The Girl from the Tanner's Yard

by Diane Allen

  ‘You think a lot of her, don’t you?’ Ivy looked across at Adam as he lit a spill from the fire and held it to his filled pipe.

  ‘Aye, she’s a good worker, and I wouldn’t be here talking to you if she hadn’t have saved me from the mire. This blasted leg of mine makes me so weak sometimes, but I try and overcome the pain it gives me.’ Adam puffed on his pipe and looked across at his old friend. ‘Now, how about you? You’ve not said a lot about yourself while Lucy’s been about the house. What have you been up to with your time? Are you still giving sittings and doing the medium rounds, or has that come to an end?’ Adam sat forward and looked at Ivy. She was a beautiful woman, but he had always seen her as a friend and nothing more; she was far too flighty for him, for a start, and liked to spend money on the finer things in life, as her clothes still showed.

  ‘Well, the reason I didn’t reply for a while was that I, too, have been out of the country. I, we . . . have just come back from touring Italy, which was magnificent. But before I tell you about that, I’d better tell you the news that I said I had.’ Ivy paused and held her left hand out for Adam to look at. ‘I’ve gone and got myself married, Adam. I never thought it would happen to me, but I am a respectable married woman, with a husband I love dearly.’ She looked at Adam as she held her hand out for him to take, and he looked at the gleaming gold band of the wedding ring and the delicately cut engagement ring above it.

  ‘Now, that is a shock! There’s me, wittering on about my life, and you have had all this to tell me.’ Adam put down her hand and sat back in his chair, placing his smouldering pipe on the fire grate. ‘Well, who’s the lucky fella, and how long have you been wed?’ he questioned Ivy, taken aback by her admission of no longer being a single woman.

  ‘He’s called Hugh Loveridge and he teaches at the workhouse. He’s a good man and cares for the children there. He tries to make sure they have enough knowledge and education to stand on their own two feet, when the time comes for them to make their way in the world. He’s introduced an apprentice scheme, for those who are old enough to work, but still gives them lessons if they need them. He’s not a wealthy man, but that doesn’t matter. He’s kind and generous, and when my father he died left me with a nice legacy, so we want for nothing. For the first time in my life I am happy, Adam, and that counts for a lot.’ Ivy bowed her head. ‘It was time I settled down. I was getting too old to look at spending my whole life alone, as we all need company in our old age.’

  ‘I know. I still yearn for Mary and the love we had, although I know I should move on with my life. But sometimes it feels as if she is still with me, walking by my side and guiding me in what to do. When I was cold and freezing in the mire, I’m sure I heard her voice on the wind, faint and ghost-like. But then Lucy appeared, and I realized it had been her calling my name and that I had just dreamed it. Still, enough of me. I wish you and Hugh the best of marriages, and I’m glad that you have found a good man. Although schoolmaster to the workhouse will not be that well paid, it will be a job of satisfaction, so that shows the character of your man to me.’

  ‘As I say, money doesn’t enter into it. I had money of my own, which is now his as well as mine. He’s used to a frugal lifestyle and, now that I am his wife, I no longer move in the circles that I used to. Things have changed, Adam. I decided our honeymoon in Italy would be our last extravagance, before settling down and helping Hugh in his charity work with the poor and underprivileged of Kendal and the surrounding areas. So no, is the answer to your question “Do I still work as a medium?” Although I still hear the spirits talking to me and feel their presence. I will never be free of that.’ Ivy looked across at Adam and thought that he looked slightly crestfallen at her news.

  ‘I was hoping that you might contact Mary for me. Just one last time. I need the reassurance that she is still with me, even though I can’t see her,’ Adam whispered.

  ‘Oh, Adam, Mary will always be with you. She’s in here.’ Ivy reached across and laid her hand on his heart. ‘She will never leave you, and she will always know that you loved her. But now perhaps it is time for you to move on. She’d want you to be happy, and for you to have someone looking after you. I know she would – she’s told me so.’ Ivy took Adam’s hands and watched as a single tear fell down his cheek.

  ‘I loved her and I let her down. I should have been there for her,’ Adam whispered.

