Kilgarthen

by Kilgarthen (retail) (epub)

  ‘You little hellcat!’ Harry yelled. ‘Surely you aren’t going to turn down all that money?’ He grabbed her wrist and turned it round in a vice-like grip, his thumb digging into her flesh.

  ‘Get away from me!’ Tressa screamed.

  Hearing the commotion, people began coming through the hall’s double doors towards them.

  ‘Help! Help! Someone’s being killed!’ shrieked Ada Prisk.

  ‘I’ll see your family driven off the land for this,’ Harry hissed at Tressa, letting her go and moving away from her.

  Andrew shoved his way through the crowd to get to them first. Tressa’s distress was plain to see. Her eyes were twice their usual size, her face was an ashen globe in the brown mass of her tangled hair and her whole body was shaking.

  ‘You filthy bastard, Harry Lean! You’ve gone too far this time. Outside! Get outside! I’m going to beat the living daylights out of you.’ He snatched a handful of Harry’s shirt and started pulling him towards him.

  ‘Let him go,’ Kinsley Farrow ordered harshly, trying to thrust himself between the two men.

  ‘Not on your life!’ Andrew bawled, glaring at the angry vicar. ‘You can see what he was trying to do.’

  Harry turned this to his advantage and punched Andrew in the soft flesh of his stomach. Andrew cried out in pain and rage and aimed a punch at Harry’s jaw. Harry ducked but too late; the iron fist hit his face and then both men were pitching in for a full-blooded fight. People were forced to scatter out of their way while Tressa pulled herself in tight to the coats. The shock and horror on her face turned to despair.

  Andrew had been middle-weight boxing champion in the army and Harry was strong and trained in self-defence. They both got in many hard blows and within minutes their shirts were ripped, ties yanked off and faces bruised and running with blood. It took the combined effort of a group of burly farmers to prise them apart.

  ‘That’s enough!’ stormed Kinsley Farrow, backed up by the equally furious Reverend Brian Endean. ‘How dare you brawl in here like a couple of hooligans. In front of women and children too. Get out, the pair of you. Get out!’

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Harry scowled, spitting blood out of his mouth. ‘I’ll never set foot inside this crummy little hall again.’

  He made Tressa squeal when he reached up beside her and pulled his coat off a peg. He glowered at her for a moment then strode out of the hall, making the animated onlookers fan out before him, and banging the outer door behind him.

  ‘You too, Mr Macarthur,’ the vicar said sternly.

  ‘But I—’

  ‘If you wish I’ll have your explanation tomorrow before the morning service, but you will leave now.’

  Andrew shot Tressa a pained look then left in an angry mood. He couldn’t see why he should be thrown out like the scurrilous Harry Lean. Laura made to follow him, glad that Spencer had left with Vicki and she had not heard or witnessed the fight, but she stopped when Jacka Davey suddenly assailed his daughter.

  ‘What is the matter with you, maid? Have you gone completely mazed? Fighting with a man in public, using vile language, disgracing me like that.’ Jacka put a hand on his chest and his breathing came quick and heavy. ‘Look at the state of you. You’re not like a woman at all.’

  ‘But Dad,’ Tressa pleaded, moving towards him.

  ‘I don’t want to hear it,’ Jacka said, turning away. ‘I don’t want to set eyes on your face again tonight.’

  Joan Davey didn’t know whether to go to her brother or her niece, but as Jacka was turning a sickly shade of puce, she followed him, hoping a cup of tea would calm him down.

  Kinsley Farrow and Brian Endean were urging the spectators back into the main body of the hall and after a few awkward moments a reluctant trickle turned into a steady flow. The people of Kilgarthen would look forward to the sermons in church and chapel the following morning.

  Only Laura and Ince were left with Tressa. They exchanged looks, the girl had not deserved Jacka’s outburst. Laura went to her. She would have put an arm round her but Tressa looked fierce and unyielding, like a small animal caught in a trap, who would bite anyone who came to help it.

  ‘I’ll take Tressa to my cottage, Ince, and then I’ll take her home. We’ll have to forget about the drink. I’ll see you over Christmas.’

  Ince nodded understanding. He felt sick. Even in the darkest part of his soul he couldn’t understand how a man could try to force his attentions on a woman. ‘Can I do anything for her, Laura?’ he said gently.

