A Dinner of Herbs (The Bannaman Legacy)

by Catherine Cookson

  The last time he had seen her face to face she had looked like the devil, and it was then, as he had recalled earlier, that she prophesied she would be back. But she hadn’t meant flying visits just to look round; no, she had meant she’d come back here to live. Well, that would need money, wouldn’t it? And it must be money or valuables she was after now. He’d stake his life on it.

  He did not ask himself what would happen when they should come face to face again for he considered he had just as much right being here as anyone else: the place was up for sale. Anyway, sightseers still came and looked round it. It was the objective of a good Sunday walk.

  He walked along by the front of the house and peered in the window of the room in which he had stood on that fatal day, at least fatal for Bannaman.

  He made himself turn slowly when a voice came from behind him saying, ‘What are you looking for?’

  They were standing some feet from him, the brother and sister. There was no resemblance between them; in fact, he could have been the woman and she the man, for he had a thin refined look, whereas her face was strong. And her expression was dark and grim now. ‘Just lookin’ round like yourselves,’ he answered quietly.

  ‘You have no right here.’

  ‘Don’t be stupid, woman.’ His tone was suddenly scathing. ‘Everybody has a right here now, everybody. What’s the matter with you? Have you lost your mind? Can’t you recall what’s happened to you, the lot of you? It was a long time in comin’ but justice will out. He got off too lightly, your father. He should have swung, like the other one.’

  He hadn’t meant to say any of this, but there it was, out. And her face was livid as she cried at him, ‘The other one you referred to didn’t swing, not by his own hand, he didn’t. Did he?’

  ‘Well, whose hand did you imagine did it?’

  ‘He hadn’t the guts to take his own life. If he had he would have done it straight away. He was made to do it, wasn’t he?’

  ‘If you say so, miss, if you say so.’ The sneer in his voice also became apparent on his face. ‘Now I’ll ask you a question,’ he said. ‘What are you doin’ here? Saying a last farewell? No; for if that’s the case, you’ve said it two or three times already lately, haven’t you? Anyway, I don’t know how you’ve got the nerve to come back knowing what your evil devil of a father did. If I had my way I’d burn the whole place down to get rid of the stench. Aye’—he nodded at her now—‘that’s an idea. In a short while, that’s what I’ll do, buy it and burn it, wipe it off the face of the earth.’

  He watched them turn and look at each other. Then pulling up the front of her long skirt with one hand, she ran down the yard to the trap, round to the back of it, picked something up, and then there she was standing, a gun held at shoulder level and aimed straight at him.

  He watched her walk slowly towards him and when she said, ‘Turn round,’ he muttered, ‘Like hell I will.’ The next instant he had his hand over his eyes and a spray of shots went over his head and one pellet penetrated his hand. My God! She was mad, and bad, as bad as her father. A thought flashed through his mind: What in the name of God had Roddy seen to love a woman like this?

  The brother now spoke to him, saying quickly, ‘Do as she says. She means it.’

  He turned round, and now her voice came at her brother, saying, ‘Open the barn door.’ And as the man ran across the yard she pushed Hal in the back with the barrel of the gun, saying curtly, ‘Move!’

  He moved.

  When he entered the barn he saw it was empty except for a platform up above with odd broken bundles of hay on it here and there. And when she ordered her brother up onto the platform, he watched her gaze towards the great beams supporting the old part of the barn, and he thought, My God! She means to hang me. And for the first time he knew real fear. Swinging round on her now, he cried, ‘What d’you think you’re up to, woman?’

  ‘Time will tell,’ she said. ‘Get up the ladder.’

  ‘I’ll be damned if I will.’

  ‘Well, if you’re blind or not, you’ll go up the ladder. I will count five and I’ll discharge this full into your face. What about it?’

  He climbed the ladder to the platform, and there stared at the white face of the young man who was staring back at him, and he was about to appeal to him when her voice came again, commanding, ‘Lie down, face down.’ She herself must already have climbed the ladder.

  He hesitated for a moment, thinking she couldn’t mean to hang him, then he lay down.

