A Woman Undefeated (10 page)

She gazed at the waiting bailiff despondently, watching him sitting glum faced on his horse as he surveyed the scene. Tentatively she smiled at him, though her cheeks began to redden when he nodded back at her. She forced herself instead to listen, as Alice began firmly to try and get her way.

“No, Jack, not the quarry. I’m not having you mixing with tough, wild men and starting up your old ways again. You’ve a wife to think of now and one day a family. You’ll do as yer told and try for that farming job, or you and I won’t be speakin’, do yer hear?”

Alice lowered her voice, as it became apparent that the other settlers had stopped their discussions to listen. Michael leant over and caressed his wife’s hand. The family went back to talking in muted tones and Maggie lost interest again.

The next outburst came from the Tierneys. Jimmy had decided that he wanted to try for the pot man’s job, as he saw his chance of getting away from his domineering mam. His mother was quick to realize that she would lose her son’s wage and shoved Jimmy’s father, because he wasn’t insisting that the boy should stay with them. The father shoved his wife and then Brendan, one of the younger boys, attacked Jimmy, who he saw was the cause of all the palaver. The rest of the children began to howl, until the bailiff got down from his horse and bellowed for them all to be silent. He listened crossly, as the Tierney mother pleaded to her son that he should leave for Liverpool with them.

“Now listen you lot,” the bailiff growled, as he faced the indignant parents and an adamant Jimmy.

“I’m going to act like Solomon. If the lad wants to stay, he’ll be treated alright at the Brown Horse.

The landlord is a friend of mine and I’ll keep an eye on him. If the rest of you are going to stay, I can fix it with the foreman at the coal mine. Lasses as well, they can be of help at the coal face too. Now, come on, I want your decisions as soon as possible. His Worship has gone to a lot of trouble on your behalf, so make your
minds up and let’s have your presence off the shore.”

He glared down at the scared looking children and peace reigned amongst them once more.

He then walked over to Michael. Had a decision been made as to where this family was going to go? He had been surprised to learn earlier, as he had taken down the family name, that Maggie was married to the eldest son. He had assumed that she was a daughter and, hearing from Alice that the girl was sixteen, had shaken his head sadly. The bailiff too had a daughter the same age, and she was far too young to wed.

He seemed pleased to hear that Michael and Seamus were planning to use the boat to earn their living, and told them helpfully that there was plenty of plaice, flukes, dabs and sole to be caught from the estuary. There was a ready market locally or at Chester or even Liverpool, if they wanted to travel that far, though he didn’t envy their choice of making a living. Now that winter was on the horizon, many a storm blew up the estuary, fuelled by the winds from the Irish Sea.

Alice said she might go along to the mayor’s house. It would be regular money if the fishing was poor, as they would need to find a place to rent. They couldn’t stay here at Denna Point forever. Maggie held her breath, waiting to hear what Jack’s decision would be. Was he going to try for work at the quarry and would they need to rent a place too?

Jack asked the bailiff for directions to the farm. He was told it was a mile up a nearby country lane and he could go up anytime. Maggie was left to sit with Alice. Nobody asked what she would like to do and as the bailiff had said the farmer was wanting a labourer, not a couple, it was decided that Jack should go alone and not with a wife in tow.

Michael and Seamus went off to examine the hull of their fishing boat, to see if the extremities of the journey had weakened the vessel in anyway. Maggie listened half-heartedly to Alice as she excitedly prattled on. Did she care if her mother-in-law became a daily help at the manor or the wife of a fisherman?

Soon the settlement became a hive of activity as the O’ Flynns’ prepared to leave. O’Flynn having decided to ignore the mayor’s choices and seek a life on “the tramp”, hiring himself out on a daily basis, to anyone who needed a labouring man. Maggie thought that his choice would suit him. He looked as if more than a day’s work would kill him and felt sorry for his wife and three small children, who were being dragged along with him. Their departure left the O’ Hara’s and the Tierney’s, who sat around aimlessly, after Jimmy and the bailiff had set off up the Neston road.

