She smiled and said,
“Jabez, I think you’re a good man and you’ve shown me nothing but kindness, so if there’s any way I can help you, then I want to. Mind you, I’m sure that whatever you’re doing can’t be that bad.”
I still needed her to understand what she’d be getting involved with.
“Well, I think you should wait to hear what I’ve got to say before making up your mind. You see, what I do isn’t strictly legal, in fact, to be truthful, it isn’t legal at all.”
I looked to see her reaction. She was tense but her face betrayed nothing.
“There’s no other way to say it. I smuggle salt.”
She relaxed and her face broke into a smile again.
“Is that all? I think everybody who works on the pans takes a bit of salt. Tom’s always bringing some home for Mum.”
"Yes, I know, but I’m not talking about a bit of salt to use at home. I think even the Excise man’s not too worried about that. No, what I’m talking about is as much salt as two donkeys can carry, and that three times a week. If I’m caught, it will mean prison, or worse.
And that’s not all. Have you ever heard of the Nantwich Gang?"
When I think back that was the one and only time I ever saw her shocked. Her smile vanished and the colour drained from her face.
“What you’re doing isn’t anything to do with them, is it, Jabez? When I was young, Will used to frighten me with stories about them. He said he’d heard that they sometimes kill people.”
As an afterthought, but mainly I think because she’d scared herself, she added,
“But I don’t think that last part’s true. I think it was just Will trying to frighten me.”
I didn’t see any point hiding the truth from her.
"Don’t doubt it; it’s true. I know of two men who ‘disappeared’ after falling foul of the Nantwich Gang and they say there are others and yes, that’s who I’m involved with. But I’ve got no choice. Their leader, Sam Baker, came to see me and told me that he needed my help. Believe me, if you don’t want to ‘disappear’, when Sam Baker asks for your help, you’d do well not to refuse him.
But Adie, you do have a choice and I definitely don’t want to involve you in smuggling. If you’re to help me, then it must only be to run the pub."
I went on to tell her how I’d managed in the beginning because, although I was always afraid of being caught, it had been only one, sometimes two deliveries a week, but that now it was usually at least three. I explained how, at first, I only needed to load one donkey and ride the other but, as the months passed, not only had the number of deliveries increased but so had the loads. So now, I told her, I was forced to split the load between the donkeys and walk beside them until after I’d made the delivery.
She looked at me thoughtfully then said,
“And I suppose with nights getting shorter, you’re not getting home ’til after dawn.”
Which, of course, was right.
“And that means you’re more likely to get caught.” Admitting this was now my main concern, I could see she was thinking things over. But what she said next took me completely by surprise.
“So would it help you if I came and lived at the Boar?”
My surprise must have shown because she added,
“It seems to me it would make sense. I wouldn’t need to be involved in the smuggling, but there’s all sorts of other ways I could help make things easier for you.”
Her enthusiasm made me wonder if something more had happened with Tom, providing her with her own reasons for wanting to move in with me. But I said nothing and let her continue.
“If I stayed here, before you had to make a delivery, I could slip out to the stable and prepare the donkeys. Then, when you’ve closed the inn and are ready to go, you could get on your way while I cleared up the bar. That way you’d be back long before dawn. I could finish cleaning the bar in the morning like now, and you’d be able to get a lot more rest.”
I could see the advantages, but there were obvious questions.
“Adie, it’s one thing working mornings for me, but if you live here, people will ask questions and anyway, what do you think Tom and Elizabeth would say?”
She looked at me and appeared to make a decision.
“Would you like another cup of tea? I’ll make us both one and then I’ll explain about Mum and Mr Rider.”
Getting up, she took my empty cup and disappeared into the back kitchen; I had a feeling I was about to have my suspicions confirmed. She returned with the tea and, putting the cups on the table, sat down again. Pushing her cup forward and resting her arms on the table, she said,
“You’ve been honest with me Jabez, but I haven’t told you everything. I’ve wanted to, but it never seemed the right time. But now, when you’ve trusted me over the salt and everything and you still need convincing that me moving in here is a good idea, it seems to be the right time.”
Taking a sip from her cup, she began.
"You asked me once if my relationship with Mum had changed. Well, I almost told you then, but I wasn’t sure I could trust you; I didn’t trust anybody. I’d thought I could trust the Rider’s but I found out that wasn’t true either.
Anyway, do you remember how we met?"
Laughing, I said,
“How can I forget? You ran straight into me.”
She smiled. “Yes, but do you know the reason I was running.”
“You were running from Tom.”
“That’s right, but I never told you why, did I?”
I shook my head.
"Mum’s never talked about it and I’ve never told her, but I know she’s seen from the corner of her eye how Mr Rider stares at me when he thinks she’s not looking. I know she has, because whenever she sees him doing it, she asks him to help her with something or other or sends me on a pointless errand.
For all the time I was growing up, everything was fine. I spent every day with Mum and there was never a cross word between us, but once he’d started with those looks, she changed towards me. I don’t think she really blames me. I just think she’s panicking. Now everything I do is wrong – in her eyes anyway. She never says anything nice to me anymore, calls me names, crewdlin’, stupid, especially when he looks at me that way. There’s never a kindness.
