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Again they had laughed together; and then she had waited for him to speak, but his first words caused her some surprise.

"Would you mind if I didn't tell you my business until after the coffee has been brought in?" he had said.

However, after a short pause she gave a little chuckle and said, "Not at all. Not at all."

Until the coffee arrived they had talked about the school and the Christmas concert and she had remarked, "All that fuss about hymns. We get enough of hymns on a Sunday, the adults twice and the children three times.

We have a surfeit of hymns. But it was six to one this time, so I thought I'd better let them win, eh? "

Looking at her he had thought what a marvelous woman she was and had wondered why she hadn't married. Some man would surely have found life at least jolly married to a woman like her.

The coffee came and a cupful was drunk before he said, "This is very private business I want to speak about because I think, in a way, it could be illegal."

"My! My! My! Let's hear it then. It will be a change to deal with something really illegal and not all the little piffling things that come my way."

"A friend of mine is in dire poverty; in fact, both she and her mother are in dire poverty and lead a life of hard work and restraint. They were pulling at a fallen tree prior to sawing it up when, underneath the roots, the mother found something that I'm sure you will think is very precious." He now put his hand into his inner pocket and drew out the stiff leather bag, and, handing it to her, said, "See what's inside."

A minute later she was staring down at the cross on her palm and, strangely, she too called on God: in her case, it was: "Dear God in heaven! How beautiful. How very, very beautiful." Then lifting her eyes to his, she said, "Where did you say she found it?"

"In the woodland attached to a farm. They own the farm, at least the husband does. Unfortunately,

the mother and daughter are treated like serfs. "

"Oh. Oh. I could put my finger on that farm. Is it Dagshaw's? Low Meadow Farm?"

After he had moved his head slightly in acknowledgement, she said, "Oh, yes. Yes, he's an awful man, that one. I wonder how he came by such a distinguished name, because there are other Dagshaws, you know."

"Yes. Yes, I know."

"And so the mother found this? Well, it is a precious find." But then, her head jerking, she asked, "What do you want me to do?"

"I thought you might be able to advise them what should be done. If it is treasure trove it will go to the Crown, won't it?"

"Yes, I should think so; and then that's likely the last anybody will see of it."

"I ... I thought as much."

"That is until it appears in some museum years hence, or more likely goes to a private collection. But if they were to get money for it, what would they do with it?"

"Escape, I think. I know the daughter will, and I should think the mother, too. The mother is originally from Cornwall. By what I can gather, her father was a Spaniard and there are relatives still living there."

"But what will the daughter do?"

It was a long moment before he answered, "She will come to me. We have discovered that we love each other."

The small body in the chair seemed to stretch and bristle slightly.

"But you are a married man, and your wife is ... well, you know what your wife is. Will she allow this to go unheeded?"

"All she cares about, ma'am, is that she gets enough money for her drink. But even my stipend from the school hardly supplies that. Yet it keeps her at bay."

"You mean you intend to work all your days to keep your wife at bay?"

"Yes; if need be. I had two years of literal hell living with her; I could stand no more. I had done everything in my power to help her.

When we married, I did not know that she was addicted to drink. She and her mother were very clever in that way. I lodged with them for a time, you see. "

"Oh. Oh, that is often the way: lodgers should be warned against all landladies and their daughters. I've heard of this before. Anyway, do you know what will happen to you if you go ahead and take this girl into your house, because she is a young girl, isn't she?"

"Yes. But the thing is I won't have a house in which to place her; so, if she wishes to stay with me, we will likely have to take to the road until I find other kind of work."

"Oh." She got to her feet, really bristling now.

"Don't let me hear you talk such nonsense! You with your brain and capacity for teaching.

And let me tell you, you shouldn't be teaching in that little school such as you're doing, you should be in the university taking a higher course. I have listened to you. Oh yes, when you haven't noticed, and I have seen your method of teaching. You're worth something more than a village school; and supposedly

being the power behind that school, I shouldn't be saying this, but your pupils . what are they? what intelligence? Will any of them get anywhere? They will be able to write their names and recite the alphabet, perhaps read a little and chant Jack and Jill. But then, you don't just Jack and Jill them, do you? you drop in bits of Shakespeare and Pope. I must tell you something funny in the midst of all this seriousness. When I said to the chairman of the Board that you were a clever young man and you spoke of Pope, he got straight on his feet and cried, "That's it! We'll have no popery here." And I couldn't stop my tongue from yelling at him, "Don't show your ignorance, Mr. Swindle.

Pope is a great writer; Alexander Pope not Pope Alexander. " God help us! Some of those men on the Board should be put to the bottom of your class. But now, back to this gem."

As her fingers stroked the stem of the cross she whispered, "Rubies, sapphires, diamonds. Oh my! There's a great fortune here. But who is there who might pay its worth? Take this to a jeweller, one of the less distinguished in Newcastle, and what will he offer you for it? A hundred pounds, two hundred at the most, and then sell it for thousands, perhaps even tens of thousands. I don't think you could put a price on a thing like this. Anyway, if they give it up, it will definitely go to the Crown. Oh, and I couldn't bear that. I wish I was a very rich woman."

When his eyebrows were raised she said, "You're surprised that I'm not.

In comparison with some, yes, but in comparison with others, no.

One time

when my family owned the manor and houses all around and had their fingers in all kinds of pies, yes; but that was when I was very young.

