Loving Spirit

to you?’
    She rubbed until the kitten’s body felt warm and then she wrapped her hands round it and, shutting her eyes, held it tight. She had always tried to help ill and weak animals. You’ll get better , she willed it.
    Ellie tried to clear the anger from her mind, and concentrated on letting love flow from her to the kitten, imagining it warming the kitten, helping it …
    Suddenly she felt something being put round her shoulders. She looked up and saw Joe behind her. One hand was draping the thick golden stable rug round her; in his other arm he was holding the black mother cat. She mewed loudly and struggled when she saw her baby.
    ‘Is it still alive?’ he asked.
    As he spoke, the kitten’s rough tongue rasped over Ellie’s fingers.
    ‘Yes,’ she replied briefly.
    ‘Then the best place for it is with its mum,’ he said. ‘Look, let’s take it to the hay barn over there.’ He motioned to a stone building at the back of the stables. ‘That’s where the extra hay and straw is kept. We can put them in there on top of the bales. No one will go up there for at least the next month now. By the time they do, the kitten will be able to fend for itself and people will probably just think it’s one of the other cats on the yard.’
    Ellie gave him a wary look. She had been so busy hating him along with Len and Luke; it was hard now to trust him.
    His eyes met hers. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t help before. Come on,’ he said, reaching out his hand.
    Ellie hesitated and then let him help her up.
    Half an hour later, they sat together under the low roof of the loft of the hay barn, watching the cats. Ellie had the rug wrapped round her, warmer now despite her wet clothes. The mother cat, who Joe had said was called Poppy, and the black kitten who Ellie had now named Sweep, were lying together in a nest of warm hay. The kitten had fed and both cats were asleep.
    ‘I wish I could have saved them all,’ said Ellie softly.
    ‘You’d better hope that Dad doesn’t find out you saved this one,’ said Joe, running a hand through his hair. ‘It’ll be best to tell him they all drowned, or he’ll get hold of Sweep and drown him himself.’
    ‘But why?’ Ellie looked at him in bewilderment. ‘Why be so cruel?’
    ‘It was an inbred litter. The kittens were weak, not healthy. You can see Sweep’s head.’
    Ellie looked at the little kitten. His head was set at a slightly wonky angle. ‘It’s no reason to kill him.’
    ‘It is to Dad. Animals are a business to him and he won’t put up with weaklings. Any animal that isn’t strong and healthy and can’t pay its way has to go. You’ll get used to it.’
    ‘I won’t!’ Ellie declared. She gave him a look full of accusation. ‘You could have stopped Luke killing them. You could have moved them before, hidden them somehow. You could have saved them after he threw them in the pond, and brought them all here.’
    ‘And what would Dad have done to me then?’ said Joe.
    ‘What do you mean?’ Ellie frowned.
    Joe didn’t reply.
    Understanding slowly dawned. ‘Do you mean he’d have hit you?’
    Joe shrugged. ‘He won’t stand for being disobeyed. But don’t worry, he wouldn’t lay a finger on a girl, though he’ll shout all right if he finds out.’
    Ellie felt her feelings shift. She couldn’t imagine what it must be like to grow up with a father like that. Her crossness faded as she realized what Joe had to live with.
    ‘He already thinks I’m a rubbish son,’ Joe went on. ‘If I couldn’t ride like I do, he’d probably want to drown me too.’ He sounded like he was only half joking. ‘I’m a total disappointment to him – skinny, no good at sport; I was small for ages too, nothing like him. Riding’s the only thing I can do well.’
    ‘He … he can’t really think you’re useless,’ said Ellie, not knowing quite what else to say.
    ‘Oh, he does. He’s told me lots of times that he wishes I was more like Luke.’
    Ellie frowned. ‘Who is Luke? Is he a groom?’
    ‘No, he’s my cousin from down south,’ Joe explained. ‘On the other side of my family, not your side. He’s my mum’s nephew. He’s never got on with his own parents that well. His dad’s rich and they travel around a lot. They sent him to boarding school when he was eight and he used to come here in the holidays and help out. He rang Dad about eighteen months ago and asked for a job. His parents weren’t too keen on him leaving school, but, well, when