Beneath the Soil
Page 23
In a low-walled ornamental pond, goldfish flickered in the sunshine or hid under lily leaves, showing only their quivering tails.
‘So it had nothing to do with the gold?’ Tom asked. ‘After all that!’
‘Apparently not,’ Suzie told them. ‘It’s doubtful whether Gina Alford even knew about it. Of course, if she had, it might have made the idea of marrying Clive Stroud even more attractive.’
‘When she found he wasn’t going to fall into her arms once Eileen was dead, I’m surprised she didn’t kill him,’ Millie said.
‘It must have been a terrible shock for her,’ mused Suzie. ‘To find she’d done something so awful for nothing.’
‘Perhaps she still hoped he’d change his mind.’
‘But she’d be terrified that someone would find out.’
‘Us,’ Tom said. ‘Dad’s photo. She must have known he’d caught her.’
‘Let’s not talk about that,’ said Nick.
Suzie took his hand. He had less obvious wounds that would take a long time to heal.
‘What happens to the farm now?’ Millie asked. ‘Presumably they’ve let Philip out of jail.’
‘It’s not as simple as that,’ Suzie sighed. ‘After the funeral, Matthew put the farm up to let and went back to Australia. I think they sold the sheep off immediately.’
‘That’s terrible!’ Millie exclaimed. ‘The poor guy’s innocent, and he’s lost his wife, his home, his job. Everything.’
‘He’ll get the farm back. Eileen’s will said he could stay there for life. But it’s worse than that. It was heartbreaking to see them both at her funeral – Matthew on one side of the aisle, Philip on the other. Not speaking. Matthew wouldn’t even look at his father.’
‘I guess if your son thinks you’re a murderer, when you’re not, that takes a long time to get over,’ Tom said more soberly than usual.
‘Gina Alford has a lot to answer for.’
‘But she couldn’t separate us.’ Millie jumped up and ran to hug her father. ‘I wouldn’t have believed that of you, whatever anyone else said.’
‘Steady on,’ Nick laughed. ‘I’m breakable, remember.’
‘And Clive Stroud has got Puck’s Acre,’ Suzie mused. ‘I wonder if he’ll do anything about the gold? He might want to keep it quiet, adultery with a murder victim.’
‘He’s a director of Merlin Mines, remember?’ Tom said.
Suzie watched the goldfish darting in and out of the sunlight. She had Nick back. That was all the gold she wanted.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
The people, places and institutions in this book are fictitious. However, I am indebted to the many real-life people and organizations who have done so much to help my own family history research in ways that have inspired this book, or have given me other advice. They include the following:
Devon Record Office and the Westcountry Studies Library, now combined as the Devon Heritage Centre: www.devon.gov.uk/about_the_devon_heritage_centre.
British Newspaper Archive: www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk and through subscription websites such as www.findmypast.co.uk and www.ancestry.co.uk.
National Archives, Access to Archives: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a.
Genuki genealogical website: www.genuki.org.uk.
Census returns, 1841–1911: www.ukcensusonline.com, www.freecen.org.uk, or subscription genealogy sites.
Parish registers: Devon Record Office and Devon Family History Society at Tree House.
While I have given free rein to my imagination here, many details owe their inspiration to people and places in my own family history research:
Richard and Charlotte Day’s tombstone on which Charlotte is recorded with her first married surname, though she had remarried after Richard’s death – The tombstone of Richard and Charlotte Lee in Higher St Budeaux churchyard. Charlotte had married Thomas Cross before she died.
Richard and Charlotte’s move from a Moortown farm to the dockyard – Richard and Charlotte Lee moved in the 1850s from agricultural work at Moortown, outside Moretonhampstead, to St Budeaux, where Richard got work in Devonport dockyard.
The farmer fined for overgrown hedges – Robert Harris of Mariansleigh, reported in the South Molton Gazette, 24.12.1887.
The murder in the house next door to the Days – An unconfirmed memory of being told that a murder had taken place in a house my parents later moved into.
Advertisement of farm sale – Sale of the stock and implements of Trittencott, Mariansleigh, Devon, 1901, South Molton Gazette.
The church of St Michael the Archangel in Moortown – St Andrews church, Moretonhampstead.
The find of gold in the Leigh Valley and at Puck’s Acre – In 1997 gold was found in potentially commercial quantities in the Crediton Trough in Devon. The first indication was minute particles of gold in local streams.
The Young Farmers’ sponsored tractor pull across the moor – In August 2012 Chagford Young Farmers hauled a tractor across Dartmoor from Princeton to Moretonhampstead in aid of Macmillan Cancer Relief.
The Avery family who ran a tannery in Moortown – The Nosworthy family of Moretonhampstead.
Suzie’s tinner ancestor Barnabas Avery – Matthias Nosworthy Gent of Moretonhampstead appears in 1691 in a List of Tynners for the stannary of Chagford. Devon Record Office: Moretonhampstead 2961/PM 4.
The stannary jail at Fullingford – Lydford Castle, Devon.
The tinners’ parliament – In Devon, the tinners’ parliament met at Crockern Tor on Dartmoor.
Moortown as a centre of Dissent – Moretonhampstead.
The market hall in Moortown square – The Yarn Market at Dunster.