  Laura shook her head and spoke softly. ‘Right now Tressa needs to be with another woman.’

  Chapter 19

  Laura ushered Tressa into Little Cot and took her coat from her. The girl looked at her blankly and Laura didn’t know what to say so she offered the usual comfort. ‘I’ll make us a cup of tea. I know I could do with one. Can I get you something to eat, Tressa?’

  ‘No, thank you. I think I would be sick.’ Tressa gave an involuntary shiver.

  ‘Are you cold?’ Laura put a motherly arm round the girl’s slim shoulders.

  ‘No. It’s the shock, that’s all.’

  Laura felt a slight tensing of Tressa’s body and she let her go. Either Tressa didn’t like being touched at all or she wasn’t ready to be comforted so soon after being forced into Harry Lean’s arms.

  ‘Sit down by the fire and make yourself comfortable. I won’t be long in the kitchen.’

  Despite her recent ordeal, Tressa took an interest in her surroundings. She had never sat down in a new armchair before. She had never seen electric lights except in the second-hand magazines Daisy passed on to her aunty. She had never seen luxury things like silver candlesticks or oil paintings. The decorations on the Christmas tree were shiny and new, not like the old tarnished and home-made ones displayed on the bush of holly at Tregorlan Farm. There was a chess set sitting with its players in their positions on the sideboard and she wondered what it was.

  ‘This is a lovely cottage,’ she said when Laura came back with a tea tray. ‘You have some lovely things.’

  ‘Bill did all the work and chose the things in it, but I’ve grown to like them.’ Laura poured a strong cup for Tressa. ‘Sugar? It will help you feel better after the shock.’

  ‘Two, please.’

  Laura put two spoonfuls of sugar into Tressa’s cup and stirred it for her. She poured her own tea and pushed a plate of biscuits towards Tressa. ‘Help yourself’

  ‘I like your gramophone,’ Tressa said. ‘My brothers often said they’d like to have one.’

  ‘You’re welcome to play it any time you like.’

  Tressa looked at Laura with the innocent childlike quality that Andrew had fallen for and Harry Lean had so ruthlessly sought to take and spoil. ‘Can I? That’s kind of you. I thought you didn’t like me. I thought you were teasing me in the shop.’

  ‘I was a little,’ Laura admitted guiltily. ‘I’m sorry. It was childish of me. You upset Andrew, you see, and I was hitting back at you.’

  Tressa nodded. She had wondered herself about Andrew’s sudden reappearance but was too private a person to mention him. ‘My brothers, Matty and Jimmy, were killed in the war.’ Tressa’s sadness turned to anger. ‘They would have half killed Harry Lean for what he did to me.’

  ‘What exactly did he do, Tressa? You don’t have to tell me but it might help to confide in someone.’

  ‘He said he would give my father one hundred pounds if I had sex with him,’ Tressa said bluntly. ‘Then he,’ and she shuddered, ‘grabbed me and kissed me.’

  ‘The rotten swine! That man wants locking up.’

  ‘People think I’m naive where men are concerned,’ Tressa went on. ‘In some ways I am but I know all about that sort of thing; after all, I am a farmer’s daughter. I misunderstood him at first. I thought he wanted me to work for him, with his horses. Then he showed me what he meant. I feel very foolish.’

  ‘There’s no need for you to feel foolish.’ Laura raised her voice in indi
gnation. ‘He must have frightened you badly. The police ought to be informed. Shall we drink our tea and go up to the shop and use the telephone? Harry Lean mustn’t be allowed to get away with it.’

  ‘There’s no need for that,’ Tressa said adamantly. ‘I hurt him and Andrew Macarthur hurt him. Harry Lean made a big fool of himself tonight and he won’t be able to show his face in the village for months.’

  ‘It’s up to you but I think it’s a shame to let him get away with it. Poor Felicity.’ Laura shook her head sadly. ‘As if that woman hasn’t had enough bad things happen in her life.’

  Tressa suddenly succumbed to emotion and her eyes filled with tears. Her hands shook and Laura took her cup and saucer from her and this time Tressa let her hold her.

  ‘It’s my father I’m worried about,’ the girl sobbed. ‘He said I’d disgraced him, that I’m not like a woman. Just lately he’s been saying I ought to do myself up and look for a husband. He says he won’t be around for much longer to give me a home. I’m afraid he might throw me out.’

