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magnificent. But the one who reallyheld his attention every Sunday was Nora. Since they had gone to school together in the glen, she had fascinated him.
    “You had better go out to the pigs, Danny,” his motherbroke into his thoughts, “or he’ll be up from the river and roaring like a bull.”
    “You’re right,” he agreed, rising from the table. “I’m so glad that we had this talk though; it makes things easier.”
    “It does indeed, and maybe we should have had it before now, but I was not sure you’d understand.”
    As he walked across the yard to the pigs’ house, he looked around, and the sight depressed him as always. The farm sheds were a decrepit looking collection of rusty galvanised sheeting with some gaping holes.
If I was in charge around here,
he thought,
there would be a total change.
But what a hope he had. The old fellow held a tight rein and made all the decisions without discussion.
    Then he thought back over the conversation with his mother. Wouldn’t it be lovely to visit Kitty and Mary? But what about his mother? It would be like abandoning her to leave her here with the old fellow. Imagine his mother going out with a fellow because he was a good dancer!
    She mustn’t have had a spark of sense.
    When he opened the door of the pigs’ house, rats ran out of the feeding troughs in all directions. God, he hated to see them. The old fellow had a fascination with rats. He set traps and lay the dead bodies out on the dunghill. There was no doubt but that he was a crazy bastard, and Danny hoped that some day Martha Phelan would get the better of him.

Chapter Four
    I T WAS TWO days after her row with Peter before Martha felt like looking at the plans for her new house. She went upstairs and retrieved them from under her bed, took them down to the parlour and laid them out on the table. Before she examined them, she looked up at the picture of old Edward Phelan and smiled. It gave her a certain satisfaction to lay the plans on the table in front of him. She had made them out herself in an old drawing book of Mark’s and for over a year she had worked on them, mostly at nights before going to sleep. Imagining her new house had given her endless satisfaction. It was going to be perfect down to the last detail. She had enjoyed going to bed early so that she could work on the plans without interruption. The time spent on them were the best hours of her day. All the hard work on the farm was going to be worthwhile when the new house would be built. Nobody knew about it yet and she treasured the secret.
    She had no doubt but that she was going to have strong opposition. The fact that Peter wanted the money to improve things on the farm would give him powerful ammunition to oppose her, not that Peter needed anything to spur him on where she was concerned. But apart from that, he would be all for clinging on to the old house. Jack, of course, would be horrified and would back him up, and needless to mention that fool Davy Shine would be on their side.
    But it was Nora who was the one she would prefer not to upset. Though if it had to be done, it had to be done! Then, of course, there would be Kate putting in her three and fourpence, as if she were still living here. It was a pity that she did not have children of her own, because if shehad it might distract her from Mossgrove. She knew that Kate would have loved children, but Martha could not find it in her heart to feel sorry for her. After all, she had everything else: independent job, nice home and good-looking husband who thought she was God’s gift to him. How he still thought that, after eight years of marriage to her, amazed Martha. She felt that Kate should be grateful, especially when she thought of the hassle that Peter was causing herself.
    Kate would have to mind her own business regarding the house. But, of course, Kate would have Mark and Agnes on her side. It annoyed her the way Mark backed up Kate in any argument against her. Her own