1882
Josephine Hughes had outstayed her welcome once again.
Amelia Hughes opened the letter from her husband's eldest brother Samuel expecting to hear news of a new grandchild, but instead, found a warning that she was soon to be visited by her husband's second oldest sister. Her shoulders slumped as a groan escaped her throat.
Her elder daughter Becky looked up from the kitchen table where she sat with a pencil and paper.
"Aunt Jo is coming to visit." There was no need for her to offer more explanation. Becky's bottom lip protruded. Her daughter had suffered from a lack of oxygen when she was born which left her with a diminished mental capacity. The doctor equated her mental abilities to those of a three year old. Diminished capacity withstanding, she still knew "Aunt Jo" was not a good thing.
"I know, my darling. We don't like it when Aunt Jo visits."
A loud thump at the back door announced the arrival of sixteen year old Elizabeth Cecilia Hughes as she crashed through the door, her arms full of firewood. "Colder than a witch's…"
"We all know it is cold, Elsie. No need to be coarse."
"Sorry, mam." She placed the wood on the pile to the right of the fireplace. She examined the downward turned mouths on both her mother and her sister. "What's wrong? Someone die?"
"Elsie, you mustn't say such things."
Elsie smiled apologetically at her mother. "What is it?"
"Aunt Jo."
The words were barely out of mother's mouth when Elsie suddenly clutched at her heart and dramatically fell to her knees, collapsing in a heap on the floor, "Noooooooo!"
Her mother didn't look down as she stepped over her daughter's slumped form, "Very entertaining, madam. Now take off your coat and mittens and help me start supper."
Elsie felt pleased as she looked up to see her sister giggling. She crossed to the table and gently stroked her sister's straight dark hair, "Don't worry, darling. I won't let her bother you."
Becky held up her picture for Elsie to see. "Pretty. Birds?"
Her sister laughed and shook her head.
"Dogs?"
Her sister nodded eagerly and thrust the paper into Elsie's hands. "I will hang it next to my bed."
Standing at the sink peeling carrots, Amelia smiled as she looked over her shoulder at her daughters. Elsie was so patient with Becky. She had assumed the role of older sister when she was only five, helping Becky clean her teeth, brush her hair and all the other million other tasks most people took for granted. She never said an unkind word to or about Becky. Recently, Amelia's heart had broken when she overheard Elsie turning down an offer from Joe Burn's to attend a local fair because she had already promised Becky she would take her to Loch Awe the same day. Amelia had told her it would be all right to take Becky another day, but Elsie hated the idea of upsetting her sister and stuck to her denial of Joe Burns.
Amelia smiled as she returned her attention to the carrots. Although she sometimes suffered short bouts of melancholy, especially when Becky was having a particularly trying day, she knew that for the most part she was a fortunate woman. Her husband was a kind, hardworking man who didn't drink and attended church with her each Sunday. She had sweet daughters who were devoted to their parents and one another. The forty year old farm wife sighed with contentedness as she peeled the last of her carrots.
Elsie added wood to the fire, wiping dirt and soot onto her apron before pushing a rogue curl behind her ear. She looked over at her older sister, thin and delicate, her face deep in concentration as she drew the pencil across the surface of the paper. She she recalled Joe Burns had visited earlier, asking her to meet him in the village the next day. She turned him down, however, having already promised Becky they would travel down to the lower fields and check on the three month old lambs.
Joe had lost his patience with her, "Elsie, you aren't your sister's keeper. You deserve to have some fun for yourself every once in a while."
"I have fun with Becky, Joe. Besides, she needs me."
"She's eighteen!"
"That isn't fair, Joe. She isn't like other eighteen year olds and you know it."
"Don't let the world pass you by, Elsie Hughes. You'll end up an old maid like your Aunt Josephine."
She felt her cheeks redden. He had gone too far so she had dismissed him with a curt, "Go home, Joe."
He had given her one last pleading look before he mounted his horse and rode off towards his father's farm.
Elsie was brought back from her memory of earlier in the day as Becky made a noise and pointed towards the window.
Elsie crossed to the window, "Someone's coming up the path and it isn't Da."
All three Hughes women moved to the window to see a man approaching on a large black horse. "It's Old Mr. Tucker, " Elsie announced. "I thought Da was over at his farm today, helping mend his bridge?"
Amelia Hughes' stomach flipped over.
Elsie scrambled for any sort of reason for the old man's presence, "Perhaps Da is behind him. Maybe he invited him for supper." She was the first to put on her coat and muffler, running outside to meet the man.
