plum, and they were off, trotting through the green fields in the warmth of the summer sunshine towards their new lives.
George Hudson was walking through the sunshine that morning too, only in his case it was a decidedly unpleasant experience for he was in a foul temper and an unpleasant place. At that moment, he was passing the Shambles, where the butchers had been particularly busy. The air around the stalls was nauseous with the smell of spilt blood and raw meat, the gunnels were clogged with blood and offal and the narrow street was crawling with flies and bluebottles from one end to the other. ‘Foul!’ he said to himself and it wasn’t just the butchery that was annoying him.
Mrs Bell had insinuated herself into the shop that morning to make an announcement. ‘I want you – um – both to know that I am considering the – um – possibility of taking Richard into partnership.’
George couldn’t trust himself to say anything. To give that silly boy a partnership was just plain stupidity. Can’t she see what a simpleton he is? He knows nowt and thinks he knows everything, and that’s the mark of a fool if ever I saw one. If you need a partner, he thought, trying not to glare at his employer, you should have took me. I’ve got the ideas and the energy for it. I work. I’m making summat of this shop. Not that fool Richard. Very well
That was an argument to give Jane Jerdon pause. To be near her mother was something she’d wanted all year long. ‘Well …’ she said. ‘There is that.’
Mrs Hardcastle pressed home her advantage. ‘Indeed there is,’ she said, ‘and not to be sniffed at. I daresay they’d allow you one of their carriages to take you visiting. Then you could take Milly along and your ma could see the both of you.’
Jane was torn. It would be a wonderful thing to be able to see her ma whenever she wanted to but she didn’t want to take on the care of another baby – and somebody else’s baby at that – nor to be at the beck and call of a family of strangers. She noticed that Milly had taken one of the lettuces from the trog and was busy tearing one of its leaves into small pieces but she couldn’t summon up the energy to take it from her. Not when she had all this to think about.
‘I’ll have to ask Aunt Tot,’ she said, thinking, if she says she can’t spare me, which she well might, then the matter will be settled and I won’t have to go.
‘Of course,’ Mrs Hardcastle said and stood up at once. ‘That child is eating the lettuces,’ she said. ‘It won’t do her digestion any good.’
That child allowed her mother to remove the half-chewed leaf from her mouth and was delighted to be lifted onto her hip. Then they all walked into the farm so that Aunt Tot could settle their fate.
It was rather a disappointment to Jane that her aunt had no doubt about it at all. ‘Of course tha must go,’ she said. ‘’Twould be folly not to.’ And when Jane made a grimace, ‘You’ll never regret it, believe me. It could be the making of you. And think of that poor baby with no one to nurse him. Oh no, you go, child. You’re just the right one. We shall miss you, there’s no gainsaying that, but you must take your chance.’
So Jane had to pack a bag with her belongings and Milly was given a sugar plum from Aunt Tot’s jar so that she would have something to keep her happy during the journey and Audrey came running up from the dairy to kiss them goodbye and then they were climbing into the carriage, which was very grand and gave Jane second thoughts about the advisability of thatsugar plum, and they were off, trotting through the green fields in the warmth of the summer sunshine towards their new lives.
George Hudson was walking through the sunshine that morning too, only in his case it was a decidedly unpleasant experience for he was in a foul temper and an unpleasant place. At that moment, he was passing the Shambles, where the butchers had been particularly busy. The air around the stalls was nauseous with the smell of spilt blood and raw meat, the gunnels were clogged with blood and offal and the narrow street was crawling with flies and bluebottles from one end to the other. ‘Foul!’ he said to himself and it wasn’t just the butchery that was annoying him.
Mrs Bell had insinuated herself into the shop that morning to make an announcement. ‘I want you – um – both to know that I am considering the – um – possibility of taking Richard into partnership.’
George couldn’t trust himself to say anything. To give that silly boy a partnership was just plain stupidity. Can’t she see what a simpleton he is? He knows nowt and thinks he knows everything, and that’s the mark of a fool if ever I saw one. If you need a partner, he thought, trying not to glare at his employer, you should have took me. I’ve got the ideas and the energy for it. I work. I’m making summat of this shop. Not that fool Richard. Very well
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