  ‘Put your hands behind your back.’ And he did as he was bid. Then her voice came again: ‘Catch this,’ it cried, and when a coil of rope fell to his side a tremor went through him again.

  She was kneeling by him now, the gun pressed to his head, and she said to her brother, ‘Tie his hands!’

  As his wrists were being tied he wanted to cry out, for the rope seared his flesh as if he were being burnt.

  ‘Get him to his feet!’ He was tugged upright by the young man. But now it was she who pushed him forward to the far end of the platform where the beams criss-crossed down to the floor level.

  ‘What are you going to do?’ It was the brother’s anxious-sounding enquiry. And she said, ‘You’ll see. Lie down, you!’ Her foot caught him in the back of the knees and sent him sprawling. His head hit a beam and he fell onto his knees now, then forward onto the hay-strewn floor.

  What happened next actually made him scream, for she wrenched his legs back up to his hands until his whole body was arched, and there she strung them together. Then with her foot she pushed him onto his side, and saying to her brother, ‘Give me your scarf,’ she pulled it from his neck. And now bending slowly, she said, ‘Open your mouth.’ And when he didn’t she took her fist and brought it under his chin, and his mouth sprang open, she rammed the silken scarf across it, pulled it round the back of his head, brought it forward again and knotted it across his mouth.

  Rising, she looked down on him and said, ‘Now you know what it feels like to lie speechless and not able to use any part of your body. My father lay like that for weeks. There’s only one thing I’m sorry for, the other one isn’t here to join you. But you’re a good substitute. You’re afraid, aren’t you? That’s what Feeler must have experienced before you made him string himself up. Because that’s what you did, wasn’t it? Wasn’t it? Nod your head.’

  When he didn’t obey her, she said, ‘Well, it doesn’t matter. I know what I know.’ Now she turned to her brother, saying, ‘Push him over to the beam.’

  Every fibre of his body screamed in agony as he was dragged towards the beam at the end of the barn. And when her brother said, ‘What are you going to do?’ she said, ‘Make sure he can’t wriggle. Here, take the end of that,’ and she threw him the loose end of the rope. ‘Put it round that beam there, and pass it to me.’ When she had the end of the rope in her hand again, she jerked it hard, and continued to do so until his legs and arms were pressed against the beam, and as the agony of his limbs brought sweat pouring from him, he watched her pull the loose straw towards him and he heard her brother whisper, ‘Look, Mary, that’s enough. What do you mean to do?’

  ‘Oh, just build a barrier round him so that anyone putting their head over the top of the platform won’t see the…poor…creature.’ She drew out the last words. Then kicking some straw near to his face, she added, ‘And by God! You’ll be a poor creature when they find you. And you won’t be able to give any evidence of all this happening to you. That’s for sure. But even if you could, we’ll be where no-one will find us. So, Mr Roystan, your retaliation is at an end. And one more thing I’m going to tell you.’ She bent down until her face, like that of an insane devil, hovered above him as she ground out, ‘I said to the other one and I say it to you, no matter what my father was, he was worth a thousand of you and your kin, because you’re nothing but trash, the lot of you. Now’—she straightened up—‘you’ll have plenty of time to think in the days ahead. And I’m being merciful, because I could set all this da
mn lot afire and let you roast slowly, because nobody would bother hurrying out to an empty barn. Would they?’ She now took her foot and gave him a vicious kick in the lower part of the stomach. And he closed his eyes and his head drooped forward.

  When some minutes later, he opened his eyes again he was alone, and he told himself that this was the end and the quicker it came the better, for the agony that was tearing at him couldn’t be endured for long before his mind snapped.

  Twenty-one

  Mary Ellen wiped the cold sweat from Kate’s brow. The old woman was conscious and clear-minded but very weak, and she surprised Mary Ellen by saying now, ‘The doctor fellow. Get him.’

  ‘You want the doctor?’

  ‘Aye.’

  ‘I’ll send for him.’

  ‘Hal, late.’

  ‘Yes, he is. He was going after a bull. Perhaps he’s had trouble bringing it home.’

  It was four o’clock in the afternoon and Hal hadn’t put in an appearance. It was the only day she could remember his being so late. But, as she had said, he had gone after a bull. He was keen on getting a good bull; he saw himself starting a great herd of cattle. He had big ideas, had Hal, and being him he would likely see them come true.

