Wait For the Dawn by Jess Foley Read Free Book Online

The cook has her own bedroom, but I have to make do with a little shelf in the kitchen under the dresser. I have to put down a little pallet every night, which I get from the outhouse, and stretch out there. It’s so hard and uncomfortable. Then there are the times when Mr Lucas decides not to go to bed at a decent time, but comes to the kitchen and sits in front of the range – it being the warmest place in the house at the time. Which means I can’t go to bed. I can be as tired as anything, but I have to stay up. I have to sit on a hard chair in the cold scullery, just waiting for him to finish reading his papers and go off upstairs. Sometimes he’s there until the early hours – which means I get hardly any sleep.’
    ‘Oh, that’s unfair,’ Lydia said. ‘You poor thing.’
    ‘And another thing,’ Ryllis said. ‘My going on errands to the farm up the road, maybe to get extra cream or milk or anything else they need. I hate it, because when they’re in a hurry for whatever it is I always have to take the shortcutand go through the field where the cows are grazing.’
    ‘Cows are generally harmless creatures,’ Mrs Halley said. ‘I shouldn’t think they’d be any danger to you.’
    ‘It’s not just the cows,’ Ryllis said. ‘Sometimes they let loose the old bull, and he’s that protective of his herd. He’s come at me a few times, and I’ve had the devil’s own job to get away in time – and trying to run while carrying a full can of milk isn’t the easiest thing, I can tell you. He doesn’t like me, that old bull. Well, I don’t like him either.’
    ‘But do you have to go through the cow pasture?’ Mrs Halley said. ‘Can’t you go around, by the road?’
    ‘Oh, I could, but that’s such a long way. It takes forever to go by the lane, and I haven’t usually got the time. Mrs Lucas wants her cream or butter when she wants it. She doesn’t want to wait an hour. No, there’s nothing for it but to go through the cow field. Still –’ she laid a hand flat on the newspaper before her, ‘if I find another job soon I can say goodbye to all that.’

Chapter Three
    Mr Halley came in just after six, finding Ryllis helping her mother and sister in the kitchen. As he came in, Ryllis turned to him and said, ‘Hello, Father – I’m home.’
    He nodded, a grave half smile touching his mouth. ‘Ah, so I see, girl. And are you well?’
    ‘Yes, quite well, thank you.’
    ‘Good. And let’s hope you enjoy your weekend at home.’
    At this Mrs Halley said, ‘Yes, my dear, you enjoy it. I don’t doubt you’ve earned it well enough.’
    ‘Well,’ Mr Halley said shortly, ‘I think Mr and Mrs Lucas might be the best judge of that, so that question’ll have to go unanswered.’ He took off his hat and sat down in his chair at the side of the range. Obviously he was not in the best of moods.
    ‘How did you get on at Pershall Dean?’ Mrs Halley asked tentatively.
    ‘How did I get on?’ He spoke through gritted teeth. ‘I didn’t get on at all. I’ve got to go back. I walked all the way over there to see that booby Winsford about the prayer meeting in the community hall on Monday night, only to find he’s not there, and his wife had no notion of when he’s coming back. I stayed nearly an hour for him and he didn’t show. In the end I just got sick of waiting. All that time wasted, and now it means I’ve got to go back. Thank heaven there’s a moon.’ He shook his head in disgust. ‘Some people are completely unreliable.’ He sat there with his lips working, the anger evident in the line of his mouth.
    ‘I’ll get you something to eat,’ Mrs Halley said, ‘and make you some fresh tea.’
    With Ryllis’s help, Mrs Halley set about preparing some dishes of food. As they busied themselves, Lydia said, ‘I got your collars, Father. I put them up in your room. I got the lamp too.’
    ‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘So, the lamp’s been repaired, has it? Might as well have a look at