Chapter 9

Caroline soon got to her feet, gently easing a disappointed and resentful Engelbart off his warm cushion of soft and girlish flesh, and went up to the house to have her morning shower and use the toilet. She saw Grace standing outside holding a bucket.

“Morning Caroline. Bath time! Stand nice and still!”

With this she came up to her and after raising the bucket high over Caroline’s head, emptied half of its icy cold contents all over her. She handed her a bit of soap and ordered her to use it. Then she rinsed her off by pouring the rest of the water over her.

“No more hot showers for you, my girl! I’ve been far, far too lenient with you, and it won’t do any longer. From now on it’s going to get a whole lot harder for you. How dare you complain of the cold nights, when I have slept through far colder ones without any warm body next to me. Now get off to work. I think a nice bit of ploughing is just what you need today. I have things to do around here, so you’ll be on your own for much of the day.”

Grace had said the previous day that the stubble needed to be ploughed into the cornfield and shown her where the hand plough was kept. When she had asked why the horse could not be used to pull the plough, Grace had gone white with rage and told her that such fine horses could never be used for such menial work. Caroline had been utterly cowed by this unexpected anger on the part of her formerly gentle and sweet friend and felt utterly crushed until Grace recovered her good humor and comforted the almost tearful girl with a kiss and a hug.

The work was utterly back-breaking and exhausting. By midday, after five hours of constant toil, Caroline was close to collapse and still Grace had not come to help her or give her permission to rest. Despite the rigors of her life, which promised to get harder still in the days ahead, it simply did not occur to her to go back home to her comfortable house in London. She knew her place was here and that her friend was wise enough to know that what she was doing was for her own ultimate good.

Despite extreme exhaustion and the pain which was affecting her entire body she forced herself to continue all through the afternoon until the sun began to go down, and still Grace was nowhere to be seen. This was the first day that they had not worked side by side and the sense of isolation, desolation and remorse at having given offence grew in tandem with her tiredness.

Finally, as the light was beginning to fade, Grace appeared and told her to stop ploughing for the day, further telling her that there was work to be done in the house, which needed to be cleaned from top to bottom before she either ate, drank or slept.

“I suppose you don’t believe in electric vacuum cleaners”

“Don’t be so stupid, Caroline! Of course, I don’t. You get down on your hands and knees and brush and scrub your heart out and you don’t get up until you’ve finished. When you have there’ll be food and drink for you in the wood, where we sleep. Don’t even think about not doing a proper job, or you’ll see just how hard on you I can really be!”

By this time, they had reached the house and Caroline immediately started work, despite her extreme tiredness, hunger and thirst. By the time she had left every nook and cranny spotless and utterly free from any merest speck of dust, she scarcely had the strength to stagger across to the wood and the bread and water meal which was all that Grace had provided for her. After gratefully eating and drinking she lay next to Grace and prepared to sleep.

Grace pushed her away.

“You don’t get any heat from me anymore, Caroline. From now onwards you sleep on your own!”