  She went to the door. Some of the miners passed by at the bottom of the field around this hour. She waited a few minutes, then saw a group of them in the distance and she ran over the field and called to them, and when they stopped she said, ‘Do you think you could get a message to the doctor in Haydon Bridge if there’s any riding that way?’ They looked at each other and one said, ‘Well, aye, lass, the cart should be passing in half an hour’s time. We’ll give him a message. Is it for the bairn?’ he asked kindly.

  ‘No, for Kate.’

  ‘Huh!’ They all seemed to laugh together. ‘Kate wanting a doctor? I understand she practically chased him out the last time he was in the house.’

  ‘Well, she’s asked for him now.’

  Again they looked at each other and one said, ‘That’s bad. Well, she’s nearly as old as the hills around here. How old d’you think she is?’

  ‘I don’t really know. She’s never said. But I guess she must be well into her eighties.’

  ‘Aye, and a bit more if I can reckon,’ put in another man. ‘Well, lass, we’ll get him here as soon as possible. Likely be the morrow mornin’ though.’

  ‘Thank you, thank you very much.’ She turned from them and ran back up the field to the cottage.

  When the evening wore on and Hal did not put in appearance, she became worried. This had never happened before and if he had been bad he would have sent his young helper over here to tell her. Little Terry Foster was only ten but he was very sensible. If anything had happened, surely he would have come over with a message.

  She lit the candles; she fed the child; she saw to Kate; she set the pan of porridge near the ashes ready for tomorrow morning; she washed out some of the child’s clothes. She did everything to fill up the time until eleven o’clock at night and still he hadn’t come. She lay down, not by Kate, but on the pallet bed she had rolled up at the end of the room and which she brought out each night and laid by the fire so she could be near the child. What was more, there was a smell coming from Kate that no amount of washing seemed to erase and she found it nauseating.

  Most of the night she just dozed, and at five the next morning she rose and built up the fire. Kate was asleep, her breathing short and heavy. At six o’clock she opened the curtains and then the door and let the clean air come into the room. And she stood on the step and looked to where the hills were rising through the morning mist. What if he didn’t come this morning, what could she do? She must go over and see what had happened to him. And as the disturbing thought came to her, she muttered aloud, ‘No, no, I wouldn’t believe that.’ Yet why not? This Annie he talked about seemed to be a very capable person and he was sorry for her. And why shouldn’t he marry, even if she was older than him? Look at Roddy and that woman. Well, she didn’t really know anything definite about those two, she only knew how Kate had described the woman.

  Hal should be married. Kate was always saying so. But he would have told her, given her some hint. Well, hadn’t he given her plenty of hints about this woman being a wonderful cook and how she had no home life. Pity could make a man do lots of things—it didn’t matter about age—especially if…well, he needed a…She couldn’t go on and say, a woman. But what she did say to herself was, as soon as that doctor comes I’ll get Mrs Patterson to stay with them, then I’ll go across there. That’s if he doesn’t come. But he surely will.

  The doctor came at eleven o’clock and he must have thought it was she who needed attention, for he said, ‘You look anxious, peaky. What is it?’

  ‘Nothing, nothing, only Kate wanted to see you.’

  ‘She asked to see me?’ His eyebrows went upwards.

  ‘Yes.’ She gave him a smile. ‘Wonders’ll never cease.’

  He went to the bed, leant over and looked into the wrinkled face, saying, ‘How do you feel this morning, Kate?’

  ‘I feel me end is on me. I wish it would hurry up,’ she said.

  ‘You wanted to see me. You want some medicine?’

  ‘No, you know I don’t want…medicine. I want you to write a paper.’

  ‘A paper?’

  ‘Yes. I could have got the parson, but I don’t like parson. Just write a paper.’

  He turned and looked at Mary Ellen, then said softly, ‘She wants me to make a statement of some kind.’

  He went to his bag and brought out a notebook; then returning to the bed, he said, ‘I’m ready. What do you want to say?’