"Your mam here, Miss Elsie?"
"Yes, sir. She is putting on her coat. Where's Da, Mr. Tucker?"
"I had best talk to your mam, Elsie."
Elsie swallowed hard and willed her eyes not to fill with tears. She looked behind her as Mr. Tucker's face registered the arrival of her mother.
"Mrs. Hughes, I am afraid something's happened to Jim."
Becky stayed in the door way, but reached out and took her mother's hand.
"What is it, Mr. Tucker? Jim all right? Do I need to come? Elsie, saddle Brownie."
"No, Mrs. Hughes. You don't need to come. He will be brought here."
"Mr. Tucker, you're scaring me. What has happened?"
The old man removed his hat and the wind whipped over her bald head. "He fell off the bridge and hit his head on a rock, Amelia. I dragged him out of the water, but I am afraid he was already gone."
The old man lowered his head as the new widow let out a piercing wail. Becky wrapped her arms around her mother as Elsie fell to her knees and wretched.
Aunt Josephine arrived a week after the funeral. The weather had already become too treacherous for any of James Hughes' brothers or sisters to make the trek to Argyll. Most of their small village had turned out for the small church service but only Amelia, Elsie, Mr. Tucker and a handful of farmers braved the harsh wind and cold rain to witness the coffin laid in the ground. Unsure how Becky would react to the funeral and burial, they had asked the minister's wife to stay with her. Elsie promised her sister she would take her to the churchyard in the spring so they could leave blue bells and heather on their father's grave
It broke both Amelia and Elsie's heart to watch Becky search for her father throughout the day. She would leave the table at meals and look out the window towards the barn.
"Can't you control her?" Aunt Josephine looked at Amelia exasperated. "I know she isn't right, but you can't just let her wander around like a wild animal during dinner."
Elsie reached over and patted her mother's knee before she crossed the room and gently took Becky by the shoulders. "Come sit down, love. Your stew is getting cold."
It was all Elsie and Amelia could do to tolerate the presence of the hateful old spinster. Josephine had never been kind to James; Amelia thought it fair to say she had treated him with outright malice. His passing, however, had allowed her to fabricate the memory of a wonderful, close relationship with her youngest brother.
"I was more mother than sister, you know." Elsie had heard this claim well over twenty times in the three days that Aunt Josephine had been in their home. She had begun to mouth the words along with her aunt if she was out of her line of sight. Amelia Hughes heard the words but she had long since stopped listening to anything Josephine Hughes had to say.
No recognition that Amelia had lost her husband and that the girls had lost their father was made by the old harridan. Instead, she took it upon herself to criticize Amelia's housekeeping and cooking, comment on Becky's lack of sense and manners and was particularly harsh towards Elsie who she found to be constantly dirty and unkempt.
Someone had to take care of the farm. Elsie took it upon herself to milk the cows and tend the horses, as well as meeting with Mr. Tucker to address what she needed to do about the crops. She did have dirt under her nails and her curls often became matted bits of hay and leaves, but she was so exhausted from her work, she didn't have the energy to change dresses or fix her hair between meals.
Not wanting to upset her mother, Elsie let the words wash over her. After a week, it was Becky who wouldn't stand for her aunt's sniping any longer.
"Elizabeth Cecilia, you offend not only me, but the memory of your father with the way you walk around with your hair in snarls, dirt under your fingernails. You smell like that dank old barn. Have you forgotten you are a young lady?"
Her aunt's back was to Becky who sat on the floor near the fire with a doll. Elsie's eyes widened as Becky suddenly stood and whipped the old woman around by her shoulder, "No! Be nice!"
Elsie reached for her sister's hand. "Shhh…it's all right, darling."
"You really should tie her up if you can't control her."
Becky stepped closer to the old woman and stuck her finger in her face, "NO! You be nice!"
Amelia Hughes had just entered through the backdoor when she saw Josephine Hughes lift her hand and send it flying across Becky's face. She dropped the basket of wash and grabbed the old woman by the sad knot of dull hair at her neck. "Don't you ever lay a hand on one of my children, you old bitch!" She swung the yowling woman around. "You pack your things and get out of my house!"
Elsie wrapped her arms around her sister as Becky's wails filled the room as Josephine hissed, "Amelia Hughes, you have lost your mind?! You have no right…"
"I have every right to throw a disrespectful old cow like you off my farm. You are poison. Is it any wonder none of your kin will let you live with them? Jim always showed you more kindness than you deserved. Now get your things and get out!"