I was thirteen when he started with those looks; I knew what they meant and I knew he wasn’t going to wait any longer than he had to. He might be a quiet man, patient even, but with Will gone, I reckoned he was just biding his time, waiting for his chance. Then I knew he’d be a lot different."
I wasn’t sure she wouldn’t one day regret confiding in me, so I interrupted her.
“Adie, you don’t have to tell me everything, because even if you think you should now, don’t you think one day you might regret it?”
She shook her head and said,
“I know I don’t have to tell you, but I want to, and I don’t believe you’ll ever make me regret it. I think you’ve guessed some of what has happened, but you’ve never asked, just gave me a place where I feel safe. Now, if I’m to move into the Boar, I think it’s only right that you should know everything.”
Having swallowed a little more tea, she continued.
“When I bumped into you, things had just come to a head. In fact I don’t know what would have happened to me if you hadn’t been there.”
“Bumped into me! You almost knocked me off my feet; you definitely winded me.”
She giggled. “I know. I remember thinking how you sounded a bit like the bellows on the church organ.”
Serious again, she said,
"But I was very scared. You see I was helping Mum with the cooking and we needed more firewood, so she asked me to go out and find some. The gennel seemed deserted as I headed towards the wood, but suddenly Mr Rider stepped out of a doorway’s shadow and grabbed me. Even though he’s quite small, working in the salt has made him wiry-strong, so once he’d got hold of me, although I struggled, there wa
s no way I could escape.
Then he really frightened me. He put his face close to my ear and I could feel his hot breath on my neck as he whispered,
‘I’ve seen the way you look at me and I know what you want. It’s alright. Lizzie doesn’t need to know and I won’t tell her. It’ll be our little secret.’
I didn’t say anything. The truth was I was so scared I couldn’t say anything.
He carried on, he was still whispering but his voice had softened,
‘It’ll be alright. I’ll take care of her. Make sure she’s out. Then we’ll be alone together. You’d like that, wouldn’t you Adie?’
I think he believed what he was saying because relaxing his grip, he added,
‘Everythin’ll be just fine and you’ll be my special girl, won’t you Adie?’
He started to stroke my hair; Jabez, it was horrible, but it broke fear’s hold on me. I tore myself away from him, ran out of the gennel onto the main street and without looking ran full bat, straight into you."
Smiling through the tears that had begun to fall, she said,
“I swear I never gave him any encouragement. I’ve never thought of him that way. If you hadn’t been there, I don’t know what would have become of me.”
Not knowing what else to say, I said,
“As I remember, all I did was to make you cry.”
“Honestly, Jabez, I would have cried whoever spoke to me. But you were different. You didn’t even know me, but as soon as Mr Rider appeared, you seemed to take my side; you’re still doing it and I don’t even know why.”
She looked at me questioningly and I knew I’d have to tell her how I’d felt about Tom. So I took a deep breath and plunged in.
“It’s not easy for me to explain, but I’ll try. You see I’ve had my doubts about Tom for some time and when you’ve been a landlord for as long as I have, you learn how to read men. As far as Tom is concerned, he had the same look I’d seen in other men’s eyes. I’ve heard men talk, especially when they’re drunk, about women and girls and what they’d like to do to them. Now with them, talk is all it is. It’s not very nice but by the time they sober up, they forget everything they’ve said. But sometimes, a very few times, there are others who have a darker look in their eyes and never speak of their thoughts. They keep it inside, dream, plan and listen closely to the other men – they are the dangerous ones.”
I picked up my cup, but before raising it to my lips, added,
“I knew Tom was one of those men.”
Even though her voice trembled, she looked straight back at me and said,
“But you’ve never said anything. I’ve been coming here every day for six months and you’ve never said a word.”
I knew I’d upset her and I wanted to explain.
“How could I?” I said, “You hadn’t said anything and I had no other proof. But I did hope that if you came here regularly, Tom would think twice before he tried anything.”
She seemed to accept this.
“Well, that’s true. He didn’t do anything for a while after I began working here, and things seemed to have gone back to how they’d been. He was quiet an’ everythin’, like he used to be, but over the last month he’s started again.”
She’d already told me all I needed to know, so I tried to stop her.
“It’s alright, Adie. I think you’ve told me enough now. You’ve already persuaded me that you moving in here would be the best for both of us. I really don’t need to hear any more.”
It was as if I hadn’t spoken.
"I just wanted things to be like they were.
You might think it unfair, Dad having saved my life and everythin’, but I’d felt happier with the Rider’s than I ever did with Mum and Dad. They haven’t any children of their own and I think Mrs Rider saw us as a chance she never expected to come her way. I don’t know how else to put it. It’s just that for me, she felt like a real mum. So when everything seemed to go back to normal, I told myself it had all been a misunderstanding between me and Mr Rider.
But then one morning when the two of us were alone in the house, he started again. Mum was round with old Betsy Grimes. She’s the kind old lady who once told a frightened little girl that Mrs Rider didn’t mind if I called her mum. But Betsy was sick, not long for this world Mum said, and so she was spending several hours each day caring for her.
