A Dinner of Herbs (The Bannaman Legacy)

by Catherine Cookson

  ‘What d’you mean, something in the wind?’ asked Mary Ellen.

  ‘Well, it could be that Florrie Pierce or her sister Fanny has hooked him.’

  ‘The Pierce girls after Hal?’

  ‘Aye, the Pierce girls after Hal. They would have lain their blanket down for him any day. What you don’t seem to recognise, Mary Ellen, and never have, is Hal is a very presentable man.’

  ‘Well, I must be blind, because I haven’t seen it. All right, he’s not bad looking and he’s got a body on him, but it’s his manner and his ways. Who’s going to put up with them? All right, all right.’ She was nodding at Kate now, and they both said together, ‘Florrie or Fanny Pierce.’ Then they were laughing.

  ‘And what’s more, I’ll tell you,’ said Kate now: ‘you know Peggy Fowler who was married a few weeks gone?’

  ‘Aye, yes.’

  ‘Well, she was after him, an’ all. She even got through the window once and tidied up his place. Not that it was ever untidy; he keeps it neat and clean. But there she was with a meal on the table for him, brazen as brass. And what he told her must have acted like a dose of gunpowder up her nether regions, because she ran from the house crying her eyes out. And her brothers Johnny and Frank came at him the next day. But just to talk, because before he had that knife in his ribs he was as good a wrestler as you’ll find for many a mile.’

  ‘Hal, a wrestler?’

  ‘Yes, lass, Hal a wrestler. The only thing you know about Hal is that on sight of you, he draws a sword and you reply with a sledgehammer. ‘

  ‘Oh, Kate, Kate.’

  ‘Oh, thinkin’ of Hal.’ Kate put her hand to her head now. ‘I wonder what he’ll say when he comes back?’

  ‘What about?’

  ‘Oh, well, lass’—Kate rose from the cracket—‘it should happen this mornin’ first thing. You see, you comin’ in like you did just now had taken it out of me head. But John Tollett an’ Will Campbell were on their way to the mill. They came over the quarry, and there, not a couple of feet from where the grave was opened, on the only big tree standin’, because they chopped and hoiked all the others up to find the place, well, on that one big tree, as I said, was Pat Feeler. He had hung himself. He was like a scarecrow, they said. He must have been livin’ rough all this time an’ things had got too bad for him, ’cos there he was, danglin’. Well, there’s one good thing I can say for that, it’ll stop Hal’s roamin’, because he hasn’t had a good night’s sleep since it all happened. I don’t know how he’s carried on.’

  ‘Hung himself? How awful!’

  ‘No more awful, lass, than the one he buried. And there was the other one that sent my lad across the water. Oh no, not awful. A rightful end I would say. Justice will out. Aye, justice will out. But I wonder how Hal will take it? Because he himself wanted to finish him off and now he’s been baulked. Aye well, we’ll soon know, at least when he comes back from the town.’

  Fifteen

  Mary Ellen had worked all day. She had cleaned up the room as it hadn’t been cleaned for a long time. She had climbed the ladder and crawled under the rafters and stripped the bed on which Roddy had lain for years, and only with a stern admonition had she stopped herself from throwing herself down onto it and once again giving ease to the pain in her heart, which had been deepened by the treatment she had received from the Davisons and her father. But even feeling like this, there was, nevertheless, some small part of her that, in a strange way, was at peace for she felt she had found a real home and she was about to learn a business.

  This proposition of Kate’s had excited her. She knew she’d never be wise like Kate, but she also knew she had a good memory and was quick at picking things up, and, with more writing practice, she would be able to stick labels on the bottles, unlike Kate who recognised them only by their colour, taste, and smell.

  That was what had always been nice and attractive about Kate’s cottage, the smell. It was a soothing smell. Kate said it was mostly from the calf’s snout that hung from the beams in the room. She herself had always thought it an awful name for such a nice plant; she liked its other name of snapdragon better. Yet, when you looked at the top of the flower, that’s what it appeared like, a calf’s snout. She had a lot to learn and she had begun already. She had wanted, late in the afternoon, to go out and start on the garden, but Kate said, ‘Are you daft, girl? You start tidyin’ that place up at this time of year and there goes our wages for the winter and a couple more to come.’ And she smiled and nodded at the old woman as she said, ‘Yes, of course, of course.’