  ‘Stop it! What is done is done. Stop torturing yourself. If you truly want me to try and get in touch with the other side and talk to Mary, we will try tomorrow night. But I no longer feel her presence around me. I think she’s moved into another of our God’s rooms and is now at peace with herself.’ Ivy smiled at Adam and let go of his hand.

  ‘I think you are right. Her memory is not as strong as it used to be, even to me.’ Adam blew his nose on the handkerchief from his pocket and looked at Ivy. ‘Perhaps I should leave her soul in peace.’

  ‘I think so. Look to the future, because your happiness is staring you in the face, from what I can see.’ Ivy sat back and looked lovingly at a still-heartbroken Adam.

  ‘What do you mean, Ivy?’ Adam said, looking puzzled.

  ‘There’s love blossoming in this house, just like the blossom on the trees. Now it is up to you to bring it to fruition and not let it slip away. Your maid Lucy looks at you with eyes full of love; and you, since I arrived, have never stopped talking about her. I may have got it wrong, but I don’t think so. There are stronger powers than death itself working in this house, and it is for the good of both of you.’ Ivy smiled.

  ‘But she’s my maid, and she’s much younger than me! I do think a great deal of her, but I think you’ve got it wrong, Ivy. She doesn’t care for me; in fact she walked out with Reggie Ellwood last Sunday. Plus she’s not been her usual self this last week, moping around with a long face on her and not listening to what I needed her to do,’ Adam retorted.

  ‘I bet she’s been like that since you announced my arrival? Does she think I have come to claim you as mine, and perhaps is a little jealous? That’s what I think, so in the morning one of us must put her straight. Lucy will probably rejoice when she hears that I am now a married woman, and that you are still hers to admire from afar.’ Ivy grinned. ‘Men are so slow, when it comes to feelings. It is as obvious as the nose on my face that she worships the ground you walk on, and that you think something of her. Now, do something about it.’

  ‘It’s not easy for me, Ivy. Mary’s shoes will always be hard to fill. And what if you are wrong? I’d make a fool of myself.’ Adam sighed.

  ‘Then do as you wish, but you are lucky to have Lucy looking at you with such love. And as for walking out with Reggie Ellwood, perhaps she was hoping you’d be jealous. Now, I’m going to my bed; it’s been a long day and I hardly slept last night. Tomorrow is another day and we will see what it brings.’ Ivy leaned forward and kissed Adam on the cheek. ‘Goodnight, my dear friend. Don’t worry, love has a way of showing itself even to the blindest. I’m just going to make sure that I help it along.’ She smiled and then went up to bed, leaving Adam pondering her words.

  Could Lucy be smitten with him? He did find her attractive and had enjoyed the intimacy of being near her, when riding Rosa to Keighley, and had nearly thought of kissing her while admiring the chicks at Easter, but had thought better of it, not wanting to be called a lecher by her or her family. He shook his head. Damn Ivy, she always did know him too well. And now he was feeling guilty for even thinking about his young maid and her winning smile, which had disappeared since his announcement of Ivy coming to stay. Ivy was right: Lucy had not had a good word for her, and she’d not said a word to him about her day out with Reggie Ellwood. But should he be true to Mary’s memory, or should he perhaps follow Ivy’s advice and open up his heart to a new, young love?

  22

  Ivy sat outside Black Moss Farm admiring the early-morning mist, which was following the river down in the valley below. She’d purposely awoken early in order to speak to L
ucy on her own. The garden at the front of the farmhouse was abuzz with bees seeking pollen from the summer flowers, and the air was full of early-morning song from the newly fledged birds and their parents. The world was content, just as she was, now that she had found the right man to have by her side for the rest of her life.

  She only hoped Adam could feel the same way she did, and could get over the loss of his late wife; and that perhaps a woman-to-woman talk with Lucy would help her dearest friend and make them both see how much they meant to one another. She’d caught signs of both of them having feelings for one another, and now she had decided to act as Cupid and make them realize how good life could be if they were together – regardless of Adam’s misgivings about the age gap and Lucy’s place in society. Life was for living. Death came all too quickly, as well she knew from her previous dealings with the afterlife.

  ‘Good morning. I’m just sitting here, admiring the scenery and this immaculately kept vegetable plot and garden. Somebody spends hours keeping this weed-free and in order.’ Ivy smiled at Lucy as she came up through the farmyard, ready for her day’s work.

