Always in My Heart (38 page)

Ron closed his eyes and tried to ignore the agony in his finger and relax. He knew that if he tried to pull his finger from her teeth he would probably lose it. Ferrets’ teeth were lethal and their jaws locked like a steel trap. He lay there with Harvey panting alongside him for what felt like hours until Flora’s jaw relaxed and she got bored with the game.

Pulling his arm out of the hole, he eyed his finger, which was bleeding profusely, and cursed as he wrapped a rather grubby handkerchief around it and then picked up the spade. ‘There’s nothing for it, Harvey,’ he muttered crossly. ‘I’m going to have to dig her out. A bit of help from you wouldn’t hurt, if
you could bear to stop lying about being useless.’

Harvey barked and began scrabbling at the entrance of the hole as Ron assessed where Flora must be and began digging a couple of feet behind her. It was hard work, for the earth beneath the wiry grass was rock hard, and interlaced with thick roots. ‘Be ready to catch her,’ he warned Harvey. ‘She’ll shoot out of there like a cork out of a bottle.’

Ron was sweating and his injured finger was throbbing as he dug into the unforgiving earth and severed through the roots that he could now see were trapping Flora.

Flora suddenly wriggled free and streaked out straight into Harvey’s jaws and dangled there, limbs waving furiously as she squeaked and squirmed. Harvey stood patiently waiting for Ron to take her from him, his teeth holding her just enough to keep her prisoner, but not hard enough to hurt her. He was a good hunting dog with a soft mouth, and could carry an egg without breaking it.

‘Good lad,’ said Ron as he took the squirming ferret, checked that she hadn’t been harmed, and tried to soothe her. ‘To be sure, I think we’ve all had enough adventure for one day,’ he said as he gave her some of the bread and milk and then popped her into his pocket alongside Dora.

Once he’d picked up all his little nets and stowed them in yet another pocket, he tied the dead rabbits together, got his pipe going again and picked up the spade. ‘Let’s go and find that wee hole we made in
the fencing round the estate,’ he murmured. ‘To be sure, a couple of rabbits will not be enough for the pot.’

They set off across the hills, man and dog in harmony with their surroundings as Flora and Dora curled up and went to sleep, snug in his deep pockets. The sun was shining, and although the wind was still keen, there was definitely a touch of spring in the air, and a promise that the warmer weather was just around the corner.

The high fence stretched as far as the eye could see, and Ron tramped along the perimeter heading for the spot where he’d managed to cut through it. He found the forked stick in amongst the scrub which he’d left as a marker, but the hole had been repaired, and he hadn’t brought the wire-cutters with him today.

‘You looking for something, old man?’

He looked up to find a burly stranger with a rifle watching him from the other side of the fence, a thickset mastiff snarling at the end of a short leash. ‘I was just wondering what was going on in there,’ he said blithely as Harvey growled deep in his throat at the other dog.

‘Nothing that concerns you,’ replied the man gruffly, his gaze suspicious beneath the low brim of his hat. ‘This is off limits to civilians,’ he said darkly, ‘and damage to Government property is a serious matter.’

‘Aye,’ said Ron innocently, ‘I would imagine it would be.’ He regarded the man, who was dressed in
thick trousers, boots and tweed jacket, and decided he didn’t like the look of him or his dog. ‘Are you His Lordship’s new gamekeeper?’

‘Something like that,’ he said flatly. ‘Now be off with you.’

‘I’ll go when I’m ready,’ said Ron, taking offence at his rudeness. ‘You might be in charge of everything behind that fence, but I’m free to come and go as I please on this side.’

Harvey was stiff-legged, hackles bristling as he continued to snarl at the other dog, and Ron left him to it while he settled down on a flat ledge of chalk that jutted out from the tangle of briar and gorse and relit his pipe. But his gaze never left the other man’s face. He didn’t like his manner or his looks, and suspected nothing much got past him either – unlike the old gamekeeper, who could be persuaded to be deaf and half-blind when it came to sharing out the spoils of a night’s poaching.

Harvey continued to snarl and growl as he cocked his leg and urinated against the fence to mark his territory. The other dog danced on his back legs and began to bark furiously. But he was restrained by the leash attached to his thick collar, and his barks turned to frustrated howls as he realised he couldn’t get to either Ron or Harvey.

The man grunted and yanked on the leash. ‘If I catch you tampering with this fence again I’ll come looking for you, old man,’ he muttered. ‘And that mangy mutt of yours.’ He yanked again on the leash and had to
almost drag the slavering mastiff along as he stomped off back into the woods.

