maybe we should just go to West Auckland and see if she’s gone there? After all, she might have got her job back.’
‘We could ask Ann Pendle first. Or Joan might be home now.’
‘Any road, we’ll go back and ask around Eden Hope. Tell Mam where we’re going too,’ Jackson decided, and they set off back across the field. They walked in silence, each man’s thoughts on the young girl and what had happened to her. What might still happen to her if they didn’t find her and help her put her life back together. For both of them knew what it could be like for anyone coming out of prison into the small enclosed mining communities. Molly could be in for a rough ride.
Chapter Ten
JACKSON AND HARRY were on the Eden bus bound for West Auckland by one o’clock that afternoon. They could have gone through Bishop Auckland, changing buses in the town, but Mrs Morley advised them to go on the Eden. ‘You won’t have to change,’ she said. ‘It’ll likely be quicker.’ She couldn’t do enough to help them, she felt so guilty over Molly. She could have got someone to sit with Frank when the lass was up before the magistrate; she could have gone and backed her up, told the chairman what a good lass Molly had always been. Aye, she said to herself, she could have done. But her thoughts had been centred on her husband, on his pain and looking after him night and day. She had been so tired those first few months after the accident.
‘Bring her back with you, Jackson,’ she said as the two soldiers went out. ‘Bring her back, she can stay with us, I’ll find space for her.’
He gazed at his mother for a long moment but it would be cruel to tell her she could have taken Molly in before now, and probably asking too much of her anyway. Maggie looked so careworn, he knew he was being unreasonable even to think it.
The bus passed the old coach house at Shildon which had been the very first railway ticket office in the world, a fact which always gave him a thrill of pride. But today he only wondered where Molly was. Was she in trouble? A nagging anxiety about her had grown inside him ever since he’d heard she had been in prison, innocent, and alone. For he had no doubt at all that she was innocent, he was as sure of that as Harry. But where was she?
At that moment Molly was walking down Newgate Street in Bishop Auckland after leaving the small damp room down by the Wear where she had been living since she came out of prison. She was on her way to the Labour Exchange where she went every morning searching for work. The money from the colliery, the £25 which she had received after her father’s accident, had run out, careful though she’d been, eating only one meal a day and that as frugal as she could possibly exist upon. Now she
had
to get work, had to!
She rounded the corner into South Church Road and then again into Kingsway. The bus was just coming in from Eden Hope. She paused for a moment and gazed at it. It came from another world, it seemed to her, the world of her childhood where, even when the depression was at its height, she had felt safe because there was her dad and her mam and Harry.
The bus pulled up, people alighting, Molly hunched her shoulders and bent her head. Oh, she didn’t want them to see her, no, she did not!
‘Isn’t that Molly Mason over there on Kingsway?’ a housewife asked her friend. They were off to the store, the Co-op, to see if they could find any tinned food they could afford to buy to stock up against the threat of war, for everyone said there would likely be rationing.
‘Is it?’ her friend replied, looking, but Molly was gone. ‘I felt sorry for that lass all right,’ she went on. ‘I would have offered her a place wi’ me, but she was away afore I had the chance.’
‘Aye. Do you know, I saw their Harry in the street the day. A fine upstanding lad he’s grown into an’ all. I wonder if she knows he’s back?’
‘Well, we can’t go chasing after her. She must
‘We could ask Ann Pendle first. Or Joan might be home now.’
‘Any road, we’ll go back and ask around Eden Hope. Tell Mam where we’re going too,’ Jackson decided, and they set off back across the field. They walked in silence, each man’s thoughts on the young girl and what had happened to her. What might still happen to her if they didn’t find her and help her put her life back together. For both of them knew what it could be like for anyone coming out of prison into the small enclosed mining communities. Molly could be in for a rough ride.
Chapter Ten
JACKSON AND HARRY were on the Eden bus bound for West Auckland by one o’clock that afternoon. They could have gone through Bishop Auckland, changing buses in the town, but Mrs Morley advised them to go on the Eden. ‘You won’t have to change,’ she said. ‘It’ll likely be quicker.’ She couldn’t do enough to help them, she felt so guilty over Molly. She could have got someone to sit with Frank when the lass was up before the magistrate; she could have gone and backed her up, told the chairman what a good lass Molly had always been. Aye, she said to herself, she could have done. But her thoughts had been centred on her husband, on his pain and looking after him night and day. She had been so tired those first few months after the accident.
‘Bring her back with you, Jackson,’ she said as the two soldiers went out. ‘Bring her back, she can stay with us, I’ll find space for her.’
He gazed at his mother for a long moment but it would be cruel to tell her she could have taken Molly in before now, and probably asking too much of her anyway. Maggie looked so careworn, he knew he was being unreasonable even to think it.
The bus passed the old coach house at Shildon which had been the very first railway ticket office in the world, a fact which always gave him a thrill of pride. But today he only wondered where Molly was. Was she in trouble? A nagging anxiety about her had grown inside him ever since he’d heard she had been in prison, innocent, and alone. For he had no doubt at all that she was innocent, he was as sure of that as Harry. But where was she?
At that moment Molly was walking down Newgate Street in Bishop Auckland after leaving the small damp room down by the Wear where she had been living since she came out of prison. She was on her way to the Labour Exchange where she went every morning searching for work. The money from the colliery, the £25 which she had received after her father’s accident, had run out, careful though she’d been, eating only one meal a day and that as frugal as she could possibly exist upon. Now she
had
to get work, had to!
She rounded the corner into South Church Road and then again into Kingsway. The bus was just coming in from Eden Hope. She paused for a moment and gazed at it. It came from another world, it seemed to her, the world of her childhood where, even when the depression was at its height, she had felt safe because there was her dad and her mam and Harry.
The bus pulled up, people alighting, Molly hunched her shoulders and bent her head. Oh, she didn’t want them to see her, no, she did not!
‘Isn’t that Molly Mason over there on Kingsway?’ a housewife asked her friend. They were off to the store, the Co-op, to see if they could find any tinned food they could afford to buy to stock up against the threat of war, for everyone said there would likely be rationing.
‘Is it?’ her friend replied, looking, but Molly was gone. ‘I felt sorry for that lass all right,’ she went on. ‘I would have offered her a place wi’ me, but she was away afore I had the chance.’
‘Aye. Do you know, I saw their Harry in the street the day. A fine upstanding lad he’s grown into an’ all. I wonder if she knows he’s back?’
‘Well, we can’t go chasing after her. She must
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