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Chapters (52)
  1. Cover
  2. Margaret Dickinson
  3. Dedication page
  4. Contents
  5. Part One
  6. One
  7. Two
  8. Three
  9. Four
  10. Five
  11. Six
  12. Seven
  13. Eight
  14. Nine
  15. Ten
  16. Eleven
  17. Twelve
  18. Thirteen
  19. Fourteen
  20. Fifteen
  21. Sixteen
  22. Part Two
  23. Seventeen
  24. Eighteen
  25. Nineteen
  26. Twenty
  27. Twenty-One
  28. Twenty-Two
  29. Twenty-Three
  30. Twenty-Four
  31. Twenty-Five
  32. Twenty-Six
  33. Twenty-Seven
  34. Twenty-Eight
  35. Twenty-Nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-One
  38. Thirty-Two
  39. Thirty-Three
  40. Thirty-Four
  41. Thirty-Five
  42. Thirty-Six
  43. Thirty-Seven
  44. Thirty-Eight
  45. Thirty-Nine
  46. Forty
  47. Forty-One
  48. Forty-Two
  49. Sow the Seed
  50. Note
  51. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  52. Copyright page

‘It was all my fault, Squire.’ The words came tumbling out in a rush. ‘About your motor car, I mean. I was driving it, not Danny. I begged him to let me have a go and – I know he shouldn’t have. Oh, Squire – I’m so sorry. Please don’t sack Danny. And me dad – he can make it good as new. He’s ever so clever with motors and . . .’ She was babbling now in her agitation.

‘Well, I’ll be damned!’ The look on the Squire’s face was so comical that Kate gave a nervous little laugh.

He was shaking his head and staring at her. ‘You’re so like your mother, Kate, do you know that?’

Now it was Kate’s turn to blink in surprise.

‘She was only about your age when old Sam Brumby died and she came to see me, standing exactly where you’re standing now . . .’ His eyes clouded over as if he was seeing not Kate, but her mother, Esther. ‘No more than a slip of a girl, she was, but there she stood almost demanding that I grant her the tenancy of Brumbys’ Farm. The Brumbys had the tenancy for generations, but there was no family to carry on after Sam.’ There was a pause, then the Squire said quietly, ‘I always admired your mother for her honesty and it seems you too have that same virtue.’

He smiled at her now, and it was once more the Squire she knew and liked. His eyes twinkled with mischief. ‘All right, young lady, I’ll see young Danny doesn’t lose his job. Mind you, he shouldn’t have let you drive it.’

‘I know, but . . .’

He held up his hand, palm outwards. ‘All right, all right. Just so long as you get your stepfather to fix it up, we’ll say no more about it.’

‘Oh, thank you, Squire, thank you. But, just one more thing . . .’

‘What is it?’ he asked resignedly, but his anger was gone now and his eyes were twinkling.

‘You – you won’t ever let Danny know I came to see you, will you? He’d be cross. He’s got his pride, you see.’

The Squire’s whiskers twitched. ‘All right my dear. It’ll be our little secret.’

And as the Squire was rewarded with one of Kate’s beaming smiles, he in turn gave her a broad wink.

Fifteen

The following evening Danny was waiting for her in the lane outside Brumbys’ Farm when she arrived home from work. It was almost dusk for Kate had been obliged to stay late to finish hemming some velvet curtains by hand with her tiny, neat stitching.