A lady … like an angel. She walked into that den of savages and she picked up one of the babies, naked, with his face half eaten away with some disease. Surely an angel… “Audrey!”
Audrey came over and stood before her.
“Who told you this story of a lady who was an angel?”
“I see it… I see it myself, M’am. He says to her: “Lady, you go in at your own risk,” he says, and she walks in. And her skirt rustled like an angel’s wings, and we was all afraid of her and somehow glad. And she picks up one of the babies…” Did anyone else see this… vision?”
“But M’am, they all see. They was all there … She wasn’t no vision, M’am. She was Mrs. Fry!”
“I have never heard of Mrs. Fry,” said Carolan.
“You will. Ma’am! The lady … another what come … said you will. She come and read to us sometimes … and then there was the needlework, and she said: “One day everybody will know about Mrs. Fry, know what she’s done for you poor souls.” Why should one waste one’s time talking to a crazy maid! She slipped the torn pieces of paper into her pocket. I shall not go. Of course I shall not go.”
Katharine was missing all day. She was with her lover of course. Carolan was tired and weary. She retired early and gave instructions that Miss Katharine was to come to her when she returned.
Katharine was sullen, already defiant, ready to forget the care of years for the sake of Marcus’s son.
“I wonder you’re not ashamed, chasing all over the countryside after that young man!”
“I am not ashamed, and do not chase after him. We met.”
“What do you think Sir Anthony will say if he hears?”
“I do not know, and I do not care!”
“You are a stupid girl, Katharine. Have you thought of what Sir Anthony is offering you?”
“Oh, Mamma. As if I wanted to be offered anything! Do not be so dreadfully behind the times. I suppose, before you married Papa, you decided it was right and proper that you should, and everything was just as it should be. People aren’t like that… so much … nowadays, thank heaven.”
Carolan’s face was hot with shame. It was almost as though Lucille Masterman was in the room, laughing at her. All right and proper! That was funny. If Katharine knew it. And it was all for her I did it! Oh no. Carolan, for yourself as well. No, for my child; I could not have my child born without a name. I did all that for her, and see how she repays me? She deceives me, she flouts my authority! She is threatening to run away with a boy who will never be any good to her, because he is his father’s son.
And Marcus and I will be related in some ridiculous way, and I shall have to see him, and… and… It was for her I did it this ungrateful girl, this wayward daughter. If she marries Henry Jedborough, it is the end of peace. It is Marcus coming back into my life. She must not marry Henry!
“You cannot marry without our consent,” said Carolan coldly, ‘and I assure you you will never have it.”
“Do you imagine you can keep us apart?” How like me she is! How her eyes flash! This is Carolan again, with her first love. Everard.
“We shall refuse our consent, your father and I.”
“My father, would give it if, you would. He would help us, I know.”
“Your father is all in favour of your marriage to Sir Anthony.”
“But you could make him in favour of my marriage with Henry.”
“As if I would! You are a stupid child. You know nothing of the world.”
“Does one need to know the world in order to know whom one wants to marry? You will be telling me next that unless one has been in England one cannot pick one’s mate!”
“Don’t be so stupid, Katharine!”
“It is you who are stupid, Mamma.”
“My head aches. You are grieving me very much. When I think of all I have done for you …!” The old plaint of the defeated mother, she thought, fighting for that place in her child’s affection which is lost to a lover.
“Oh, Mamma, please! I did not ask to come into the world, did I?”
No, she did not. It was I who wanted_her; it was I who used about No, she did not. It was I who wanted, .. ..-her before she was born, to get what I wanted.
“Katharine, you know how deeply your father and I feel; this. Cannot you realize that we know better than you do?”
“No, Mamma, you do not know better. It is for each person to manage his own life, surely. Because you made a good job of yours, it doesn’t follow that you can make a good job of mine. Mamma, I do not want to go on deceiving you.”
“Oh no? You did that very successfully, for how many years?”
“Only because it was necessary. Please give your consent to our marriage, Mamma … darling Mamma! We have loved each other so much, you and Papa and all of us. I am going to marry Henry; let us be happy about it.”
“My dear child, you talk romantic nonsense. It is your happiness we think of. You know how that boy has been brought up. You know what his father is a convict!”
“Mamma!”
“I was different, I tell you. It was a mistake. Good gracious, child, do you believe your own mother to be a felon?”
“No, no. Mammal Dearest Mamma…”
“It is very different with him. He was a thief. He was here before. He escaped and was sent back again. I know his record.”
“His record, Mamma, is his affair. It is Henry I propose to marry.”
“But he is Henry’s father!”
“Mamma, if you had done something terrible, you would not expect people to blame me!”
What did she mean? What did she know? It was that wicked old Margery. Did she feel ghosts in this house?
“Oh, Mamma, I know you will be reasonable. You won’t blame Henry because of what his father did?”
“I will never give my consent to your marriage with that boy.”
“You must know that we shall never give each other up.”
“I should advise you not to do anything rash. You are our daughter; you are seventeen years old; your father could have him sent to prison for abducting you.”
“Oh, Mamma, you could not be so cruel, so… so wicked!”
“There are many things I would do if I were driven to them …”
“Mamma, you frighten me.”
“Ridiculous child! Why should I frighten you?”
“You must not be cruel to Henry, Mamma!”
“I hope you will be sensible, darling. You have no notion of how exciting life in London can be, if you have money and position. Suppose your father insisted on your marriage to Sir Anthony! You would be grateful to him to the end of your days.”
“If Papa knew how unhappy I should be, married to Sit Anthony, he would never force me to it… unless you insisted.”
“My dear child, do not stare at me like that.”
‘you look different…”
“Stupid! Well, leave me now. It is for your father to decide.”
“No. Mamma, it is you who decide. You could persuade him, and I know he would want me to be happy. You could tell him how there is one way of making me happy.”
You ate stubborn, Katharine. Go to your room. My head aches. Think of what I have said to you. Think of what will be best for us all.”
Katharine went to the door. She looked dazed, as though she were seeing Henry dragged from her. Van Diemen’s Land! It’s hell on earth, and hell on earth is surely as bad as hell in belli “Audrey!” Carolan called, when Katharine had gone.
“My head aches. Sprinkle a little perfume on a handkerchief, and lay it across my forehead.” Audrey gently did so. Thank you, Audrey.”
Sleepily she smiled, and thought of Gunnar, the cold man whom it was so easy to rouse to sudden passion, even now. Queer faithful Gunnar. She had chosen him and the house with its comforts. She had turned away from the station, back of beyond, and quick hates and quicker love. And she did not know now whether she had chosen the right way. No way is right -perhaps that is the answer. Here she was, a beauty at thirty-six; she did not eat recklessly of the sweets of life, as poor Kitty had done; she was plump, bat not over-fat. How would she have grown in the station? A slattern? That wild life would make demands on a woman, take toll of her beauty. And Marcus ever had a roving eye. He would never have been true, and she would have hated him for that, and perhaps she would not have been true either, for she was hot-tempered and impulsive, and would have wanted to pay him back in his own coin.