Trustee From the Toolroom Read Free

sure that the Dungannons let you know.'
    Katie nodded. 'Keith would meet the tram and bring her down here. He'd like doing that.'
    'I think we'll be sending for her about February,' said Jo. 'We should be there by then, and if we haven't got a house she can live on the boat with us. But anyway, I'll be writing to you from each place. It's just the Christmas holidays.'
    Katie said, ' Of course, Keith is in the house most of the time, down in the workshop. They're not very long, the Christmas holidays.'
    'I don't want her to be a burden on you and Keith.' -She won't be that — honestly she won't.' Katie paused. .'.'I think it would be nice to have children's parties, and crackers, and presents, and all that.'
    'Joanna eyed her uncertainly, wondering how far she meant it. 'I'm sure Margaret would have her.'
    'Do whatever you think would be best for her,' said Katie. 'But don't do it. for us. Keith's always wanted to have kids about the place. I mean, with a great big garden,
    In the room below Keith turned off the gas at the two cylinders, hung the torch up on its hook, took the copper box to a sink in one corner of the room, and scrubbed the brazing with water and a wire brush. He dried it on a dirty towel, and examined the seam carefully, inch by inch. Then he handed it to his brother-in-law. ' She's tight now,' he said briefly.
    John Dermott took it from him. ' No chance of seawater getting into it? Corrosion?'
    'Not in a hundred years.' He paused. 'When you want to open it, just cut the top off with a hacksaw - round here.'
    The naval officer hesitated. 'I'm going to set it in concrete,' he said diffidently. Keith stared at him, surprised; he had thought the box was to go into the yacht. 'Do you know how to mix it?'
    'I know how to mix concrete,' the mechanic said. 'You mix it in different proportions, depending on what it's for -what its got to hang on to. How much would you want ? '
    The naval officer hesitated, and then indicated the box upon the bench before them. 'About as much as that, or a bit more.'
    Keith frowned; this was getting difficult. ' I should grease it before setting it in concrete,' he suggested, trying to be helpful without knowing the job. ' Come out easier when you want it out.'
    'I see.' The naval officer hesitated, irresolute; he had never had to do this sort of work before and he wanted a good job made of it. 'You wouldn't like to come down to the boat and do it for me?'
    'Down to Hamble?' John Dermott nodded. 'When?'
    ' We're going down tomorrow, in the car. Would it take long?'
    'If it's,a straight job it might take about an hour,' Keith said. 'Then you ought to leave it for a while to set - two or three days. .I could come tomorrow, but I'd have to be back tomorrow night.' His eyes strayed to a corner. 'I've got half a bag of cement there, but I'd have to slip up to the builder for some sand. Got some aggregate down there?'
    'What's that?'
    'Little clean stones - just a few pounds. Not salty -washed in freshwater.'
    'There's plenty on the beach. We could wash them under the hose, couldn't we?'
    Keith nodded. ' Doesn't matter if they're wet.'
    They left it so, and turned to go upstairs. The naval officer paused by the littered desk with the drawing board beside it. 'This where,you do your stuff?'
    Keith nodded. ' I used to do it up in the parlour, but it's better down here. You'd be surprised at the number of letters that there are - all over the auction. I save the foreign stamps and give them to the boy next door -Jamesie Morris, he collects them. Six or seven in a day, some days. You'd be surprised."
    John Dermott opened his eyes.' How many letters do you have to write - say, in a week ?'
    'Twenty or twenty-five,' the mechanic said. 'It's letters all the time, and then there's the articles each week. I spend more time writing than I do working.' He paused, and added a little resentfully,' It's fifteen bob a week for stamps - more, sometimes. Of course, one has to do it. Some of them send