  ‘It’s my guilty pleasure, along with Adam’s help. It should supply him with all his needs over the coming months. The soil is good and rich, and things are doing well, with the attention that is lavished upon them.’ Lucy caught her breath from the steep climb up to the farm and stopped to talk to the woman she had thought about, and had little sleep over, the previous night.

  ‘Somebody has to look after him. I’m glad you get on with Adam so well, as he needs somebody to take him in hand and see that he looks after himself. He speaks very highly of you, and is grateful that you have been here for him.’ Ivy smiled and saw the look of pleasure on Lucy’s face for the praise she was giving her.

  ‘It’s nothing – I’d do the same for anyone. He’s a good man, and I wouldn’t wish to work for anybody else. Is he not awake yet? I’m sure he’d not want you to be up and about on your own. He likes playing the perfect host.’ Lucy made for the front door and turned to look at Ivy.

  ‘No. I could hear him snoring in the other room when I tiptoed down the stairs. I left him to sleep. We talked until late last night, and I left him with a lot to think about. A lot was forthcoming in our evening together, and some things were quite revealing.’ Ivy looked at Lucy with apprehension.

  ‘I hope you didn’t do as he wished and hold a stupid seance. He believes in you so much, and it’s hurtful the way your sort fill people’s minds with stories of loved ones still living on beyond the grave. You, and others like you, should not make a living from other people’s grief,’ Lucy spat out.

  ‘No, I told Adam to leave the dead alone, and to look to making himself a new life. He could do worse than find himself someone to look after him, now that he has sowed his wild oats. He needs to be loved and taken care of. Mary would have wanted that for him. However, I think Adam knew that already, and that his heart already belongs partly to someone he owes a great deal to.’

  Ivy looked at Lucy and saw the colour rise in her cheeks, knowing that her words would spark a reaction. She added, ‘I fear my news of being a married woman came as quite a shock to him. I don’t think he had ever envisaged me settling down and marrying. Poor Adam, he just needs a little encouragement to show him where his true feelings lie. Men are always slow at showing their emotions, don’t you think?’ Ivy reached for Lucy’s hand and squeezed it. ‘It’s you he thinks a great deal of. But he doesn’t know how to admit it. Perhaps, if you make the first move, then he will follow,’ she whispered.

  ‘You’ve got married! I thought you had come here to—’ Lucy stopped short.

  ‘What? Come here to fill your shoes and pinch him from under your nose? I do love Adam, but only as a true friend. Not like the love I’ve seen growing within you for him, and within him for you. Both of you needed to be told of one another’s feelings, and you both need not to be scared of what folk might think. Happiness is hard to find. I should know. It has taken me plenty of years to find my Hugh, and although he did not have a penny to his name when I met him, I knew he was right for me – and to hell with the consequences.’ Ivy smiled, but still held Lucy’s hand, and closed her eyes as she searched for something to make Lucy believe in her power of knowing things that other people had lost the sense to feel.

  ‘But he’s my master! My parents would be furious if they knew how much I love Adam, and I would never have the courage to let him know. He’d think I was loose in my ways or, even worse, that I was only after his money. Besides, you often hear of masters taking advantage of their servants, only to cast them aside when they fall pregnant – or even worse.’ Lucy looked at Ivy as she let go of her hand.

  ‘You know Adam’s not that sort. He’s kindness itself. The way he spoke of you all yesterday, and I know that he loves you too. He just daren’t admit it.’ Ivy looked round towards the house, noticing Adam glancing out of the window. ‘Now shush – he’s coming. Think on. I never played Cupid’s advocate between you two; let him think that he’s done it all himself.’

  ‘Morning, Ladies. What are you two about, this glorious morning?’ Adam stood in the main doorway and looked at the two principal women in his life, and knew instantly that they had been talking about him.

  ‘We were admiring the view. And I was complimenting Lucy on the size of her radishes, and how neat and tidy the garden looks.’ Ivy smiled and winked at Lucy.

  ‘Were you now! I think otherwise – you were both deep in conversation when I looked out of the window. It seemed something a bit more serious than radishes.’ Adam grinned and watched as Lucy picked up her skirts and walked towards him to enter the house.

