Luckpenny Land by Freda Lightfoot Page B

than on his dogs, and game enough or she wouldn’t be here, helping him like this.
    It had been a considerable stretching of the truth to say that Joe had handed all his financial affairs over to his son. Joe kept things very much under his own control, too much so in Dan’s opinion. But Dan was glad he’d been allowed to take on this customer, despite his father’s initial objections and Meg’s protests. Far too good an opinion of herself that one. Always too ready to criticise him, ever since she was a nipper.
    One day he’d get his own back on her for treating him like he was a fool, just see if he didn’t.
    Sally Ann reached him, and, pleased with this unexpected success with a woman, Dan grinned at her. ‘You’re all right, Sal,’ he said, and she was. Friendly and comfortable, with a good sense of humour. Always cheerful and ready for a bit of fun and a laugh. ‘You’re not always wanting to pick holes in what a chap says. Not like our Meg.’
    ‘Where is she?’ Sally Ann wanted to know. ‘Haven’t seen her in ages.’
    ‘Off on one of her walks. Quite a fetish she’s got for walking these days.’ Not one to waste energy himself, not unless there was profit in it, like his dogs, he couldn’t understand this need in others. ‘There’s better ways to spend time and energy, eh, Sal?’
    He clambered over a stone stile and strode off on his ambling gait along the stony track that led up to Brockbarrow and on to Whinstone Gill, Sally Ann tagging along behind.
    The weather was good for the time of year and there were no mists on the tops today. Dan could see for miles.
    ‘Come on, lass, let’s sit here for a bit, shall we?’ He winked at her. ‘While we wait for them animals to come.’ He laid his coat on the ground and Sally Ann raised a questioning eyebrow before hiding a smile and making herself comfortable beside him.
    When he first spotted the fleck of colour on the distant hillside, Dan didn’t think anything of it. Besides, he had other matters on his mind.
    But it took no time at all for him to pound out his frustration into Sally Ann Gilpin. The wind was too sharp up here to dally so he pulled up her frock and got on with it. And she, gasping for breath, didn’t seem to object.
    Afterwards he had time to look about him and Dan’s long-sighted shepherd’s eyes found no difficulty in picking out the figure. It was Meg, no doubt about it. Across the other side of the dale on the lower slopes of Dundale Knott. And what’s more she wasn’t alone. She had a dog with her. He could see it darting about and running wide in the way of all sheep dogs, rounding up a pair of ewes. He saw her stop and whistle to it and the dog change direction to obey the call.
    ‘Now fancy that.’ As he’d said earlier, you never knew when a piece of information would come in handy.

 
    Chapter Six
    When Sally Ann called one day that autumn there was no sign of the scared, uncertain girl who had come begging for help months earlier. Meg was glad of the visit from a friend since she had seen little of Kath since the day they’d had words over Jack. It was silly really, but Meg had walked away from her friend, refusing to listen to any more, and Kath had stood and shouted after her, calling her a fool.
    She poured out a cup of tea for Sal and herself, ready to enjoy a bit of a gossip as usual, then Sally Ann surprised her by wanting to talk about Dan.
    ‘Has he always been this way, a bit touchy like?’
    ‘Touchy, our Dan? Testy more like. Not even his own mother could manage him, bless her heart. Said he was the most stubborn of her brood.’
    ‘He seems to blame you for that.’
    Meg frowned. ‘It’s true he’s always been jealous of me. I don’t know why but there it is. Even when we were small he was constantly pushing me out of the way, grabbing my things, doing his utmost to stop me having or doing anything. He got so destructive he made it impossible for anyone to love him. Wild, he