Every Mother's Son by Val Wood Page B

over her daughters. Seeing Maria’s downcast face and Dolly’s envious one, she hoped that neither of them would develop expectations beyond those that could be realized.
    ‘Let me tell you what being rich means,’ she said, drawing Maria close and reaching for Dolly’s hand. ‘Being rich is having someone to care for you; being rich means not having to worry about paying ’rent or wonder where ’next meal is coming from. We are lucky. We have our own land, our own house; we owe nothing to anybody. We are rich. It’s hard work for your father and Tom, and Daniel and Lenny too – for all of us,’ she added, smiling at Elizabeth and Joseph. ‘We all have to pull our weight, but we’re doing it for us , so that we can have a comfortable living. And most of all we’re lucky to have each other.’
    ‘Do you think, then, Ma,’ Dolly said, ‘that if we work really hard, one day we might have a big house like the Harts and be able to go away on holidays?’
    Harriet gave a small sigh. ‘Is that what you want, Dolly? To have servants to look after you, to only mix with people who have ’same kind of house as you do?’
    ‘I’d still keep my friends,’ she said. ‘I’d invite them to come to my parties.’
    ‘I don’t think they’d come,’ Harriet said softly. ‘I think they might be envious of you.’
    ‘I’m not envious of Charles or Beatrice,’ Daniel said. ‘Charles is still my best friend, and so is Beatrice.’ As he spoke her name he realized that he had missed her chatter and exuberance since she went away to Harrogate.
    ‘There’s always an exception, Daniel,’ his mother pointed out, ‘and you and Charles are lucky to enjoy and keep your friendship, even though your lives are so different.’
    ‘But what about you and Mrs Hart?’ Maria asked. ‘You’re friends, aren’t you?’
    Harriet paused before answering. It was true she and Melissa Hart had a special relationship, but friends? No, she thought, we just have some things in common. ‘We are friendly,’ she agreed in compromise. ‘And I know we could share a confidence. But no, we aren’t friends in ’proper meaning of the word.’
    ‘Well, I think it’s silly,’ Dolly pouted. ‘We’re all ’same, aren’t we? Does it matter who’s got ’most money?’
    ‘No,’ her mother said. ‘It doesn’t, except to the person who hasn’t got any. And it’s not just about money, Dolly. It’s a different kind of life, and you’re either born into it or you’re not.’
    Dale Top Farm continued to make a reasonable living for them all. The winters had been bitterly cold and ice was seen in the river near Goole, but the spring Maria turned fifteen Harriet suggested that she should try for service in one of the larger houses in Brough. She was a hard-working girl with many skills in the home, and she helped Harriet with the milking and the egg production, but her mother thought that her personality might flourish if she was in the company of more people. Maria didn’t want to go and cried at her mother’s proposal, but she saw the sense of it.
    ‘I can come home if I’m unhappy, can’t I?’ she asked, drying her eyes.
    ‘Of course you can, but try it for six months,’ Harriet implored. ‘You need to know what it’s like to be out in ’world, instead of up here with no one to talk to but us. On your days off you’ll meet other young maids, and lads too I shouldn’t wonder, which will be a good thing as long as you’re careful and mind what your employer says.’
    Harriet had another reason for wanting Maria to move away. When Stephen Hart was last home from school he had ridden over to talk to Fletcher, ostensibly to discuss farming, but he also spent time talking to Maria, and Harriet worried when she saw how dewy-eyed Maria became.
    Dolly, on the other hand, said that she would like to work away from home; Harriet knew very well that she wanted her freedom, but Dolly was giddy and still had to learn some sense, and