  Laura stroked Tressa’s hair as she would Vicki’s. ‘Your father wouldn’t do anything like that, Tressa. He’s a good and caring man. I’m sure he loves you. The incident with Harry Lean, unsettled him, that’s all, and he blew his top. I expect someone in the hall has already told him what really happened and he’ll say sorry to you when you get home.’

  ‘Do you think so?’ Tressa stopped crying and looked up at Laura hopefully. Laura was struck at how childlike her face was.

  Before Laura could answer, there was a loud knocking on the door. Tressa wiped her face hastily with her hands.

  ‘Whoever it is, I’ll get rid of them,’ Laura said.

  She opened the door to Andrew. He had his hands rammed in his pockets and was shivering with cold. His face was bruised and puffy. He peered round the door.

  ‘Is Tressa all right?’ he asked with his teeth chattering. ‘I saw you bring her in here. I’ve waited a while so you could talk to her. Can I come in?’

  Laura felt she could hardly deny Andrew entrance to her home. She hadn’t had the chance to speak to him yet and he had gone to Tressa’s aid. ‘It’s Andrew,’ she told Tressa. ‘Would you mind if he came in?’

  ‘No, of course not.’ Tressa looked quite composed and was drinking her tea with her head lowered over the cup.

  Without bothering to take off his coat, Andrew went straight to her. For the second time that night she had her cup and saucer taken out of her hands. Andrew held on to them tightly. ‘Are you all right, Tressa? Are you sure?’ He pushed up the sleeve of her dress and exposed her bruised flesh. ‘He hurt you, that savage! I saw the marks on your arm in the hall.’

  Tressa pulled her hands away and covered her wrist. ‘I’m fine now, really I am. You shouldn’t have fought with him, he hurt you too.’

  ‘I don’t care about that,’ Andrew said impatiently, looking deeply into her eyes in such a tender way that Laura was left in no doubt why he was back in Kilgarthen again so soon. She retreated to the kitchen to get him a cup; she would take her time.

  ‘I’ll break his bloody neck if he ever lays a hand on you again,’ Andrew vowed. ‘In fact I could break his neck anyway.’

  ‘I don’t think I’ll have any more trouble with him,’ Tressa said, moving back in her chair, away from his vehemence.

  ‘But he tried to rape you.’

  ‘No, he didn’t.’ Tressa was desperately searching for a way to still his indignant protests. She was afraid he really would go after Harry Lean. ‘He only kissed me. If he wanted to do anything else he could have ridden to my father’s farm any time I was there alone. He has been punished. I hurt him and you hurt him. And I was telling Mrs Jennings, he will be too ashamed to show his face in the village for ages, and then knowing him, he will act as though nothing has happened. I just want to forget all about it, for my father’s sake.’

  ‘All right,’ Andrew said uncertainly. He wouldn’t do anything that would risk upsetting her. ‘If that’s what you want.’

  Laura was hovering by the door and she could see how eager Andrew was to please Tressa. She hoped he wouldn’t leave Kilgarthen with a broken heart; she had seen Tressa shy away from him. She dismally remembered Daisy’s words about them being an unlikely couple. Andrew was looking rather lost now and she came to his rescue.

  ‘Take your coat off Andrew, and have a cup of tea,’ she said, putting on a cheerful voice as she came fully into the room.

  ‘I’d rather have something stronger,’ he said.

  ‘Sit down. There’s some brandy in the sideboard. Then I’ll fetch something to bathe your hands and face. You’re going to have a black eye in the morning. The villagers aren’t going to forget your fight quickly with that as a constant reminder.’

  Andrew wasn’t listening. Tressa was making a third attempt at drinking her tea and was gazing into the fire. He was gazing at her.

  * * *

  Before dawn the next morning Andrew was knocking on the door of Tregorlan Farm. Jacka answered him in his vest with his braces hanging down over his baggy trousers.

  ‘Good heavens! Mr Macarthur. Didn’t expect to see you here like this.’

  ‘Please don’t turn me away, Jacka. I’ve come to apologise to you and Joan for my part in the disturbance last night. I was hoping you’d let me explain what happened and allow me to put in some work on the farm by way of recompense.’

  It was too early in the morning for Jacka to fathom out why the gentleman solicitor should be interested in his family affairs. He shook his head as if trying to clear away a blockage. ‘You’d better come in then, boy.’

