Elm Tree Road (19 page)

‘But she’ll have to go eventually because of your job.’

‘Yes, and because my home is there. As for cars, I’ve
never wanted to learn to drive one, and I didn’t need to when I lived in London, but out here in the country it’s different. Cars are so much quicker than horses when you’re far away from everything. It might have suited my brother to live here quietly, but it doesn’t suit me. There’s a young fellow in the village who’s mad about cars. I’m going to ask Harry to help me choose one and teach me to drive.’

He was looking at her in a way that said he’d finished what he had to say, so she nodded. ‘Thank you for telling me. I’ll try to tread carefully with May.’

‘That’s all anyone can do. Now, about your wage, I’ll have to find out what it’d be fair to pay you.’

She’d been thinking about that. ‘Ten shillings a week and my keep would be fine.’

He frowned. ‘That doesn’t sound enough. No, I’d better check out if it’s fair.’

When she went to bed in what would be her bedroom from now on, it took Nell a while to fall asleep, because she was so excited about her new job.

As for the money, ten shillings a week would be more than she’d ever had for herself from her earnings before, and she’d be quite happy with that. She was surprised he’d even think of paying her more than she’d asked for, but then she was beginning to realise that Hugh Easton wasn’t like anyone she’d ever met before.

He was a large man – not fat, just sturdily built – but he wasn’t at all intimidating, as some large men were … her father, for instance … or that horrible Frank. She didn’t know why she kept thinking of Cliff’s cousin. She wished she didn’t need to contact any of the Greenhills again and would make sure she went to their house at a time when
Frank and Cliff’s father were working, just to be safe.

She couldn’t imagine Mr Easton being aggressive or hitting someone, but she could imagine Frank doing it – and Cliff had hit her once or twice. Mr Easton’s expression was usually open and quietly happy, and he spoke to everyone courteously, listening to old Fred’s rambling tales with every appearance of interest.

He’d looked concerned a few times, though, when dealing with his niece, whose mood seemed to change in a flash. That he loved her was obvious. That she was unhappy seemed obvious too.

Gran’s prophecy had been right. Nell had reached the end of her journey here, for a while, anyway. She doubted she could have found anything that suited her better than this job. It would give her more time to work out what to do with herself. Now she came to think of it, Gran had even foretold that this would be a temporary stopping place.
They’ll shelter you when you need it, those elm trees will.

She was close enough to Swindon to try to find her eldest sister. Oh, how she longed to see Mattie again! And then … Nell couldn’t think what she’d do with her life after that. There must be some job that was satisfying and useful. She certainly didn’t want to lead an idle life.

The money she’d inherited from her husband gave her security to a degree she’d never experienced before, but it also took away the possibility of going back to her old life at the laundry. Well, she didn’t want to. Who’d work in a steamy place like that if they didn’t have to? Not her. It was not only hard work but boring too.

She’d considered all sorts of possibilities during her travels. She could open a corner shop. But that life didn’t
really appeal to her, and anyway, you needed a husband to run a shop properly. Even with two people working together, those who owned small shops worked long hours and most looked tired. As well as the selling, they had to worry about whether to extend credit to customers, and if they did, there was the ongoing problem of whether those customers would pay what they owed. No, not a corner shop.

But she wasn’t well educated, even though she’d always read a lot. Her father had made each of them leave school and start work as soon as it was allowed. He’d found her a job before she’d even turned fourteen. No choice. Just, ‘You’re starting at the laundry on Monday.’ She wondered what sorts of jobs there were for educated women, what sort of choices they had.

The only ones she could think of were teaching or working in an office as a lady typist, but you had to train for both those jobs and she only knew a little shorthand. Anyway, she didn’t speak like ladies did, so would probably stick out like a sore thumb if she tried. She might have enjoyed being a teacher, but she hadn’t got the education for that. And actually, after her days of freedom and an open-air life, she didn’t want to be shut up indoors all day.

In fact, at the moment she felt to be neither fish nor fowl.

