A Mother's Courage by Dilly Court

Author:Dilly Court
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Historical Saga
ISBN: 9781407004563
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2012-05-25T17:33:17+00:00

Chapter Twelve

'Hey there, you clumsy great oaf. Don't you never look where you're going?'

Eloise struggled back to full consciousness to see a wild-looking woman standing in the road, shaking her fist at the carter. She was covered from the top of her battered black bonnet to her booted feet in grit and coal dust, and a pair of fierce brown eyes glared at the man through a mask of dirt. 'You great booby, you nearly run down this poor soul and her nippers.'

The carter responded with a volley of invective, emphasising each word with a crack of the whip above the poor horse's ears as he steered it through the open gates into the yard. 'I'll have words to say to you later on, Peg Tranter.'

The woman he called Peg stuck out her tongue. 'You can bugger off, Mick. I got nothing more to say to you now or later.' She turned her back on him, giving her attention to Joss who was wailing with fright and pain from a scraped knee. She took off a red scarf that was knotted around her throat and tied it round the injured limb. 'There's a brave little soldier. All better now?'

Despite a bump on the head and a badly bruised shoulder, Eloise's first concern was for Beth who was sobbing in her arms. A quick examination reassured her that the baby was unhurt by their fall, and a kiss and a cuddle soon comforted her. Eloise glanced anxiously at Joss, but he seemed happy enough having the full attention of the strange-looking woman, and he was tracing a pattern in the dirt on her cheek with one small finger. Eloise scrambled to her feet. 'Thank you, ma'am. I think the brute would have run us down if you had not stopped him.'

'Nah, he wouldn't. Mick is just a bag of hot air. Got a temper on him, but he wouldn't harm a fly.'

Eloise tried to smile, but her split lip began to bleed again and she raised her hand to her mouth. 'Thank you, anyway.'

'Well, I dunno what you're doing here at this hour of the morning, and with two nippers in tow, but judging by the looks of you, you already come off the worse from some bloke's fist.' Peg stood back, arms akimbo as she took in Eloise's bruised and dishevelled appearance. 'Jealous sort, is he? Caught you with another fellah, did he?'

Eloise shook her head. 'No. It wasn't like that. Really, I must be getting on . . .' She swayed dizzily and Peg rushed forward to snatch Beth from her arms.

'Why, you're half dead on your feet. You ain't going nowhere for a while. What you need is a nice hot cup of tea and a sit down.' Ignoring Eloise's feeble protests, Peg took Joss by the hand and strode off, leading the way to a narrow alley at the back of the dust yard. Separated from the workings by a high brick wall, a row of dilapidated

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