There's a back story that doesn't appear in the book. Her father brought in a governess, "Mrs. Orchardson", who ended up being his mistress and eventually his wife. Beryl and she were not on speaking terms, even many years later, and she refused to set foot in the house on the farm. Instead, she lived in her own native-style mud rondoval. Her escape and sneaking was to avoid Mrs. Orchardson, who she still referred to nearly 80 years later as "that bloody woman".
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