Free Without a Mother's Love by Catherine King Page B

off one of his rages. Life at Hill Top House had taken a downward turn for all of them. She could endure his anger and the household economies for she had known much worse in her life and they were no hardship to her. Her only concern was for Olivia, who relied on her protection from a selfish and unpredictable guardian.
    The child was everything to Harriet. She had worked hard to gain Olivia’s confidence, and intended to be worthy of it at all costs. But she worried when the master focused his anger on his ward and recalled his earlier threat about the asylum. She knew a little about wills and trusts and could only guess at the reason he continued to house Olivia under his roof. He certainly had no love for the child and she feared for both her own and Olivia’s future there.

Chapter 6
    Jared found his mother in the drawing room, teaching his sisters some new music on the pianoforte. Josephina and Juliana were practising a duet while she stood behind them, nodding in time with the metronome. He listened until they had finished their piece, acknowledging that they played well.They sang well too, but parlour pursuits were not to his taste and he was glad he wasn’t a girl.
    His mother turned and smiled. ‘Jared! you were up early this morning. I heard you moving about.’
    ‘I breakfasted with Father before he went to the forge.’
    ‘What were you doing in the attic?’
    ‘Just looking. There’s a pile of clothes and boots up there.’
    ‘You children have grown out of them so quickly. I am going to give them to the vicar’s wife for the church school.’
    ‘I could take them to Mexton.’
    ‘Mexton?’
    ‘For the miners’ families.’
    His mother gazed at him steadily.‘Your father has told me that you went to the pit when the fighting broke out a few weeks ago. We are not responsible for your uncle Hesley’s difficulties. It’s not our fault.’
    ‘It’s not the miners’ fault either. Did you know the old farmhouse there had been leased?’
    ‘I had heard. The vicar’s wife told me a brother and sister had moved in. Dissenters, she said.’
    ‘Oh, I didn’t know he had a sister.’
    ‘You’ve met him?’
    ‘Mr Holmes? Yes. He helped the constable calm things down. He’s running a mission there for the miners’ families.’
    ‘I see.You’re suggesting I give your outgrown things to Mr Holmes?’
    ‘I can borrow a handcart from the forge and take them there on Sunday.’
    ‘Instead of coming to church with us?’
    Church bored Jared and his mother knew it. His father didn’t mind when he found something else to do, but his mother did.
    ‘Very well,’ she said. ‘As long as your father has no objection. It will be a long, cold winter for all of us this year.’
     
    Jared approached a group of lads on the rough ground outside the old barn.They were throwing stones into the air and hitting them with a stick across the scrubby pasture. Any that were missed or landed short were greeted with derisory laughter. He had no doubt that they were miners’ children from Mexton, most of them old enough to be working down the pit with their fathers.
    He dropped the handles of his cart and wiped his brow with the back of his hand.
    ‘Who are you?’ one asked.
    ‘My name’s Jared. I’m looking for Mr Holmes.’
    ‘Oh, aye? ’E’s in t’ barn ovver theer. What you got in t’ cart?’ The lad lifted the edge of the sacking and peered.
    ‘They’re for the mission.’
    ‘We’ll push it fer yer, if yer like.’
    ‘Thank you. It was heavy-going uphill.’
    ‘Where yer from, then?
    ‘The town. Are you Mexton folk?’
    ‘How did yer guess?’ They laughed.
    The wide wooden doors of the barn were open, throwing a shaft of light into the dim interior. Jared recognized Tobias Holmes, sitting on a stack of straw, talking intently to a young woman next to him.
    Her relaxed bearing and easy manner intrigued Jared, and her youthful freshness was in stark contrast to Tobias’s sober presence. She