The Lost And Found Girl Read Online Free PDF Page B

year for hens to be laying, she thought as she fastened the latch to the nesting boxes.
    ‘Here, take these indoors.’
    ‘Oh, Mr Roberts! You startled me.’
    He placed a couple of eggs in her empty bowl. ‘Wild duck,’ he said. ‘They’ll do for the Yorkshires this dinner time.’
    ‘Thank you.’
    ‘Have you ever milked a cow?’
    She shook her head.
    ‘I’ll show you after breakfast. The dairy will be your job from now.’
    Beth’s eyes widened. She didn’t know the first thing about dairy work! But she supposed she could learn and at least she would be out of the house and away from Mrs Collins. And Edgar, she thought with mixed feelings. She did not like her husband. He was inconsiderate and brutish. His mother seemed to control him in some ways yet indulge him in others.
    ‘We’ve only the one cow and she’s getting on in years, but we keep a couple of milking ewes to eke out.’
    ‘Do you look after the sheep as well, Mr Roberts?’
    ‘That’s Abel’s job. He’s taken them out on the fell now the snows have gone. He prefers it out there, he does. I tend the pony and keep the trap looking nice, and I look after Master Edgar’s hunter when he’s home.’
    ‘We have a trap? I shall be able to go to market. Is Settle the nearest?’
    ‘You’ll be kept busy here, my lass. Anyway, Master Edgar is off again today.’
    ‘Today? I thought it was tomorrow.’
    ‘We’re short on flour. I’ll drive them as far as Settle in the vicar’s carriage with our pony in tow and bring him back, packhorse style.’
    So this is how it is to be, she thought: her husband away shooting and ingratiating himself with his estranged aristocratic kin while she is left behind with the servants to run the farm.
    ‘Is the vicar’s parish local?’
    ‘He’s not from round here but Master Edgar has known him since schooldays.’
    The sky was a lighter grey already and Beth’s mood lifted. Mrs Collins, too, would be absent for several days giving her a chance to become familiar with her new routine. She was overwhelmed by a feeling of reprieve that she would not be subjected to another brutal invasion of her body tonight. Indeed, Edgar might not be back for weeks, giving her torn flesh time to heal.
    In contrast to Blackstone, food was plentiful at High Fell Farm. Roberts tended a small garden and a pigsty as well as the stable and she had noticed a leaden trough in the scullery for curing the flitches and hams. In the kitchen, Mrs Roberts gave Beth more orders and stood back to watch but after a few minutes left her to pour hot water into waiting ewers to be carried upstairs. Her husband brought in kindling and peat for the fires and Beth followed him to the dining hall to lay the table.
    She took the porridge in when she heard Mrs Collins come downstairs and later, when Edgar joined her, she carried through a covered dish of aromatic sizzling bacon to join them for her own breakfast. She heard Edgar raise his voice and slowed, hovering in the shadows.
    ‘I want more money than this, Mama. I need outfits for shooting and balls, a new gun and a respectable manservant. Milo has agreed to ride with me to Leeds. He has been a good friend to me of late and I must repay his generosity, too.’
    ‘He has a living, does he not?’
    ‘Yes, but he’s not a rector, Mama. He’s only a vicar with a stipend. You know how much it costs to keep a carriage and a hunter.’
    ‘Well, you must have the best for the Abbey.’ Mrs Collins slid several bags of coins across the table.
    Edgar opened one and took out a few sovereigns. ‘So must you, Mama. Why not order a new gown from the drapers in Settle?’
    Beth heard the chink of coins. ‘I shall,’ his mother replied. ‘Make sure you go to the best outfitter in Leeds for your clothes and purchase a portmanteau for your onward journey to the South Riding. The manservant you engage will carry it on the post and you must pay him too. He will be your valet at the Abbey. A gentleman