at
least the treatment did, for his brother Roger and his two sisters had held him while his elder brother Billy
stuck a stone water bottle filled with steam on. the offending carbuncle in an effort to draw it to a head.
Jed had smashed half of the crockery in the kitchen before they got hold of him again.
So she had powers, had Kate Makepeace, and it was as well to keep on the right side
other, as those
three certainly did, for they had all prospered in different ways: Roddy Greenbank was well in with the
boss while Hal Roystan had risen to be one of the best paid men on the floor; as for Mary Ellen Lee,
Farmer Davison and his wife had almost adopted her, treated her like one of their own, they did. Aye, it
was well to keep in with witches.
Roddy could almost hear their voices going through his head, and as he made his way
quickly home,
striding out as if he were going to his shift instead of just finishing the ten hour stretch in the sweltering
heat and dust, he wasn’t only thinking of the meeting with the artists, there was
something else on his
mind which was even more important than the success of his drawings. Yet in a way they were linked;
the happy outcome of one might depend on the other.
Kate greeted him as usual.
“Well,” she said, ‘another one over? “
“Aye, Kate,” He put his bait tin down on the table and stood looking at her, a small
shrunken figure with
a face like a dried nut but with a voice that still denied age.
“All set?” she said.
“Aye, Kate, all set. I go first thing in the mornin’. I’ve got a letter here’—he tapped the inside of his
coat ‘and I’m likely to meet some big names. Well, that’s the impression I got from Mr.
Mulcaster. By
the way, Kate, could ... could I have a little money?”
“Could you have a little money? Why do you ask me, lad? What’s there’—she now
turned and
pointed with a crooked finger to the inside of the chimney ‘is yours.”
“No, no. We’ve had that out a long time ago.”
“Aye, I know you’ve said that afore but I’ll say again, what’s there’s yours. Anyway, if you don’t have it
now you would have it later. As you know the money I took from your da’s belt went in
the lean years,
but the fifty-five pounds those thieving clerks sent for the sale of the house is still there as it came.
Fifty-five pounds! when it was sold for a hundred an’ ten. Eeh! Daylight robbers.
Anyway lad, take it
for whatever you want to do with it.”
“I don’t want fifty-five pounds, Kate. Look, I’ve got two of me own.”
He jerked his head now.
“I know it should be twenty-two, and would be if I didn’t buy so much bloomin’ paper
and the like, but
if I could sort of take three. You see.... Well, he meant it kindly enough, but I really don’t see any need
for it,” he lied emphatically, accompanying his words with a quick nodding of the head,
‘but Mr.
Mulcaster thought, seem’ as I’m meetin’ these upper type of people, I should have some different kind of
clothes. “
“Different from your Sunday ones?”
“Aye.”
She seemed to consider for a moment, and then said, “Well, I suppose he’s right. He
knows what he’s
up to, he wouldn’t want you to show up there with straw sticking from under your cap.
But remember,
lad, an’ more so when you meet these other folk, it isn’t what’s underneath. They say if you look a man
straight in the eye you can see right through him, but don’t you believe it. Some eyes have had long
practice in deceiving and there’s them that could smile while cutting’ your throat.”
She turned from him now to lift a black pan from the fire, but paused while she held the handle, adding,
“What if they take you up there? I mean, take to your drawin’s an’ want you to go further like, a sort of
training What’ll you do?”
“I don’t know. I’ve thought about that. But anyway—-’ He paused, so stopping his
tongue from
saying, “
least the treatment did, for his brother Roger and his two sisters had held him while his elder brother Billy
stuck a stone water bottle filled with steam on. the offending carbuncle in an effort to draw it to a head.
Jed had smashed half of the crockery in the kitchen before they got hold of him again.
So she had powers, had Kate Makepeace, and it was as well to keep on the right side
other, as those
three certainly did, for they had all prospered in different ways: Roddy Greenbank was well in with the
boss while Hal Roystan had risen to be one of the best paid men on the floor; as for Mary Ellen Lee,
Farmer Davison and his wife had almost adopted her, treated her like one of their own, they did. Aye, it
was well to keep in with witches.
Roddy could almost hear their voices going through his head, and as he made his way
quickly home,
striding out as if he were going to his shift instead of just finishing the ten hour stretch in the sweltering
heat and dust, he wasn’t only thinking of the meeting with the artists, there was
something else on his
mind which was even more important than the success of his drawings. Yet in a way they were linked;
the happy outcome of one might depend on the other.
Kate greeted him as usual.
“Well,” she said, ‘another one over? “
“Aye, Kate,” He put his bait tin down on the table and stood looking at her, a small
shrunken figure with
a face like a dried nut but with a voice that still denied age.
“All set?” she said.
“Aye, Kate, all set. I go first thing in the mornin’. I’ve got a letter here’—he tapped the inside of his
coat ‘and I’m likely to meet some big names. Well, that’s the impression I got from Mr.
Mulcaster. By
the way, Kate, could ... could I have a little money?”
“Could you have a little money? Why do you ask me, lad? What’s there’—she now
turned and
pointed with a crooked finger to the inside of the chimney ‘is yours.”
“No, no. We’ve had that out a long time ago.”
“Aye, I know you’ve said that afore but I’ll say again, what’s there’s yours. Anyway, if you don’t have it
now you would have it later. As you know the money I took from your da’s belt went in
the lean years,
but the fifty-five pounds those thieving clerks sent for the sale of the house is still there as it came.
Fifty-five pounds! when it was sold for a hundred an’ ten. Eeh! Daylight robbers.
Anyway lad, take it
for whatever you want to do with it.”
“I don’t want fifty-five pounds, Kate. Look, I’ve got two of me own.”
He jerked his head now.
“I know it should be twenty-two, and would be if I didn’t buy so much bloomin’ paper
and the like, but
if I could sort of take three. You see.... Well, he meant it kindly enough, but I really don’t see any need
for it,” he lied emphatically, accompanying his words with a quick nodding of the head,
‘but Mr.
Mulcaster thought, seem’ as I’m meetin’ these upper type of people, I should have some different kind of
clothes. “
“Different from your Sunday ones?”
“Aye.”
She seemed to consider for a moment, and then said, “Well, I suppose he’s right. He
knows what he’s
up to, he wouldn’t want you to show up there with straw sticking from under your cap.
But remember,
lad, an’ more so when you meet these other folk, it isn’t what’s underneath. They say if you look a man
straight in the eye you can see right through him, but don’t you believe it. Some eyes have had long
practice in deceiving and there’s them that could smile while cutting’ your throat.”
She turned from him now to lift a black pan from the fire, but paused while she held the handle, adding,
“What if they take you up there? I mean, take to your drawin’s an’ want you to go further like, a sort of
training What’ll you do?”
“I don’t know. I’ve thought about that. But anyway—-’ He paused, so stopping his
tongue from
saying, “
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