The job as housekeeper at Elm Tree Farm wouldn’t last. Not only did Hugh Easton have to go back to London, he was well educated, attractive and wasn’t short of money. She tried to imagine his life in London. He wouldn’t need a full-time housekeeper if he had a wife, though people like him would probably have a woman in to do the rough work
and maybe one to do the laundry too, like Mrs Garrett.

Actually, Nell couldn’t think why a lovely man like him wasn’t married already. She was quite sure
he
wouldn’t keep his wife and child short of money, as Cliff had, and he wouldn’t be so rough in bed, either. And he was kind, so very kind … not to mention being quite good-looking.

She told herself not to be so stupid. She shouldn’t even be thinking about her employer in that way.

But she dreamt about him that night and blushed when she woke to think of those dreams.

In the morning, all was rush to get a sulky May ready for school. The child had to walk down to the end of the track to catch the morning bus into the village and it didn’t seem to Nell that she wanted to go.

‘Is May always so unhappy about going to school?’ she asked as Mr Easton shut the door on his niece and came back for yet another cup of tea. That man loved his tea.

‘She is since her parents died. She doesn’t want to go out of the house if she can stay indoors, preferably in my study.’

‘Poor child! Children that age should be playing out with friends while they still can. I lost my mother when I was young too. It’s hard on a girl.’ She caught herself on that. She shouldn’t be offering him confidences about her life. Let alone, he was her employer, she didn’t want to be the object of anyone’s pity. She’d had more than enough of that.

‘I lost my fiancée a few years ago, so I do understand what it’s like to lose someone you love.’

His eyes took on a distant look and she didn’t interrupt
for a moment. He must have loved his fiancée to look like that a few years later. Would reminders about Sarah always upset her? She couldn’t imagine them not doing.

She didn’t speak till he seemed to be paying attention again. ‘Well, if you can manage without me doing the washing today, I’ll carry on sorting things out and getting used to the house.’

‘Oh. Mrs Compton comes in on Mondays to do the washing.’

‘You keep a washing woman as well?’ she asked in surprise.

‘Sorry. I should have told you that yesterday, shouldn’t I? But I was editing a rather interesting book and it was so good to have you here to take over the cooking and leave me free to work, I forgot about everything else.’

‘That’s all right. What time does she come?’

‘She usually gets here half an hour or so after May leaves. She walks across the fields from the village – she lives at this side and it’s a much shorter way if you don’t mind a bit of mud. Call me when she arrives and I’ll introduce you.’

Mrs Compton turned out to be a stocky woman with red hands and sparse greying hair. Nell introduced herself and explained why she was there. The other woman knew all about Pearl breaking her leg and would have settled in to gossip, but Nell didn’t feel it was right to stand and chat when so much needed doing.

‘Is Mr Easton busy today?’

‘Yes. He said to tell him when you arrived, but I think he only wanted to introduce me, and now we’ve met, perhaps we can manage without disturbing him?’

‘Oh, he doesn’t notice anything once he starts work,
that man doesn’t. “Absent-minded professor”, I call him. But he’s a good employer, all the same, very thoughtful and kind. That poor lass is lucky to have an uncle like him.’

The two women worked together getting the clothes ready, then Mrs Compton attacked the washing as if dirt was her personal enemy, thrusting some garments into one tub to soak and grating up some hard soap before tossing some of it into the copper and boiling up the whites.

There was everything a woman could need to do the family’s laundry, Nell thought enviously, watching her companion open and shut cupboards. She’d never had a special room for washing like this. How much easier it made things.

‘Don’t you have anything to wash?’ Mrs Compton asked, once she’d sorted everything.

‘I didn’t think I should put mine in.’

‘Bless you, why not? A few more bits and pieces don’t make any difference to me. You just keep the cups of tea coming – and I eat hearty at midday. They always give me a decent meal.’

The day passed quickly. Nell left Mrs Compton to her work and continued to investigate and tidy the various drawers and cupboards in the kitchen. Someone had once put together the household goods lovingly, she could tell that, with hand-embroidered tablecloths and matching crockery. But other items had been allowed to pile up on top of the neater things, as if they’d just been shoved anyhow into the nearest drawer. Was that Pearl’s doing?

