Road to Berry Edge, The Read Online Free PDF Page B

edge of the moors, and there were pit wheels and pit heaps, and all the grime and muddle and smell of coal and coke and steelworks with tiny houses built right beside the pits and the works.
    An old man with a horse and trap was there to meet them. Rob recognised him, greeted him, was rewarded with nothing more than a grunt and didn’t speak again until they reached the front door of what looked to Harry like a very small house, and then Rob thanked the man and lifted the luggage down himself. The horse and trap went away without another word from anyone and Harry glanced around him.
    There was no drive to speak of, just a short distance between the house and the gate posts; there were otherhouses around and some of them did not appear to be prosperous.
    Rob opened the front door and went inside. Harry followed him, and for the first time realised that his brother-in-law had come from a very moderate kind of background. A tiny fire burned in the hall. A skinny woman came towards them. She wore an extremely dowdy dress. Ida would have died first, his mother was a fashionable woman when she had company or went out and loved the latest styles of hats and dresses.
    â€˜Hello, Robert.’
    â€˜Mother.’
    There was no kissing, there was no embrace. Harry was introduced, she said little and then there was a trek upstairs to icy rooms, carrying his own luggage. Harry began to wish that he had stayed at home, and when he saw his bedroom he wished it doubly. It was shabby and dark and there was no servant to do the unpacking. He was not used to being without his valet and wasn’t sure what to do. The room was small and the furniture in it hideously large. The bed was uncomfortable. Harry left his bags on the floor and went across the landing where Rob was calmly putting clothes into a chest of drawers.
    â€˜You wanted to come,’ he said without looking up.
    â€˜I didn’t say anything.’
    Harry wandered around. It was dark so he couldn’t see anything from the window and this room was no better than his own, overpowered by an enormous wardrobe that you could have stored dead people in and a grate that Harry would have sworn had never seen warmth.
    â€˜There are no fires in the bedrooms, Rob,’ Harry said, obvious in his misery.
    â€˜Welcome to Berry Edge,’ Rob said.
    Later, when Harry was contriving for the first time in his life to do his own unpacking, a pretty, golden haired girl came into the room, struggling with a bucket ofcoal. Mrs Berkeley had spoken of her in front of them. Her name was Nancy McFadden. Harry rushed over and took the bucket from her. At his home men did such things.
    â€˜Eh, sir, no,’ she said, ‘you’ll get all mucky.’
    â€˜You ought not to carry that.’
    â€˜What for?’
    â€˜What?’
    She smiled shyly. Harry grinned. She was very pretty with big blue eyes.
    â€˜I’m sorry to come in when you’re busy, sir,’ she said, ‘but Mrs Berkeley is bothered about these fires. You must be frozen.’
    â€˜I am,’ Harry agreed.
    â€˜Don’t worry, sir, I’ll fettle it,’ she said, and so she did. Much to his astonishment, she began busily twisting newspaper into neat rolls and then fastening them in a kind of bow. She put sticks on top and a touch of coal, and to his delight the fire soon began to burn. ‘There now, it’ll be lovely shortly. Oh, and Mrs Berkeley says if there’s anything you want just tell me, sir.’
    There were several things Harry thought of that he would very much like her to do for him, but since all of them were less than respectable he merely shook his head and thanked her.
    *
    Rob had dreaded more than anything seeing his father again. They had never got on. John had been such an easy child, so when he wasn’t, his parents were surprised and displeased. Rob kept them busy during his childhood when he ran away both from home and from school, got drunk,