Re: Knowl Park

Chapter 2 Part 1

“Here come the womenfolk.”

At fifty-six, Ged Morris was the oldest tenant farmer on the Knowl Park estate, and the oldest of the seven men who had just stopped for lunch as the fading sounds of the church clock striking twelve drifted across to them in the fields.

Pointing with his chin at three women who were making their way towards them across the next field, Ged took a swig of cider from a communal jug then passed it to his friend and neighbour Arthur Presbury.

Two of the women were walking together bringing lunch to their respective husbands, and the third who was walking on a converging path was Gemma, Ged’s twenty-two-year-old daughter, carrying her father’s lunch in a small basket.
Gemma had suffered terrible burns when she was two, having fallen from her exhausted mother’s arms into the fireplace, leaving damaged tissue and severe scarring all up her left side from calf to her face and ear.
The two slightly older women stopped briefly so the younger woman could catch up, her strange gait and awkward limp caused by her injuries making her easily identifiable from a distance.
She never complained, and never blamed her parents, both of whom carried enough of it themselves to last the family several lifetimes.
Gemma’s mother blamed herself for falling asleep, and Ged blamed himself for not being there to help his wife look after their child who was very sickly at the time.

As the three women approached, the other four men unwrapped their own lunches. Poor Clem who was in his late twenties never seemed to have very much in his lunch bag, and his skinny frame showed that he didn’t seem to get that much to eat at home either. His father had been killed years before in some forgotten battle in some pointless war, leaving a young widow and her three-year old son to fend for themselves.
Clem had a stutter and didn’t like talking unless he had to, but he was really good with animals, especially horses, and acted as a sort of vet for the locals by treating their livestock for minor ailments. As a result, he was well liked in the farming community and beyond, and it would be unusual for anyone who knew him to make fun of his speech impediment.


Master Philip was the son of the local landowner, but was always willing to help out around the estate. This was a farming community where everyone helped their neighbours at harvest time, or at any other time for that matter.
Today he was helping with hay-making, cutting and stacking sheaves. Tomorrow they would load it on a cart then stack it, raised up on straddle-stones, to let it dry.

Just after he had turned eighteen, Philip’s father had told him that because Jacob Stillman, the Knowl estate manager, was due to retire in the next few years, he wanted his youngest son to take over, but not until he had been to college first. Albert Marsden was a social reformer and needed his son to learn about all different aspects of farming, woodland management, water provision, farm mechanisation, and the financial complexities of collecting rents proportional to a farmer’s income, outgoings, and profits, as well as the welfare and medical needs of the hundred or so people who lived or worked on the estate.
Helping out today around the farms and in the fields was part of Philip’s education; the part he enjoyed the most.
The day before he had received a letter from a college forty miles and two train journeys away, confirming that he had been given a place, and would be expected to start a three-year course there the following month. He had yet to break the news to his four closest friends that he would soon be leaving home, although he had told them earlier in the year about his father’s plans.

Two of the workers got up and walked over to meet their ladies. Even though all four were close friends, the two couples would sit slightly apart from each other and apart from the rest of other men until it was time to start work again.
Ged fidgeted as he always did when his daughter walked across the fields. He wanted desperately to run to her, to hold her, to tell her yet again how crushingly sorry he was for what had happened, but he knew it would be pointless.
She had told him and scolded him many times until she got her way, explaining that walking helped to stretch her scar tissue and actually eased the pain she constantly felt.
She wore her hair long to ensure the ravaged left side of her face was covered as much as possible, and always wore a hat to hold her hair in place lest someone see the damage caused to her when she was a child. Occasionally her scars would be briefly exposed if the wind caught her hair, or if it swirled away as she turned her head, but just like Clem’s stammer, it would elicit no comment from anyone who knew her, and knew her story.

© December 2020

Re: Knowl Park

Chapter 2 Part 2

“Who’s that?” The men looked across at Arthur who gestured towards the village, throwing crumbs from the crust in his hand as he did so.

“Oh,” said Ged who had good eyesight for a man his age, “’Tis yur friend the Blacksmith’s daughter, Mastur Philup.”

Despite being the son of the local landowner, Philip was unconventional in many ways. Anyone from outside the area would assume he would only mix with people of his own status, but that wasn’t the case.
He’d been brought up initially in an industrial town and as a child he had played along the muddy banks of a canal and in the streets and alleyways round his parent’s small home.
He cared little for convention and saw no reason to abuse his position.
It was not unusual for the household staff up at the manor house to find Philip in the kitchen having a chat over a cup of tea. He was always willing to help out; carrying in coal or sacks of vegetables, raking out the fires to help the maids, or up to his knees in compost helping the gardener, especially if there was the chance that he could persuade the cook, Mrs Pearson, to part with a slice of her excellent fruitcake as a reward.