Harvey barked at the retreating figures, his hackles still up, ears flat in dislike.

Ron gave him a hefty pat as he returned to his side and flopped down in the grass. ‘That showed them, eh?’ he murmured. ‘It comes to something when strangers can tell a man what to do on his home territory.’

He smoked his pipe as Harvey groomed himself and calmed down. When the tobacco was burnt to nothing, he knocked the dottle from the pipe, gathered up the string of rabbits and his spade, and stood up. ‘We’d better go,’ he said. ‘But I’m damned if I’ll let that eejit get the better of me, Harvey. We’ll find a way to outwit him, if it’s the last thing we do.’

Cordelia didn’t need to turn her hearing aid up to listen to
Workers’ Playtime
, for she could put the dial right to the top on the wireless when she was alone in the house, and sing along to Glenn Miller’s ‘Kalamazoo’ as she dusted. She loved listening to the jolly music they always played – and although she had no idea where Kalamazoo was, she enjoyed the catchy tune and knew most of the words now.

‘I gotta gaaaaal in Kalama-zoo, zoo, zoo,’ she trilled.

‘You sound as if you’re having fun,’ said Jane as she came into the kitchen with Peggy and Sarah. She gave Cordelia a hug. ‘I’ve been having fun too,’ she said, her eyes sparkling.

‘Goodness me,’ gasped Cordelia as she took in the
bright eyes and rosy face. ‘What on earth have you been up to? You look as if you’ve been having fun.’

‘Well, I’ve got a job,’ Jane replied as she hastily turned the knob on the wireless and shut off the lovely music. ‘I’m going to deliver the milk every morning and look after Mabel. She’s lovely – a great big Shire, with the kindest eyes – and Mr Jenkins says he thinks I should get on very well with her and—’

Cordelia frowned and grabbed her hand. ‘Why have you got a hob and a table for hire? And why shouldn’t I tell Mr Jenkins about the liver and milk? It doesn’t sound at all the sort of thing you should be doing, and I’m sure your parents wouldn’t approve of such shenanigans.’

She saw Jane tap her ear and make winding signs with her hand, and when she looked at the others, she realised they were giggling, and couldn’t for the life of her think what they were finding so funny. She fiddled with her hearing aid, most concerned that Jane seemed to be setting up some sort of black-market stall behind Mr Jenkins’ back. ‘Now dear,’ she said as she sat at the table. ‘I think you’d better tell me what this is all about.’

She listened as Jane carefully told her about the job at the dairy, but she lost half of what she was saying because each word seemed to run into the next as Jane’s excitement grew. But she got the gist of it. ‘I don’t know that your parents would like you doing a job like that,’ she said fretfully. ‘It’s not really suitable for young ladies, and those big horses are dangerous.’

‘Mabel is the sweetest, dearest old thing,’ said Jane, ‘and it doesn’t matter if I’m only delivering milk – Mr Jenkins said it was a very important job, and I think it’s perfect.’

‘It’s a fair way from here to the dairy,’ said Peggy as she mashed some of the leftover vegetables for Daisy’s lunch. ‘I won’t be using my bicycle for a long while yet, so you’d better have it. Ron can make sure everything’s oiled and the tyres are pumped up.’ She looked up from her task. ‘I’m assuming you can ride a bicycle?’

As Jane nodded and clapped her hands in delight, Cordelia realised that the girl had found something to excite and satisfy her. Yet she had a feeling that Sybil and Jock wouldn’t approve of such a lowly job for their youngest, rather pampered daughter – but Sarah seemed to accept it, and she didn’t suppose it mattered much if their parents approved or not seeing as they weren’t here.

‘I’m delighted you’re so happy,’ she said as she patted her slender hand and noted how soft it was. ‘I’d better find a pair of my leather gloves for you,’ she added. ‘Your hands will be ruined.’

Jane hugged her again and kissed her cheek. ‘Mr Jenkins has gloves for me, though they’re a bit big, and I’ll be wearing a white overall over trousers and a jacket, and there’s a big striped apron to go over it and a peaked hat with a badge on the front. I’m going to look very smart.’

Cordelia laughed. ‘I’m sure you will, dear. Now, let’s
have a cup of tea to celebrate and then Sarah can tell me what she’s planning to do while you’re delivering milk.’

She placed the kettle on the hob and hunted out cups and saucers as Peggy fed Daisy the mashed vegetables. Everyone else would have to have cod roe on toast for lunch, with lots of tomato sauce to take away the horrid taste.