I had a father who delighted in travelling in grand style and gambled in every city in which he stopped, and left the affairs of his estates and works to others. Is it surprising that he should come home, together with my lady mother, and find that he had been rooked right, left, and centre? And that those he had left in power and had authority to sell to advantage, had sold to his disadvantage and feathered their own nests? But still, even when the manor had to go and all the works, this house, this ten-room small establishment, remained, together with Fox's farm and a number of houses in the village and a few of more value in the main thoroughfares of Fellburn and Newcastle. I live by my rents; so, of course, I am rich compared with many people. But* her voice sank'I am not rich enough to buy this. How I wish I were. Look; could you leave this in my care until tomorrow? I can promise you I won't sell it on the quiet. " She laughed, an almost girlish laugh, then said, " There's a plan forming in my mind, but I need to work it out and make sure it is the right one for those two women; and for you, because if you intend to take this girl to yourself you will need money, whether it is yours or theirs.

Will you do that? "

"Yes, Miss Netherton." They had shaken hands like old friends. Maria didn't come to the schoolhouse that night, and so he was to see Miss Netherton again before he could tell her his news. And what Miss Netherton

suggested the following day was, she would, in a way, buy the cross from them over a period of time. If she were to take a large sum out of the bank her agent who saw to the estate would wonder why; but it would be quite in order, owing to her generous nature, to pass over Heap Hollow Cottage and an acre and a half of land, the transaction to be duly signed as a deed of gift. Also, she would be able to afford the sum of two pounds a week out of her private income, which could be divided equally between mother and daughter. And an immediate payment of twenty pounds in cash to the mother would enable her to travel to her people in Cornwall. This arrangement was to last until the whole had totalled five hundred pounds, which would cover practically five years ahead. Of course, it would be a personal arrangement and they would have to trust her; although she would put the transaction in writing herself, as it would be unwise, because of possible enquiries as to why her generosity was stretching over this period, to do it legally.

Did he think Mrs. Dagshaw and her daughter would agree?

Would they agree?

When, that night, he told Maria of the arrangement she burst into tears and her sobbing became almost hysterical. What he did not tell her was what Miss Netherton had said concerning their association: Did he realise, she had said, what the reaction of people in the village and round about would be towards them should they decide to take up their

abode in the cottage? Would it not save a lot of trouble if he remained at his post as a teacher and the girl lived in the cottage and cultivated the land? They could still see each other. But the way he was suggesting would bring a great deal of trouble on their heads.

And to this he had replied that, be that as it may, he was determined that they should come together, and for the rest of his life he would look upon her as his true wife.

It was Maria herself who said, "What will they do to us should we go there and live together?" And he had answered, "Well, we'll find out, won't we?"

And they were to find out. He got to his feet now and, taking her hands, he pulled her up towards him, saying, "Come to bed. You've got a lot of cooking to do tomorrow for the big tea and I've got that patch to turn over to get the frost at it. And then I've the two Fowler boys from Fellburn in the morning.

They're both as thick as deep fog, but nice all the same. But they'll have to work some, and so will I if they want to get into that fancy school. Yet, why worry? Their father will buy them in if their brains won't. But it's that pit lad, Bobby Crane, I'm interested in. I hope he can cut across without being noticed after coming up from his shift tomorrow. "

"It's risky for the boy, don't you think?"

"Yes, but he wants to carry on, and that's the main thing. He's got a lot in his napper, that boy, and he wants to get out of the pit; but God help him! He'll be out soon enough if they know he's learning to read and write. Still, who's to give him

away except his own lot; and there are those among them that will do just that, because they're as bad as Praggett and the owners. They think that once a man can read and write he'll never go down a shaft again; and that's true in a way, for who but a maniac would go down there if he didn't have to eat and feed his family? Here! " He handed her a spill.

"See if you can get a spark from the ashes and light the candle, and I'll lock up and put the lamp out."

Together they walked down the deep shadows of the room to the far end where the ladder went up to the trap door and where, to the side of it, was the door of the girls' room, and opposite the one that led into their bedroom.

Within ten minutes of entering the room they were lying in bed, side by side, their hands joined as usual; and now he said to her, "Go to sleep. I can tell when you're thinking. There's been enough thinking for one night. Good-night, my love." He turned slightly on his side and kissed her, and again he said, "Go to sleep." And she answered,

"Yes, I'm almost there."

But she was far from sleep, for she knew that he had been thinking of the past, as she had been, and, her eyes wide now, she stared into the blackness and she was back to the day when she first saw this house.

And she looked upon it now as a house and no longer a cottage, because it was twice the size it had been on that day.

She could see the grass where it grew up to the window sills of the long, low, one-storeyed building, and when they had pushed the door open the smell of staleness and damp had assailed them.

But she could hear Nat's voice, as he looked up to the roof, saying.

That's firm enough. There's not a slate missing. And look at the size of the room;

it must be fifteen feet long. And this other one. " He had hurried from her and through a door, then had shouted, This is the same length, almost." He had then climbed the ladder, and she had heard him stumbling along overhead, and he had called to her, "It's quite clear and there's piles of space."

Down the ladder again, he had taken her hand and run her through the rooms to one of two doors at the far end. The first one led into a scullery-cum- kitchen, about seven feet square. Then they were out through the other door into the yard. And there, as if stuck onto the end of the house, were two byres, and beyond them a stable; and across a grass-strewn, stone-cobble yard was a coal house and a privy. But what was much more noticeable was the large barn. It was an old erection, and although the roof was gaping in many places the timbers were sound.

She could hear him saying, "It's wonderful, wonderful." And she had thought so too, but she was speechless with the promise of joy to come.

But what she did say to him when they returned to the house was,

"Wouldn't it be wonderful if this could be one big room. Could you break the wall down?"

"Why not, my love?" he had said.

"Why not? We'll take the wall down and we'll make a fine kitchen of that scullery. And as for that fireplace-' he had pointed.

"Out will come that small grate and we'll have an open fire, a big open fire."

"But where will I cook?" she had said.