After finishing her last mouthful of oatmeal and taking a small sip of black tea so thick she could nearly stand a spoon up in it, Muireann took her cloak off the peg in the hall and strode outside towards the stable block. Lochlainn followed along behind her, and waited for her instructions.
"If you could gather our helpers and your sister together, we can get started."
"What do you want us to do?" Lochlainn asked a few minutes later, as Mark, Sharon, Brona and Colm arrived, with Ciara bringing up the rear.
"We'll need a few more men, and then I want you to knock on every cottage door and tell the tenants to come out," Muireann said.
Lochlainn called on three other reliable workers, Conn, Kevin, and Niall, and then they all set to work rousing the tenantry.
Soon about eighty men and women were assembled in the courtyard of the stable block.
Muireann looked at each one of them before she declared aloud, "I am Mrs. Muireann Caldwell. You probably know by now that I recently married your former landlord, Augustine Caldwell, and that he died suddenly in Dublin.
"I have decided to come here because I have been told by my estate manager, Mr. Lochlainn Roche, that Barnakilla is in a desperate plight, and will have to be sold if something isn't done to halt the decay. I have been looking into the books, and see that none of you have paid any rents at all for the past two quarters. In fact, some of you owe as much as two years' back rent.
"I'm aware that times have been hard, but they will get harder for all of us if drastic steps aren't taken to try to pull this estate out of the quagmire of debt. So I am here to collect your rents now. But not to treat you unfairly. Rather, so that we can all prosper.
"What I propose is that we will pool our resources together. I want you to give up everything you have, down to the last needle and thread, so that it can all be shared in common, and cast in your lot with me and your fellow tenants for the sake of all of us," Muireann announced to the assembled crowd.
There were gasps of astonishment and grumbles of resentment. She could see Lochlainn gaping at her, horrified by what he had just heard.
Muireann raised a hand for silence, "Please, listen to me! We will go through each family's property, and it will all go into a group store for the whole farm. Apart from your most intimate articles of clothing and children's nappies, I even want us to count down to the last baby booty and bib. I want all your farming tools and even your furniture.
"You can keep the beds inside, but I want everything else brought here into the courtyard. Then you will go back and clean your houses from top to bottom with soap and hot water, which you can fetch from the kitchen. I will count all the work you do today at a fair day laborer's rate against the rent you owe. I will also give you a fair valuation for everything you put on your piles, and deduct that from the rent you owe.
"Anything that is not completely personal, or your babes have no immediate need for or have outgrown, can all go on the pile to be used by anyone who really needs the things for themselves or their bairns.
"As for paying back the rest of the rent, and continuing to pay in the future, from now on, you will be given chores to do around Barnakilla, according to your talent and our needs here on the estate.
"If you work hard, you will be fed and clothed, and have your daily wages go towards paying off your rent. I promise you, I will look after you. Once your rent is paid, if you wish to go elsewhere, you shall be free to do so.
"But in the meantime I want us to start by looking after what we have. That means scrubbing the houses and improving them. It also means keeping ourselves neat and clean.
"Those of you with skills like carpentry and building, or cooking and sewing, can also make extra money by undertaking that work for those who can't, and by passing on your skills to others. So I want you to go away now and start sorting through your cottages and bringing your things out. I shall start making my calculations."
Everyone looked at each other sideways.
Muireann warned, "I'm no fool, ladies and gentlemen. If I catch you trying to hold things back, I will fine you, and hand you over to the magistrates for non-payment of rent. Debtors' prison won't be half as nice as here, however awful Barnakilla may be at the moment."
The people continued to grumble and gossip.
Muireann waited patiently for the noise to die down.
But there was at least one doughty soul prepared to challenge her authority and position.
"What gives you the right to tell us we have to give up everything, make these sacrifices? You rich people never suffer when the estates fail. You just put up the rents to try to squeeze more out of us! How do we know those rents are accurate? And how do we know if, even after we give everything we have, you might not turn around and evict us anyway?" one older man with broad shoulders and a haggard look declared loudly.
Lochlainn stepped forward. "If I may, Mrs. Caldwell?"
"Of course, Mr. Roche," Muireann assented.
"I'm the estate agent, and you know me of old. I admit I've been away for the past three years, but the rents I set when I first took over about ten years ago under old Mr. Caldwell were fair. A most more fair than many others in Ireland have to pay.
"They haven't increased substantially over that period, or at least not according to these ledgers, which Mrs. Caldwell has here and which I have gone over fully.
"As for Mrs. Caldwell being rich, I'm afraid to say that Mr. Caldwell used her dowry to pay off his own gambling debts, leaving her completely penniless and alone when he died."
