Miterdale's ghoulish nightmare

Despite being the last thing she wanted to do, an instilled sense of hospitality took Ann to the door, which she opened ajar. In the dimness she could see the figure of a woman, looking rather dishevelled with a dress covered in mud, and a shoal wrapped around her head. Ann asked who she was and were she was from. The old woman replied that she was a Scotswoman who’d been staying in Penrith on her way to see relatives in Ulverston - She was terribly tired and all she wanted was somewhere to put her head down for the night.

Ann felt more at ease now that she had confronted the woman, quickly convinced herself there was nothing to worry about and invited the old woman inside. Wearing rather heavy boots, that were all split open, the stranger shuffled into the warm room of the cottage and immediately crossed the floor to sit on the sconce, a stone bench beside the fire. The old woman kept her back to Ann and had her shawl tightly wrapped around her head, covering most of her face. When invited to remove the garment she replied that she had an almighty toothache and could only get relief by keeping the side of her face warm. She then changed the subject and spoke in her coarse voice, interrupted by coughing, of how recently she had been living in Penrith but had fallen on bad times due to misfortune. She had thus taken it upon herself to walk to Ulverston where she had relatives that could help her.

Ann started to feel sorry for this wretch that had been forced upon her and offered the woman some porridge. This was immediately declined to her surprise, but the old woman said a few biscuits would be welcome. These were consumed, again without revealing her face - turning back to face the fire.

As Ann sat sipping her own bowl of steaming hot porridge the woman talked a lot, about nothing much – Very little was learned about her. The old woman then asked Ann about her husband, and still feeling rather uneasy about the situation Ann replied that he had been on business today but that she expected him back at any time – She wished that she could believe it herself. Although the old woman kept herself half turned towards the fire, Ann couldn’t help noticing that several times she looked at the lock on the cupboard. In fact, at that point Ann realised that simply having a lock on a cupboard in a lowly farmhouse advertised the very fact that there was something of value within.

The old woman asked if it would be imposing too much if she were to sleep on the sconce beside the fire. Ann looked to the window that was now spattered with rain. Reluctantly she agreed to allow this but aware that her husband would not be happy to find a stranger there, declared that if he returned the woman would have to sleep in the barn. It was to the barn that Ann then went to collect some hay to make the stone bench a little less uncomfortable. When she returned she could have sworn some of her porridge had gone, but couldn’t fathom why the old woman would pinch what she had already refused.

Ann prepared some of the rushes as they talked. The black, three-legged pot hung on a hook over the fire and the tallow within simmered, filling the air with the smell of fat. Eventually, the old woman curled up on the large sandstone slab and soon fell silent. Ann worked away for half an hour but kept an eye on the woman whom she had once more become nervous of. There had been something false about something she said, or something in her general demeanour - possibly the way she had looked at the locked cupboard, then looked away when it was obvious her interest had been observed. However, at 9 o’clock loud snoring, emanating from the bundle of rags on the sconce, indicated sleep and Ann got up to check on her son. He lay there, sleeping his innocent sleep in the cradle made by his father, and so she sat in the chair and just watched him. It was not long before she herself felt tired. She lay back in the chair but kept an eye on the woman whose presence made her increasingly nervous. However, by ten o’clock, she too, had nodded off in the way you do when you need to stay awake.

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