Elsie had stepped up to her mother's side just as Jo raised her hand to slap Amelia. Elsie used her entire weight to plow her shoulder into the bony woman's middle and took her down to the floor.
"Don't you touch my mother!" She placed her hand on the old woman's neck and with a quiet fierceness spoke into the ugly face, "The only one who offends my father's memory is you by disrespecting his family. You heard what she said. Get out of our house."
Elsie felt her mother's hands on her shoulders, pulling her off the old woman.
"I'll go to the law!"
Amelia stepped in front of Elsie, "And tell them what? That you struck Becky Hughes only weeks after her father died? You were rude and inconsiderate to a recently widowed woman and her children? That you ate and slept in their house and allowed them to do your laundry while you didn't lift a finger to help? You go to the law, Josephine. See where it gets you."
The old woman scowled, "My brothers and sisters will hear about this, Amelia!"
"I'll wait for their letters of congratulations. I expect they will be quite disappointed they weren't here to see you get your what for. Now shut your gob and get out of my house!"
Becky had ceased crying, but whimpered as she held her hand on her cheek. Amelia pulled her elder daughter into her arms as Elsie followed her aunt to the bedroom she and Becky normally shared.
"Afraid I'll steal something?" her aunt spat at her. "As if you have anything worth wanting."
"Just get your things and be quick about it."
Her aunt suddenly turned and whined, "I'll freeze if you send me out tonight."
"Good." Elsie lost any pretense of manners when her aunt had struck her sister.
Her aunt's bags packed, Elsie instructed her to wait on the porch while she hitched the horse to the cart. "I'll take you as far as the village. Where you go from there is up to you."
"You ungrateful little wretch."
"I don't have to take you to the village. You can walk the three miles if you don't like my company."
"You are a cold girl, Elsie Hughes. No one will ever love you- cold and saddled with an idiot sister. I have the sight, you know? I have seen what is ahead and you, you little wretch, will be alone for a very long time."
"I don't care if I am alone forever, at least I won't be a hateful old cow like you. Walk to the village and never show your face in Argyll again."
Elsie had almost passed her aunt when a bony hand wrapped around her wrist. "You can't do this."
Forcibly removing her hand from the old woman's grip, Elsie looked into her eyes, "Go to the devil, Aunt Josephine."
Safely inside, Elsie bolted the doorand collapsed against the expanse of oak feeling much older than her sixteen years.
There was no sign of Josephine Hughes the next morning. The only remnant was an odd accumulation of leaves, thistle, heather and scraps of fabric rolled into a ball and tied with twine. Elsie bent down to observe the mass. She had heard of such a thing but had never actually seen one. There had been talk in her family about Aunt Josephine being a seer, even a witch, but Amelia had always told her daughter there was no truth to the claims, just a comment on Josephine's unfortunate character.
Elsie made a quick trip to the barn and returned with a pitchfork quickly poking a tine through the object and took it inside, thrusting it into the fire.
"What is that?" Her mother crossed from the sink.
"Aunt Jo left us a parting gift it seems- or curse."
Her mother looked over her shoulder as parts of the mass sparked and curled in the fire, "Such a pathetic creature. Make sure the whole thing burns, love."
Her mother kissed her temple and returned to the sink.
It was the next day that the cough started.
Amelia had always suffered from what people called a weak chest. A normal head cold would send her to her bed for days. Elsie was quick to kill and pluck a chicken to get a pot of soup going. She knew her mother would need mustard plasters and steaming cups of mint water to inhale.
Nothing worked. Elsie went through the litany of treatments that had always helped her mother, but the cough seemed to worsen. A fever now accompanied the congestion. The doctor was summoned, but had no more advice than for Elsie to continue with her herbs and poultices.
As Amelia grew sicker, Becky seemed to lose the little bit of vocabulary she possessed. Within two weeks, she no longer spoke at all and refused to get out of bed. It was all Elsie could do to get her to eat and let her give her sponge baths.
Between taking care of her mother, sister and the farm, Elsie was on the verge of collapse. She had lost a dangerous amount of weight and soon noticed her hair had begun to fall out. She had just lain down on a pallet in the floor next to her mother's bed for the first time in twenty hours when she heard her name being whispered.
"I'm here, mam."
"I know you will take care of her. You are such a good girl, Elsie. My good girl. I do love you so."
"Mam?" She wrapped her arms around her mother. Within half an hour her mother's breaths had become quite shallow and erratic. Elsie wrapped her hand around that of her mother and wondered how many times had this hand patted her back or wiped tears from her cheek after she suffered a scraped knee? This was the hand she had held only weeks before as her father had been put into the cold Scottish ground. She was lifting the hand to her cheek when she heard a small gurgle, followed by a small gasp. Her mother's eyes were open but were unseeing.
