Free Three Round Towers by Beverley Elphick Page B

who loved her pigs more than her neighbours.
    â€˜There is a young man in my Sally’s sty and I think he needs some medical attention. He says you are his friend and might help.’ Her voice was irritable but I detected a kindness beneath.
    â€˜It must be Billy,’ I said. I reached for my wrap and with Mrs Makepiece followed the elderly lady into the dark.
    The sty was dark and I could barely make out Billy who was sweating profusely and covered in scratches and small wounds. He was wet, dirty and worryingly hot. I struggled out backwards and reported to the ladies that he was in need of a doctor. I volunteered the thought that he had been attacked.
    â€˜Well, as long as he has nothing infectious,’ Miss Wardle, barked. ‘You’d best bring him into my kitchen while one of you fetches someone.’
    I struggled back in and eventually managed to drag Billy out of the sty. He wasn’t objecting, he just seemed unable to understand what I was trying to do. I managed eventually and half carried, half dragged him to Miss Wardle’s house.
    Luckily it was a good-sized place with a cooking range burning contentedly so I laid Billy on the floor in front of it. Miss Wardle produced some cloths and I gently tried to clean him without opening all the cuts. His clothes were so thin they had given him no protection at all and I was fearful that an infection was setting in. As I took the scraps of clothing from him I wondered briefly why I seemed to be drawn to undress sickly people who I barely knew. Gradually he responded to the warmth and dry towels and his shivering lessened.
    â€˜What happened, Billy, where have you been?’
    I couldn’t get any sense out of him at all and we sat there waiting for the physician. I cleaned some of the cuts with water and for one particularly deep one I pulled the skin together and bound it with thin cotton. Miss Wardle, tutted and worried all around us but was unable to help – I asked her for some clean water for Billy to drink.
    She made a hot drink as well and we were all quite comfortable waiting.
    â€˜Well, Esther, you seem to attract lost souls to you,’ Dr Grieve said as he strode into the kitchen his voice booming over us three women and Billy.
    He raised the patient on his pitifully thin legs and inspected the damage before opening his bag and choosing medicants and bindings.
    â€˜Who did this to you, lad?’ he asked.
    Billy was still unable to answer and the physician finally gave up trying to get any information from him. Miss Wardle said that he could stay the night on her kitchen floor and she produced a blanket. I made him as comfortable as I could before Mrs Makepiece and I went back home much disturbed by Billy’s misfortune. Dr Grieve had said he wanted to see Billy as soon as he had recovered enough to travel. I promised to get him there and hoped he would be able to answer some questions.
    The next day I hurried to Miss Wardle’s. I kept my shawl across my face so no one would question who I was and link me to Becca. Billy-alone was sitting at the kitchen table and looking a great deal better than he had last night. Next to him and propped against the table were two items, one I had never seen and the other made my heart soar. The first was a stave, sharpened cruelly to a point. The second was Becca’s cradle. I picked it up and smelled it, there was a faint baby smell – how could that be possible after such a time out in the open?
    I rushed to hug him but was speedily repelled. ‘Get orff, mind me bruises…’
    We thanked Miss Wardle for her care and she seemed quite softened by the time we left, making our way to the physician’s house as quickly as we could. Billy was concerned as to how he was going to pay the doctor.
    â€˜Don’t let’s worry about it until he gives us a bill,’ I said glibly. ‘First we have to get you better.’
    We had brought the stave and cradle