A murmur went up in the crowd at this astonishing news, but as he continued speaking, they quietened down, eager to hear what he had to say next.
"I admit that we had to sell Mr. Caldwell's things to get enough cash to pay for his funeral. Mrs. Caldwell herself willingly sold almost every garment she had, and her carriage to pay off some of the debts. So apart from a couple of dresses, she has nothing but what she stands up in. She has no way of counting on any outside support. I'm asking all of you to trust me, and I can tell you that I trust her.
"Muireann came here, even knowing how poor the estate was, because she sincerely believed she could make a huge difference to all of our lives. I think she can do it, but only if you're all willing to support her. After all, isn't it better to stay here with me and Mrs. Caldwell, than force her to sell and run the risk of having a far worse landlord, who might evict you as soon as he bought the place?" he argued persuasively.
Lochlainn looked round at the sea of worried faces, and knew he had won this argument at least.
"Will you support Muireann?" he demanded of the crowd.
"Aye, we will!" several of the men and women declared stoutly.
The crowd dispersed then, to start organizing their cottages.
He heaved a sigh of relief, and went over to where she was standing.
"Thank you."
"Glad to do it. I said no less than the truth."
"Still, you're taking a big risk—"
He shook his head. "You've proven to be an even bigger gambler than Augustine. You're risking everything for people you don't even know."
She smiled up at him shyly. "I know you, and you seem worth the risk. And while I don't indulge in games of chance, I do know that it's better to bet on a long shot, than a sure thing. And I'm willing to stake my life that I can make this work. I wanted a challenge, after all. I'm not going to back down now just because it's a bigger one than I wished for, now am I."
He grinned then. "No, indeed."
"Can you and your sister start making inventories of the piles?" Muireann asked Lochlainn. "I want one pile for each cottage, is that clear?"
Lochlainn nodded, and set to work. Though he was stunned at her idea, he was unable to see any other way of doing things. She was absolutely right. They would sink or swim together, all of them.
Muireann went to inspect each cottage, and made sure all of the tenants threw out their filthy mattresses and took some straw from the
barn for clean ticking for all the beds. She even had them bring every last piece of turf and every potato and the few remaining privately owned animals to the stable yard, and she and her helpers began to busily calculate all of the ‘wealth' of the estate. Soon there were small mountains of vegetables and even a few pigs, geese and hens.
Muireann consulted with Lochlainn about fair market prices for each of the items, so they could be deducted from the rent owing. The livestock were put in the appropriate pens, and the vegetables brought to the larders in the kitchen.
Muireann instructed the women there to take some of the vegetables and some of the meat from the day before to make enough stew for a hundred people. Once the cottages were all empty and the women began the cleaning, she told the men that anyone who wished to hunt could take the guns out, and she would give an extra bonus off the rent to the three men who brought home the most.
"Anyone who is too old or too ill to work, or expecting, can look after the children, and we will make someone come around to clean your house. And I want to think about having slate floors instead of mud ones."
"There's a slate quarry up at the north-western side of the estate, and Thomas MacMahon over here knows all about cutting it," Lochlainn informed her.
"Good. If we have enough skilled workers, we could even think about having slate roofs instead of the thatched ones, once we've repaired the big house. Some of these look rotten through and through."
Everyone on the estate put in an exhausting day's work, while Muireann filled out a new rent ledger with the names of the head of each household, and how much credit they had against their back rent.
She then had the men not out hunting take all the farming implements into the storage sheds. All of the clothes went into a huge pile to be redistributed to those who were most needy, especially some of the elderly women and young children on the estate.
She supervised the transfer of the kitchen goods and then added the figures to her inventory from the evening before. Lochlainn did a new inventory of the farming implements. Muireann and he worked out exactly how many items they would need, and how much surplus they could sell.
"Patrick and Siobhan can take them to the market in Donegal tomorrow if the weather is good, and sell them there along with the clothes and the other things we didn't manage to fit in the cart," Muireann outlined as she redid her figures one last time, and sat back in her chair satisfied.
Just then they heard Ciara's voice calling them to supper. After scrubbing their hands in the scullery sink, they waited in the line in front of the stew pot like everyone else, and gratefully received a bowl of rabbit and venison stew, and two freshly made oatcakes.
"Well, what now, Mrs. Caldwell?" Lochlainn asked wearily, as he sat down beside her on the bench to eat his supper.
"The next thing is to find out what talents the tenants have, if any. Some of the women must be good at cooking, sewing and so on. As for the men, hunting, fishing, carpentry, and such like. We need to draw up lists and keep track of what everyone is doing each day so we can pay them fairly.