She wondered what May’s mother had been like. There had been photos in Mr Easton’s study, but she’d not felt it
her place to stare at them yesterday and he was working in there now.

When she went up to make May’s bed, some of her questions were answered. Standing beside the bed was a photo of a man and woman, with a much younger May between them. This Mr Easton looked very much like his brother – big and friendly were the words that came to mind. Mrs Easton was plump and smiling, her hair soft and dark, and May looked perfectly happy with them. The child had a shadowed look to her now, as if unhappiness lay beneath her smiles and chatter.

Nell made the child’s bed. No one had changed the sheets on this one, but her employer’s bed had been stripped, so they must do the beds in turns. She couldn’t see any clean sheets around for his bed, so went to ask Mrs Compton where they were kept.

By the time the washerwoman left, having done some of the ironing as well, May had come home from school. Nell was feeling tired and the house was full of washing drying gently on ceiling racks, with the ironed garments taking a final airing on a huge wooden clothes horse that unfolded like three sides of a box. You needed a lot of space just to fit in equipment like that.

She’d hardly seen Mr Easton during the day, except when she took him his meals. Mrs Compton said he always ate in his study. He’d been in an absent-minded mood then; polite, but with his mind on other things.

However, he came out of his study as soon as he heard May’s voice and joined them in the kitchen for a cup of tea.

‘Have a nice day, did you?’ he asked his niece.

May shrugged.

‘What lessons did you do?’

‘Writing, ciphering, history.’ She sighed.

‘Don’t you enjoy school?’ Nell ventured.

May shook her head, scowling.

‘Why not?’

‘The work’s too easy and I get bored. But if you don’t pay attention and sit quietly, she hits you with her ruler.’

Nell saw Mr Easton look angry at that and shook her head at him. You couldn’t protect children from their teachers, and anyway, the occasional reprimand didn’t hurt anyone. But she could see how easy it’d be for an intelligent child to get bored, because she’d often been bored at school herself. And she, too, had been afraid of her teacher. It was a lesson you soon learnt in life unless you were very spoilt: sometimes you just had to put up with things you didn’t like.

When May had changed into her old clothes and gone out to play with the dog and talk to Fred, Mr Easton said, ‘I’m a bit worried about that school. She’s a clever girl and needs a better education than a village school can provide. But there’s no other school within reach and I don’t want to send her away to boarding school. She’ll be all right when we get to London. There’s a private day school nearby, and it has a good reputation.’

He went to stare out of the window, drumming his fingers on the sill for a moment or two. Just as Nell thought he’d finished talking, he said suddenly, ‘I’d like to sell this place, because I’m not at all interested in farming and never could be. It’s not a family farm. My brother bought it because he liked living in the country. But as you’ve seen, May gets
upset if I even suggest moving to London. I suppose I can wait a while longer.’

‘You’re very good to her.’

‘I do my best, but sometimes she needs a woman. I’m hoping she’ll get on with you. You’re very easy to talk to and you’ve got a lot of common sense.’

Nell was surprised by that compliment, but pleased.

‘I’ve got a small share in the publishing house. I’m not just employed by it, I’m a junior partner. That’s why I’m able to work from here for the time being, but there’s so much more I could do if I were in London, so much more I
want
to do. Perhaps now you’re living here, I’ll be able to go up there more often, even stay overnight now and then.’

‘I’ll do anything I can to help. You only have to say. But we’d better not suggest it till May’s more used to me – and till you are as well. You might not like having me as a housekeeper.’

He grinned. ‘Don’t tell me you’re a criminal in disguise.’

She smiled back and clasped one hand to her bosom in an affected way. ‘Oh dear. My dark secret is out.’

He threw back his head and laughed. ‘Shall I call the police?’

She was surprised how easy it was to joke with Mr Easton. She’d never had a man tease her like he did before. Her father was a bully and Cliff … well, the less she thought about him now, the better. She wasn’t at all sorry to be without him in her life. Or his horrible family.

Mr Easton looked at her thoughtfully. ‘I think you should call me Hugh, and I’ll call you Nell, if you don’t mind. It’s
how I think of you already, actually. Mrs Greenhill doesn’t seem like you, I don’t know why.’