‘That girl will be the death of me. She has stayed out for hours before, even missed her supper – but the babe was crying half the night. I gave her a bottle of warm cow’s milk and she quietened, but she’s fretful this morning and she was sick. She still needs her mother’s milk.’ ‘Do you want me to look for her?’ Tom asked. ‘I haven’t much on this morning other than the milking and mucking out the sheds. If Mary Jane helps with the milking as usual I’ll go as soon as I’ve done.’ ‘You couldn’t go before you clean out the sheds? I’m sorry to ask it, Tom, but I’ve got a strange feeling. She always comes home at night. I think something has happened to her.’ ‘All right, Mary Jane can get on with the milking and I’ll search for Carrie. I’ll give her a good telling off when I find her. She’s been allowed too much freedom, Ma.’ ‘Yes, I know. It’s just that I’ve had so much to do with your pa. I’m washing sheets three times a day, Tom. If it weren’t for Mary Jane, I don’t know what I’d do.’ ‘She’s a good girl,’ Tom acknowledged.