Cordelia made the tea and was just sitting down to talk to Sarah when Ron came tramping in with Harvey. ‘You must have smelled the tea,’ she said wryly. ‘It never fails to amaze me how you turn up the moment I’ve brewed a fresh pot.’

‘Well now, I’ve a terrible thirst, and me nose tells me that’s a proper pot of tea and not the usual dishwater we have around here.’

‘The weather was nice, so I went out and bought some this morning,’ she said proudly. ‘It’s incredible how a bit of hobbling and sighing can get you to the front of the queue.’ She giggled as he waggled his eyebrows at her. ‘But then I’ve learned to be crafty after living with you all these years,’ she added.

‘Aye, well, there’s no shame in that,’ he said as he shooed Harvey away from Daisy, who had most of her lunch down her front. He carefully adjusted his coat and patted his pockets before he sat at the table.

‘What have you got in there?’ asked Peggy sharply.

‘To be sure Flora and Dora are asleep, and I’m not wanting to disturb them.’ He reached into another pocket and pulled out the dead rabbits. ‘They got these
this morning,’ he said as he dumped them on the table, all glassy-eyed and stiff. ‘I’ll skin them after I’ve had me cup of tea.’

Cordelia noticed how distressed Jane was at seeing those poor dead creatures and slapped Ron’s arm. ‘You’ll put them on the draining board, and cover them up. The kitchen table’s no place for dead things.’

He heaved a great sigh and carried them over to the sink, where he covered them with a tea towel. ‘They don’t offend you when they’re in a stew,’ he grumbled.

‘We can’t see what they are by then,’ she retorted. She saw the grubby, bloodstained handkerchief around his finger as he hung his coat on the back of the kitchen door and checked that his ferrets were all right. ‘That doesn’t look very hygienic,’ she said. ‘What have you done?’

‘Ach, ’tis nothing. I’ll clean it up later.’ He glared at them all, daring them to cause him further delay in getting to his cup of tea. ‘So what have you four been up to?’ he asked after that first satisfying gulp of hot, sweet nectar. ‘You’re all looking very pleased with yourselves.’

Cordelia told him about Jane’s job. ‘We were about to hear how Sarah got on when you came in and interrupted,’ she said with a sniff of disapproval. ‘And I do wish you wouldn’t bring that horrible old coat in here – it smells to high heaven.’

He winked at her. ‘Well now, it seems I can’t be pleasing you at all today, Cordelia. ’Tis a good thing I’m not one to take easy offence.’

‘When you two have quite finished arguing,’ said Peggy, trying not to laugh, ‘I think we should hear about Sarah’s morning.’

Sarah blushed as they all turned to look at her. ‘I haven’t got very much to tell you,’ she said shyly, ‘but there is a job I quite like the sound of, and now Jane’s suited – well, I think I might go for it.’

‘What is it, dear?’ Cordelia asked. ‘Not thinking of joining the WAAF like Cissy, are you?’

‘It’s with the Women’s Timber Corps,’ said Sarah. ‘I’d be working in the office at the Cliffe estate if I got the post – and it sounds very similar to the sort of thing I used to do for my father back home in Malaya.’

As Cordelia struggled to hear what Sarah was saying about the work involved, she suddenly noticed how Ron had perked up. He was listening avidly, and there was a gleam of mischief in his eyes that she was all too familiar with. ‘That sounds perfect,’ she said rather distractedly once Sarah had finished talking.

‘To be sure, you’ll fit in there like a hand in a glove,’ said Ron as he filled his pipe. ‘You’ll be after going down to the recruiting centre first thing tomorrow before someone else snaps it up. A job like that doesn’t come along every day.’

‘Yes, I rather think I will,’ said Sarah. ‘It’s work I’m familiar with, and although it sounds as if the estate is quite a long walk away, and I’ll have to get up very early to be there on time, I think I might find it all very interesting.’

‘I could take you up there this afternoon and show you where it is,’ said Ron casually.

‘That’s very kind of you,’ said Sarah, ‘but I think I should wait and see if I actually get an interview first.’

‘You’ll get through all that with flying colours,’ he said airily. ‘And I’ll be glad to show you the way. It’s easy to get lost up in the hills if you don’t know them well, and so I’m thinking it might be an idea if Harvey and I came with you for the first few days until you’ve got your bearings. Harvey will appreciate the walk.’

Cordelia realised suddenly what Ron was up to. ‘I’m sure you’ll both benefit from the exercise,’ she said dryly.

He widened his blue eyes with a commendable show of innocence. ‘Now, Cordelia, what
could
you be meaning by that?’