Part 11 (2/2)

'Don't be so b.l.o.o.d.y soft,' Kathryn said, jumping up and banging her pint pot loudly on the mantle. 'Come on then, get on with it Leah. I'll be the first. Yours looks all right so why shouldn't mine.'

They stood and admired Leah's hair for a moment, forgetting that Leah had beautiful hair and it would have looked good if it had been chewed off. It shone in thick waves, curling under at her chin.

Kathryn sat down on a chair. Annie quickly draped a towel around her shoulders and Kathryn shook her head as though to get rid of any lingering doubts. Her hair was even thicker and more luxurious than Leah's and hung to her waist in a cascade of rippling chestnut waves. Leah looked at the beautiful hair in silence for a few seconds. It suddenly seemed a sin to cut it! Then she flourished the scissors and began to cut. The hair fell to the ground in a s.h.i.+ning heap. Leah stood back when she'd finished, sounding more confident than she felt.

'There, that's it then.'

Kathryn put her hand to her head. 'Quick, take the b.l.o.o.d.y towel off and let me have a look.' She rushed to the mirror above the mantle and stood looking at herself for a few moments, biting her lip and pus.h.i.+ng back a few stray bits of hair. 'I think it looks good,' she said firmly and turned to the others as though daring them to disagree. They nodded, speechless at the enormity of what Leah had done.

'It does,' Leah said. 'It makes your face look softer.' Thank goodness, she thought, one down two to go. 'It'll be all right when you wash it and t.i.tivate it up a bit.' Kathryn was still staring at herself in the mirror so Leah picked the towel up and shook it.

'Right May, you're next.'

By this time May and Annie were not so sure. They looked at the heap of hair on the floor, but they couldn't back out now. May sat on the chair with a thud.

'All right do it,' she said. This time Leah really got into the swing of it, snapping away with enthusiasm. When it was Annie's turn she was feeling really confident, although Annie had been a bit put off when she'd seen May's. 'Go easy with them scissors, Leah. The way you're going at it I'll end up as bald as an egg.'

'Don't worry, Annie, I'm just getting used to the cutting and your cut should be the best.'

'Aye, well, go easy, that's all,' Annie said, still not convinced. It was all right for Leah, she didn't have a Dad to go mad at her, but if her Dad could see her now he'd kill her! Like May and Kathryn, Annie could hardly wait to rush to the mirror. She stood there for a few seconds and then began to wail. 'Oh, oh, you've spoilt me hair. Oh me Mam'll kill me when she sees it and me Dad as well.'

Leah stood with the scissors. I knew I shouldn't have done this, she thought. She looked at Annie's hair. It did look a bit of a mess. Annie had coa.r.s.e hair 'like a horse' Leah thought as she cut. Now it sprutted fiercely out from her forehead, the ends were jagged and one side was longer than the other, like an uneven hedgehog. Leah stifled a giggle.

Annie stared in the mirror a few seconds longer, then burst into tears.

'Oh, I knew we shouldn't have done it,' she spluttered through her tears. 'I look awful and me Dad'll skin me alive when he sees it.'

Leah began to feel uneasy. What on earth had she done? She wasn't a hairdresser. They'll kill me, she thought, especially Annie's Dad, because she knew what a temper he had. She picked up the towel.

'Never mind, never mind,' she said. 'It'll grow back in no time. Anyway, they say it does your hair good to have it cut now and then; makes it stronger.'

'Try telling me Dad that. It's all right for you to talk. Yours looks good. Mine looks terrible as well,' May said, looking mournefully in the mirror and, like Annie, trying to flatten her hair.

'Ee, I'll have to wear a headscarfe for six months with this.' She licked her fingers, pressing on a tuft at the front, which stuck out. 'Just look at that, it looks like a piece of hay. I look like a real peyseg.'

'It's no good bothering about it now,' Leah said. 'Let's have a cup of tea and then we'd better go.'

Leah saw that Janey was having trouble keeping her face straight. Leah's mouth twitched again.

Janey had watched the proceedings in almost total silence, fascinated at the acc.u.mulation of hair on the floor. She'd struggled not to laugh a number of times, she told Leah later. She'd wanted to go into hysterics at one point, especially when May and Annie ran to the mirror. Even the voluble Kathryn had been stunned into silence.

Annie picked up the towel and wiped her face, forgetting it was covered in hair.

'Uh...' she spat. 'b.l.o.o.d.y towel's full of hair.' She tried to dislodge a hair on her tongue. 'That's all I need, a mouthful of hair and none on me head.'

Janey spluttered and Annie glared at her. 'It's not funny, either, Janey Hammond.'

Janey suddenly let out a yelp and began to laugh. She laughed until the tears streamed. Then they were all doubled over, 'laughing fit to bust', Leah told her mother later.

'Oh, stop,' Kathryn said. 'I'll wet me knickers.'

Leah looked at the clock on the mantle.

'We'd better get going Janey or Mam'll be sending a search party. And don't worry about your hair,' she said to the others. 'It'll soon grow back and we've had a good laugh.'