  And so the day had passed, and now the fire was blazing in the hearth. Three tallow candles in their brass candlesticks stood in a row down the middle of the table and as Kate had said it was never too late to start, she had brought six jars from the shelves and had just placed them on the table when there was a rat-tat on the door and at the same time it was pushed open, and Hal entered. He was carrying a sack over his shoulder and in his other hand he held a parcel that looked like a long box. Mary Ellen moved from the table and went over to the fire while Kate rose from her chair, saying, ‘Well, well! What brings you at this time of night laden like a packhorse? Robbed a coach?’

  ‘Aye, in a way, yes, Kate, you could say that.’

  He walked slowly towards the table before dropping the sack from his back, and the sound it made as it hit the floor was like a jingle of tools. The long parcel he placed gently on the table, and then, leaning slightly forward, he peered to where Mary Ellen was sitting on the clippy mat, reaching out to retract something from the ashes. ‘What…what are you doing here? It’s Tuesday,’ he said.

  When Mary Ellen made no reply he glanced at Kate, and she said, ‘Get yourself off your feet.’

  He didn’t sit down but widened his eyes questioningly at her as he nodded towards Mary Ellen, who seemed to remain quite unaware of his presence, for she continued to poke at the ashes with a small rake.

  That he was perplexed by Mary Ellen’s presence was shown by the hunching of his shoulders before he gently pushed the long wrapped parcel along the table towards Kate, saying, ‘’Tis for you.’

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘Well, open it and see.’

  As she attempted to undo the cord she said, ‘Aw, you might as well tell me to unknot a ship’s hawser. I can’t get me fingers through those knots.’

  ‘Give it here.’ He undid the knots, pulled off the paper, opened the top of the box, then, placing it on the floor, he pointed into the box, saying, ‘Now do you think you can lift that out?’ And Kate, bending over it, thrust her two hands into it, then paused and looked up at him before bringing into view a glass shade. But when her hands began to tremble, he said, ‘Here, give it to me, woman. And, taking it from her, he revealed a tall fancy lantern with rose-coloured glass sides.

  After setting it on the table, he stood back and, looking at her, said, ‘There, that’ll give you a bonny light, ’cos look, it has sockets for three candles.’ And he turned quickly towards the fire and, stripping a sliver of wood from one of the logs stacked to the side, he thrust it into the blazing embers, at the same time glancing towards Mary Ellen who still did not acknowledge his presence in any way.

  A minute later the room was illuminated with a soft light that brought a low muttering sound of delight from Kate and caused Mary Ellen to turn towards the table.

  ‘Ah, lad, what made you think of that?’

  ‘Oh, I’ve thought of it for a long time, ’cos I knew you were lying when you said you didn’t want a candle lamp and preferred those.’ He pointed to the fluttering tapers of the tallow candles. ‘Now,’ he said, ‘I’m hungry and starved inside and out. I’ve never had a bite since dinner time, then not much. So I’m going to sit meself down opposite this young person here, who I’ve never seen in me life afore, and ask her her name and what she’s doing here at this time of night!’

  ‘Aye, sit down, Hal. Sit down,’ Kate said, and the tone of her voice silenced his jesting.


  He sat down, after pulling a chair towards the fire opposite where Mary Ellen was once again poking at the ashes. And now, Kate taking her seat to the side of Mary Ellen, put out her hand and placed it on the girl’s head while she looked at Hal, saying, ‘The top and bottom of it is, she’s in a bit of trouble, an’ she was turned out of her job, and from her father’s house, an’ all.’

  There was silence in the room; then not only did Kate look at him, but Mary Ellen too, as he repeated quietly, ‘A bit of trouble…that kind of trouble?’

  ‘Aye, Hal, that kind of trouble, as you say, that kind of trouble.’

