‘Tell you what,’ his father said. ‘Will you ride down to ’village and wake our Harry and get him to stir up ’other fisher lads and see if they’re willing to help put ’fire out. If they each bring a bucket we can mek a chain down to ’river and we’ll soon have it out. There’s going to be nowt of value left anyway now, but we can at least mek sure ’cottage is secure. I’ll do what I can wi’ bucket and water pump till you get back.’
‘Aye.’ Jack shot off to harness up one of the horses and Aaron looked round for a pail or bucket to pump water and throw it on to the blazing contents of the barn. When he found one, he looked up and saw Peggy coming through the gate.
‘I said there was no need for you to come,’ he began.
‘I know you did,’ she said. ‘But I was going to ask Mrs Deakin if she wanted to come back home wi’ me.’ She started to cough as the smoke hit her throat. ‘She must be out of her wits. Where’s Deakin?’
‘No idea.’ Aaron worked the pump handle but no water appeared. It needed priming, so he kept on pumping hard until a rush of water came out. ‘We can’t mek either of them hear.’
‘Have you been inside?’
‘Aye, kitchen and from ’bottom of ’stairs. They must be stone deaf if they didn’t hear us shouting.’
‘I’ll go,’ she said decisively. ‘I don’t like ’sound or ’look of this,’ and she strode firmly towards the cottage.
‘Hey,’ he called after her. ‘Wait. I’ll come with you.’ Who knows what’s gone on here tonight, he thought. Deakin’s not set fire to his own barn, that’s for sure. Not with a fortune in baccy sitting in it, so where is he? And where was his wife? He didn’t want Peggy coming across anything she shouldn’t see.
Peggy opened the cottage door and shouted, ‘Mrs Deakin? It’s Peggy Robinson. Are you all right?’ She took a few steps to the foot of the stairs and shouted up them. ‘Mrs Deakin!’
She turned to Aaron, who was right behind her. ‘Do you think we should go up?’
‘Aye, but there’s no light.’ He looked round the bare kitchen and saw a candlestick with a stub of candle in it on the mantelpiece. ‘Hang on.’
He strode to get it and lit the candle from the low-burning fire. ‘I’ll go first,’ he said, ‘but you call, I don’t want to scare her.’ He was convinced now that Deakin wasn’t there and had probably gone out on the river, but he couldn’t work out why Mrs Deakin would be locked in.
He held up the candle when they reached the bedroom. It was barely furnished. A chest of drawers and a narrow bed with blankets neatly folded; on the floor beside it was a palliasse, a straw mattress only thinly filled.
They glanced at each other. No comfort in this bedroom, and it hadn’t been slept in this night. They turned to go down again.
‘We’ll have to alert ’authorities first thing,’ Aaron murmured. ‘There’s summat fishy, I reckon.’
Peggy nodded. ‘Aye,’ she said. ‘But it’s not fish.’
Before dawn broke, the Paull fishermen and other village men, awakened by the sound of boots, horses and the rumble of carts, managed to douse the fire with river water and drench the cottage roof so that there was no fear of stray sparks catching it. Peggy had gone home and made hot drinks for anyone who wanted them and Susan had come over to ask if there was anything she could do.
‘Molly woke up earlier when we went up to bed and said something about Mrs Deakin and ’mule,’ she said, sipping on a cup of tea. ‘I think she’d been dreaming. She wasn’t mekkin’ sense, anyway, and then she fell asleep again.’
‘Nothing’s mekkin’ sense,’ Peggy said. ‘If Deakin was out on ’river he’d have seen there was a fire from his boat, so why didn’t he come back to mek sure it wasn’t his place? And where’s Mrs Deakin? It’s five in the morning, so where is she?’
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
Delia, Robin, Jenny and Giles had all given their warmest thanks to Arthur Crawshaw and his mother for their hospitality, and in return were urged to come again. ‘Miss Robinson.’ Mrs Crawshaw eyed Jenny as if considering her possibilities. ‘I would appreciate your advice on renovating the dower house. You appear to have good taste and common sense for a young woman in your situation. I, of course, have no experience in such workaday matters, and I would wish to follow tradition as a family such as ours has always done.’
The implication that Jenny wasn’t of quite the same status as the Crawshaw family was felt by all, and Delia saw the sudden blink of Arthur’s eyes, and realized he hadn’t even considered the dissimilarity. He had, after all, befriended Delia herself, despite their very obvious differences.
Jenny, however, didn’t turn a hair. ‘Of course,’ she said agreeably. ‘I would be glad to; you have such lovely furnishings and will want to take some special pieces with you if you should decide to move there.’
‘Yes, that’s exactly what I feel,’ Mrs Crawshaw said. ‘I don’t have to move if I don’t wish to; but on the other hand, if my son intends to change the way I’ve always done things, then I shan’t wish to stay and impede him.’
Jenny had bent her head to speak confidentially. ‘What I would do in your place, Mrs Crawshaw,’ she murmured, ‘is to start planning and renovating the dower house, fitting a new bathroom, plumbing and so on, before he begins on the Manor, then he can devote all his time to your requirements; and then, when he begins the next stage in the main house, you can escape from it. Having workmen in the place will be very disrupting.’
Mrs Crawshaw patted her hand. ‘What a wise young woman you are,’ she said softly. ‘A sensible head on your
