Mud and Gold Read online

  Lily certainly looked flustered, but the pinkness of her cheeks was more becoming than her usual paleness. She seemed to be covering her confusion by talking in an animated way, moving her hands about as she spoke. Bill was listening in silence, smiling as he watched her. Frank saw his brother-in-law’s gaze drift down towards Lily’s now discreetly covered ankles once or twice, and he was not surprised at Bill’s wandering eyes. ‘No one else looks pretty to me when you’re around,’ he said, giving Lizzie a squeeze. ‘But you’re right, she’s got nice legs.’

  ‘You rogue, Frank Kelly! I told you not to look at her legs.’ She patted his hand absently where it rested on her shoulder and continued her scrutiny through the window.

  When the strolling couple neared the house, Lizzie pulled Frank away.

  ‘I don’t want them to know we were watching,’ she said, making a great show of fussing about with the teacups.

  Frank noted the lively pleasure on her face. ‘You must think a lot of Lily.’

  She stopped her activity for a moment and gave him a serious look. ‘Bill could do an awful lot worse for himself, Frank. So could Lily.’

  When they had had a hurried cup of tea, Lizzie let Frank take Bill out to look at the cows that were the ostensible reason for his visit, while she and Lily got on with the lunch preparations. Bill did not mention his dramatic encounter with Lily, and Frank had no desire to raise the subject; matchmaking was something he was happy to leave to Lizzie.

  Bill seemed genuinely interested in Frank’s plans to improve his breeding stock, but Frank suspected that part of his attention was directed towards the other visitor to the Kelly household. He seemed eager to get back to the house when they heard Lizzie calling them for lunch.

  ‘I think we’ll have our cup of tea in the parlour,’ Lizzie announced as she and Lily cleared the pudding plates away, with Maudie self-importantly helping. ‘Lily, put the tea things on that tray and take Bill through, we’ll be along shortly.’

  ‘I know the way, Lizzie,’ Bill said, the corners of his eyes crinkling in amusement.

  ‘Yes, I know you do,’ said Lizzie. ‘You can keep Lily company in there for a minute, Frank and I just want to have a talk about something. Go on, off you go.’

  *

  Bill and Lily went obediently off to the parlour, leaving a smug-looking Lizzie and a grinning Frank.

  ‘Have you known my sister long, Miss Radford?’ Bill asked as he stood back to let Lily through the parlour door ahead of him.

  Lily was about to give an innocuous response, when something in Bill’s impudent grin touched a spark of humour in her. ‘Long enough,’ she answered with a matching smile as she placed the tray on a small table. ‘Shall we wait for them before I pour?’

  ‘What do you think?’ Bill asked, grinning more broadly.

  ‘I think that if we do, this tea will get very cold indeed.’ She poured two cups, and handed one to Bill before sitting down on the couch.

  Bill glanced at the armchair opposite, then indicated the empty place next to Lily on the couch. ‘May I, Miss Radford?’

  ‘Please do, Mr Leith.’

  *

  Frank felt Lizzie press against him and give a little wriggle as they lay huddled together in the island of warmth their bed made in the chilly darkness.

  ‘Pleased with yourself?’ he whispered.

  ‘It’s a start,’ Lizzie answered quietly. ‘We’ve a fair way to go yet, but we’re off to a good start.’

  ‘ “We”?’ Frank teased. ‘Are you and Lily plotting this together?’

  ‘Don’t say “plotting”, Frank, it sounds awful. I’m just giving Bill and Lily a helping hand. They’re just right for each other, wouldn’t it be a shame if they never got around to getting to know each other properly? It’s time Bill found himself a wife, anyway, and he hasn’t been doing much about it, has he?’

  ‘What say Bill and Lily don’t think they’re as suited as you do?’

  ‘Don’t talk rubbish—of course they’ll think it when they get to know each other a bit better. They’re not silly.’

  ‘That’s true,’ Frank said. ‘And anyone who knows you knows it’s pretty silly to try arguing once you’ve made up your mind.’

  ‘Only when I know I’m right.’