"Even the old can work, if they're willing to look after the children and mend. The older children can work if we can find them some simple chores. I don't want anyone lying idle. I certainly don't want them to think I'm some rich snooty heiress. If they are going to work, then I shall as well."
"What will you do?" Lochlainn asked between mouthfuls.
"I can cook, bake, sew, teach them how to read, do the accounts, oversee the foodstuffs and all the purchases, milk the cows when we get some, muck out the stables . . ."
"But you were brought up with dozens of servants!"
"I won't say I didn't have a great deal of leisure time growing up. I was spoilt and privileged, and lucky enough to be well educated, I know that. But I lived on a big estate. I'm not completely ignorant as to the daily workings of a farm. I just have to take all the responsibility on my own shoulders now. I only hope I make the right decisions."
Lochlainn was unsure what to say, so they remained silent, eating the last of the rather tasty stew, until at last Muireann looked directly at Lochlainn and said, "About today. You looked very worried, uncomfortable even, when I made my announcement. Do you think I made the wrong decision?"
"No, I was just surprised, that's all. But what you said makes sense. What's the point of everyone farming the potatoes and so on upon his own small plot, when a few can do that for everyone while the others do useful tasks like hunting and fishing, or carpentry."
"Do you think I can strike a bargain with the victuallers in town to take the extra game and fish?"
He considered in silence for a moment. "It's worth a try, especially with the smoke oven working again."
Muireann stood up and brought her bowl over to the sink to be washed and dried by Sharon and Brona, who had adapted very well to working in the house. She strolled out the back door into the deepening twilight.
She watched silently as the tenants tidied away the rest of the items still in the stable yard. Lochlainn came up and stood beside her. She looped her arm in his and moved closer to him, sharing his warmth and strength for a brief moment.
"Thank you for everything, Lochlainn."
"I haven't done anything," he replied, embarrassed.
"You did. Your speech made a big difference, I'm sure. You supported me right through this even when you were unsure of what I was doing. It counts for a great deal, you know."
"So does your faith in me, Muireann."
"Well, I never would have come here if it hadn't been for you."
Lochlainn laughed. "Somehow I think it's early days for you to be thanking me for bringing you to Barnakilla."
Muireann grinned as she gazed up at his broodingly handsome features. "I'll astonish you all. Just wait and see."
Suddenly his face lit up into a broad smile which took Muireann's breath away. "I think you've already done that."
He stroked her hand briefly until, afraid of his feelings for her, he moved on to a more neutral topic of conversation.
"You know, I do have some carpentry skills. I'm a bit rusty, but perhaps we might consider making our own furniture here and selling it. There are some good stacks of well-seasoned timber Augustine obviously never got around to selling. We could also get the men on tree-cutting detail to get more timber. We could even sell some of it. But let's make sure we have enough firewood for ourselves before we branch out into any enterprises like that."
"I'll help too. I've done woodcutting myself once or twice, and hunting and fishing as well."
"Just what sort of parents did you have?" he asked, surprised.
"Ones who didn't really take the trouble to keep an eye on me too closely, I must admit," Muireann said with a small smile. "They couldn't help it if I was willful."
"Willful? You? I wonder that makes you say that?" Lochlainn teased.
Muireann frowned slightly. "You don't think I'm just doing this all for myself, do you?"
"No, of course not," Lochlainn hastened to reassure her, hugging her to his side briefly as he escorted her back into the house. "I think what you're doing is incredibly brave and selfless. I saw you sell all your clothes and jewels in Dublin, remember? You could have gone back to Scotland, never set foot here, never had to sell all your lovely things.
"But you did it without even pausing to consider the consequences or the sacrifice you were making. You gave whatever you could to the shopkeepers to help them protect their livelihoods yesterday, even though it left you virtually penniless. How could I feel anything other than admiration for you?" Lochlainn said candidly, stroking her cheek with his free hand.
He accompanied Muireann into the study, where she began loading more books into the boxes, keeping count of them in a small ledger. Lochlainn took down the ones on the highest shelves, laughing at her fondly when she tried to reach and nearly lost her balance. He caught her by the waist, and it took every ounce of willpower not to kiss her.
Muireann thanked him
for his help, but he noticed she looked thoughtful. Finally she admitted, "It wasn't that much of a sacrifice. I didn't want to go back. I've always been spoilt and petted, I know, but I want my life to be different. I want to be of some use in the world. I felt restless, anxious until I came here.
"Men have careers, jobs and roles in society that take them out of the home. What would I have done in Scotland except attend dull tea parties and endless balls? More often than not I used to make excuses and stay at home with a good book," she confessed. "That's why I used to sneak around the estate learning how to do things."
Call Home the Heart Page 13