  Andrew was heartened by the dropping of ‘Mr Macarthur’. Laura had told him of her conversation with Tressa. If Jacka Davey was hoping his lovely daughter would consider finding herself a husband, he was hoping that Jacka would consider he fitted the bill.

  Last night, after a bit of persuasion, Tressa had allowed him to drive her home in the Penhaligons’ car. Laura had come with them, the two women sitting in the back seat. He’d glanced at Tressa often in the rearview mirror but she had hung her head, probably worried about what her father would say to her. She hadn’t said a word until she’d got out of the car and greeted a barking Meg. Then looking back in the car she’d said, ‘Thank you both very much. Goodnight,’ in the saddest of voices. At that moment Andrew had wanted to hold her. Just hold her. To comfort her. She’d gone inside without a backward glance and left him with a loneliness so deep and strange he’d felt something alien had reached out from the murmuring moor and stolen his heart.

  But now he was back. And he wasn’t going to give up his quest easily.

  Laura had warned him he must go slowly. That Tressa would find anything in the slightest way blatant unforgivable after her ordeal with Harry Lean. Andrew knew that unpeeling the layers of solitude Tressa kept herself shrouded in wasn’t going to be a simple task. But deep down he was certain she was a woman who wanted and needed to be loved and could love back. He was going to try to unfold the petals of that precious flower.

  Joan Davey was greatly embarrassed to be found in the kitchen in her hairnet and without her false teeth in. She hurried away to ‘see to herself’ and left the two men to consume the contents of the big brown teapot.

  ‘I want to thank ’ee for thinking of Tressa like that last night,’ Jacka said, tucking in his shirt and doing up the buttons. ‘I don’t approve of fighting, mind. ’Twas shameful of ’ee both. Never, was the Lord’s way.’

  ‘Do you know the full story, Jacka?’

  ‘Aye. The vicar told me. If I was younger I’d be over Hawksmoor meself and sorting that rotten young fellow out, but things went far enough last night, and I don’t want Mrs Lean upset. She’s a good woman, had a lot of tragedy in her life. ’Tis best if it’s all forgotten.’

  ‘That’s what Tressa said,’ Andrew commented.

  Jacka stopped buttoning his shirt. ‘Oh, you saw her after, did you?’

  ‘Yes, in La
ura Jennings’ cottage. She was very upset.’

  ‘She’ll be down to breakfast in a minute.’ Jacka smiled fondly. ‘I’ll put things right with her then. You going to church later?’

  ‘I never go to church, Jacka. I thought that perhaps if you gave me a few jobs it would be less work for you to do when you come back. You’ll be able to put your feet up this afternoon.’ Andrew next turned to the matter he hoped would earn him Jacka’s trust and respect, but he wanted to help the Daveys anyway. ‘I thought that while I’m here we could talk about grants and subsidies for farmers. I’ve dealt with the legal side of that sort of thing.’ That was a lie. ‘I hope you won’t think I’m interfering but I was wondering if you’re claiming everything you’re entitled to. I could find out for you, if you like. Save you the time and trouble and I could plough through the red tape much quicker than you.’

  Jacka scratched his head. He didn’t seem to have understood a word of what Andrew had said after offering to do some work for him. ‘That’s very kind of you, I’m sure. I don’t suppose Tressa will want to go to church either, but then she usually talks to God when she’s out on the moor. You must stay on and have dinner with us.’

  Mindful of the Daveys’ delicate financial circumstances, Andrew said hastily, ‘I’m afraid Mrs Penhaligon has taken it for granted that I’ll be having dinner with her and Mike at the pub.’

  ‘Then come back for tea. Joan always puts on a good table. Jam and cream on homemade splits, her home-cured ham.’

  ‘Thanks. I’d like to.’ Andrew was mentally knocking up Daisy to buy some cake from the shop.

  Tressa came into the kitchen dressed for work. She looked at Andrew in utter surprise. ‘Hello.’

  ‘Good morning, Tressa. How are you?’

  She looked guiltily at her father. Jacka opened his arms wide and matched the gesture with a beam on his ruddy face. Tressa ran to him and he cuddled her in close and kissed the top of her head.

  ‘’Tis all right, me handsome. I know what happened last night and I’m sorry I blamed you and shouted at you. Do you forgive your silly old dad?’