The Miner's Daughter by Jennie Felton

Author:Jennie Felton [Felton, Jennie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Sagas, Romance, Historical, General, Victorian, Family Life, Siblings, Small Town & Rural, Women, History, Modern, 19th Century, Social History, Technology & Engineering, Mining
ISBN: 9781472210074
Google: 1AuNBwAAQBAJ
Amazon: B00W22IUMY
Publisher: Headline
Published: 2015-09-09T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

Annie was sitting on the wooden bench in the back yard –‘the form’, they called it – peeling apples for a pie with the little black-handled knife she’d brought with her when she married Algernon.

‘Why do you want that old thing?’ he’d asked impatiently. ‘It’s had its day – I’ve got far better ones than that.’

But Annie had kept it anyway. Perhaps the blade had been sharpened so often it had worn down to little more than a stub, but she’d had it all her married life and before that it had been her mother’s and maybe even her grandmother’s. She liked it, it felt comfortable in her hand and took the peel off apples and potatoes too in long, satisfying strips.

She dropped a curl of peel into the bowl on her lap and sliced expertly through the core. The sun was warm on her face, and sitting here with only birdsong and the sound of church bells waxing and waning as the wind rose and dropped to break the Sunday morning silence, she could almost forget her troubles.

She’d been excused chapel this morning – Algernon didn’t want her parading her bruises in front of a curious congregation who would, no doubt, express sympathy to their faces but whisper behind their backs – and Annie intended to make the most of the couple of hours she would have to herself.

She was slicing the apple into a dish, taking care not to let the knife slip and cut her fingers, when a crunch of gravel made her glance up just as a man rounded the corner made by the apex of the kitchen roof and started down the steps.

Annie’s heart gave an uncomfortable leap. Marcus Latcham! Well, there was no way she could avoid him today as she had done yesterday – he’d seen her now – and ashamed though she was of the state of her face, she wasn’t sure she wanted to avoid him.

‘Morning!’ he called breezily.

‘Good morning! You’ve really caught me this time . . .’ Her voice was breathy and unsteady, and . . . what a stupid thing to say! Annie thought, embarrassed.

‘That’s what I was hoping to do.’ He reached the foot of the steps and stopped, staring at Annie. ‘Oh dear. That’s a nasty bruise. Have you had an accident?’

‘I tripped.’ Annie trotted out the well-worn lie, but to her own ears it sounded totally unconvincing.

Marcus Latcham, however, seemed to accept her explanation.

‘You’ll have to be more careful,’ he said easily.

‘I know.’

‘I was coming to ask a favour, but perhaps you won’t feel up to it.’

‘Oh, I’m perfectly fine in myself. It’s just that I look such a sight.’

‘Not at all,’ Marcus said gallantly.

To her amazement, Annie found herself laughing. ‘You’re very kind, but I do know how awful I look. I’m not even allowed to go to chapel this morning for fear I’d frighten the horses.’

‘Ah, chapel, of course. I’d forgotten your husband is a regular worshipper.’

‘More than that. He likes to think it would all collapse in ruins without him.

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