Another Man’s Child. Anne Bennett

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СКАЧАТЬ we let Celia marry this hireling man if she is so set on it and help them out with money and all till they’re on their feet?’

      ‘Oh so you would throw your daughter away like that, would you?’ Dan sneered contemptuously. ‘The man is a hired help and that’s all he will ever be. He will never be able to provide for Celia properly and I will be the laughing stock of the place, letting her throw her life away on the likes of him.’

      Peggy thought she would rather suffer the ridicule of the townsfolk than kiss Celia goodbye knowing she would never see her again. But she saw with a sinking heart that Dan’s mind was made up and she was used to giving way to him for it was the only thing to do and so when he said, ‘I want you to write directly to Maria and ask her to send the ticket as speedily as possible,’ she nodded her head and turned away so that he shouldn’t see her tears.

      The next morning Norah saw the letter addressed to her Aunt Maria in her mother’s hand and her heart sang for joy because she knew it was to ask her to send the ticket to America, where her life would really begin. Celia didn’t see the letter sent and did wonder what her father was going to do to her for he wasn’t one to let anything drop.

      Walking to Mass, Celia was flanked between her parents and neither spoke a word to her. She was allowed to speak to no one at all, either before or after Mass, and though she was aware of Andy McCadden sitting across the aisle, next to Mr and Mrs Fitzgerald, she kept her head lowered.

      Andy had seen Celia’s white face though and her saddened eyes, but didn’t know if there was any way of easing the situation for her and for the first time he wondered if it would be better to leave as her father asked him to. He didn’t want the money and the only reason he would consider leaving was if it would make life easier for Celia. It would hurt like hell, but it was obvious she wouldn’t be allowed to even acknowledge him and he could only guess what the situation was like at home. Maybe he should just take off and that might at least give her a chance to find some other man that her irascible father might accept more readily. However, just the thought of leaving and settling someplace else and never seeing Celia again caused his heart to miss a beat and his stomach to give a sickening lurch. He told himself firmly he hadn’t to think of himself but Celia; he had to give her the chance of a future of sorts and he imagined his heart would mend in time.

      Dermot watched Andy McCadden’s face and wondered what he was still doing there, for he thought he’d be well gone. He concluded in the end that he probably hadn’t wanted to leave Dinny Fitzgerald in the lurch and so had agreed to stay on for a while until he got someone else. Still, he would be gone soon, he thought with relief, and life would return to normal and his father would not be going round constantly like a bear with a very sore head.

      There was no conversation as Dan marched his wife and daughter home that morning and an almost silent breakfast was over before he said, ‘You will wash up now with Norah and then you will be locked in your room until dinner. No one will fetch and carry for you so you can come down for meals and help Norah to clear away afterwards, but that is all. The rest of the time you will be locked in your room.’

      Norah looked at her sister’s stricken face and shot her a look of sympathy as Celia faced her father and said, ‘How long for? You can’t keep me locked up for ever.’

      Dan gave a growl of anger. ‘Don’t you tell me what I can and can’t do,’ he said. ‘You’ll push me too far, my girl. I’m angry enough at the moment to give you the whipping you deserve and if you annoy me further I might do just that.’

      Looking at her father’s face, Celia knew he meant every word and thought it best to keep quiet – for now.

      The worst thing about being incarcerated was the boredom. Peggy brought her work box up on Monday morning and a pile of mending and said she might as well make herself useful. Celia wouldn’t have minded any amount of mending if she’d had company, but they’d all been forbidden to talk to her and that more than anything drained her spirit. After nearly a week of this she was a changed person. She had no hope for the future and as one day followed another she lost all interest in life outside her room, and although she could see spring, her favourite season, unfolding in the farm beyond her windows, it seemed to have nothing to do with her.

      She lost any interest in food for she found it hard to eat. Family meals were conducted almost in silence for even Ellie and Sammy, both picking up the atmosphere, seemed constrained and didn’t chatter as they used to; any conversation attempt seemed awkward and strained. Celia would feel her parents’ reproach that lay heavy on her heart. Her father’s every remark to her was delivered in a cold, curt way and although her mother’s voice was softer, her sighs and the sorrowful look in her eyes made Celia feel guilty for she knew she had caused her mother to be so sad. Norah felt immensely sorry for her sister for she hated to see her suffer so and knew she would be glad when the ticket arrived and she was on her way. Every time she thought of that frissons of excitement ran down her spine, which she tried to hide from Celia, for no such thrilling future was beckoning her.

      Dan had decided that he and Tom would collar McCadden on his way to the dance on Saturday and teach him a lesson and so Tom headed up to Sinead’s house on Friday evening as he doubted he would be seeing her on Saturday. It was much later, as he was on his way back, that he met Joseph O’Leary, also making for his home, and he saw straight away that the man had had a skinful, a state he had got into a number of times since Norah had told him she was definitely going to America.

      Joseph greeted Tom, lifting his hand in a wave so that he overbalanced and would have fallen if Tom hadn’t caught him. ‘Here, man, you need to steady up.’

      Joseph’s voice was thick and slightly slurred. ‘Why?’ he said belligerently. ‘Nothing to steady up for.’

      ‘Norah’s not the only pretty girl around.’

      ‘She’s the only one I want,’ Joseph maintained. ‘Would you have me settle for second best?’

      Tom didn’t answer for there was nothing for him to say, but he felt guilty that his sister’s callous treatment of this man had reduced him to a sot for they were friends, despite the differences in their ages. So when he added, ‘Every day that passes is one more day nearer the time that Norah will board that ship and sail away and I will never see her again,’ Tom felt a bolt of sympathy for the man as he looked into his pain-filled eyes and he made a decision that he was to realise later was not a very sensible one, because he said, ‘You can cheer up, Joseph, because Norah will not be going to America after all.’

      Tom’s words made Joseph stagger again and he desperately tried to focus on Tom’s face and the words spilled from his mouth as he snapped out, ‘Now what you on about?’

      Immediately, Tom realised his error. You don’t tell a drunken man something you don’t want to be made public knowledge yet. However, the damage was done now and just maybe Joseph was too drunk to remember anything about it, so he said, ‘It’s true. Mammy sent for the ticket right enough but, though Norah doesn’t know yet, it’s for Celia.’

      ‘Celia told me once she never wanted to leave Ireland.’

      ‘She probably doesn’t,’ Tom said. ‘But … look, it will probably be public knowledge soon enough anyway: Celia has got herself involved with someone unsuitable.’

      ‘If you’re talking about Fitzgerald’s farm hand, that’s news to no one who was at the dances and saw them together,’ Joseph said.

      ‘Wish someone had thought to tell me.’

      ‘Well,’ Joseph said, ‘I shouldn’t СКАЧАТЬ