Jane's Country Year by Malcolm Saville

Author:Malcolm Saville
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Handheld Press
Published: 2021-09-02T09:16:29+00:00

Next Saturday it rained.

Jane did not seem to mind rain in the country as much as she had at home but it was rather a nuisance when it came on a Saturday which was the jolliest day of the week.

‘Will it rain all day, Uncle?’ she asked at breakfast time. ‘Richard and Susan are coming. We were going to take sandwiches and follow the brook up past the sheep field and see where it goes.’

The farmer looked up from his plate and smiled but his wife spoke first as she usually did.

‘Well you can’t go gallivanting about the fields in this weather,’ she said. ‘And what you can do here with those youngsters I don’t know.’

‘Would you like me to telephone Richard and tell him not to come?’ Jane asked innocently.

‘Certainly not, my child … And what makes you think we can’t give the rectory children a meal I should like to know? … Of course they’re to come as arranged … Maybe you could all have a picnic in the big barn.’

‘I’ve got a better notion,’ Uncle William said as he set down his cup. ‘I reckon, Janey, this is just the day I’ve been waitin’ for … You come along with me,’ and here he looked across at his wife and closed one eye in a most meaning wink.

‘Where are we going, Uncle darling? Shall I want a coat?’

He nodded and waited for her at the back door. Outside the rain was still slanting down gently and all the gutters were singing. There was a lovely smell of warm, wet earth and green things growing. Mr Watson looked up at the grey sky and then down at Jane as she joined him with a coat over her head.

‘Won’t rain for more’n hour or two,’ he said. ‘Now Janey! What did I say about the old granary and a rainy day? Come along and we’ll see what it looks like.’

He led the way to the barn which adjoined the house and unlocked the padlock of the mysterious black door. As it creaked open a swallow fluttered over their heads with a plaintive cry and as Jane looked up another flew out from under the eaves and the two circled the farmyard together.

‘They’ve nested here for many a year,’ Mr Watson said. ‘A pair in the stable and a pair here come every spring. You’ll find their nest on the rafters I’ll be bound … Can you get up that ladder first, my lass?’

Jane saw that although the slope was steep the ladder was fixed and the steps were broad. She climbed up carefully, one step at a time, and when she reached the floor above called back.

‘I’ve got my eyes closed, Uncle. I’ll wait for you before I look properly. Hurry up!’

While she waited she heard the murmur of the rain beating on the roof and smelt the dust of ages and dry wood round her.

‘Now look, Janey,’ Mr Watson said as he pulled her away from the hole in the floor through which they had both just climbed.

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