Mud and Gold Read Online Free PDF Page A

that desperate for a woman.’
    ‘Shut up!’ Frank shouted. ‘I’m going to
marry Lizzie, and you’ll just have to put up with it. And if
there’s any sorting out to be done I’ll do it myself. You can shut
up about whorehouses, too.’ As if he would go to a place like that
and have his ignorance laughed at by bold-faced women. It was going
to be hard enough with Lizzie, and he knew she wouldn’t laugh at
him.
    ‘Shit,’ Ben spat. ‘You’ve been bloody well
sucked in, haven’t you?’
    ‘It’s my look out if I have.’ Frank took a
deep breath and unclenched his fingers from the edge of the table.
‘Just calm down, Ben. You’ll get used to it, and it’s too late to
row about it, anyway.’
    ‘Huh!’ Ben grunted. ‘Too bloody late. A
woman around the place!’ He cut himself another slice of bread and
stabbed at the slab of butter. ‘She’d better not try telling me
what to do.’
     
    *
     
    Charlie rose from the breakfast table and
went out, leaving Amy with the sense of relief his absence already,
after only two days of marriage, gave her. When she had washed the
dishes she looked around her kitchen in frustration. There really
was nothing in it to make anything very tasty with. Charlie had
told her he would go into town for supplies the next day, but in
the meantime she couldn’t even make something as simple as scones
without so much as a bit of baking powder. And she was tired of
stale shop bread, but she couldn’t make bread without yeast. There
was only one thing for it: she would have to borrow a few things
from Susannah. She loosened her hair on one side and pulled a lock
forward to cover the bruise Charlie’s back-hander had left, then
set out.
    As she clambered over the boundary fence Amy
reflected that if corsets were uncomfortable simply to stand around
in, they were doubly so when climbing fences.
    It was a strange feeling to be back on her
father’s farm and not be allowed to think of it as home. Charlie’s
house wasn’t home; it was merely where she had to live now.
    Susannah was rolling out scone dough while
the little boys scoffed handfuls of raisins. She looked up when the
door opened, and when she saw it was Amy an uneasy expression
flitted across her face.
    Thomas and George rushed over and demanded
cuddles. Amy knelt and gave them each a squeeze, then straightened
up and turned to Susannah.
    ‘I’ve only come to borrow a few things,’ she
said. ‘Just until Charlie goes into town. I haven’t got much in the
kitchen yet.’
    ‘Oh,’ Susannah said, clearly relieved.
‘That’s all right then, help yourself.’
    ‘I need some baking powder, and a few of
those raisins if you can spare them?’
    ‘If these monsters have left any—oh, you’ve
been treading them into the floor, you horrible little
creatures—don’t pick them up and eat them, George, that’s
disgusting.’ She slapped George’s hand away.
    Amy picked the guilty raisins off the floor
and dropped them into the slops bucket. ‘Could I take a bottle of
yeast?’
    ‘I’m not sure if I’ve got much left, and I
hate making it.’
    ‘You’ve got lots. I made a big batch the
other day so you wouldn’t have to bother for a while. See?’ Amy
opened a cupboard and pointed to the row of bottles.
    ‘Did you? I hadn’t noticed. Take one,
then.’
    Amy took a bottle of yeast, then found two
empty jars and spooned a little baking powder into one and put a
handful of raisins in the other.
    ‘Do you want anything else?’ Susannah
asked.
    ‘I don’t think so—oh, I know! Can I take a
few cloves?’ An apple pie made spicy with cloves; Amy was sure
Charlie would like that. Everyone seemed to like apple pies, and
Amy knew she made good ones.
    ‘Take as many as you like.’ Susannah watched
Amy stow her jars into the large front pocket of her apron.
    ‘Amy, come and see,’ Thomas said, taking
hold of her hand.
    ‘Come and see what, Tommy?’
    ‘Come and see,’ he insisted. Amy let herself
be pulled