The Carpenter's Children Read Online Free PDF

again next month I’ll be prepared for it, with a diaper and safety pins.’
    ‘I’m sure there was no need at all for Mrs Cooper to talk to you in such a way, Isabel – that’s
my
duty, not hers, and of course I’ll see that you’re prepared for it next time,’ said Mrs Munday, ignoring the fact that Isabel had been entirely unprepared. ‘I didn’t think you’d start so soon. I…er…I suppose other girls at school talk about it sometimes, don’t they?’
    ‘Yes, Betty Goddard and Phyllis Bird have already started, and they’re more or less the same age as me,’ replied Isabel. ‘Betty’s mum told her about it before, and made sure she had a…a diaper with her for when it started.’
    ‘Yes, well, we won’t go into details, it’s not a very nice subject to talk about, and in any case I think it’s up to your teachers to warn you girls about it – I mean the lady teachers of course,’ saidMrs Munday, not noticing the inconsistency of this assertion. ‘Now then, dear, you’re going to rest on your bed, and I’ll bring you a nice cup of tea. You look a bit pale.’
    Violet Munday felt thoroughly put out, and tried to justify herself in her own mind. After all,
her
mother had never told her anything, and she’d learnt from two older sisters about their various bodily changes. And she didn’t blame her mother because – well, she’d found out how difficult it was to talk about periods and things, it was too personal, and she’d never shared her memories of her own courtship with her daughters. After all, it was nothing to do with them.
    And yet… Violet’s eyes softened as she turned back the years to that long-ago summer at Hassett Manor, where she had been an eighteen-year-old housemaid and Tom, a year younger, was starting his seven-year apprenticeship with his own father, old Fred Munday, who still did jobbing carpentry and gardening in Hassett, carrying his worn toolbag from place to place. She remembered how Tom had come into the kitchen and asked for a drink of water for his father and himself – and the cook had nodded in the direction of the new maid. Tom later told her that he never forgot his first sight of the rosy-cheeked girl with curly hair and dark eyes that had smiled shyly into his – which was why he’d gone back again and againto ask for more water; it was a very hot day, and he and his dad were thirsty, he’d told her. That had been back in 1884, and the attraction had been mutual. Seven years later, when Tom’s apprenticeship was done, he had saved enough, with his father’s help, to put down payment on a tiny cottage for himself and his new wife Violet Terry. In those days young couples had expected to wait until they could afford to set up house – although Violet did not let her memory dwell too long on certain moments in those seven long years when she had walked out with her young man in the woods around Hassett Manor, and their longing for fulfilment had sometimes been almost unbearable. She remembered how he had slipped his hand inside her blouse and felt her nipples, sending a thrill like lightning throughout her whole body, and she had become aware of the hardness through his trousers, and heard his sharp intake of breath – and their kisses! It was just as well that she’d had to be in by nine o’clock on her one free half-day each week. But it was all a long time ago, and was a secret never to be spoken of, just as her present lawful union with Tom Munday was a very private matter, and nothing to do with her daughters.
    She wondered about Ernest; had Tom said anything to him about growing up? For seven months now they had worked together as masterand apprentice, and she supposed that Tom must have had some sort of man-to-man talk with his son when a suitable opportunity arose.

    Ernest was wondering how much longer he could go on pretending that he wanted to follow his father’s trade as a carpenter and joiner, whether self-employed like Tom or with a