always did keep her in check. Yes, I’ll speak to them today. Thank you, Sylvie.’
They left the canopy of golden beech trees overhanging the gravel drive and approached the great turning circle in front of the Hall. The vast building sat as it had done for so many hundreds of years, an imposing edifice of pale stone all quarried at Stonewylde. It seemed to grow out of the land, its thousands of diamond-shaped panes of glass glinting and reflecting light. The Hall was irregular and almost organic in design, as if parts of it had sprouted from the enormous main block of their own accord; as if the very stone itself had grown and developed extra limbs and dimensions to accommodate those who lived there. Every period of history was represented, from the early mediaeval era when the present structure was first begun, to Edwardian. Inside, meanwhile, the technological effects and improvements of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries were evident.
It was a true stately home, but it was also a working one, a place used daily by the people of Stonewylde as a home, a school and an office. No longer the luxurious preserve of a privileged few, it had become the property of everyone at Stonewylde. The Hall was used by all and lived in by many. Maizie and Leveret approached it with as much confidence as Sylvie, entering the enormous porch and going through into the stone-flagged entrance hall. The place exuded an atmosphere of busyness, with voices audible from many directions and people moving about purposefully.
‘Go to your lessons right now,’ said Maizie to Leveret. ‘You’ve missed assembly but make sure you say sorry for being so late. What’ve you got first?’
‘Geography,’ mumbled Leveret from behind her curls.
‘You need a haircut, my girl,’ said her mother sharply. ‘I’ll do it tonight. Wait for me here after school and we’ll walk home together. Do you understand, Leveret?’
‘Yes. And I don’t want my hair cut. I like it how it is.’
‘You’ll do as I say, Leveret – it’s a mess. Do you understand? This wildness and disrespect is going to stop right now. Sylvie’s right – your brothers will help me. Maybe you’ll toe the line for them if you won’t for me, and if that don’t work, I’ll speak to Yul.’
‘I wouldn’t mind speaking to Yul either,’ said Leveret softly. ‘There’s something I could tell him, isn’t there, Mother?’
Sylvie looked at the girl, surprised at her tone and Maizie’s reaction. She didn’t envy Maizie her role and hoped that her own daughters would be easier to handle when they were fourteen. At least they had a father around, unlike Leveret whose father had died thirteen years ago this Samhain. Maybe that was why the girl was being so difficult; perhaps the anniversary of her father’s death upset her. She must suggest it discreetly to Maizie in case it was a factor in Leveret’s behaviour.
‘Don’t you dare threaten me, Leveret! I’ll be telling Yul myself. Now get yourself off to your lessons.’
The girl swung around and stormed off down one of the many corridors. Sylvie grimaced in sympathy and Maizie shook her head.
‘She’s awful! What did I ever do to deserve her – and when life should be so much easier and calmer now? You raise six children and think you know it all, and then the seventh turns out to be worse than all o’ the brood put together.’
‘What’s she threatening you with?’ asked Sylvie. ‘What happened?’
Maizie’s face darkened.
‘For goddess’ sake don’t you tell Yul, will you? I lost my temper last night and I slapped her.’
Sylvie gasped.
‘Maizie! You must be feeling awful about that! Will she tell Yul?’
‘So she says. I’m calling her bluff, saying I’ll tell him myself, but I hope it don’t come to that. He’d never understand, would he?’
‘I doubt it. You know how he’s so adamantly against any sort of violence towards children. Though it’s understandable after what he went through, isn’t it?’
‘Oh yes,’ nodded Maizie, images flashing through her mind of a bruised and bloody boy lying crumpled on the floor at his stepfather’s feet. ‘Yul has good reason to feel that way. But honestly, this were only a little slap, nothing like he suffered, and nothing meant by it. Well, I must get to this meeting, Sylvie. Are you coming?’
Sylvie shook her head. She hadn’t even known about the meeting and was sure she hadn’t been invited. The Nursery wasn’t her domain, although both Celandine and Bluebell went there every day.