Justice Is a Woman by Catherine Cookson

Author:Catherine Cookson [Cookson, Catherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780593019368
Amazon: 1854968890
Publisher: BCA
Published: 1994-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

There were eight windows to the front of the house, two at each side of the front door and four above door level, all deep set in the rough stone wall. Although it was called a cottage it had eight main rooms, besides the kitchen quarters, and a long attic, whose windows looked out onto the back of the house.

Betty had arrived late the previous evening, her reception by the old lady not only touching her heart, but warming her and soothing her frayed nerves, and she had to admit that her nerves had become frayed over the past months. From that anything but joyful Christmas Day up till just a few weeks ago there had been a noticeable rift in the relationship between herself and Elaine, and she knew that if she hadn’t been so useful to her sister, or if the child had been easy to rear, or again, if there wasn’t the obstacle of the real master of the house, Elaine would have politely given her her marching orders long before now.

Then a few weeks ago Elaine’s attitude had changed; in fact, there had been two or three times when it seemed as if she was about to apologise for her behaviour. Once she had grabbed hold of her hand and had begun to say something, but before Betty could ask her what was wrong she had turned and rushed away into the garden. She hadn’t followed her, for she recognised this as an echo of her sister’s childish strategy; as a child, when she was at fault, she would attempt to apologise, then run off and lock herself in the schoolroom, and by the time she was coaxed to come out, you would find yourself apologising to her.

She had thought that Elaine would greet her news that she was going to spend two or three weeks with Lady Mary with relief, yet, although she hadn’t openly stated that she didn’t want her to go, her manner had spoken for her.

During the summer months, Elaine had fallen into the habit of travelling up to London on her own. Sometimes she stayed with her Uncle Hughes-Burton, at other times with a school friend. Betty was surprised that Joe hadn’t objected to these visits, which often kept Elaine away for two or three nights at a time; but on these nights he himself didn’t return from the factory until eight or nine in the evening. And then there were his visits to the Brookses, which had become more frequent since Hazel’s baby was born in April, strangely, on the same day that Martin was born two years before, a coincidence which had incensed Elaine. Betty recalled Elaine’s anger at the time when Joe, stopping the car at the gates on the sight of Hazel sitting outside nursing the baby, had got out, taken the child in his arms and brought it back to the car, saying, ‘Isn’t she beautiful?’

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.