Shadow in Hawthorn Bay by Janet Lunn

Author:Janet Lunn [Lunn, Janet]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-36748-8
Publisher: Knopf Canada
Published: 2001-08-27T16:00:00+00:00

The House at Hawthorn Bay

The Camerons’ house belonged to Dan Pritchett now, Luke told Mary. So she went to see Dan the next morning. She found him in the new barn, constructing stalls for his livestock.

“Sure you can live there if you want. I’m glad to be able to do something for you, Mistress Mary,” Dan boomed. He was a huge, bluff man. “Three axe handles across the shoulders,” as Luke described him, and at least a head and a half taller than either Luke or his father.

He was glad to have Mary in the house. “Nobody here needs that house just now. Davie and Jean Cameron bought it from Charity Hazen. She and her husband Zeke were Vermont Loyalists and he got so homesick for his hills he took a chance on being imprisoned or done to death, and he went back home—never been heard from again. When the Camerons wanted to sell I was glad to get another hundred acres, but it’s gonna be a snowy Sunday in July before we get to clearing that piece of land. It’s a bit far from the barn to be tethering a cow and—well, as you know, we’re short a cow now anyways.”

Mary asked if she might tend his sheep for the rent. “Now, now,” he said, “Martha and I, we’re right glad to be doing a good turn to the gal who saved our Polly. Don’t you think on it.” So Mary thanked him and asked if she could tend the sheep for money.

“Well, my girl,” he said, “it’s like this; we don’t let our sheep roam far enough to need tending, there’s too many wolves prowling around the woods. It’s only a couple of years or so we’ve been keeping sheep at all.” He rubbed his hand across his bald head. Then he wrinkled up his face in thought. “Can you read?” he asked.

“I can.”

“Well then,” Dan beamed. “I have just the thing. My sister Sarah teaches some of the young ones hereabouts—girls and boys—to read and cipher, as we ain’t got any real kind of a school going yet. Now Sarah’s a mighty fine woman, but she sometimes has a speck of trouble keeping those older boys reined in. In consequence they don’t get too much learning into ’em.”

Mary thought of little grey Sarah Pritchett scurrying at the sound of her sister-in-law’s voice. “I am not afraid of the children,” she said.

“Do you think they could hear a word you said to ’em?” Dan slapped his leg and roared with laughter. “You people from Scotland, you talk so a fellow has to strain his ears, even big ones like mine, just to catch a word. A pretty sound, mind you,” he added.

“It is all the better, then,” replied Mary tartly. “The great lads will need to be still to catch the sound of the pretty words.”

Dan laughed again. “You’ll be all right. And Martha will sure be glad to get that babble and shouting out of our house,

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