  ‘Not much. Only that what I have, all my potions and herbs, me bits and pieces, and the money behind the stone in the fireplace goes…goes to her.’ She made a motion with her head towards Mary Ellen. And Mary Ellen, biting on her lip, shook her head and said, ‘Oh, Kate, Kate, no.’

  When he had finished writing the doctor said, ‘Can you sign your name, do you think?’

  ‘Can’t write.’

  ‘Well, make a cross there.’

  He put the pen into her hand and guided it at the bottom of the page; then he signed his name and wrote something else. Then softly he said, ‘I have stated that this is your wish and that you are of sound mind, and that I have witnessed this, your hand. Is that what you want, Kate?’

  ‘Aye, that’s…that’s what I want. She’ll’—again she nodded towards Mary Ellen—‘pay you for your visit.’

  ‘I want no payment, Kate.’

  She blinked up at him, then said, ‘Thank you. Thank you, sir.’

  ‘And thank you, Kate. It’s an honour to be of help to you.’ She closed her eyes and both he and Mary Ellen turned away from the bed. And Mary Ellen trying hard to restrain her tears, said, ‘Fancy that. That’s what she wanted you for. She was thinkin’ of me.’

  ‘She’s a fine old woman, ’tis a pity she’s going. And from what I understand you’ve been like a daughter to her. You’re going to miss her.’

  ‘Yes, yes, I am.’

  ‘You’ll be here on your own?’

  ‘Well, yes, but…but Hal…you know Hal, he pops over every day, but…but I’m worried.’

  ‘About Hal?’

  ‘Yes, yesterday was the first day he never came and…and here it is nearing twelve o’clock and he still hasn’t been, and he brings milk every morning.’

  ‘Perhaps he’s gone into town?’

  ‘He always calls.’

  ‘Well then, you must go and see what is wrong. Perhaps he’s ill.’

  ‘Yes, yes, I mean to do that. I’m goin’ to get Mrs Patterson in from the village.’ She pointed towards the door. ‘She’ll look after them until I come back.’

  ‘I’m on my way there,’ he said, ‘at least to the mill. I’ll be passing the cottages. Will I give Mrs Patterson a message?’

  ‘Oh, if you would, please. I’d be very grateful.’ And as she saw him to the door she asked, �
�How…how long do you think she’ll last, doctor?’

  ‘Oh, if she had her own way she’d go now, but she’s got a strong constitution that’s fighting the disease in her stomach. She could last a week or more.’

  ‘Is that all?’

  ‘Yes, I’m afraid so.’ He put his hand on her arm now, saying gently, ‘Don’t worry for her. She seems to have had a good life, and apparently she’s lived it as she wanted to live it, independently. It’s very good for a person to be independent as she has been. If you follow her pattern you won’t go far wrong, Mary Ellen.’

  ‘No, I won’t. No, I won’t, doctor.’

  ‘Goodbye.’

  ‘Goodbye, doctor, and thank you.’

  Mrs Patterson did not arrive until an hour later and Mary Ellen was standing ready to go, her coat on and a shawl over her head.

  ‘Where are you off to, lass?’ Mrs Patterson enquired.

  ‘I’m goin’ over to Hal’s place, Mrs Patterson. You see, he didn’t call yesterday, nor yet today. I think he must be bad or something.’

  ‘Never came yesterday, nor today? That’s not like him, he’s never off your doorstep. Caused a lot of comment that, you know, lass. Aye, it has. But there are people who always find something to talk about. And as I said to Jennie Pratt when she came tattling in not long ago, it wouldn’t be him you’d take as you were waitin’ for the other one comin’ back. That’s right, isn’t it?’

  Mary Ellen’s face was flushed and she said, ‘No, it isn’t, Mrs Patterson. And you can tell Jennie Pratt to mind her own business.’

  ‘Oh, well, people will talk, lass, you can’t tie tongues.’ The older woman had seemingly taken no offence at Mary Ellen’s tone, and she added, ‘I can stay only an hour, mind, so don’t be all that long.’

  ‘I won’t. And thank you.’

  She hurried out, indignation now mixed with concern for Hal. Waitin’ for the other one comin’ back. Well, wasn’t she?