  ‘But you always do, Lizzie.’

  27

  May – December 1891

  It was not a whirlwind courtship; neither Bill nor Lily was prone to being swept along on a tide of passion. But what began as shared amusement at Lizzie’s blatant attempts to manipulate them soon turned into a hard-headed appraisal of each other that led them both to the conclusion Lizzie had already come to on their behalf: they could each do a lot worse for themselves.

  From there it was only a small step, given the many opportunities of spending time with each other that Lizzie made sure of putting in their way, to a mutual respect that seemed likely to turn into something warmer in time. The only thing that bothered Lizzie was that neither of them seemed in any rush to move matters beyond friendship and into romance.

  ‘I wish Bill would hurry up and ask Lily,’ she fretted to Frank. ‘Lily’ll be twenty-nine next year, they should get on with it. She’s only got so many child-bearing years, she’s already wasted half of them. It might be harder for her to get with child, too, not being very young.’

  ‘She’s not an old woman, Lizzie,’ Frank protested in amusement. ‘Heck, she’s a year younger than me!’

  ‘Of course she’s not old, but she’s not getting any younger, either. You should have a word with Bill about that when you see him at the factory some time, tell him to get on with it.’

  ‘Now, don’t you try that on me. I’m not about to tell Bill in front of half the men in Ruatane that he needs to get Lily between the sheets before she’s too old for it.’

  ‘Well, you wouldn’t need to say it like that,’ Lizzie said, pursing her lips. ‘I wish Lily would give him a bit more encouragement, though. She told me he’s only kissed her three times, once when they were—’

  ‘Hey, never mind telling me all that, Lizzie,’ Frank interrupted. ‘I don’t want to know their business. I hope you don’t go telling Lily things about me and you—I’ll never be able to look her in the eye again.’

  ‘Of course I don’t! That wouldn’t be decent, not with her being an unmarried woman.’ She sighed deeply. ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do about those two. I’ll have to give them a hurry-up somehow.’

  But it was not Lizzie who precipitated Bill into action. The two groups of people responsible never realised what an effect they had had, and in the case of one pair would have been furious had they been told.

  It was Mrs Carr and her daughter Martha who gave Bill the first push. After leaving him in relative peace over the winter, Mrs Carr began badgering him with invitations to dine at their house that became more and more difficult to refuse politely. On each of these occasions, usually outside church but sometimes at the store, Martha would be standing nearby fixing Bill with what she seemed to imagine was a winning smile and giggling foolishly. She would then launch into a long, prattling tale about someone’s wedding or new baby, before pressing her mother’s invitation on him.

  With such a contrast before him, Bill could not help but appreciate Lily’s quiet voice and the way she clearly thought far more often than she spoke; the soft laugh he could sometimes coax from her made him want to laugh with her, while Martha’s high-pitched whinnies made him cringe. The more foolish Martha let herself appear, the more sensible Bill realised Lily was.

  The other group who intervened on Lily’s behalf would not have been particularly interested had anyone ever bothered to tell them the effect they had had. When the last term of the year began, Lily gained the new pupils she had so dreaded: a cohort of Feenan children, impelled by the threat of the law into reluctant school attendance.

  ‘They’re as bad as you said, Lizzie,’ Lily lamented when she half-staggered through Lizzie’s kitchen door at the en
d of the first week of the new term. ‘They start fights every lunch-time, they throw things in the class room, and they don’t take any notice of me except when I drag one of them off his bench and get stuck into him with the strap. That’s the only good thing about them—at least they’re all small enough for me to manhandle—so far, anyway. The biggest one will be beyond me by next year, I’m sure.’

  ‘Honestly, I don’t know what they think they’re doing, making those horrible brats come to school,’ Lizzie said as she helped Lily off with her cloak. ‘They should just let them stay ignorant if they can’t behave like civilised folk.’

  ‘I won’t stay civilised myself for much longer with that lot to cope with. You know what they did today? When we’d finished school and I sent all the children home, those Feenans opened the paddock and let my horse out.’

  ‘The little brats!’ Lizzie exclaimed.

