Read Lillipilly Hill Online

Authors: Eleanor Spence

Tags: #Juvenile fiction

Lillipilly Hill (21 page)

The workers took their cups from the basket, held them out to be filled, and sought a brief resting place on the stone of the Ruins. Above them the sky was a clear blue; beyond the orchard the hills were sharp-edged in the still, fresh spring air. Already the weather was hinting at summer warmth and dryness, but meantime this was the proudest time of the year for the usually sober countryside—the bush slopes glowed with the gold of late wattles and wild broom, and the scarlet of the military waratah and the soldier-vine, while in more secret places bloomed the soft flannel-flower and the dainty bush-orchid. Harriet had gathered a great bunch of flowers only yesterday, and presented them to her mother.

‘Those trees of Mr Bentley's are excellent stock,' said Mr Wilmot, surveying his new orchard with intense pleasure. ‘We shall have to keep our first fruit for him.'

‘They don't look too bad,' remarked Boz, and that was praise indeed.

‘I've put labels on mine,' said Rose-Ann. ‘Then when they have grown, I'll be able to eat my own oranges.'

‘You won't be allowed to eat too many,' said Aidan. ‘We're going to sell them, and make our fortune, aren't we, Father?'

‘Not a fortune, just enough to make us comfortable,' corrected Mr Wilmot. ‘This is not a country where fortunes are easily made.'

Clay whistled to Patchy, who was hunting rabbits on the other side of the fence. She came to gulp her share of scones, and lay down contentedly between Clay and Rose-Ann. Only to these two did she offer any affection, although she tolerated the presence of the others—she had to, now that she and Clay lived in a corner of Boz's shack. For Clay had found a home for both of them, and in return he worked tirelessly in the orchard, the garden, and the vegetable patch, and no longer mourned for his lost cave on Maloney's Hill. So great was his industry that even Boz had been heard to utter a word or two of approval.

‘She's not a bad ole dog, is she?' said Dinny, who was enjoying her day with the Wilmots immensely—helping with the planting was certainly preferable to toiling in her own yard. ‘An' people used to think she was a bunyip!'

‘They thought Clay was a thief, too,' said Harriet, still full of indignation. ‘And all the while it was that horrible man from the mill—what's his name, Dinny?'

‘Alf Turner. Well, they've caught him good and proper now, an' everyone says he was always meant to come to a bad end. Trust Paddy to make such a stupid mistake. I'm glad Paddy's gone to Blackhill to that work on the railway—Barley Creek's much better without him.'

‘Anyway, let's go and plant some more trees,' said Aidan. ‘Charles is coming to help this afternoon, and then we're going to the cricket meeting. You're coming too, aren't you, Clay?'

Clay nodded assent, and one by one they returned to the row of trees, until Harriet was left alone. She had no intention of missing the planting, which to her was a solemn and pleasing ceremony, but she wanted, just for a moment, to savour all by herself the wonder of this spring morning, and the feeling, to be remembered all her life, that her dearest wishes had been lavishly granted. No princess in one of her fairy tales felt more blessed than Harriet, as she gazed upon the rich, brown soil and the brave young trees, and saw in her imagination the slopes bright with golden fruit.

‘When the trees are bearing properly, I shall be a young lady, and Aidan will be quite grown-up,' she marvelled. ‘And Dinny will have gone out to work, and Rose-Ann will be putting up her hair. Clay might even have a beard.'

She contemplated this fascinating vision for a few minutes.

‘I might look like a young lady, but I shall feel just the same,' she decided at last. ‘And anyway, what does it matter? When the oranges are ready to pick, we shall still all be here, and the year after that, and the next year—'

Dazzled by the prospect of the infinite and exciting time ahead, she cast one more glance at the quiet hills and the far-off sea, and ran to join the others.

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