‘If he were that bothered he’d have said something ages ago when she had that fit in his office. Just agree with everything I say and don’t admit nothing.’
Yul was having a discussion with Harold when they knocked on the door.
‘Good, I need to talk to the two of you. Sit down and I’ll be with you in minute.’
They sat on a sofa, staring at their feet. Yul and Harold resumed their conversation at one of the desks, both looking at a screen.
‘So what exactly do you need?’
Harold tapped at the keyboard, his serious face intent. His fingers flew as he concentrated.
‘We need more labour every day this week up at the warehouse,’ he said after a minute. ‘See all these orders? We just can’t pack and despatch them in time with the people available. I’m trying to get these smaller orders out before next week and the Christmas post deadlines. The big ones’ll be couriered but even then there’s a cut-off date if they’re to be with our customers in time for Christmas.’
‘But why this sudden crisis? Surely you’ve been aware of the postal deadlines for some time.’
Harold looked across at Yul, his round glasses reflecting the columns of figures on the screen. He grimaced and looked embarrassed.
‘’Tis my fault. I decided to do a special promotion last week, after what you said at the last meeting about Stonewylde really needing more money. I sent out a marketing e-mail to all our previous customers just to see what’d happen. Some of ’em go way back to when we only sold honey and cider – they didn’t know we’d expanded our range. I didn’t realise the response I’d get. Honestly, Yul, it’s incredible! They can’t get enough of our Stonewylde stuff! The new felt hats especially! They’re unique and so colourful – we sold out o’ them within hours, and—’
‘Okay, Harold, put it in a report for me so I can see everything clearly. I need to speak to these two lads now. So bottom line – what do you need?’
‘Six extra people in the warehouse – quick, bright ones – for the whole o’ this week. That should do it. If they work hard, we’ll get all the orders picked and packed and out in time then. And if we could have any more of those hats made up quick …’
‘I’ll see what I can do and I’ll let you know what I’ve sorted out in the morning.’
When Harold had left, Yul came to sit opposite his two youngest brothers. Gefrin fidgeted and wouldn’t meet his eye; Sweyn lifted his jaw and met Yul’s gaze squarely.
‘Thanks for coming to see me. You’re aware of the problems Mother’s been having recently with Leveret?’ Yul began.
‘Yeah, we’ve been helping out,’ said Sweyn. ‘Keeping an eye on Lev for her.’
‘She’s been really bad!’ said Gefrin. ‘She won’t even—’
‘We don’t like seeing Mother so upset,’ interrupted Sweyn. ‘We want to help any way we can.’
‘How admirable,’ said Yul drily.
‘Yeah, well, Rosie’s busy with her family, Geoffrey and Gregory have little ones on the way too, so it’s down to us. You can’t help out, can you?’
Yul tried to conceal his dislike as he regarded his youngest brother. It wasn’t Sweyn’s fault that he looked so like his father.
‘I do what I can but it’s not easy when I have so much else to deal with. Leveret’s going through a difficult stage at the moment and it’s important we all support Mother.’
‘Yeah, we know that. We—’
‘So what I wanted to talk about was something Leveret said the other day. She became very upset, really distressed, and she said that you two were to blame.’
‘She’s just—’
‘Hear me out, please, Gefrin. She said that you’d locked her in a cupboard.’
‘A cupboard?’
Sweyn’s pugnacious features were puzzlement itself.
‘The one up in my old bedroom – that little cupboard under the eaves.’
‘But nobody could fit in there!’ said Sweyn firmly, shaking his head. ‘Oh … hold on, I know what she’s on about! Yeah, we did try to put her in there once, but that were years and years ago. We were bad when we were little – you probably remember – and Mother left us on our own a lot, being so busy. And we’d just lost our father too. We were horrible to Leveret as little ones, weren’t we, Gef?’
‘Well, yes, a bit, I suppose.’
‘No, let’s be honest – we did tease her a lot. But ‘tis all in the