“Tell me what happened.”
“He was outraged by my suggestions. His daughter to marry her drawing-master! No. He had some neighbouring fop in mind for her.
Someone of the right family. Very different from the drawing-master. Bella and I decided to elope. There was a maid in the house in whom she confided. Silly Bella! The maid turned traitor. I had been dismissed from the house so I came back one night for her. She had been locked in her room; so I took a ladder from one of the potting-sheds and setting it against the wall climbed into her room. She gave me her jewels and I slipped them into my pockets. At that moment Sir Henry with four of his menservants burst into the room. There, Nora, I have told you the story. “
“But surely she explained to them.”
She tried to. She wept. She entreated her father to listen. They said she was shocked and did not know what she was saying, that I had threatened her and she was afraid. They were determined to be rid of me. They knew that if I had stayed in England I should in time have persuaded her to come to me. So what an excellent opportunity this was to get me out of the country, to arrange it so that I could not come back. ” He lifted his hand and the lynx eyes in the ring glittered.
“It is a terrible story,” I said.
“You would be sure of that if you could picture the filthy prison, the convict ship. I was chained, Nora.” He held out his wrists again.
“The chains made sores; the sores festered. I was battened down in the hold for months on end with all the scum of England. Robbers, prostitutes, murderers … all going to Australia. Cargo for the settlers, cheap labour at the best. I remember the day we arrived in Sydney and how we came up on deck; the brilliance of the sunshine, that blue sea around us, and the birds. Yes, what I remember most vividly were the brightly plum aged birds—red-winged parrots, rainbow lorikeets, yellow-crested cockatoos and pink and grey galahs. They swooped and chattered above that sea and the thing that struck me was that they were free. Have you ever felt envious of a bird, Nora? I was then … and then I despised myself and started thinking of revenge. One day I would take it, and that made me want to live.”
“Soon after you arrived in Australia you were married.”
“Yes. I married the mother of Adelaide and Stirling.”
“She was the daughter of the man into whose hands you had fallen.”
“Why, you know a great deal of my history. I knew you were inquisitive.”
“It interests me. You quickly forgot your devotion to Arabella.”
“I never forgot my devotion to Arabella. That is one thing you can’t accuse me of—fickleness.”
“But you married.”
“Maybella. She was a Bella too.”
“Don’t tell me you married her because of her name.”
“No. She could have been Mary, Jane, Grace, Nora … any name you can think of. What’s in a name?”
“But at least you could call her Bella.”
“Which I did.”
“And did she remind you of that other Bella?”
“Never.” He sounded contemptuous.
“Poor Maybella!” I said.
“It was I admit a marriage of convenience.”
“Convenience for you—perhaps inconvenience for her.”
“She was eager for it.”
“Did she ever regret it?”
“Jessica has been talking to you, I gather. Poor Jessica! She was very jealous of Maybella.”
“She gave me the impression that she was devoted to her.”
“She was that, too. People’s motives are so mixed. Yes, certainly she was devoted to Maybella. She nursed her through her many illnesses.”
I forbore to mention that I knew what those illnesses were.
“She wanted to be in Maybella’s place,” he added.
“She wished she were the daughter of the house so that she could have been the one to bring you out of bondage.”
“How discerning you are! And how we talk! All that is over and done with.”
“But you said it was not. You said you would never forget.”
“I shan’t forget,” he said vehemently and I saw the ring glitter as he clenched his hands.
“But it is past now. Come, let us have our game.”
He drew me into the library and we sat facing each other over the board as we had so many times before.
He was absent-minded that night and I almost beat him. He rallied in time. He did not want me to win—whether it was because he did not want to give up the chess set or because he hated to be beaten by a woman, I was not quite sure. Both probably.
But that night of confidences had drawn us closer together.
He might have become a little wary of me and felt that he had betrayed too much—but we were closer for all that.
After that we planned our visit to Melbourne. Stirling, Adelaide and myself were to be accompanied by one of the men from the property; we could do the forty miles or so into the town, taking about three days which would mean camping out for two nights.
“Just a little trip for Nora to try,” was Stirling’s description of the jaunt.
We would not take more than we needed, pointed out Adelaide, because it all had to be carried. We had sent on ahead clothes and things we should need for our stay at The Lynx in Melbourne so that they would be waiting for us when we arrived. Then we could be elegantly and fashionably clad; we could do our shopping and have our purchases sent to Whiteladies; then we would journey back, camping on the way.
We were taking a few spare horses and a couple of pack horses; and we should carry a little in our saddle bags. There was a tent which could be used for Adelaide and myself. Stirling and the man who was to accompany us would sleep under the stars. It all sounded exciting and I was looking forward to it.
It was only an hour or so before we were due to start that t discovered that the man who was to accompany us was Jacob Jagger.
“That man!” I protested to Adelaide.
“He has to go into Melbourne on business and he said he would like to take this opportunity.”
“I shouldn’t have thought he could have been spared from the property.”
“Really, Nora! What do you know of the property?”
“Well,” I floundered, ‘he’s supposed to be the manager of it and . “
“Even so, he doesn’t have to remain there all and every day.”
“I don’t like him, Adelaide.”
“Oh, I daresay he’s no worse than anyone else ” It was that affair of Mary. “
“It happens now and then.”
“But she said that he … forced her.”
“Girls tell these tales. We didn’t hear anything about the forcing until she was going to have the baby. “
“She seemed to me as though she were absolutely terrified.”
“Of course she was when she knew she was found out. It’s always the same story. And you mustn’t judge people by the standards you’ve been used to in England. People out here are … isolated. These things happen. My father understands this. He is never hard on these cases.
Mary is receiving every consideration, so stop being sorry for her, and don’t be hard on Jacob. “
I didn’t care what she said. I didn’t like the man.
When he arrived he grinned at me.