They rugged up again and set off home. It was even colder than it had been and they s.h.i.+vered as they left the warm confines of the small room. No one spoke. Leah was deep in thought, already forgetting the hair episode.

Tomorrow she would be back at the Hall. She had been there now almost two years. A lot had happened in that time, and after the episode in the library Raymond had been much more subdued. He was almost ready to go to Oxford, although from all accounts he'd no inclination for it. Just as Marion had wanted to go to university Raymond was just as adamant that he didn't.

Leah had heard a lot of arguing going on about it between Mr. Townsend and his wife. Going at it hammer and tongs, she'd told her mother. Predictably Emma had told her to mind her own business with the see no evil routine. She'd taken notice of that!

She had been relieved when she heard nothing more about the library incident and another of her mother's sayings had come to mind, let sleeping dogs lie, so she'd let them. She still enjoyed working at the Hall. Gertie Wicklow got on her nerves at times and lately she went around with a smug, I know something you don't look about her. Leah avoided her if she could, another of her mother's out of sight out of mind sayings.

Marion had attended some kind of finis.h.i.+ng school in London and then been presented at court. Leah had found Marion Townsend to be an extremely kind girl. There was none of Jessica's sn.o.bbishness in her, or her aloofness. Leah liked Marion Townsend a lot and she would be sorry to see her leave Hyndburn Hall. Now she was engaged to John Grentham and Darkie, now also in the Townsend's employ, was to go with her to Ches.h.i.+re when she and John were married. He was to act as chauffeur c.u.m valet to John Grentham.

'Don't know whether I'll like that or not,' he said. 'I won't be able to come and see you as often, Mam.'

'Aye, I'll be sorry about that, but you never know what could come of a job with the Grenthams. It might lead to something better.' What that might be Leah had no idea. She couldn't see Darkie as a butler or some such thing, somehow.

What unsettled her was her continued infatuation with Stephen. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't get him out of her mind. It was driving her mad because as far as he was concerned she might just as well live on another planet. He was friendly enough when they happened to b.u.mp into each other at the Hall, which wasn't very often because he was always away on business. Then it was only as servant to master and she didn't like that. Not that he tried to play lord of the manor. Just the opposite, he was always friendly to her and easy, smiled and sometimes chatted but that was all. Sometimes he might ask about her family. He was oblivious of her feelings. She was happy about that at least. She was always cool with him, probably too cool because he would look at her in surprise at times, especially when he'd seen her laughing and joking with Maud, a few minutes before. But she had her pride and would rather have died than have him know the true extent of her feelings where he was concerned.

He had noticed, though, when she'd had her hair bobbed. She was walking from the morning room carrying some curtains when she b.u.mped into him.

'Sorry,' he said, then stopped and looked at her in surprise, 'your hair! Oh, you've had it bobbed. What a shame.'

Her face dropped.

'No, no, it suits you. But so did long hair.'

She'd looked after him perplexed. He did notice she was alive then. She put her hand to her hair. Had she done the right thing keeping it short? Perhaps she'd let it grow a bit longer.

'Hurry up, Leah,' Janey said. 'You are a slow coach tonight.' Leah lengthened her stride to keep up. Thank goodness they were nearly home. She wasn't going to cut anyone else's hair ever again. Tomorrow she'd be back at the Hall. Stephen would be home, too. Her stomach fluttered at the thought. He'd been in London for a month.

Leah remembered that wonderful trip to London with Mrs. Townsend. Bertha normally went with her but a bad bout of flu had created the opportunity for Leah to go. Leah had been surprised at the offer. Since the library incident Mrs. Townsend had been distant with her. But she had seemed quite genuine for Leah to accompany her and after discussing it with her mother, Leah had agreed. She'd had very little to do except escort Mrs. Townsend on her shopping expeditions, look after her clothes and this did not include the laundering, merely picking up As easy as pie, she'd told Janey when she got back and not like working at all. Janey had been envious and although she still worked in the mill she was more determined than ever that one day she'd leave, not only the mill, but Harwood as well.

On her days off Leah had seen the sights of London, had tea in posh cafes, bought two dresses at Harrods (she'd used most of her savings). She had noticed the small dress shops as well and thought of the higgledy piggledy one in Harwood. If she ever had a shop that's what she would do with it, she thought as she stared at the solitary dress tastefully arranged in a window. It was spread out and had spray of flowers on one side and on the other matching shoes, hat and bag.

Leah was particularly interested in the fas.h.i.+ons. Under Miss Fenton she'd learnt to sew rather well and had a natural apt.i.tude for it. She now made most of her own clothes, sometimes designing, because she could draft her own patterns. Miss Fenton was impressed with her skills.

'You could go far with your sewing,' she said to Leah one day. What on earth had she meant by that, Leah thought?

Leah was sorry that Darkie was leaving, because she enjoyed him being at the Hall and sometimes he'd be in the kitchen when she went down for her morning cuppa.

The war had not scarred him as it had so many others, probably Leah thought, because it had almost finished when he'd joined up, but it had taken him a good year to get back to his normal self.

<script>