She turned quickly, as Alice prodded her in the back in an effort to gain her attention.

“Well Maggie, isn’t this grand? Glory be, we’re lucky to have arrived when we did. Everybody settling to something and such a lovely place we’ve come to and it won’t be long before we’re nice and comfy in a little cottage somewhere. Did you see those neat whitewashed places as we passed that big village down the river? One of them would suit me nicely, so it would. It may be big enough to take in a lodger as well!”

Maggie nodded glumly. Not a word had been said by Alice to encourage or comfort her. It was all about herself. How could Alice forget so quickly that she had left her mother and sister in such a distressing way? Could she not see that her feelings were bruised and that she was incapable of sharing her excitement? Her only wish was to be back in Killala, with her parents alive and with Molly and Bernie and the potatoes growing in profusion on their little bit of land.

She looked at the older woman’s round, flushed face, which was beaming with happiness. It was all right if you were Alice Haines, who hadn’t had to suffer badly like the wife of a cottier had. She and Michael had always been better off, with him working directly for the gentry, while her family had been subject to the vagaries of the land. Maggie felt like screaming and violently slapping the smile off this person, who had contributed so much to her misery, and if she had to sit at her side much longer, then that would be what she would do.

“Hey up, look what we’ve got,” cried Seamus proudly, as the boy and his father appeared from beyond the sea wall, just as Maggie began again to fall into despair. He flung the still flapping fish onto the ground near his mother, who hastily poked at the embers of the dying fire.

Then, seeing Jack had appeared in the distance, Seamus ran over to meet him, grinning happily from ear to ear.

“Did you get taken on big brother? Did the farmer say he would take you on?”

“Whoa there, young-’un,” Jack said breathlessly, having run back to the settlement, so eager was he to share his news. “Aye, he’s taken me on and Maggie as well. Though he won’t pay me any wages fer her, though they’ll be gettin’ an extra pair of hands.”

The two brothers walked back to join their family, who were waiting to hear what Jack had to say.

“The wife said I was to go back to the farm with you, Maggie. You’re to be looked over by her. I told her that you had worked at a farm in Ireland and if we’re taken on, there’s a cottage as well.”

Jack threw himself down beside Maggie, panting with exhaustion if he had run a mile. He kissed her cheek with exuberance and waited for her to ask him more. She looked at him dully, without betraying the annoyance she had begun to feel. So, she was about to be looked over. Like a thoroughbred horse or a prize winning cow. Would they check her teeth, look in her ears, test her limbs for quick reactions? God give her strength, or she would run from this nightmare yelling and screaming, because Jack was another who couldn’t give a damn for her feelings at all. She listened to his boasting, as he turned away to look for admiration from his parents and envy from the immigrants who had not yet gone.

“Come on Maggie, let’s get our things together and be off. I want us to be settled by night time if we can.”

Jack became impatient once his bragging was done, feeling no need to tell the others of the lies he’d had to tell. The farmer had been reluctant to take an Irish on, lumping Jack with the thieves who had helped themselves to a chicken or two. Jack had replied that he himself was an honest, hardworking man, who had worked his own farm as a tenant, but had fallen on hard times. All he now wanted was a chance to work on the land again and was hoping to do so at this fine and prosperous farm. He embroidered the truth. Well, they had grown vegetables on their small piece of land, and how hard could it be to milk a cow or clean out a stable? He’d probably be mending walls and clearing ditches anyway. It would be the sort of heavy work that the farmer was loathe to do and if it came to anything else he could ask his mother. Alice had spent her childhood living on a farm. Jack had gone all out to try to impress the man, even offering his strong young wife as unpaid labour. How could the farmer refuse the chance of an extra pair of hands? Jack, though, was now feeling anxious and he urged Maggie to hurry along. He would fill her in on what to say on the way back to the farm.

