Feathers in the Fire

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Book: Feathers in the Fire Read Online Free PDF
Author: Catherine Cookson
Tags: Fiction, Romance, Saga, Social History, historic, Cookson, womens general fiction
there’ll only ever be you; always remember that, there’ll only ever be you, Master.’
    They were joined again, and the silence that settled on the ruined house was stupefying; the place was filled with heavy oppressive air like that which comes before a great storm. And
    the storm might have broken at this point had not young Jane’s hand come on his; and now there was a share of the horror and hurt in her eyes for him. They both turned their heads and gazed down on the locked couple below as the master said, ‘I’ll tell him tonight.’
    ‘What if he won’t, Master?’ This was the first note of uncertainty she had expressed.
    ‘He’ll do as he’s bid, leave it to me. Go now, I should be in Hexham, and I’m late, I must hurry. But—’ His voice changed and, his tone like that of a young ardent lover, he ended, ‘how will I ever do without you, how will I manage, what will I do when you are at the beck and call of a husband?’
    ‘Aw, don’t worry your head, Master; leave it to me, I’ll fix that.’ Her reassurance could have come from a mature woman, not a girl of seventeen.
    They embraced once more, then she went out, backing from him, buttoning her blouse as she did so.
    Two minutes later, her master followed her.
    When the sound of the horse’s hooves going over the flagstones faded away he got to his feet; his whole body was trembling, his legs felt weak. He had never experienced such a feeling in him before. He wanted to hit out. But at what? He had a desire to kill that bitch . . . and the master an’ all. They were a conniving pair of devils. Be told off to marry her, would he? By God! not as long as he had breath and legs.
    ‘Davie!’
    Although he had been looking at the girl he hadn’t been conscious of her. Now, seeing her stricken face, he swallowed to clear the dryness from his throat and muttered thickly, ‘Don’t worry, Miss, don’t worry.’
    ‘But Father, and . . . and—’ when she shook her head desperately and bowed it, he put his hand out and, taking her arm, drew her upwards, saying, ‘Get away back to the house; the mistress will be missin’ you.’
    ‘Oh Davie!’
    Now she was holding her face with both hands and her mouth was pressed into a soft shapeless gap as she whimpered, ‘Mother! If Mother gets to know. Oh! Davie . . . what must I do?’
    ‘You know what to do, don’t tell her, tell nobody.’
    ‘Nobody?’
    ‘No, nobody; least of all the mistress, for you know she’s in a condition.’
    Jane stared up at the young man whom she could remember since she first remembered anything. He was as familiar to her as were her parents, perhaps more familiar than her father because he had always been kind to her, jolly. He used to make her laugh. He had said that her mother was in a condition as if he was telling her something. She knew all about such conditions; conception and birth were natural to her, she had watched them both. It was something that God made happen to animals, but she hadn’t, up to a few minutes ago, associated it with people. Even her mother’s rising stomach hadn’t caused her to liken ‘the condition’ to Betsy, Rene, Flo and Jessie, who were all in calf. It was a different condition, a condition as yet not probed. She had not begun her periods, and she had no companion of her own age with whom to discuss the secrets of the body. Her mother did not talk of such things or encourage her to probe. It was sufficient that her mother loved her, and she gave her great affection in return because she knew that the love her mother had for her was the same as she herself had for her father, and not to get a love returned was a very painful thing, so she was always extra affectionate to her mother no matter how she felt.
    But now she was probing and had opened a deep well in her mind that smelt. She saw pictured in it the thing that happened between her mother and father, the private thing. But she also saw the same thing happening between her father
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