Anne Bennett 3-Book Collection: A Sister’s Promise, A Daughter’s Secret, A Mother’s Spirit. Anne Bennett

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ gave a shiver. ‘Poor thing,’ she said. ‘I had three and a half hours of it and that was enough.’

      ‘I bet,’ Cathy said with feeling. ‘Well, this now is the station. The roof looks bigger than the building. And I know where you get the tickets, because I came to see my sisters off.’ She led the way to a two-storeyed, flat-roofed building housing the ticket office, adjoining the main body of the station, and then past that and on to the platform. Molly followed and looked about her with interest. She tried to imagine the time when she would board a train from there to take her home.

      ‘What’s that mass of green in front?’ she asked Cathy.

      ‘The golf course.’

      ‘Golly, don’t they lose their golf balls in the water ever?’ Molly asked, because she could see the glistening waters of the Swilly just beyond the course.

      Cathy smiled. ‘Probably lots of times.’

      ‘And what’s beyond that on the other side of the Lough?’

      ‘Rathmullen,’ Cathy said, pointing. ‘And just a bit further up, Glenvar. Come on now,’ she urged. ‘I want to show you the harbour where the fishing boats come in.’

      Molly was impressed by the harbour and all the fishing vessels vying for space at the dockside, and she was charmed by the Lough, which she thought was just as good as the stories she had heard about the seaside because, just along from the harbour, she could plainly see large rocks and sandy beaches.

      Cathy hailed two friends, Bernadette McCauley and Maeve Gilligan, whom Molly had met at Mass. Then Cathy pointed out the diving board and chute on the far side of the Lough. ‘My brothers learned to swim there,’ she said. ‘Most boys did, but of course we girls were forbidden to go near.’

      ‘Why?’

      ‘Well, some boys swam with no clothes on,’ Cathy said. ‘Not my brothers – Mammy wouldn’t let them – but some, and that is not a sight I would like to see.’

      ‘Oh, I don’t know,’ murmured Bernadette. ‘That surely would depend on the boy.’

      ‘Bernadette McCauley,’ exclaimed Cathy and Maeve together.

      Cathy went on, ‘Confession for you, my girl. Impure thoughts and all.’

      Bernadette just laughed. ‘I am telling no priest the thoughts that pop up in my head,’ she declared. ‘The poor man couldn’t stand the excitement. God, I’m sure his hair would stand on end.’

      The girls exploded with laughter at the image conjured up, and then suddenly Cathy noticed how low the sun was. She said to Molly, ‘We’d best get on if you want to see Swan Park, for your uncle will be waiting for you,’ and with a wave to the other two girls, she led the way.

      ‘This sort of goes back the way we came,’ Cathy said. And we will go a little bit along here to show you and then make for home. All right?’

      ‘You bet.’

      ‘We have to go across Castle Bridge, which you can see in front of you now. It spans the Crana River where the town got its name from.’

      ‘And what’s that wall on the other side of it?’

      ‘Part of the grounds of the castle, which you will see once you are on the bridge.’

      As they stepped off the bridge, to the side was a crumbling tower, which Cathy said was called O’Dohery’s Keep, dating back to the Middle Ages, but the building that Cathy had referred to as a castle was just a three-storeyed, slate-roofed house. It was made of brick and had a protruding wing on either end of it. Wide steps led up to the front door with ornamental railings either side, but it still wasn’t Molly’s idea of a castle.

      ‘Well, I know,’ Cathy said. ‘Not officially, it isn’t. I meant it was only built in seventeen something, but it’s a sort of custom in Ireland to call large houses castles. Now, if we take this pathway through here, then we can get to the Swilly and there is a walkway that we can take.’

      The path was overhung with trees, heavy with leaves and blossom, and the hedgerows alive with flowers. Molly felt very much at peace with the world as she followed behind her new friend. And then the Lough was before them, shimmering like gold in the waning sun.

      ‘Let’s see if we can get as far as the fort before we turn back,’ Cathy suggested. ‘We can do it if we put a spurt on.’

      They hurried on, greeting those they met, but not stopping to chat, and in no time at all they had passed the boathouse where the lifeboat was kept, and then the fort.

      ‘Built in Napoleonic times,’ Cathy said as they surveyed the massive structure. But they had no time to linger, for the sun had sunk lower still. They retraced their steps and were soon on Main Street again.

      ‘Plenty of pubs along here,’ Cathy said as they climbed the hill, ‘and they have all been here as long as I can remember, so they obviously do good enough trade, but then,’ she said, wrinkling her nose, ‘as Mammy said, any number of pubs would do good trade in Ireland, the only business where you would be sure to make money.’ And then she laughed and said, ‘Daddy goes to the pub sometimes – Grant’s Bar usually – and he says he goes not as often as he would like, yet far too often in my mother’s opinion.’

      ‘Do they argue over it?’

      ‘No,’ Cathy said with a smile. ‘It’s just an ongoing theme, you know? Anyway, here we are home again and I hope your uncle isn’t cross if he has had to wait ages.’

      ‘Oh, Uncle Tom won’t be cross,’ Molly said with confidence. ‘He never is.’

      Tom and Jack were sitting chatting and drinking deeply of the malt whiskey that Jack had produced. Molly had never seen her uncle drink anything but tea, water or buttermilk before. She had thought maybe he didn’t care for alcohol and she asked him about it as they walked back together.

      ‘Oh, I suppose I like a beer as well as the next man, and I love a drop of whiskey now and then,’ Tom said after a minute or two’s thought. ‘But it all costs money, and apart from that, when I have done a full day’s work, I am not up to trudging over to Buncrana, especially when I have to get up early for the milking. Sunday is the one day when I take things easier. What about you? What sort of a day have you had?’

      ‘Wonderful,’ Molly said, and even in the dusk, Tom saw a light behind Molly’s eyes that he had never seen before and he vowed he would do all in his power to keep it there at least once a week. ‘I really like Cathy,’ Molly told her uncle, ‘and I wish I had been let go to school.’

      ‘So do I,’ Tom said. ‘And Mammy would be in big trouble if the authorities got to hear about it. I can’t do anything about that, but you can still be friends with Cathy. How would you like to go to the McEvoys’ for tea next Sunday too?’

      ‘I would love it if I am asked, but your mother—’

      ‘Leave my mother to me,’ Tom said. ‘Nellie and Jack said you are welcome every Sunday evening. You made quite an impression, and I will come over to fetch you home.’

      ‘There is no need,’ Molly said.

      ‘There’s СКАЧАТЬ