New Doctor at Northmoor by Anne Durham Page B

knuckles for speaking out of turn, and her ladyship didn ’ t care for it. And now he ’ s got the job your brother wanted, her ladyship has discovered some sisterly love for young Laurence which will let her hate Dr. Bayfield a mite more. ’
    Gwenny giggled, briefly, at the thought of Priscilla discovering sisterly love for Laurence. Those two had scrapped with depressing regularity ever since Gwenny could remember.
    ‘ I wish Mummy could be more jolly and less wrought up over those committees of hers, ’ Gwenny sighed. ‘ It ’ s all rather uncomfortable. ’
    ‘ Yes, well, she ’ s at a funny age, ’ the old woman said sagely. ‘ It ’ ll all work out, my lamb, I ’ m sure. Now I ’ ve got other things to tell you. I have to tell you while they ’ re in my mind because I shan ’ t be coming much to see you, seeing as I don ’ t go out overmuch. ’
    ‘ Who ’ s looking after your cottage ?’ Gwenny asked, at once alarmed. She couldn ’ t remember the cottage having been left empty before, now she came to think of it.
    ‘ That Clem said he ’ d stay there. Leastways, he nodded when I told him he ’ d better look after it for me. I ’ d best not stay away too long. He ’ s such a fool. I left him poking about in that engine of his—any one ’ d think there was something wrong with it, the way he ’ s always wiping it here and poking at it there. ’
    ‘ He loves it, ’ Gwenny said, with a small smile. ‘ It ’ s all he ’ s got to love, isn ’ t it? Funny, how we have to have someone or something to love? You and your cottage, and Clem and his van: Mrs. Taylor and her cat, and that poor old man at Church Terrace, with his birds. ’
    ‘ You and those folk in the village, ’ Mrs. Yeedon scolded; ‘ I wonder your father allows you to go poking around Church Terrace. They ’ re mighty poor holes, when all ’ s said and done, and the folk there could do with a good scrub ‘
    ‘ Oh, that ’ s not so, ’ Gwenny protested.
    ‘ —and they ’ ve got bad drains, ’ Mrs. Yeedon added for good measure.
    ‘ You haven ’ t got any drains at all, ’ Gwenny pointed out reasonably.
    ‘ No, that I haven ’ t, but I ’ ve got what I have at the bottom of my garden where it should be, a comfortable way from where a body lives, and it ’ s clean and well attended to, and I don ’ t live shoulder to shoulder with a lot of other bodies, and no long gardens to separate it from the house, so don ’ t you talk, miss! Ah, there now, I didn ’ t mean to scold you, ill as you are, but you wor r y me so, the things you do and the company you keep. That old man with his horrible birds—what was his name, now? ’
    ‘ I never knew it. They call him Jock, ’ Gwenny said. ‘ And they ’ re very interesting birds. His son brought them home as presents when he came off his ship, and now his son has died, and these birds are all he has. And he ’ s training one of them to talk. ’
    Horrible, ’ Mrs. Yeedon said wrathfully. ‘ Against nature. ’
    Gwenny considered her, Mrs. Yeedon lived as close to nature as could be imagined, but when it came to criticizing other people, that was different.
    Mrs. Taylor ’ s cats are interesting, too, ’ Gwenny said. ‘ I wish they ’ d have let me keep cats at home—and kittens. I adore kittens. But Mother always said—’
    ‘ I never knew a doctor ’ s house with a lot of animals prowling around, ’ Mrs. Yeedon said roundly. ‘ Wouldn ’ t be right. Now, my lamb, I ’ ve brought you some honey from my own bees, and some crab-apple jelly which I made myself from a secret recipe, and if I can ’ t come again, I ’ ll get that Clem to bring you in a few things. ’ Gwenny did seem brighter after the old woman had gone, Mark Bayfield considered. There was a mischievous glint in her eyes as she said, ‘ Sister took all Granny Yeedon ’ s things away. I think Sister believes she ’ s a witch. ’
    Mark Bayfield ’ s lips twitched. ‘ A good many