‘Their ma should be doing that.’ There was a hint of sharp irritation in Aaron’s voice. ‘She teks advantage of you.’
‘I know she does. I also know that ’bairns would go off to school with no breakfast if it were left to her. When she’s had this one I’m going to tell our Jack he can start looking for another place to live.’
‘Aye, well, but we’ll happen keep Molly here,’ Aaron said.
‘Course,’ she answered. ‘That goes without saying. I wouldn’t trust Susan to look after her; and ’others can come here for their breakfast and tea if they want to.’
Robin stretched and pushed himself up and looked about him, blinking. ‘Good morning,’ he said. ‘Is it late? Have I slept in?’
‘Good morning! No, it isn’t late,’ Peggy answered whilst Aaron looked at him quizzically, before coming towards him and sitting on the edge of the little sofa.
‘I was just saying that you don’t seem to have any worries,’ he said. ‘Are you not anxious about your ma?’
Robin folded his arms and considered. ‘No, not really. She’s used to doing things for herself and going about here and there, you know.’
‘She can look after herself is what you’re saying, is it?’
‘Oh, yes, she can. She’s very capable.’
‘But what I really meant,’ Aaron went on kindly, ‘is, won’t she be worried about you? You know, she might have slipped out of ’Sun Inn to buy summat, perhaps, or mebbe she’d spotted a friend and went off to have a natter, you know how women do, and then when she came back, you’d gone.’
Robin wanted to answer truthfully, for Aaron did seem quite concerned, but Aaron didn’t know his mother at all, whereas he did, and his mother had come with the plate of beef and bread to find him and looked at the people in the room and it seemed to him that she had suddenly not wanted to be seen and that was why she’d said she was going to the privy. She wanted to hide, he thought, but he didn’t know who from … from whom, Arthur Crawshaw would have said in the deep booming voice that he kept for recitals.
But he was almost certain she had come back, because when he and the other children went outside to play in the yard he’d noticed that the bread and beef had gone, and he was sure that his mother had taken it. She wouldn’t have wasted the food, not after paying good money for it. Money was too hard to come by; he could almost hear her voice and the often quoted remark. He knew he was right, but of course he couldn’t mention that now.
‘Well, yes,’ he admitted, for there was nothing else he could say and after all, he didn’t know where she had gone. ‘That might have happened, but she’s sure to turn up,’ he went on, adding, ‘sooner or later.’
Aaron nodded but didn’t seem convinced and just sat there musing. Then, sighing, he got up, turned to his wife and murmured, ‘Well, it’s beyond me. She’s either abandoned him or lost her way. When you get to Hedon you’d best speak to ’local bobby – or else pop into ’Sun and ask if anybody’s been enquiring about a lost boy.’
‘Oh, but I’m not lost.’ Robin threw back the blanket and got out of bed, clad in his long underpants and vest. ‘I know where I am. I’m in Paull and it’s spelt with double ell.’ He grinned, wondering if Aaron would get the joke, but he didn’t appear to.
‘Could I have a wash please?’ he asked. Granny Robinson seemed surprised but directed him towards the scullery, where he pumped out water and thought what a novelty it was and much more fun than having taps. He swilled his face and scrubbed his hands with a big yellow slab of soap and taking off his vest he washed under his arms in the way his mother had taught him, then went back into the kitchen and climbed into his trousers, shirt and woollen jumper.
‘There,’ he said. ‘I’m more presentable now.’
Peggy, who was stirring something in a pan, laughed, her plump face creasing and her eyes shining. ‘So you are,’ she chuckled, ‘and if you reach on to ’mantel shelf you’ll find a clean hairbrush.’
Robin picked up the hairbrush and examined it. The bristles were firm and scratchy and were set into a shiny back with a hard shell-like finish. ‘Is this the hairbrush Louisa’s mother was going to use on her backside?’ he asked in all innocence, and was astonished at the look of fury on Granny Robinson’s face and the sharp breath that Aaron took.
‘No!’ Peggy said sharply. ‘It is not and no other child either. Not ever in my house.’
Robin smiled. ‘Good,’ he said. ‘Because she’s such a nice little girl. My mother says that children shouldn’t be smacked because, then, when they grow up they won’t smack their children either.’ His face grew solemn. ‘I think she was smacked when she was young, but she’s never smacked me even though sometimes I have been very naughty.’
‘Come here to me,’ Peggy said.
He went across to where she was standing by the range and stood in front of her, his hands clasped behind his back.
‘Do you miss your ma?’
‘Yes, I do,’ he said in a small quavering voice. ‘But I know that whatever has happened or wherever she’s gone will be for my own good.’
‘How do you know that?’ she asked softly.
‘Because …’ Robin stumbled slightly over his words, ‘I know that she loves me and wouldn’t do anything to make me unhappy.’
She rested the spoon in the pan and pulled it off the heat and sat down on the nearest chair, pulling Robin towards her. ‘And are you unhappy now?’
He paused for a moment, as if considering. ‘No,’ he said. ‘I’m not. I liked it yesterday when I was able to play with the other
