‘I am,’ Giles said, his mouth twitching. ‘I’m a musician. A violinist. I have often played for your mother’s performances.’
‘Oh, I’m so pleased,’ Robin enthused. ‘And I’m very glad that my mother has a friend she can talk to, because, you know,’ he lowered his voice confidentially as if Delia weren’t there, ‘I think she gets very lonely sometimes.’
Giles nodded and answered gravely, ‘Yes, I understand that, Robin; sometimes theatreland can be a very lonely place. But I assure you that I will do my best to counter that.’
Robin then proceeded to advise Giles on the function of the various buildings they passed in Hedon. He pointed out the church and the police station and the Sun Inn where he had first met the Robinson family, and glanced up cheekily at his mother. Then he confessed to Giles that that was where he had decided to change his name and explained why, and Aaron squinted round at Delia and again wryly shook his head.
Robin was first out of the cart. The dog raced towards him and he bent down to pet him. Aaron took hold of the old horse’s snaffle, and Giles had just held out his hand to Delia to help her down when there was the crack of a gunshot. Betsy jibbed, the dog sped back towards the house and Delia clung to Giles’s hand, her nails digging into his palm and her face suddenly pale.
‘What on earth …’ Giles began, but Aaron said, ‘Don‘t worry, it’s just an idiot of a neighbour shooting rats, I expect. I’ll have his hide afore long,’ he muttered in an undertone. ‘He forgets there are bairns about after school.’
‘He shoots rats?’ Giles asked. ‘He must be a good shot.’ He could feel Delia’s trembling hand in his.
‘Aye, I reckon,’ Aaron mumbled. He avoided looking at Delia and ushered them all inside where Peggy was standing by the range with her mass of hair tucked under a white cap, tying the strings of her apron around her waist. A little girl was sitting beneath the table looking at a book and didn’t acknowledge them.
Peggy looked up at her guests and said, ‘Delia, are you all right? You look very pale.’
Giles ushered Delia towards a chair, then turned to Peggy and put out his hand. He grinned and said, ‘A rifle shot to welcome our arrival rather startled us. How do you do? I’m Giles Dawson. Delighted to meet you.’
Peggy put out a clean but floury hand. She immediately liked this man. ‘A gunshot?’ she said. ‘At this time of day? I didn’t hear it.’
‘Rats, Aaron said,’ Delia told her in a trembling voice. ‘Sorry, Peggy. Forgive my manners.’ She couldn’t explain that the sound of the gunshot had brought back dark memories of her father cleaning his rifle and looking at her through narrow eyes as if warning her to beware that it might not only be rats and wildfowl that he aimed at; and she knew with certainty by the long-tailed bodies in the yard, and the mallards, wigeon and teal that hung on a nail outside the door, that he was an accurate and crack shot.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Peggy had made a light lunch of chicken soup, cold meat, pork pie and pickles with warm bread fresh out of the oven. Molly came out from under the table to eat with them; then Aaron and Robin took Giles along the river bank into the village and told him the history of Paull, how since the time of Henry VIII there had been defences to protect the town of Hull, and Aaron promised that the next day, if Giles was interested, they would walk up to the fort which was still manned in case of invasion and show him the high earthen ramparts that protected the cannons and battery.
As they walked towards the long village street Aaron suggested that Giles might care to stay at the Crown Inn that night rather than travel back to Hedon, and Giles immediately went in and booked a room, then bought Aaron and himself a pint of ale and Robin a glass of lemonade.
‘My parents’ house in York is by the river Ouse,’ Giles told Aaron. ‘It’s where I was born and grew up as a boy.’
‘Oh, aye?’ Aaron said. ‘I’ve been to York. I was a fisherman afore I met Peggy and became a farmer, and when I was just a young feller one of my older brothers asked if I’d fancy a trip to York. So off we went, took ’shrimp boat and sailed up ’Humber as far as Trent Falls and Goole and then joined up with ’Ouse and onwards to York. We had a grand few days, looked around York and then set off home again; caught some fish on ’way back.’ He grinned. ‘I might have passed your folks’ house, though you wouldn’t have been around back then. Some splendid houses along ’river banks.’
Giles agreed that he wouldn’t have been there then, but the house would as it had belonged to his grandparents before his father.
Delia had stayed in to talk to Peggy and told her about the planned trip to Derbyshire; she said she didn’t want to walk into the village today as she found the weather rather chilly, although in truth she didn’t want to risk seeing either of her parents. The shotgun incident had unsettled her. Louisa came looking for Robin and was disappointed that he was out and said she would stay until he came back. She asked if they’d heard Mr Deakin’s gun go off, and told them that her father had said the man was mad.
When the men and Robin came back from their walk, they had a cup of tea and then Aaron slipped out again. When he came back he muttered that there was no sign
