Free For Many a Long Day by Anne Doughty Page B

said amiably, to Ellie’s further confusion. ‘Another young woman. I have someone in mind. But she will need training and I think you will be the best person to do that. Perhaps if you could undertake this task
for me
, I could negotiate with Mr Ruddell
for you
on behalf of Miss Hutchinson. I think you can take it that I shall be successful and we can review our arrangement in six months time. If
you
are agreeable, that is,’ he concluded, standing up and inclining his head slightly towards her.
    ‘Yes, of course, Mr Freeburn,’ she replied, not quite sure what she had actually agreed to.
    ‘There is only one small condition. You may reassure Miss Hutchinson that all will be well, at least for six months, but she may
not at any time mention my name
to her mother or anyone else. Thisarrangement between us must remain completely private. I’m sure I can rely on you. I’m depending on you to explain to Miss Hutchinson. Is that quite clear?’
    It was only as she was stepping cautiously down the highly-polished front stairs that led directly into the shop that Ellie finally grasped something good most certainly had happened. She couldn’t follow his thinking at all, but she was quite sure he had said
six months
. And Mr Freeburn always meant what he said. That was also something everyone said about him.
If yer man says a thing, then he means it and there’s no shiftin’ him
.
    Alone in his office, Charlie Freeburn smiled and rubbed his hands together in pleasure. It was worth what it might cost him for the farm itself to have Miss Scott for another two years. She brought a great deal of trade to the shop, though she was quite unaware of the fact. She saved him pounds in wasted fabric by her skill in cutting and even if he eventually had to raise her pay when she became Senior Assistant, he’d saved himself that for six months.
    It was always a good thing to avoid such increases for as long as possible, but if the other part of his plan went as he hoped, he’d make that up to her. When she left in two years time, or whenever, he would certainly see she carried away something more substantial than the traditional gift of a silver cake stand.
    He looked at his watch, decided there was no time like the present and lifted the large black receiver of the telephone standing on his desk. Yet another of his wife’s relatives worked at the Exchange in English Street, so he could say nothing whatever on the telephone, but he could make an appointment at Munro and Anderson for this afternoon.
    ‘Thank you. Three o’clock will be quite convenient,’ he said, placing the instrument carefully back in its cradle.
    He smiled and breathed deeply. He had never liked James Ruddell, a boy some years older and many inches taller than himself when they were in the same class at the school on The Mall. It would give him the greatest pleasure to make him an offer for the farm that he couldn’t refuse.
    Given Ruddell read neither book nor paper, nor took the slightest interest in the meetings of the Rural District Council, what he would certainly not know was the decision to proceed with the new Portadown Road. That would require the purchase of at least half the large meadow, one of the three oddly-shaped fields that made up the grazing on Hutchinson’s farm.
     
    ‘This ought to be
my
treat,’ said Daisy wryly, as the dark-eyed Italian boy slid dishes of ice-cream along the marble-topped table between them. ‘After all you’ve done for me.’
    ‘Not a bit of it,’ laughed Ellie. ‘Sure George isgoing to earn so much money we’ll hardly need my savings. Anyway,
this
is a celebration. We’ve never had a North Pole before.’
    ‘Isn’t it lovely?’
    Ellie looked at her friend and thought it wasn’t just the ice-cream that was lovely. She’d almost forgotten what a pretty girl Daisy was. She’d undone the tight plait she normally wore for work and her dark wavy hair fell around her pleasant, rounded face. But it was her