Across the River by Alice Taylor

Author:Alice Taylor [Alice Taylor]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781847177605
Publisher: The O'Brien Press
Published: 2014-08-16T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

AS SHE LAID the table for the dinner, Martha thought back over her conversation with Mark and Agnes a few day previously. It annoyed her that they were thinking of signing over the farm to Peter. It exasperated her to be passed over as if she were of no consequence. After all, she was the daughter of the house and surely had some rights. She resented the attitude that men carried more weight where land inheritance was concerned. She should have the same rights as Mark.

Nellie Phelan had thought of her own daughter when making her will and had given her rights in Mossgrove. It irked her that Nellie Phelan had provided better for her daughter’s future than her own mother was going to do for her. When she thought about it, Nellie Phelan’s will was very far-seeing. It had prevented herself from selling Mossgrove, and she was glad of that now. She wondered what else was in that will. Ned had never got around to making one, so could there be any other clause in Nellie’s will that she should know about? Maybe the time had come to visit Mr Hobbs and find out the lie of the land. If she had gone to him after Ned’s death she would have spared herself a lot of trouble. How well Kate had been clever enough to check it out.

She had not gone in the intervening years because she was reluctant to confront Hobbs, who by all accounts was a wily old bird and also who would not have forgotten that she had gone to his opposite number. But after the conversation with Mark and Agnes, she had decided to pay him a visit. She had gone into the village and rung him, and she had an appointment for this afternoon. The secretary had tried to put her on the long finger, but she had insisted that it was urgent.

She intended telling nobody, but would let them think that she was just going into the village. Instead she would take the bus over to Ross and be back in time for the cows. It was annoying her as well that Peter had made no reference to the fact that Agnes and Mark had offered them the meadows. They would have to be cut soon, so did he intend to just go ahead without even telling her? He was really taking things into his own hands. She was going to bring it up now during the dinner. Davy was home until after his grandmother’s funeral, so there would only be Jack and themselves. Whatever Peter was up to, Jack was in on it.

They came in the back door with a clatter of conversation. Do they ever shut up, Martha wondered, and what on earth do they find to talk about all day every day?

As they seated themselves at the table, Peter asked, “Are you going to the funeral?”

“Weren’t you all there yesterday evening?” she said.

“Well, it would be nice if you went today,” Peter told her.

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