Whilst she was spending so much time with Betsy, Mum asked me if I could do some of the jobs that we usually did together. I loved that she trusted me and every day I did all the jobs she asked and every day I glowed with pride when she told Mr Rider that I had done this or that job better than she could do it herself. I’m sure that wasn’t true, but at least I never actually saw her go back over something I had already done.
One day Mum asked me if I thought I could manage to do the washing on my own. This was a job we usually did together every week and me and Mum agreed it was the hardest job we had. The copper had to be very hot and the dolly stick was really hard to move with the weight of the wet washing.
Mr Rider was dozing in a chair and I paid him no mind. But when I stopped turning the dolly for a moment so I could catch my breath and rest my tired arms, I glanced across at him. He wasn’t asleep anymore. He was looking straight at me and he had a look on his face I’d never seen before, sort of smiling, but not at anything funny; I didn’t like it.
He looked me straight in the eye, making sure he had my attention, and then his eyes tracked slowly downwards until suddenly, I realised where he was looking. I put my arms across my chest and turned away; I’m sure my face reddened. You see the steam from the copper had made my shift stick to me and I’m sure he was able to see all the contours underneath.
Then he laughed out loud and said,
‘You’re a growing girl, ain’t you Adie? I can see I’m going to have to keep a close eye on you – a very close eye.’
Then he laughed again. His eyes never left my shift.
Not knowing what else to do and even though my arms were still tired, I quickly took the washing out of the copper, put it in the basket and went out to hang it on the line. I was still hanging it out when Mum returned. Her eyes were red from where she’d been crying. She told me that Betsy had passed away and though it’s a terrible thing for me to say, I was glad she had because it filled Mum’s thoughts and she didn’t notice how upset I was. I’ve got no other choice, I know I’m going to have to leave that house before he gets another chance."
It was clear she was right. She’d have to leave the Rider’s home, but I was still worried that moving in with me would only cause her more problems.
“But what are you going to tell them? After all, a young girl going to live alone in a pub with a man in his forties, they’re sure to object.”
Standing, she said,
“It doesn’t matter what they say. I’m going to have to leave. If I don’t go now, then I’m always going to be on my guard and if I keep finding ways to refuse Mr Rider, I know he’ll turn Mum against me and they’ll throw me out anyway. If I leave, Mum might be a bit upset at first, but I won’t be far away and even if she doesn’t want to admit it to herself, she’ll know the real reason I’m leaving.”
With that, she turned and went back to sweeping and I found I had learnt two things; first, it was clear, as far as she was concerned that the matter was closed, and second, that despite her youth, Adie was a great deal more single-minded than I had imagined. Nevertheless I still worried about the reaction she’d get at the Rider’s.
“I’ll go with you,” I said. “Make sure there’s no misunderstanding.”
She shook her head.
“No, it’ll be alright. I’ll tell Mum as soon as I get home. I’ll make her see it makes sense and then we can tell Mr Rider together when he gets back from the pans.”
I wasn’t sure she was as confident as she sounded. I knew I wasn’t. But I could tell she was determined and there was no point in arguing any further, so I finished my tea and went
out to the stable where I knew the donkeys would be expecting to be fed. Adie finished her work and headed home and I was left hoping she hadn’t been too optimistic about her reception.
In the early part of the evening there were only a few in, and after Adie left, the rest of my day had been unmemorable. Now just a handful of my regulars sat quietly together around the unlit fire. So the surprise when the door burst open and, propelled by Tom Rider, Adie flew across the bar, becoming entangled with the first table and chairs that crossed her path, was greatly amplified. Obviously unhurt, (clearly, the loud crack had been wood, not bone) she regained her feet but her temper remained off balance. She turned to face Tom and I could see there was no fear in her face and when she spoke I heard only blind fury.
“You’re an evil man, Tom Rider, and one day everyone’s going to know the truth about you; starting, God help her, with Mum.”
Tom sounded equally angry.
“Mum, Mum. My wife is no mother of yours; you’ve made sure of that.”
He turned to the men sat round the fire who were all transfixed by the sudden and unexpected developments, circumstance having made them an uncomfortably captive audience.
"We gave her a home, me and Lizzie. Lizzie even let her call her ‘mum’ just because she felt sorry for her. Now the ungrateful little slut says she’s leaving us to come and live here with Jabez.
What do you think of that, eh? She’s fifteen and she’s going to live in a pub alone with a middle-aged man. I tell you, she’s broken my Lizzie’s heart."
His audience either looked at each other, drank their ale, or just stared at the floor, anything to avoid his eye. Luckily, Adie, who was far from finished, relieved their awkwardness. Her face pale with anger, she said,
“Don’t you dare say anything about Jabez. He’s a kind man and he knows all about you.”
The others were still all looking anywhere but at Tom, so I think I was the only one other than Adie who saw Tom react, but she made sure they were all fully informed.
“Yes, that’s right, well might you flinch. I’ve told him everything about you and I know I can trust him – unlike you.”
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