His oldest friend was Lady Charlotte who lived on the massive neighbouring estate and deer park. Comments about a “suitable marriage” between the two would result in a humourless laugh or snort of derision from the two friends. As far as Philip was concerned, Charlotte was the sister he never had, and as for Charlotte, she was in love with her father’s handsome footman, a secret only known to her and Philip.
Philip’s three other close friends were William who worked for his father, Millie who worked for his mother, and Amanda Prentice, now thirteen, who was steadily making her way across the field with something wrapped in a cloth.
She always called him Pip, having initially had trouble saying Philip when they first met, and he always called her Miss ‘Manda since that day as well because that was how she had pronounced her own name at the age of three.
The first time Amanda had called him Master Philip, he had chided her and told her in no uncertain terms. “I am nobody’s master, and certainly not yours. You can call me Philip, but I would prefer it if you called me Pip since that is the name you used to call me when we first met.”
She in turn had complained when he called her Miss Manda instead of just Amanda. His reply was to ask her how many people called her by that name.

She replied, “Well, nobody except you”.

“And how many people call me Pip?” he asked.

“Um, just me?”

“So, what is wrong with me calling you by a name that nobody else uses, and you calling me a name that nobody else does either?”

“Um, well … nothing really.” She eventually replied.

“Good. Then so be it.”

He was fiercely protective of all his friends, especially the women, but despite what many people thought, he was not romantically involved with any of them.

Standing to greet his youngest friend Philip said, “Hello Miss ‘Manda. This is a pleasant surprise”
“Hello Pip” his friend replied. “I thought you might like this,” she continued, handing over something warm and heavy in a patterned cloth.

Philip sat, gesturing to the girl that she should do the same. Carefully unwrapping the soft parcel, he found inside a freshly cooked but rather ugly looking pasty, leaking juices where the seam had partially split open at one end.
Taking a bite, he suddenly stopped, looked at his friend, then chewed and swallowed. “It’s delicious. Did you make this?”
She nodded and opened her mouth to speak only to find to her surprise that it was stuffed full of pasty. Philip laughed as she was forced to take a bite of her own before saying, “See, it really is good … even if it looks hideous.”
Now it was his friend’s turn to laugh.

© December 2020

Re: Knowl Park

Chapter 2 Part 3

“Hey Clem,” Philip called out. Miss Prentice has brought me a lovely pasty for lunch and I’m not going to be able to manage the food I already brought with me. It would be a shame to waste it so would you do me a favour and add it to yours?”

Clem got up from his sitting position and walked over to collect the packet being proffered. As he reached to take it, Philip asked, “Are you worried about Gemma’s leg?”
Puzzled, Clem nodded, wondering why he was being asked.
“Do you think it would be a good idea for someone to walk her home? Philip continued, puzzling Clem even more.

Everyone knew Clem was sweet on Gemma, despite her disfigured features, and many were sure she liked Clem, but she never had the courage to say anything.

In a stumbling voice, Clem replied that yes, he thought it would be a good idea.

Speaking quietly so he couldn’t be overheard, Philip said, “I’m going to ask Ged to let you walk Gemma home. I’m sure he will say yes.”
Quickly shuffling round until he was sitting next to Amanda, Philip crooked an elbow towards her saying, “This is how a gentleman offers to escort a lady.”
Nodding to his friend, she took the hint, and his arm, responding with, “And this is how a lady accepts”.
Philip continued, “When you get to the stile, let go of her arm …”
Doing exactly that as he spoke, Philip then held out his hand, palm upwards, “… and offer your hand like this so you can then help her over,” nodding to the girl again, who this time delicately placed her hand in his.

“Now Clem, remember what I have just shown you, then go and finish your lunch”

Turning his attention to the pasty, Philip realised he was still holding his friend’s hand.
“Oh,” he said. “I’m going to need this if you don’t mind” Breaking the pasty in half he offered some to his friend without looking at her. If he had done so, he would have seen the look of disappointment on her face when he released her hand.

“Gemma,” Philip called out. “Clem is worried about your leg and about you getting home. He thinks it would be a good idea if someone were to escort you in case you have any problems walking.”
“Would you mind if he walked home with you to make sure you get there safely?”

Gemma’s face lit up briefly for a moment before asking her father if he would mind.
“Oh, I think it’s a kind offer, and it would be a good idea if someone went with you.” Looking across to Clem he said, “That’s very thoughtful of you and I would be grateful if you could see Gemma home safely. We’ll just have to manage without you until you return, but don’t rush a-cause I wouldn’t want Gemma to trip and fall for undue haste.”

