‘Well, it is, my love. Now today I have to go into Keighley to see if my bid for the Baxters’ farm has been accepted. I won’t be away long, and I hope to come back with the good news that my farm has doubled in size. I would rather have bought the land and house under better circumstances, but I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to clear my neighbouring land of the Baxters forever.’ Adam smiled and kissed Lucy on her brow.
‘I didn’t know you were thinking of buying their land until I overheard my father telling my mother. It will make a difference to your workload – are you sure you will be able to cope?’ Lucy looked across at Adam as he went into the far room, which was hardly ever used, but where the desk containing his cheque book and savings were kept.
Adam returned and smiled. ‘Yes, I will manage, although I might pinch Archie completely from your father’s employment. I’m sure he would rather be farming than working at the flay-pits. But, I haven’t secured the property yet. I’m sure there will be more than just my interest in the land and house. It will depend on how much everyone else bid for the property. It would benefit me – or should I say “us” – the most, so I’m hoping that my offer has been successful.’
‘I hope you come back with a smile on your face, after securing what you want.’ Lucy watched as Adam stopped in the doorway, before setting off to ride Rosa into Keighley to see the magistrate.
‘I’ve secured the one thing I wanted most, when you walked in through the door this morning. The land and house at High Ground I can live without – unlike having you in my life. If I’m successful, I will be happy, but I think I am already more than blessed this morning.’
Lucy watched as Adam rode down the hillside towards Keighley, before she returned into the kitchen. There she sat down in the chair and looked around her. She breathed in deeply and smiled. In a few months, or perhaps even weeks, this would be her home, and she would no longer be the maid. She would be Adam’s wife, and the house would be her domain. Her days at the flay-pits would be at an end, and she would always be smelling the clear moorland air of Black Moss. Her wedding day could not come soon enough for her liking.
Adam stood outside the magistrate’s chamber and looked at the deeds in his hand. He’d been one of only a few to bid for the Baxters’ confiscated assets, with the money generated by the sale going back into the coffers of the Crown, to replace the counterfeit coinage that old man Baxter had been issuing. It was the Baxters’ loss, but Adam’s gain, and although it had made his bank balance a whole load lighter, he was happy with his new assets.
His life was changing for the better. He now had a good large farm, and he also had the heart of a young woman whom he would always love and cherish. He looked up towards the spired tower of St Andrew’s. He had one more thing to do before he returned home, and that was to visit the grave of his beloved Mary, at rest in Haworth churchyard. To go and seek her blessing to get on with his life, and hope that she would understand his needs, in whichever world she was now. It was time to put the past behind him and look to the future.
26
‘Bill, I swear these cracks are getting bigger.’ Dorothy stood with her hands on her hips and looked up at their bedroom ceiling. ‘And have you noticed the one running up the front of the house? You can nearly put your hand in it, in parts.’
Bill moaned and looked up. ‘Aye, I think you are right. Kenny Lawson and Jim Willan was at me the other day about the state of their houses, and I noticed the same in Thomas Farrington’s old house when I went to look round it yesterday. The whole row seems to be crumbling.’
‘It had better not crumble on our heads. Don’t you think you should get somebody to look at what’s going on, before we’re left with just a heap of bricks and nowt else?’ Dorothy lectured.
‘I know what’s wrong. I don’t need anybody to tell me. Trouble is, I don’t know what I’m going to do about it. We haven’t the brass to do what’s needed.’ Bill sighed.
‘What is it, then? Is there nothing we can do?’ Dorothy asked with concern, thinking that she and her family were living in a hovel already, without it collapsing around their heads.
‘My grandfather used to say there was underground workings around here – coal or copper, or something of the sort. He always told my father that he’d made a bad buy when he bought this row of houses and the flay-pits. I think his words are coming true and it’s subsidence that’s causing these cracks. The row is sinking, Dorothy, and there’s nowt me and you can do about it. The houses are buggered, but the flay-pits will be alright.’ Bill shook his head and looked at the worry on his wife’s face. ‘We’ll have to move, and the fellas that rent from us will either have to move out or stay until their house falls around them. It might be years or it might be months, but we’d better look for somewhere else as fast as we can. But with not a lot of brass in the bank, we’ll have to rent, and it will have to be nearby.’
‘Oh Lord, Bill – that’ll mean no rent money coming in, and us paying rent to someone else for the first time ever. There’s little enough money to go
