CATHERINE COOKSON

Chap 4

When a few minutes later the cottage door burst open it was as if a fresh wind had Suddenly blown into the room. Tilly Trotter was tall for her age, being now five foot and a half inches. She was wearing a faded cotton dress and it hung straight from her shoulders to the uppers of her thick boots, and nowhere was there an undulation. Her neck was long and tinted brown with wind and weather, as was her face; yet here there was a flush of pink to the tint on her high cheekbones. Her eyes, now bright and laughing, looked as if they had taken up the colour of her skin, the only difference being that the brown of her skin was matt while the brown of her eyes was clear and deep. Her hair was dark, darker and brown and thick, and it should at her age have been either piled high on top of her head or in a decorous knot at the back, but it was hanging in two long plaits tied at the back of her neck with what at at one time had been a piece of blue ribbon and joined at the ends with a similar piece. Her mouth, full-lipped, was now with welcome as she grabbed breathlessly. 'Hello, Simon.' Then without pause she said,' Why didn't you come and rescue me? Do you know who I've just been accosted by, an' that's the word, accosted, which means waylaid?' She now nodded towards the bed. 'That Hal McGrath's been at me again. You'd never guess, not in a month of Sundays, what he's just asked.' She now dropped with a flop on to a wooden chair by the side of the long bare wooden table that was placed in the middle of the room; then leaning her head back on her shoulders, she looked up towards the low ceiling and pulled her nose down as if in an effort to meet her chin before she brought out, 'He wants to court me m. Him, Hal McGrath! And you know i told him?' She rolled her eyes from one to the other. 'I told him I'd sooner walk out with one of Tillson's pigs. I did! I did!' She was now laughing loudly.

'Court you!' Sitting straight up in the bed and his voice a loud growl now, William repeated, 'Court you!''

'Yes, Granda, That's what he said. He wanted to court me cause he thought-' The laughter slid from her face, her voice dropped as she lowered her chin on her chest, and she ended shyly, 'He Said I. . . I was ready for it. . . courtin'.'

'That bloody gormless clot!'

Annie was now bending over the bed pressing her husband down into the pillows, saying soothingly, 'There now! There now! Don't frash yourself. Didn't you hear what she said? She'd sooner walk out with one of Tillson's pigs. There now. There now. Settle down, settle down.'

Simon now stood pulling on his coat; his face was set and stiff, and when he fastened the last button he looked down on Tilly where she was still sitting at the table, her hands clasped on it in front of her now, and he said, 'keep clear of him, Tilly.'

She looked back at him and, her voice as sober as his, she said, ‘Oh, i keep clear of him, Simon, i dodge him him whenever i can, but he's been round here a lot lately-"

Annie's voice cut in on her now, saying, ’Go and get me some water, we're nearly run dry.'

Tilly got up immediately from the table but stopped in front of Simon and said, 'Ta-rah, Simon,' and he answered, 'Ta-rah, Tilly'; then moving his head to take in both the old man and woman he brought out of an embarrassed laugh, 'i came over with me news today but here i am on the point of going and never spilled it. . . I'm going to be married.'

‘Married? No!' Annie moved two steps towards him, then stopped; William sat up in the bed again but said nothing; and Tilly looked up into his face and after a moment asked quietly,'Who you marryin‘ , Simon?

'Mary. . . . Mary Forster. You wouldn't know her, she's not from this part, she's from over beyond feeling way.'

'So far away from your farm!' it was Annie speaking again, and he turned his head to her and said, 'Oh, it's only five miles or so and you know what they say, a warm heart and a galloping horse can jump that.'

'When is it gona be, Simon?'

He was again looking at Tilly.' We're calling the banns next Sunday, ' he said.

'Oh!' She nodded her head and smiled faintly, and there was silence in the room until he broke it with a laugh, and his voice was loud now as he bent towards her, saying,' And you can come and dance at my wedding, Simon.'

'But don't bring the parson's wife with you. 'He had spoken in a mock whisper and he shot his glance towards the two old people before letting his eyes rest on her again; and she too glanced sharply towards her grandparents before she said soberly, 'Don't say nothing about that, will you, Simon, because the reverend doesn't like her to dance, i mean Mrs Ross.'

'Oh, your secret‘s safe with me.‘ he had bent forward until his laughing face was on a level with hers, but as looked into her eyes the smile slid from it, and when he straightened up his voice was hearty and loud once more as he

'But don't bring the parson's wife with you. 'He had spoken in a mock whisper and he shot his glance towards the two old people before letting his eyes rest on her again; and she too glanced sharply towards her grandparents before she said soberly, 'Don't say nothing about that, will you, Simon, because the reverend doesn't like her to dance, i mean Mrs Ross.'

'Oh, your secret‘s safe with me.‘ he had bent forward until his laughing face was on a level with hers, but as looked into her eyes the smile slid from it, and when he straightened up his voice was hearty and loud once more as he