The Lickorish Girl

It was a misty, chilly dawn in 1910 when the horse-drawn mail coach, bound for Dover, stopped off at the Lamb Inn at Tilmanstone in East Kent. Unusually a passenger alighted at the quiet little inn, this was a Geologist named Godwin-Austen; he hammered impatiently on the door. The landlord stuck his head out of an upstairs window, he called down with not a small degree of irritation: "What is it? We're not opened yet!"

"If perchance you are the landlord, I venture to suggest that you should be open, I believe your contract with the coaching firm requires your establishment to be open for business by eight o'clock in the morning" replied Godwin. "It is now ten minutes past, according to my pocket watch"

There was a pause while the landlord distilled the information in his befuddled head. "Wait there please sir and we'll let you in" he called down.

Almost immediately, heavy bolts were withdrawn as the door was opened to reveal a thin young girl of about fifteen years of age, with long, fair hair parted in the middle, and with startling violet eyes peering at him.

"Please to enter, sir" she said quietly. "I am Lizzie, daughter of the landlord"

The father appeared, flustered, having dressed hastily, still doing up his long apron. "My humble apologies sir, for the delay. I am Henry Lickorish, Management of this place"

"No matter" Godwin said, not wishing to get into any lame explanations.

"The dawn coach rarely stops at the Lamb," continued Henry, "being as how close Tilmanstone is to Dover. There's not much here to tempt a passenger."

"I require a room for a few days in order that I may survey the terrain here, I am a geologist and that is all you need to know"

"Aye sir, of course. Lizzie! Fetch the gentleman's luggage and be sharp about it! Your room is the very first at the top of the stairs. Mrs. Lickorish will prepare you some breakfast, mutton-and-egg pie suit you, sir?"

"Admirable. I shall require someone to show me around the area"

"That will be Lizzie, sir, and make no mistake on that! She knows these parts like the back of her hand"

The girl bore his overnight bag while he carried his specimen bag, very like a Gladstone bag. As they entered the bed room she put down his luggage and stood silently watching him, she never seemed to blink, which un-nerved him a little.

"What are you seeking with your survey?" she asked, much to his surprise.

He gazed at the unremarkable-looking girl, "Do you know what a geologist does, Lizzie?" he asked.

She nodded. "A geologist makes a study of the earth's crust for evidence of minerals and metals within the rock strata"

He was taken aback. "You seem well informed of such things, young lady. In answer to your question, I often search in general for such things as iron-ore"

"Then your findings will not be welcome here in Tilmanstone, the folk will not take kindly to noisy, fiery, iron works!"

"Do you share the same view?" he asked curiously, noticing the unsmiling girl was obviously intelligent.

"No, such new developments are imperative for any impoverished hamlet, as things have to move on or the place stagnates. In order to set up an iron-works you will need coal, lots of it, for a furnace, for smelting and to produce steam for the hammers"

Godwin now took an interest in this bright young thing who lived in the backwoods. "Do you learn all this stuff at school?" he asked.

"No sir, we left school when eleven. We learned writing, reading, and 'rithmetic, and the girls learnt to cook, to sew, and keep house"