Luckpenny Land by Freda Lightfoot

Author:Freda Lightfoot
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Freda Lightfoot Limited
Published: 2013-02-05T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

The moment Meg walked in her own front door she knew she’d delayed too long.

Sally Ann met her in the kitchen with the news that Effie had run off again. ‘You’d best start looking for her. I’ve searched every corner of the house and barns and can find no sign. I tried to keep an eye on her but she’s as smart as a ferret.’

‘It’s my fault, Sal. Don’t blame yourself.’

Meg called for Rust and with dog at heel set off down the cart track, calling Effie’s name. Oh, why hadn’t she come back for her sooner, taken her to Broombank last night? Yet she’d had no reason to know then that Lanky would be ill and need her to stay.

Effie should have waited. Why hadn’t she?

Because Meg had promised not to leave her and she had broken that promise. Probably no one had ever kept a promise to her in the past so why should she be surprised if a perfect stranger let her down?

Meg trekked on, longing to find some sign of the once noisome Effie. Used to solitary walking, she never felt lonely as a rule. Now, for the first time, she did. The fells and dales, so named by the early Norse settlers, looked more empty and bleak than they ever had before. The cracks and fissures forming steps in the rocks, punctuated periodically with patches of green, offered a deceptively easy climb to the top. Try it and your shaking legs would be the first to spot the mistake. But Effie was ignorant of which parts of this remote landscape could be traversed and which should be left well alone.

Responsibility for these two people, one an old friend, the other a new, weighed heavily upon her. Why couldn’t she be more like Kath? Kath did not approve of responsibility. She said everyone thought only of themselves and that Meg should learn to do the same. It was not a belief Meg could ever subscribe to.

But supposing Effie were in trouble? One slip on those heights and you were done for. In her mind’s eye, Meg saw the small child lying at the bottom of a crag like a broken doll.

‘Effie!’ she called out, her voice snatched and lost by the wind. Oh, Jack. If only you were here, you could help me look. A lump came into her throat. Where was he? Was he in danger? Would they send him to France? Perhaps she shouldn’t even be thinking of taking on an evacuee when all she wanted to do was pack her bags and go to him, wherever he was, so they could be married.

If only that were possible.

The old oaks and yews, their trunks twisted into grotesque shapes by the wind, whined and creaked, making her shiver. Meg searched till the October light was fading from the sky but could find no sign of the tiny figure. Her foot skidded on a stone and she pitched forward on to her knees. Tears stung her eyes as she picked the shale from her bloodied flesh.

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