  He did not speak as he rose to his feet, nor whilst he stood for a moment staring down into Mary Ellen’s firelit face; but then, going to the table, he brought his fist so hard down on the edge of it that the candle lamp jumped and he had to thrust his hand out to steady it. And his voice a loud bark now, he said, ‘Damn him to hell’s flames!’ at the same time swinging round towards Mary Ellen who had pulled herself to her feet. ‘The rotten bugger!’ he said. ‘And you’re nothin’ but a weak-minded silly little bitch to let him.’

  Now she was yelling back at him, ‘Shut up, you! Shut up! You know nothing about it. ’Twasn’t his fault.’

  ‘Oh my God!’ He put his two hands up to his head and ran his fingers through his hair, making it seem to stand on end as he spoke now directly to Kate, crying, ‘Did you hear what she said? Even the simplest of them, that dotty one who goes round the market place laughing, if it had happened to her even she wouldn’t have said it wasn’t the man’s fault. God Almighty!’ He now swung himself round to face Mary Ellen again. ‘Have you been knocked silly, stupid or somethin’? You’re standin’ there tellin’ me that it was you who took him down? You got him into the grass and had your way with him? He hadn’t a chance. Oh, you. You.’

  She had promised herself her crying was over, but once again the tears were running down her face, and the sight of them brought his head deep onto his chest and his voice muttering low now: ‘I’m sorry,’ he said; ‘I’m sorry. But, oh God, Mary Ellen, to let that happen to you. He wasn’t worth it.’ And he turned from her now, beating one fist into the palm of the other hand. ‘If I had him here this minute I’d do for him. I would. I swear on it, I’d do for him.’

  These words seemed to be a cue for Kate to take over once again, and she said, ‘Well now, he’s not here, so you can’t do for him. But I’ve some news for you. Talking of doing for anybody, they found Feeler hanging on the quarry top this mornin’. You had gone to the town afore the news got about.’

  She watched him straighten his back and take a deep breath; then turning fully to face her, he said, ‘I could have told you that, Kate, and around towards dawn.’

  ‘What d’you mean?’

  ‘Just that I hung him there, or at least I saw that he did it himself. I gave him two choices: either I do it and I’d do it slow, or he could do it himself and make a quick job of it.’

  When Mary Ellen made a sound as if she was going to be sick, they both turned towards her, and Kate, going quickly to her, pressed her down into a chair, saying, ‘Now, now. Now, now. He had it comin’ to him.’ But Mary Ellen didn’t answer; she turned her gaze on to Hal and for a moment she didn’t see him as he was, but his body seemed to fill the room, his eyes to look like pieces of glinting coal; and when he took a step in her direction she shrank back against the chair.

  ‘What are you cringing for? I only did what the authorities would have done if they had got him. But I promised meself this right from the start, this was my due. Now I can breathe again.’ He bent towards her now, his face almost on a level with hers as he asked her, ‘Do you think he had any pity on me father when he killed him and buried him? All right, it could have been on Bannaman’s orders, but he did it. And how many others, God alone knows, because, besides Les Carter, how many others had they done for? Likely they didn’t stick to these parts, but roamed wide. So don’t become weak-bellied because I’ve done a justice.’ He straightened up now and turned to Kate, saying, ‘They never found the money my da was supposed to steal, did they Kate?’

  ‘No, never a penny.’

  ‘Well’—his voice had a light note to it now—‘there’s some justice left in the world, because I found it, at least Feeler did. He must have come upon it looking for hideout, because if he’d known of it afore it wouldn’t have been there now. And ’tis strange how it came about. Do you know he was on our doorstep all along, all these months. He’s been not five minutes walk from here. And there was me ridin’ miles away lookin’ for him. But the night afore last I was takin’ a short cut with me pony across the moor, because I was due to go into me shift, an’ there, in the distance, I saw what was like a whiff of mist risin’ out of the ground. I went over to have a closer look. It was just on dark and I found I was standing near the end of the blocked-up tunnel. You know, you told me they came up against a snap with one of the first tunnels they made to take away the smell, and in later times they cut through it when they dug the quarry out. Anyway, I traced the mound back right to the top of the quarry where I guessed the entrance was. And I was about to make me way down the bank when I saw a parcel hidden in the scrub. Somebody was supplying him with food, likely his wife or daughter. So, I gave meself the pleasure of takin’ it to him. Being crafty, he had lit his fire at the far end of the tunnel, a good fifty yards in, but his stores and this—’ He now darted round the table and, lifting up the sack, dropped it at Kate’s feet, and repeating, ‘—and this was just inside.’ He now tipped the sack upside down, and there spewed on to the floor small clinking bags and the big black bag which was now in two pieces. And pointing a trembling finger downwards, he said, ‘He had each of those bags of sovereigns arrayed like soldiers, spaced along the wall. They had all been opened and counted and tied up again except one, and it had four sovereigns less than the others in it…Well, he must have seen the light of me lantern, and I had to go in and drag him forward. But even until his last breath he kept denying that he had known where the money was. He must have had it stacked away all these years but dipped into it lately.’

