Chapter 12
She shook her head. “You’ve got that woman for that. I’ve been watching. She comes every day. Twice sometimes.” She slid toward the door. “And anyway. I don’t want to work in a house. I want to work on a farm. With the animals. Like the other men.” Then she edged out of the door with a quiet “Thank you for the food.”
“No-one ever uses that bit of the barn anymore,” he said, slightly desperately. “And there’s water plumbed to in the sink back there. Did you find it?” He had an odd feeling that he was responsible for her wellbeing.
She nodded. “The pipes were rusty,” she said. “But it ran clear after a while.” She was moving sideways toward the door as she spoke.
“Take the rest of the bread,” he said. He gestured toward it and then pushed it down the table toward her when she didn’t move. “There’s plenty here.”
She eventually reached out for it and pulled it toward her quickly. “Thank you,” she said. And then she disappeared in a twist of dirty clothes.