  ‘Excuse me, I got waylaid. I’ll light the fire and get the kettle boiling. I’ll make you your breakfasts before I milk the cow – there’s enough milk in the dairy for porridge. Would that be to both your likings?’ Lucy put her head down and couldn’t make eye contact with Adam. Her secret was out, she feared, and perhaps Ivy had led her on into thinking Adam felt the same.

  ‘That will be fine, Lucy. But I’ll bring the cow in from the bottom meadow, after we have had breakfast. I could do with a walk to clear my head, and then you two can carry on with your urgent conversation about radishes.’ Adam looked at Lucy. It was true that he did feel deeply for the lass. He’d just needed someone to tell him it was alright to do so.

  ‘She’s as smitten with you as you are with her. What a pair of idiots you both are! Did not one of you have the gumption to tackle the matter? Would you still have been skirting around the subject, if I hadn’t talked to you both and found out that you both feel the same way?’ Ivy whispered and sighed, looking out across the valley. Then she turned and looked at Adam.

  ‘She still hasn’t said anything to me. I’m still not sure,’ Adam said as he noticed Archie making his way into the farmyard, ready for his day’s work.

  Ivy, spotting him, couldn’t stop herself and shouted, ‘Have you come a-courting Lucy? Because it seems everyone else knows how to go about it, apart from my friend here,’ she yelled out to a startled Archie.

  ‘No, ma’am. I’m just minding my own business, and hoping to start digging the ditches where Mr Brooksbank is going to be piping water from the springhead up on the fell to the house. I’ve no intention of courting Lucy or anybody else, come to that.’ Archie seemed shocked at being confronted with such an accusation, and looked at Adam shaking his head.

  ‘Be quiet, Ivy. Archie is my farm lad – let the lad on his way. As he says, he’s starting to dig a ditch out for me so that we can have running water in the house. Something I need doing before winter sets in. So hold your noise. I don’t want the world to know my affairs.’ Adam nodded his head to Archie, as a sign for him to be on his way, as he took Ivy by the arm and entered into the kitchen of the farmhouse.

  ‘Was that Archie I heard talking? He’s late this morning. I hope everything’s alright at home,’ Lucy said as she set the table for breakfast and noticed the sc
owl on Adam’s face, as Ivy sat down and winked at him.

  ‘He didn’t mention home, so I suppose everything is alright.’ Adam pulled up a chair to the table and looked across at Ivy, as Lucy poured them both a cup of tea and went to stir the porridge that was now bubbling in a pan on the fire.

  ‘He’s a bonny lad. I asked him if he’d come a-courting you. I didn’t realize who he was.’ Ivy laughed.

  ‘Oh, Archie wouldn’t say a lot back about that. He’s known me all my life. I tease him, but he’s like a brother to me – we are close, but not that close. He works for my father as well, down at the flay-pits. He’s a grand lad, but a bit shy.’ Lucy spooned the porridge out into the blue-and-white willow-pattern china bowls and watched as Adam added salt to his, while Ivy added sugar before starting to eat. ‘I’ll go and get the cow in from the pasture. It will give you more time together. I could do with the walk myself.’ Lucy felt awkward, knowing that she’d been discussed between the two of them, and she needed to gather her thoughts.

  ‘Alright, if you wish, but I’d have done that for you.’ Adam looked briefly at Lucy as she made her way out of the door.

  ‘I’ve never got round to telling you, Adam, but I’ll be returning tomorrow,’ Ivy said. ‘I’ll not be staying as long as I would have liked. I didn’t feel it right that I left my newly-wed husband on his own for too long, bless him. It was good of him to trust me to stay with a single man, and one with whom I have a lifetime’s friendship. Besides, I don’t want to outstay my welcome, now that we have caught up and I know that you are in safe hands.’

  ‘That’s disappointing. I was looking forward to you staying longer and to hearing more about the reformation that your husband has made in your life. You must love him dearly, from what I’ve heard about him and your new lifestyle. The next time you visit me, you must bring him with you. I’d like to meet the man who’s tamed you.’ Adam grinned.

  ‘You’ll meet him, as I expect us both to be asked on your wedding day.’ Ivy smiled back at Adam and leaned back in her chair.