Drake tightened his jaw, but said nothing. Abel waited, but the tempting smell of breakfast reminded him of his hunger, and he suddenly ended the standoff before it really began.
Abel shouldered past Drake and climbed down the ladder. The others obediently followed leaving Drake alone. Their first meeting had not gone how Drake would have hoped, but it was early days and perhaps they would warm to him in time. Drake soon discovered it would not be so.
The bothy boys’ contempt for him only increased when they discovered that Drake would be supplied with extra candles to aide his evening study, a privilege they did not have. They could not refuse to work with him, or risk their jobs by being openly hostile, but they found other ways to alienate him and did not wait to use them.
They began by excluding him from their conversations. Drake did not care. He thought their conversations were crude and often offensive to women, and as Drake’s only experience of the gender was his mother, who was both virtuous and kind, he was glad to play no part in it. Drake’s reaction, or lack of it, troubled the boys even more. From being ignored, he became their main focus and a subject for their taunts and tricks.
If Drake had been weaker in mind and spirit, he would have left his apprenticeship within a few weeks and returned home. The bothy boys had spent their early lives as outcasts of society, but now, with only a temporary journeyman staying and an old woman visiting twice a day to cook, they were their own masters behind the closed bothy door. It was a potent position to find themselves in. They became a pack, whose bond strengthened with each effort to tease the newcomer. His books were hidden, his food spat in and his clothes trampled on. Drake tried to ignore them, but he was no actor. In those first few weeks it grew harder to hide his frustration and disappointment at their juvenile behaviour and although he consoled himself that he wasnot there to make friends, he knew he would give anything for it not to be so.
Dick, the journeyman, was a good deal older and a little friendlier. For Drake, his presence was a constant reminder of what he hoped to achieve and the career that would be available to him beyond the role of journeyman. Dick had spent the last two years moving from estate to estate in pursuit of horticultural experience and had grown accustomed to meeting and leaving the staff of each place. He had honed his skills well, becoming friends with everyone, but a true friend to no one. However, when he left the following month, he saw fit to offer Drake some words of advice. For once, Drake had risen to the bothy boys’ teasing and lunged at the nearest one. Dick returned just in time to pull Drake off Abel before the others felt it their duty to join in. He dragged the furious teenager aside as he ordered the others to leave. Dick looked about him and saw the cause of the incident. Drake’s bed was soaked in urine.
‘Did they do this?’ asked Dick, indicating towards the bed with a jerk of his head.
Drake refused to answer, his eyes pinned mutinously to the floor.
‘Your nose is bleeding.’
Drake dabbed at it with the back of his hand and looked at the scarlet stain on his skin, but said nothing. Dick waited for the bothy boys to leave the building. Finally they heard their low grumbling voices receding into the distance as they crossed the yard and headed towards the village.
‘You have years of this.’ Dick threw him a cloth to wipe his nose. ‘Best keep your head down and out of trouble.’
Drake turned away. ‘It was not of my making.’
Dick grabbed his shirt. ‘Listen, boy,’ he hissed under his breath, ‘you will meet many people during your apprenticeship that will tempt you to do wrong.’ He snapped his fingers inDrake’s face, making him jump. ‘Your apprenticeship will end, just like that and no one will take you on again.’
Dick’s warning felt like a punch to the stomach. Any doubts Drake had whether to continue with his apprenticeship quickly disappeared with the threat of having it taken from him.
‘Ahhh,’ said Dick, ‘that’s scared you, hasn’t it?’
Dick was right. The thought did scare him, something the bothy boys’ teasing had failed to do.
The journeyman’s face softened. ‘I don’t have much longer here and I have no wish to be dragged into your fights. But I also don’t want to see good talent go to waste.’ He turned and began to rummage through his belongings. When he found what he was searching for, he abruptly stopped and stood up, forcing Drake to step back warily. ‘Study hard, Vennor,’ he said, thrusting a well-thumbed book towards him. Drake read the title,The Garden Designs of John Fleming. It was a book he had been saving to buy. ‘Pay no heed to those who do not dream big,’ said Dick. He smiled and jabbed the book painfully into Drake’s ribs. ‘You will never get a chance like this again. Don’t let anyone stop you making the most of it.’
Drake looked down at the book and nodded, his throat too clogged with emotion to thank him. He hastily wiped the blood off his hand and took it. Dick was right, he thought as he reread the title. He had to be careful not to put his apprenticeship at risk. He would not let it happen again.
Dick left shortly after for a job as a foreman on an estate in Devon. The journeyman would never know that Drake’s retaliationdidinstigate a change in the bothy boys’ behaviour towards him. They were no friendlier, but their teasing did stop and they grew wary of the sullen boy. They had come to realise that although Drake was quiet and studious, and his punches were unskilled, his fist felt like granite and had the power to knock out two teeth should he have the mind to use it.
Chapter Three
‘Quickly, quickly. They are waiting for you.’
Evelyn ran to the window and looked down onto the great lawn. To her surprise, her parents seemed quite settled. Cups of tea and plates of food were already being served and Nicky and her cousin, Mawgan, were playing ball on the grass. Her earlier excitement quickly dampened. She was aware that Uncle Howard, Aunt Edith and Mawgan were visiting today. It was such a rare event that an intangible tension had hung in the air all morning, similar to that experienced before an approaching storm. Their last visit, when Evelyn was no more than five years old, had ended in a row and resulted in her father vowing that his brother would never set foot inside Carrack House again. It seemed her father was still keeping to his vow. Uncle Howard may have been permitted to visit, but the refreshments of tea and cake were being served on the lawn, which ensured their visitors remained outside of the great house.
‘How long have they been here?’ Evelyn asked her governess. She was pleased she had been invited to join them, but now it appeared the invitation was more of an afterthought.
Dear Miss Brown tried to cheerfully console her. ‘Not long. Your mother wants you to wear your blue dress. Now where is it?’
Evelyn allowed herself to be dressed, obediently stepping out of her old dress, and into a circle of blue material, which was immediately lifted up so she could thread her arms through the sleeves. She stood for a moment as a maid buttoned her up.
‘It feels tight,’ Evelyn muttered, ‘and it will be too hot.’
Miss Brown’s worried expression told Evelyn that she thought the same. ‘Youhavegrown since you last wore it. But your mother insisted upon it and I dare not go against her wishes.’
Evelyn looked down at her chest. Her budding breasts felt tender as they strained against the tight fabric. ‘I shall get all sweaty,’ she grumbled, wondering if the new apprentice gardener would be working near the lawn today. She did not want to appear sweaty in front of him.
‘Hush. A young lady must not talk of bodily functions. Now hurry, put your boots on, or your mother will grow anxious.’ Evelyn did as she was told and waited in silence as the maid buttoned them up. ‘You must wear a hat. We can’t let your freckles come out.’
After another flurry of activity, a hat was produced from a hatbox and placed on Evelyn’s head. Evelyn stood still and tried her best not to fidget in order for Miss Brown to give her a final look over as the maid tidied the scattered clothes and boxes round them. Miss Brown bit her lip as she examined her charge. She looked worried so Evelyn gave her, what she hoped, was a charming smile.