"Mam? Oh, Mam!" Elsie pulled her mother's tiny frame tightly against hers body. "What am I going to do?" Elsie rocked back and forth, her tears falling into her mother's hair.
The minister's wife had agreed to sit with Becky while Elsie went to the village for her mother's funeral. She saw many of the same sad faces that had attended her father's funeral only months before. She was surprised to see Miss Brown across the sanctuary. The school teacher had always been kind and complimentary to Elsie whom she considered quite bright. Elsie told herself she must make a point of thanking the teacher for taking the time to attend the funeral. Joe was there, too. He stood at the back of the room, his hat in his hands.
She was oddly grateful that their minister was suffering from a twisted ankle after a fall on a patch of ice. The substitute minister hadn't known Elsie's mother or father and his impersonal service allowed Elsie to maintain her composure as the sole representative of her family. Amelia Hughes had no brothers and sisters and the weather was still substantially treacherous enough to keep any of her father's side of the family from attending.
Joe was heading her way when she decided to walk over to Miss Brown just after the graveside service had finished. The weather had been kind and a warm sun shone on the still churchyard, brightly reflecting off the blanket of snow from the previous night's storm.
"Miss Brown?"
The petite middle aged woman turned to her, "Good morning, Elsie. I am so very sorry for your loss."
"Thank you, Miss Brown. It was very kind of you to attend the funeral."
"How is your sister?"
Elsie felt a lump building in her throat, "Not well, I am afraid. She has stopped talking and doesn't like to get out of bed."
"Oh dear."
"I don't think she understands why Mam and Da are gone. I'm not sure I do, either." Elsie lost her battle with the lump in her throat and tears began to slide down her face. "I'm sorry, Miss Brown."
The teacher reached over and put an arm around her shoulders, "You need not apologize to me, Elsie. You are very brave lass."
Elsie struggled to breathe as a sob stuck in her throat.
"Let's go to the school. No one is there. I will make you a cup of tea."
Elsie's body racked with sobs as she followed the teacher across the road to the small school house. She didn't see Joe Burns following behind them.
She managed to regain control and was only sniffling at a desk in the front row when the teacher brought her a cup of tea and a biscuit. "Thank you, miss."
The teacher gave her a warm smile. "Do you know what happens now?"
"Now that I don't have any parents?" It was an honest response, not at all snippy in tone.
"Yes. What happens with the farm and with your sister?"
Elsie shook her head and felt as if a tremendous weight had been placed upon her shoulders. "I don't know. I suppose I have to sell the farm. My father has three brothers and three sisters, but they all have their own families."
Miss Brown patted her hand and sighed. "You are a bright girl, Elsie. You could get a job."
"What kind of job? I left school at eleven to help Da with the farm and to help with Becky. I couldn't be a teacher like you."
Elsie had been on Miss Brown's mind since she heard about the death of Amelia Hughes. She wanted to offer the young woman any help she could and had given great thought to the sort of future Elsie might have. "What about service?"
"Be a maid?"
"As I said, you are bright, not to mention hard working. You could start out as a housemaid, but I am sure you could work your way up quickly. Your maths were always good. I could give you a book that would allow you to practice. Room and board would be provided. I have a sister who just became the housekeeper of a large house in Yorkshire. I am sure she would assist in finding you a position."
"But Becky? What do I do about Becky?"
"I hope I am not speaking out of turn, Elsie, but I have heard that Joe Burns is sweet on you. You are young, but not so young that you couldn't marry."
Elsie instantly knew she could not marry Joe. "I do not love Joe Burns, Miss Brown. I don't think it would be fair to him to be his wife and not be able to love him."
Miss Brown had always admired Elsie's honesty.
"I see. I do know there are homes, nursing homes, that would take Becky, but they cost money, Elsie."
"The sale of the farm could pay for that."
"For a while," her teacher agreed, "but not forever."
Elsie thought for a moment. She knew she didn't have the luxury of time to make these decisions. Miss Brown watched the pretty face of her former student struggle with matters that would be daunting for anyone of any age, much less a sixteen year old farm girl.
Elsie suddenly looked up, "But if I got a job in a good house, I could pay for the nursing home out of my wages once the farm money ran out, couldn't I?"
"I suppose you could."
Elsie had slept little the night before; her mind had whirred with grief and fear. This suggestion from Miss Brown had given her the first tiny bit of hope she had experienced in weeks. She took a deep breath and made her decision.