  ‘They made sure they frightened him, too, yelling at him and slapping him with a stick. It took me ages to catch him, that’s why I’m so late. I’d probably still be chasing him if your little brother Ernie hadn’t helped me—Thomas and George did, too.’

  ‘Well, I’m glad Ernie was some use.’

  ‘Mmm. Ernie’s not a bit interested in learning anything, I’ll never get him past Standard Three, but he doesn’t give me much trouble. Thank goodness I’m staying here this weekend, I couldn’t have faced that long drive tonight. Ohh, I’m exhausted,’ she sighed as she sank into a chair. ‘And it’s months till the holidays.’

  Things did not improve at the school under the Feenans’ reign of terror. Lily grew paler than ever in the ensuing weeks. Dark circles appeared under her eyes, and her cheekbones became more prominent as worry spoiled her appetite. She tried to keep up a brave face, but Lizzie could see that Lily was becoming despondent. Lily hid her feelings successfully enough that Bill had no idea how much of a struggle her work had become, and it was sheer accident when he did find out.

  It was on a Thursday afternoon, and Lily was to stay the night. Bill had dropped in on his way home from town, hoping he might find Lily already there. Having found that she had not yet arrived, he was standing by the door about to leave when the door burst open and she rushed in.

  One glance at her showed how distraught she was. Her hair had come loose from its pins, and wisps were falling around her face; her eyes brimmed with tears; and down the front of her beige skirt was a large blotch of black ink.

  ‘Lily, what the heck happened?’ Bill asked.

  ‘I can’t bear it any more, I can’t,’ Lily sobbed. ‘Not those horrible children. They’re monsters!’ Tears streamed down her face. She staggered a little as she took a half step forward. Bill reached out and Lily flung herself against him, letting his arms close around her. ‘Th-that Des Feenan. I w-was just t-trying to get him to—’ the next word was lost in a sob. ‘And then h-he threw the ink—and the other one s-said—’

  ‘Shh, Lily, shh,’ Bill soothed. ‘One of those brats did this?’

  Lily nodded and gulped back a sob. ‘They’re getting worse and worse—they don’t take any notice of me—I can’t—’

  ‘Right, that’s settled,’ Bill announced. ‘You’re not going back to that school, not for those kids to drive you up the wall.’

  ‘I’ve got to, Bill—it’s my job—I’ve got to.’

  ‘No, you don’t. Or… well, I suppose you’ll have to for a couple more weeks, you’ll have to give notice or something.’

  ‘I can’t stop working. I’ve got no money.’

  ‘That doesn’t matter. I’ll be providing for you soon enough, once we’re married.’

  ‘Hallelujah,’ Lizzie remarked to the room at large before she shepherded three fascinated children out of the room without disturbing the pair who had eyes and ears only for each other.

  *

  And so it was decided, just like that. Lily was not foolish enough even to consider saying no, though she did insist that she would not give up her teaching till the end of the year.

  ‘I’m meant to give a term’s notice, Bill,’ she said. ‘It wouldn’t be right for me just to walk out. Anyway, I’ll be able to put up with the worst those Feenans can do to me, now I know it’ll only be for a few more months.’

  Bill reluctantly gave in, but he had no intention of seeing Lily again tried as sorely as she had been. The morning after he had made the proposal that had taken him by surprise more than it had anyone else, he paid an unannounced visit to the school, made a startled Lily point out the perpetrator of the ink incident, and administered summary justice on the villain with his riding crop, afterwards giving dire warnings to his wide-eyed audience of what might be in store for anyone else foolish enough to give Miss Radford any trouble.

  Thus cowed, most of the class behaved in an exemplary fashion for many weeks, while the Feenan children’s attendance became more and more haphazard until, a week after Bill’s visit, they stopped coming altogether.

  ‘The education people will catch up with them next year and make them send their children again,’ Lily told Frank and Lizzie. ‘But I won’t be there then!’ She gave a laugh of pure happiness.

