Pokrewne

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C E Martin [Stone Soldiers 02 Brothers in Stone (epub)
Brair Lake [Brothers of Devil Linc's Retribution (epub)
Byrne Evie Faustin Brothers Damned by Blood
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.’‘That lot is worth at least double, and you know it,’ David remonstrated.‘Prices have halved since last year.’ Bob pushed his face close to David’s and breathed tobacco and ale fumes at him.‘Haven’t you heard there’s a depression on, boy? We’re all having to tighten our belts.’‘Some more than others.’ David stood his ground and parried the agent’s glare.‘It’s not my fault that your father was a useless waster.’The boy went white.‘You -’‘David, do you want to see us evicted?’ Mary hissed.Bob turned to her.‘Forty pounds, and that’s my final offer.As it is I’m forgoing my agent’s commission.I try to help you and all I get is sauce from this one.’ He clipped David across the ear.The blow stung and David drew blood when he bit his lip but he remained immobile and defiant.‘Say sorry to Mr Pritchard, David.’ Mary slipped her arm around her brother’s shoulders.‘I’m damned if I will.’‘Swearing too?’ Bob mocked.‘Well, David Ellis, you may soon find yourself learning manners along with your Bible in the workhouse.I hear they are expert at beating the arrogance out of heathens like you.’‘Say sorry to Mr Pritchard, David,’ Mary pleaded.‘Sorry,’ David muttered mutinously.‘Sorry, sir,’ Bob Pritchard corrected.‘Sorry, sir.’ David mimicked the agent’s voice and inflection perfectly, but his eyes gleamed with undisguised loathing.Bob made another note in his book and Mary pushed David, willing him to move out of the agent’s reach.She was terrified that Bob Pritchard would strike her brother a second time and David would fight back.But Bob snapped his book shut.He looked her up and down.‘I trust you wash yourself occasionally as well as the pigsties, Mary?’Mortified, she muttered, ‘I do.’‘Forty pounds.Take it, or vacate the farm.’‘We’ll take it.’‘That will bring your arrears down to one hundred and ten pounds after this quarter’s interest is paid.You’d better start looking around for something else that you can sell to make inroads on the rest.’‘We’ve sold all we can.If you left us more livestock -’‘I’ve done all I can for you today.But I tell you what I will do.’ He gave her a cold, insincere smile.‘I’ll take a good look at the books tonight and do some thinking.I’ll be back this way mid-morning tomorrow.We can have a chat about your situation then.You’ll be here?’Mary gripped the broom handle tightly as much to stop herself from shaking as for support.‘I’ll be here.’He tipped his hat to her, and sideswiped David’s cap from his head on his way back to his trap.‘It’s rude to keep your cap on in the presence of your betters, David Ellis.One day you’ll get the horsewhipping you deserve.I only hope I’ll be around to see it.’‘Don’t say another word,’ Mary warned as the agent walked out of earshot and David opened his mouth.‘What is there left for you and Bob the Gob to talk about?’ David demanded.‘He’s taken every stick we had that was worth anything.’‘I think he suspects that we sell eggs and chickens direct to Craig-y-Nos and the Colonial Stores in Pontardawe, and is after a share of the money.’‘Hand it to him and we may as well walk to the workhouse this afternoon.’ David picked his cap up from the yard and flipped it back on to his head.‘At least we’d get three meals of sorts a day there,’ he added sourly.Mary couldn’t bring herself to consider the possibility that they might end up in the workhouse as so many of their neighbours had, including Albert Jones, the stockman her father had once employed.It was too huge, too terrifying a prospect, so she did what she always did whenever there was a problem she didn’t want to think about, and concentrated on the immediate task in hand.She looked down at the floor of the sty.‘As you’re here, pull me another couple of buckets of water from the well, Davy.’‘Can I help?’ Matthew asked eagerly.‘If you want,’ David answered flatly.He set Luke on his shoulders before picking up the buckets.Mary watched her brothers cross the yard with a sinking heart.She hoped that they and her sister, Martha, would never find out how low she had sunk to keep the roof of the Ellis farmhouse over their heads.David had the hot Ellis temper, and there was no saying what he would do.And she couldn’t bear the thought of Bob Pritchard beating him to a pulp – or making a complaint to the police that would result in him being birched or sent to a Borstal.Without David, she knew that she would no longer have the heart or the will to carry on fighting to keep the Ellis Estate.The waiting room in the Graig Infirmary was dark and dingy, the sickly green paintwork above the brown-tiled dado depressing.But it was clean – if the stench of disinfectant was any indication of hygiene.There were only four chairs and, at the men’s insistence, Sali had taken one.Lloyd sat beside her, holding her hand, but Victor, Joey and Harry stood, leaning against the wall and staring at the door.The sister had been furious when they’d arrived en masse, an hour and a half after Edyth had been taken from Ynysangharad House, but when Lloyd made it clear that they wouldn’t leave until they had seen the doctor she had reluctantly shown them into the cheerless cubicle.The door opened and all five of them looked up.The nurse held the door as the doctor walked in.‘I told them they couldn’t stay -’‘It’s all right, Sister.I know this family well.The Mr Evanses have sat on several of the same committees as me.’ He fell serious.‘Edyth’s fractured her skull.Her brain is bruised and swollen, and she’s in a coma [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]