The Two Farms: A moving family saga set in a Victorian farming community by Mary E. Pearce

Author:Mary E. Pearce [Pearce, Mary E.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: historical romance, rural saga, farming, 1800s fiction, country living, farm romance, country life, family sagas, victorian romance, rural romance
Publisher: Wyndham Books (Family Saga)
Published: 2019-03-06T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

During the worst winter frosts, when all work on the land was stopped, Jim worked on the house instead, replacing tiles that had slid from the roof, repairing ill-fitting doors, and repainting the big kitchen, which was also their living-room. He then began work on the outbuildings, putting new roofs on the sheds, laying new cobblestone floors, and whitewashing all the interiors. With help from Riddler and the other men the most urgent work was done in three weeks, and by then the frosts had gone, making field-work possible again.

‘The rest of the house will have to wait,’ Jim said to Kirren. ‘I’m afraid it may be a long time before we get everything put to rights.’

‘It doesn’t matter,’ Kirren said. ‘The farm must come first, I’m aware of that.’

At least now the kitchen was fresh and clean, with its ceiling and walls distempered white and its oak timbers stained dark brown, and Kirren, cheered and encouraged by this, was adding improvements of her own. She had made new curtains, for one thing, and these, of a thick baize-like material in a pattern of rusty reds and browns, gave the room a look of warmth. She was often buying new things now that the poultry money was hers to spend as she pleased, and gradually the big room was becoming more homely and comfortable. There was new brown-and-white china on the dresser now, and a new set of earthenware jugs, brown-glazed outside, pale yellow within, eight of them in different sizes, standing on a shelf of their own.

One day, having been in to town alone, she returned wearing a new dress of dark green worsted, ribbed in black, with a double cape of the same stuff, and a black beaver hat with a curled brim. It happened that as she drove into the yard, Riddler and Jim were standing there, and both men stopped talking to stare at her as she drew up. Riddler was deeply impressed by his daughter’s new outfit and hurried forward to help her down, a thing he never did as a rule.

‘Why, Kirrie, I hardly recognized you, all dressed up to the nines like that! I thought it was some fine lady or other coming to call on us out of the blue.’ And as he helped her down from the trap, he looked her over from top to toe. ‘Lord, I’m struck all of a heap,’ he said. ‘I’d no idea you had it in you to look so very handsome.’

Kirren, with a satirical glance, extricated her hand from his and turned to take something from the trap. It was a large rectangular parcel, bulkily wrapped in paper and sacking, and she handled it with great care.

‘What’ve you got there?’ Riddler asked.

‘You’ll see when we get indoors,’ she said.

Jim now went to the trap and took out the two heavy baskets of shopping. Riddler touched him on the arm.

‘What do you think of your wife’s finery?’

‘I think pretty much the same as you.’

‘Would you say she looked stylish, now?’

‘Yes, I would, most certainly.

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