  *

  While he was pleased for Bill and Lily, Frank followed the progress of their romance with no more than vague interest. He had other things to think about in the last months of the year. Calving time was like no calving he had ever overseen before; this year he had his three Jersey cows to fuss over.

  The three calves arrived over four days in early August, interspersed among the almost-unnoticed Shorthorns. After the first Frank was delighted, after the second triumphant, and when the third shiny golden creature slid wetly into the world Frank could hardly contain his jubilation.

  ‘Another heifer,’ he shouted to Lizzie as he burst into the house, and for once Lizzie did not scold him for wearing his boots inside. ‘Three heifers! Twice as many Jerseys to milk!’ He flung his arms around Lizzie and lifted her off the floor, twirling her around despite her laughing protests.

  ‘It’s like a sign,’ he said when he had calmed down a little. ‘A sign I’m doing the right thing.’

  ‘Well, you already knew that,’ Lizzie said with the assurance that he loved so much in her. He hugged her again until she protested that she could not breathe.

  The new calves thrived, fussed over by Frank and by his older two children, who vied with each other for the honour of feeding the Jerseys when the calves had been taken away from their mothers. Maudie insisted it was only right that she should have two of the calves to feed, as she was the oldest; Joey tried to argue the point, but Maudie’s skill in disputation was too much for him.

  When November arrived, the event came that Frank had been awaiting almost as eagerly as the birth of the calves: it was time to put his bull in with the cows. It did not take long to see that, Lizzie’s doubtful comments notwithstanding, Duke William was approaching his job with energy and enthusiasm.

  ‘I hope he doesn’t wear himself out,’ Lizzie remarked as she and Frank leaned over the fence and watched Duke William at work one day.

  ‘Him? He’s only getting started,’ said Frank. ‘There’s plenty of go in that fellow. Hey, Maudie was asking me the other day what Duke was doing with the cows, climbing on them like that.’

  ‘Trust her not to miss a trick. What’d you tell her?’

  ‘I just said he was playing games with them. I suppose she’ll work it out for herself one day.’ He thought for a moment. ‘I don’t think anyone ever told me what the bull’s really up to—I can’t remember when I figured it out.’

  ‘I think it was the night we got married,’ Lizzie said, ducking nimbly out of his reach before Frank could give her the playful slap on the bottom she was asking for.

  Frank tried to tell himself that he needed to keep an eye on the bull while he was in with his harem, making sure Duke William did not overtire himself. He went around sporting a foolish grin all during Duke William’s weeks of pleasure, but he did not realise just h
ow obvious his empathy with the bull had become until Lizzie pointed it out to him one night.

  The moment he had put out the lamp, he reached for the soft body lying close to him and began lifting her nightdress. He had only got it up to her thighs when Lizzie murmured, ‘You’ve been watching that bull again, haven’t you?’

  ‘A bit,’ Frank admitted.

  ‘I thought as much. Honestly, Frank, you’re as bad as when we were first married, now you’ve got a bull.’

  ‘Stop complaining,’ Frank whispered. He heard a smothered giggle, and enjoyed the pleasant reflection that there was one room in the house where Lizzie was happy to let him boss her.

  By December, Frank was confident that all the cows were in calf except the two who would be their house cows over the coming winter. It was also December when Lizzie told him she thought there would be another baby the following August.

  ‘And that’s the fault of your bull, too,’ she added, though ‘fault’ was hardly the right word for news that made them both so happy.

  ‘No, I’ll take the full blame for that piece of work myself,’ said Frank.

  *

  Lily moved in with Lizzie and Frank soon after her engagement was announced, abandoning her weary treks to and from town with relief.

  ‘It’s more convenient for Bill to come and see you, too,’ Lizzie had said when pressing her hospitality.

  ‘Bill will see all he wants of me soon enough,’ Lily said wryly. ‘Perhaps I shouldn’t give him the opportunity to think better of it while he’s still got the chance.’

  ‘Lily, you say some silly things at times!’ Lizzie scolded. ‘Of course he’s not going to change his mind. Bill’s not stupid. Anyway, he’d never dare let you down, he’d never hear the end of it.’