  ‘He hadn’t. He hadn’t.’

  They both looked to where Mary Ellen was standing, gasping as if she had just come running into the house. And she gabbled now, ‘He knew nothin’ about it. Not…not where it was. I…I put it there.’

  ‘You put it there?’ Hal was standing in front of her, close to her, and when he went to put his hand on her arm, she thrust him from her. And now flopping back into the chair, she said, ‘I found the bag in the bog the dry summer. Your father must have thrown it into the bushes when they chased him. That’s how I’ve worked it out since. And it fell into the bog and sank, and when it dried up, the bog, I saw the handle sticking out. ’Twas’—she gave her head a shake before going on—‘’twas on the Sunday you and Roddy had your first row and rolled fighting on the grass. I…I had come across the tunnel when I was blaeberrying, and so I…I put it in there, and I was going to tell Roddy, but I got vexed with him. I was afraid to tell me da because he had forbidden me to go near the bog. Anyway, in a short time I forgot about it. But I’ve thought about it now and again over the years. It got more difficult to tell because they would ask…the authorities, why I hadn’t brought it to light before now.’

  Her head now drooped onto her chest, and when she raised it again, both Kate and Hal were seated opposite to her, staring at her in amazement. And it was Kate who said, ‘All these years, girl, you’ve kept this to yourself. Don’t…don’t you realise it would have cleared Hal’s father if you had brought it out into the open?’

  ‘I…I didn’t link it up with your father.’ She was looking straight at Hal. ‘Only in after years did I realise what that little man was looking for.’

  She stopped now and closed her eyes for a moment while she recalled what had happened to the little man, and who had caused it to happen, and she seemed to have difficulty in going on, for her voice was low and her words disjoin
ted as she said, ‘It went out…out of my mind for years. Me…me da always said money caused trouble; I didn’t want to cause trouble. And then when I began to put two and two together, I was too frightened to mention it. Anyway, the damage was done. Both you and Roddy, I thought, had got over losing your fathers. And you, Kate’—she was nodding wildly now at Kate—‘you were always saying, let the dead bury the dead. So I didn’t bring it up. Anyway I wonder somebody didn’t come across it afore now. ’Twas likely ’cos of the falls the bairns didn’t go there.’

  ‘Oh, Mary Ellen.’ Hal’s tone was quiet and soft and the fact that he wasn’t going to go for her made her see him in a different light. But only for a moment, for he said now, ‘Well, you did one good thing anyway: keeping your tongue quiet, you’ve given me a little fortune to start a new life.’

  ‘You’re not goin’ to keep it?’

  ‘I’m not goin’ to keep it? What do you think I’m gona do with it?’

  ‘Well’—she looked from him to Kate, then back to him again—‘give it to the owners. It was the money for the pay.’

  ‘Look, Mary Ellen’—his tone was recognisable again—‘what would happen if the morrow mornin’ I went down to that office and said, there’s the money that you accused me da of takin’ over thirteen years since. You know what would happen? They would say, thank you very much, Mr Roystan, and that would be that. It would go into the company and would be swallowed up like a drop in the ocean. Do you know what that company’s worth, The Greenwich Hospital lot? Millions. Millions and millions, to the guess; they don’t know the extent of their own wealth, they’ve got their fingers in so many pies. You must think me a dud, Mary Ellen.’