Before they left, Alice told Jack to leave any possessions and he could collect them later.

“It makes sense, rather than carrying them around with you,” she said craftily. “Then we’ll have reason to come up to see yer.
We could help yer settle in, couldn’t we, Michael? And yer never know, the cottage might be big enough for all of us fer a day or two. And Maggie I’ve taken a liking to this old, but comfy mattress. Yer won’t need it where you’re going, yer know. The cottage will probably be furnished with a palliasse for you and Jack to sleep on, so I’ll keep this for meself, to be sure. A bit of comfort now I’m getting a bit old in the bones.”

An angry buzzing began to develop in Maggie’s head, as she pushed Alice off the mattress and dragged it fiercely to her, shouting like a woman possessed.

“No, yer old besom, this is the one thing yer are not takin’ from me. Yer’ve taken me freedom, parted me from me sister and brought me to a country that I’d rather not be in. I got this from the Filbey’s as a comfort fer me dying mammy, God rest her soul. It wasn’t meant fer you to lie on, yer big fat lump!”

She tailed off as she saw the astonished faces around her. This had been just the trigger to let it all go. Alice’s face was a picture, whilst all around there was silence, as if everyone had turned into stone. Then Maggie began to weep with anguish as she realised what she’d done, sinking down to the ground with a groan of despair.

“Well,” Alice began, standing over Maggie, menacingly, with her arms folded across her ample frame.

“Well, I’ve never been spoken to like that in all me life. Yer want a good slapping, yer nasty little bitch. After all we’ve done for yer. Rescued yer from a life of poverty, given yer our good name and brought yer to a fine and prosperous country. Get her out of me sight, Jack, before she finds out what a good smack in the face feels like. And youse lot over there, get about yer business and keep out of mine.”

Strangely, Jack didn’t shout or even raise his voice to Maggie. He just scooped her up in his big strong arms, leaving Alice and the cause of their acrimony behind, and carried her across the field without a backward glance. Setting her down at the beginning of the lane, he continued to walk as if nothing untoward had happened.

If Maggie felt nervous in his company, she was astounded at
his attitude. She waited for an angry outburst and trembled inside at the thought of what was to come. She decided to be penitent and began to say how ashamed she felt and sorry she was for shouting, then was amazed when he turned to her, with a hint of amusement in his pale blue eyes.

“That’s what I’ve always liked about yer, Maggie, me darling. The way yer stand up to folk and then hit them right between the eyes. Me mother had it coming. She’s never stopped fer a moment to think of how you must be feeling and neither have I when I come to think of it. I’m sorry Maggie, all I wanted was fer yer to come away with us. I couldn’t have beared it to have left yerself behind.”

Maggie was dumbstruck at his apology and even more so when Jack leant over and kissed her on the cheek. She had never known he had this depth of feeling, to make him scheme like he had.

She looked at him blankly, her mind warring with hate and admiration. He had torn her away from everything she held so dear to her, but she admired him too for following his heart.

She said the first thing that came out of her mouth, not sure how to handle his ardent declaration.

“She shouldn’t have said she was keeping that mattress, Jack. It’s mine, so it is, and she knew it. I brought it all the way from the farm for it to be a comfort for me mammy.”

“I’ll get it later if it means so much to you and when we’ve struck it rich and can afford it, we’ll send to yer Aunt Tess and bring Molly over too.”

He took Maggie’s hand and they walked along the tree-lined lane that led to the farmhouse. The fields on either side, bounded by abundant hedgerows, lay ready for ploughing, harvest being over now and the hay stooks gathered in. Flocks of seagulls circled overhead, looking for last minute gleanings in the leftover stubble, while a couple of red squirrels darted up a tree trunk carrying acorn nuts, gathered in anticipation of their hibernation ahead. A field mouse scurried across their path and a bright eyed robin watched from a bough.