"Would you write to your sister for me, Miss Brown? Please tell her I am a hard worker and I am willing to learn anything."
Miss Brown squeezed her hand, "I will write her now."
"Oh, thank you, Miss! Thank you ever so much!"
Elsie gave the older woman a bright smile before she left the school house and was making her way towards the road when a hand reached out and took her arm.
"Joe Burns, you scared me."
"Sorry, Elsie. I just wanted to say I am very sorry about your mam."
"Thank you, Joe. That is very kind."
"I also wanted to ask you something."
Elsie felt her stomach churn. "Oh, Joe. Can it wait? I have to make a few stops before I go home to relieve Mrs. McNally."
"I think my question might save you from making your stops."
Elsie knew there was no escape. "What is it, Joe?
Joe took a deep breath and looked down at his feet, "I know I am only eighteen and you sixteen, but I know about farms. Almost as much as you do." He looked up and smiled at her. She returned the smile.
"I talked to my Da and he said he would help us. I think we should be married. I can run the farm and you can take care of Becky. This solves all your problems, Elsie."
Elise bit her bottom lip. It was a solution to some of her problems, but the fact that she did not love Joe Burns was ever present in her mind. She would rather hurt him now with her denial than begin an unhappy life borne out of necessity.
"You are a good, kind lad, Joe Burns, and you will make some lass very happy. I just don't think I am that lass." She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. "I do appreciate the offer, Joe. "
"But what will you do, Elsie? You can't run the farm on your own."
"I'll take care of myself, Joe. And I'll take care of Becky. Mam said she knew I would and so I will." Her voice broke a little as she mentioned her mother.
He opened his mouth to argue, but she shook her head with a sad smile as she walked away.
She didn't look back at Joe as she made her way to Brownie, the old horse she had ridden every day of her life since she was five. He would be part of the sale to Mr. Tucker she was on her way to arrange.
Within two weeks, Elsie Hughes was offered a position as house maid at the Dower House in a village called Downton in Yorkshire. Elsie took Becky to a home in Lytham St. Anne's two days before she was to report for work. Becky had slept for most of the train and boat journeys while Elsie found it impossible to sleep. Watching her pretty sister sleep, she wondered from where she would divine the courage to leave Becky at the home next day.
Becky was quiet and behaved as she held Elsie's hand during their departure from the boat. She remained quiet as they took a cart to the large white stone house in which she would spend the rest of her life. The man who greeted them at the door seemed kind and Elsie was comforted to see that the various patients they encountered seemed clean and content. They reached a small, white room with a bed and a small dresser in the corner. Elsie avoided looking at Becky by quickly unpacking her favorite doll, the quilt their mother had made her when she was eight, as well as a photo of their parents and Elsie herself. She tried to hide her tears from her sister, but lost any control she had over emotions when Becky suddenly crossed the room and wrapped her arms around her younger sister's neck.
"I love you, Becky," she managed to whisper through her sobs.
Becky loosened her embrace and pulled back from Elsie, offering a sweet smile. It was more emotion than Becky had shown in months.
"I will come and see you as soon as I can and I will write you letters. They said they would read you my letters," Elsie pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped her eyes and blew her nose, " I have left postage money so you can draw me pictures and they will send them to me."
Becky continued to smile. Elsie had just taken Becky's hand when a nurse entered, "Now, Miss Becky, I am Sister Munday. I heard you have made a journey across the sea. I think it best if we get you ready for a little nap, what do you say?"
Elsie was surprised when Becky removed her hand from her grasp, sitting on the bed and lifting her foot to have her boot removed. Elsie moved to take off Becky's boot, but the nurse put a hand on her arm and quietly offered, "I know it is hard, love, but it is best to just go now. I'll take good care of her. "
Turning towards the door, Elsie bit her bottom lip and squeezed her eyes shut in an effort to hold her mounting tears at bay. She forced herself to look over her shoulder, "Goodbye, darling."
Becky didn't look at her, keeping her eyes on the smiling face of the nurse who removed her boots. Elsie took a deep breath and walked out of the room. She had to will herself not to turn back with each step she took.
She managed to make it to her room at a small inn near the train station before she began weeping.
She woke up early the next morning, hours before her 10:05 train. She paid for her room and made her way to a small café inside the train station. She bought a cup of tea and sliver of cake. She closed her eyes and made a wish before taking her first bite of cake.
It was her seventeenth birthday.
I know...not so much good times for our Elsie. I promise to post the second chapter before the day is out. Much thanks for taking the time to read, lovelies!