Everyone surreptitiously watched as Clem made his way over to Ged and his daughter, awkwardly offered a gentlemanly arm, and then began to walk Gemma back home.

“Tell Gemma about your new foal,” Philip called out. “In fact,” he continued whilst looking to Ged for approval, “why don’t you show Gemma the baby if she feels up to it when you pass your place?”

Philip and Amanda got up and slowly walked over to where Ged was sitting open mouthed. Ged was about to say something when Philip quieted him with a gesture of his hand, and told him to, “See what they do when they get to the stile.”.
As if on cue, Clem let go of Gemma’s arm, climbed over the stile, then offered his hand exactly as Philip had shown him.
Everyone could see the sudden change in Gemma’s posture as she first straightened, then placed her hand in Clem’s.
Once she was safely over the stile, the two continued walking, still hand in hand.

Philip turned to Ged saying, “He doesn’t see her scars, and she doesn’t hear his stammer. I truly think your daughter is going to be alright.”

Ged couldn’t speak at first. Wiping tears from his eyes with a rather grubby hand-kerchief, he looked at Philip and simply mouthed “Thank-you”.

The young man clapped Ged on the shoulder then said to those in earshot, “I hope you will excuse my absence for a short while, but I need to escort Miss Prentice home. I shall return as soon as I can.”

With that he offered his young friend a gentlemanly arm just as Clem had done, and the pair set off to towards the girl’s home in the village.

© December 2020

Re: Knowl Park

Chapter 2 Part 4

Helping her over the stile exactly as he had coached Clem, the two continued again hand in hand. After a few strides Philip stopped and told Amanda to sit down as he had something to tell her.
Looking her straight in the eyes he told her about college, and then showed her the acceptance letter.
She was speechless to start with, and then in distressed tones began saying, “Three years? You’ll be gone for three years?” I … I … but you’ll …”
Looking away she took a deep breath before continuing. “I’ll … I don’t, oh Philip.”
“You’ll be gone for so long, and, and I won’t see you, you’ll forget about me, and you’ll be twenty-one when you come back. You’ll meet someone and you’ll be betrothed or married, and, and what am I to do then?”

“I’m going away to college. I’ll be busy studying, not looking for a wife, but even if I did find a sweetheart, wouldn’t you be happy for me?

Even as he spoke, a dim candle in the back of his head began to burn ever brighter as a thought he never thought before started to spread its light through his mind.

“No,” she said miserably, “I wouldn’t be happy. I don’t want you coming back home with a sweetheart on your arm or betrothed, or married. I want you to come back to me just as you are now. I want to be your sweetheart.”

Philip was stunned. It had never occurred to him that she thought of him as anything other than a platonic friend, which was exactly how he thought of her.
She was too young. It was impossible, not because of their difference in status; just simply because she was still a child.

“This time it was Philip’s turn to falter. “I … I didn’t know, but I can’t control what will happen whilst I am away.”
“I won’t be gone for three years. I’ll be back every few months for the odd weekend when I can afford the train fare, and for holidays during terms and end of terms, and for eight weeks each summer, and for Easter and Christmas each year.”

“I’m not looking for a wife just yet, and don’t plan to until after I have taken up my position as estate manager. In any case, you will be fourteen next year; a woman in the eyes of the law.”
“You’ll be turning heads by then I’m sure, and one of the young men around here is just as likely to turn your head. I’ll warrant I’ll come back to find you have forgotten me and have a sweetheart of your own on your arm”

Philip stood, helping the young girl up as well, then offered her his arm again before walking her the rest of the way home, each of them deep in their own thoughts.

Five weeks later, Philip’s four friends waved him off as his train steamed out of the station in the next town, heading for the big city where he would change trains to for a town a third of the way to London.

He would miss them, and his family, but it was something he needed to do. He had spent five busy weeks organising lodgings, buying books, and getting ready for this huge adventure, but he couldn’t shake off the feeling that he was leaving something behind more important than the home he loved.

© December 2020

Re: Knowl Park

What do you think?
Is it too long?
Shall I stop now?
Or should I carry on?

Re: Knowl Park

I think you should carry on, Fruitcake

Re: Knowl Park

Thank you. I am much obliged. I intend to finish the story no matter what, but I have been wavering for a while whether I should post the rest on here lest I bore everyone.

Re: Knowl Park

The chapters broken down into parts as you have been doing, make easier reading Fruitcake.

Re: Knowl Park

I agree, more please, Fruitcake.

Re: Knowl Park

Thanks for the encouragement. It's a bit difficult to know whether a story is worth progressing from a hundred and twenty odd views, but very few comments.

Chapter 3 is about 3/4 writ.