Love & Sorrow by Jenny Telfer Chaplin Read Free Book Online Page A

up!
Yes, I’ll marry you.”
    Petronella, who must have had her ear pressed to the
door, erupted in. “Meg! Congratulations. This calls for something a little more
than tea, I think. Would you get the good sherry glasses from the dining room,
Meg, and I’ll fetch the decanter.”

 
    At her next visit to Nellie, Meg eventually scraped up
enough courage to ask the question that had been troubling her.
    Nellie listened to Meg’s hesitant and circuitous
preamble for a time then said: “Are ye tryin tae tell me yer thinkin o gettin
married? That wid certainly be news tae me.”
    “No … it’s just that … well … there is a chap who seems
to be rather keen on me and … well … yes … he has asked me … but the thing is …
if I did get married, would my husband know on the wedding night … I mean …”
    Nellie roared with laughter. “Aw right, ye neednae
spell it oot for me. Onywey, who’s the lucky man?”
    Meg, relieved that Nellie obviously did not require any
further intimate details, rushed on: “He sits near me in church – it’s Jack
Dunn –”
    Nellie’s eyes opened wide in amazement. “Ye mean the
son o auld Dragon Dunn? Oh, my God, he must be feeling his oats if he’s darin
tae look at ony woman, especially if his auld witch o a mither’s in tow.”
    Meg had no answer to this and waited for Nellie to go
on.
    “Mind you, Meg, come tae think on it, leavin his mither
aside, Jack Dunn would suit ye fine … him no bein experienced wi wimen like.”
    Meg held out a restraining hand.
    Nellie grinned. “Listen, hen, Jack Dunn would be ideal
husband material for ye. So jist ye gae ahead. A real do-gooder Ah hear, so
come the weddin night if he did think awthin amiss … ye could aye say ye’d done
ower much bicyclin.”
    Nellie gave a coarse laugh. “At the end o the day it’s
jist ye and me that kens the word for whit ye done – and it’s naethin tae dae
wi time spent cyclin.”

 
    ***

 
 
 
    Chapter 16

 
    February 1903

 
    Now that Meg was married to Jack there wasn’t a day
that she didn’t count her blessings. Her days of going to work in the
haberdashery were finally behind her. At first she had worried about being able
to pay Nellie, but Jack had been used to turning over his pay packet to his
mother and handed it to Meg to deal with the household accounts. The weekly
amounts to Nellie Meg could afford by being careful with her housekeeping and
Jack was none the wiser. Even though she enjoyed being a housewife, Meg had to
admit to herself, when the hated chore of ironing awaited her attention she was
the first to invent an excuse to skive off and get as far away as possible from
the mountain of crumpled clothes.
    She hummed quietly to herself as she dusted round the
living room, impatiently stowed away a bundle of darning, and plotted her
escape for the rest of the day. After toying with, then dismissing, the idea of
paying another visit to Nellie and Becky she finally settled on a visit to her
church friend Anna Weir.
    Yes, the very idea. It’s been a while since I visited
Anna. I’ll pop over there this afternoon.
    As she set out on her way through the city streets the
sky was overcast and the first spots of rain were already gaining strength. By
the time she reached Anna’s home in Rutherglen Meg was soaked. Anna took one
look at Meg when she answered the bell and burst out laughing.
    “Meg, it’s yourself. Well, dear, I would say that
you’re a sight for sore eyes – but the truth is you look like nothing other
than a drowned rat. Come away in, into the warm.”
    They giggled like a pair of schoolgirls. Seated by the
kitchen fire Meg said: “You know, I’ve always said that January was my most
hated month, but this February with this downpour … words fail me.”
    “You know you’re more than welcome, of course, any
time, but what on earth possessed you to come out on such a day?”
    Meg gave a sheepish grin. “Apart from avoiding some
household chores, I