Emily (37 page)

Fortunately he didn’t seem to want an answer, for he was muttering something about the stamina of women under these circumstances. ‘A boy, I believe?’ and as Emily nodded, he asked, ‘And did she name him? Has he had the benefit of the parson’s blessing?’

‘Not yet,’ she said, ‘though his given name is Ralph.’

She thought she saw the ghost of a smile, but it was gone instantly as he said, ‘Ah, yes! Very well. I do need some help in here. There are some instances when I need a woman in attendance or I shall stand accused of all kinds of misdemeanours. Fetch your mattress and you can sleep in here if you don’t mind being with the sick. I shall be glad if you will come.’

‘He doesn’t know that you’re Emily’s brother,’ Meg whispered, as side by side in the hired wagon she and Joe drove up the dusty road towards the farmstead. Philip Linton rode ahead on his hired horse and in the back of the wagon there was a pile of furniture which he had collected from the stores. Two chairs, two single and one double bed, blankets and a table. The double bed was giving Meg some cause for concern and she eyed Joe with misgiving. The child in her arms stirred and she smiled down at him, grateful to Philip Linton for having the forethought to ask if she needed milk for him and collecting it from the grocery store as well as provisions for them.

‘I think that’s it.’ Philip turned round in his saddle and pointed up the hill to where a stone-built house stood on the summit. ‘Creek Farm.’

Joe shook the reins and urged the horse on and the wagon creaked and groaned under its load. ‘Let me down,’ Meg said, ‘I’ll walk up,’ and jumping down she finished the journey on foot, stopping and turning from time to time to gaze at her surroundings.

‘It’s filthy,’ Philip exclaimed as he unlocked the door of the house. ‘An absolute dung heap! However will we get it clean?’

Looking at it, Meg thought she had never seen anything so wonderful in her life. A large wooden veranda fronted the house and several big rooms with windows overlooked the hillside and in the distance a view of Sydney Cove. There was a big kitchen with a wooden floor and a cooking range, and various rooms at the top of a wide staircase. It didn’t look in the least dirty to her, maybe a few cobwebs, but as she had never in her life done a day’s housework, that didn’t bother her too much.

‘Soon get it cleaned up, Mr Linton,’ Joe said. ‘But just as well you bought a broom.’ His strength was enormous as he manhandled the furniture into the house, refusing the assistance of his new master. ‘Perhaps you could have a look to see if there’s a well, sir, then we can swill out all this muck from ’floor.’ He looked at Meg, who was standing with Ralph in her arms, just looking around her. ‘Go fetch provisions out of ’cart, Margaret,’ he said in a familiar manner, ‘and then you can start Mr Linton’s dinner!’

She placed the baby in an empty box and glared at Joe as she passed him. ‘Don’t keep calling me Margaret,’ she hissed. ‘My name’s Meg!’

By the time they had unloaded the wagon and brought everything inside, lit the fire under the range and Meg had somehow produced a simple meal of eggs and ham, dusk was starting to fall and Philip decided that it was too late to ride to Parramatta. The road was unknown to him and
he had no idea of the hazards which might be waiting; he just hoped that Emily was all right and not afraid. Surely she will come back with me, especially now that I have a house and Meg is here?

The double bed they put in a back room at the top of the house and Philip said that he would sleep on a single bed downstairs for the time being. ‘We will sort everything out eventually,’ he said. ‘I shall need more furniture, but I’ll leave it until – until later.’ He caught a slight smile on Meg’s lips as he hesitated, but which disappeared when he said, ‘You and Johnson can have the room upstairs.’ He wanted to be downstairs in case anything untoward happened. He had his pistol strapped beneath his jacket so that if they were attacked by escaped convicts or unfriendly natives he was well prepared, and he also had full view of the stairs, should Meg or Johnson decide to take their leave during the night.

That night Meg eyed the double bed and then Joe, who was also standing looking at it. ‘I can’t remember ’last time I slept in a bed,’ he said softly.

‘Well, that’s all you’ll be doing,’ she said harshly. ‘Sleeping in it! Don’t think, because we’ve passed off as a married couple that you can have ’same privileges as such.’

‘It never entered my head,’ he said sourly. ‘It was onny when I realized that couples could be assigned together on a farm that I came forward. It would have been ’road gang otherwise.’ He gave a sudden grin. ‘Stroke of luck though, that our names were ’same.’

‘’Cept that yours isn’t,’ she griped. ‘So don’t expect owt.’

‘Changing thy spots?’ he said harshly. ‘Or is it because I’ve no money? Whoring was your living, wasn’t it?’

‘It was!’ She glared at him. ‘But not any more.’

‘You don’t have to worry about me. I’ve not been wi’ a woman in years. I can wait a bit longer, till I meet one I fancy.’ He picked up a blanket from the bed and lay down on the floor giving a deep sigh. ‘I feel as if I’m home at last. Get into bed, Meg. I’ll not trouble thee, have no fear.’

The next morning Philip hammered on their door to waken them. It was six o’clock and the sun shone brilliantly through the uncurtained windows. He had gone outside and swilled himself under the pump, eaten some bread and cheese and then saddled up the horse ready for his journey to Parramatta. Thing is, he pondered, will they both be here when I get back or will they have taken themselves off in search of real freedom? He thought that Meg would stay because of Emily, but he had no inkling of Johnson’s motives. He has no ties with Meg in spite of what he claims, I’m not such an idiot that I don’t know that, and he could go off.

Many convicts in the past had absconded from their employers, some had become bushrangers, living a wild life and terrifying decent citizens, others had disappeared into other parts of the New Territory, never to be seen again.

Philip confronted Johnson as he hurried down the stairs apologizing for having overslept. ‘I can’t
remember when I slept better,’ he said. ‘Not since I was a little nipper anyway, safe in my ma and da’s bed.’ And in truth, although the floor had been hard, at least it was stable and not prone to dip and plunge as his bunk on board ship had done for the last few months. Tonight, Joe vowed, he would move his blanket to another room along the landing.

‘Where are your parents now?’ Philip asked casually and saw the veil of secrecy drop over his face.

‘Both dead, sir, many years ago. Ma died in ’workhouse and that was ’start of my downfall.’

‘And no other relatives?’

He hesitated. ‘Onny a sister, sir. Nobody else.’

‘I’m going to Parramatta, Johnson. I know that if you have the mind to you can take yourself off as soon as my back’s turned and I’ll never see you again.’ Philip was blunt. ‘But I’m putting you on your honour to stay. I’ll be gone all day and I want you to stay with Meg to protect her until I get back.’

‘What makes you think I’ll protect her?’ he said defiantly. ‘If you think I’m likely to go off as soon as your back’s turned, why should Meg make any difference?’

Philip challenged him. ‘She’s supposed to be your wife, isn’t she?’

Johnson’s eyes shifted away from him. ‘Aye, she is. But I wouldn’t be ’first husband to go off and leave his wife to her own devices.’

‘But you won’t?’

‘No. I won’t!’ He stared at Philip defiantly. ‘I’ll onny leave here if I’m treated unfairly, otherwise
I’ll stop and serve my time. I intend to make a life out here and I don’t mean to start off on ’wrong foot by absconding. Besides, I have another reason for stopping.’

‘Yes?’ Philip queried. ‘And that is?’

He shook his head. ‘It’s a private matter, sir. But I’ll be here when you get back wi’ Emily.’

Strange fellow, Philip mused as he swung himself into the saddle and then looked back as Johnson ran towards him.

‘Permission to look over ’land, sir, just to see what we’ve got?’

Philip nodded and as he dug in his heels turned once more as Johnson called again, ‘Sir! Mr Linton. Can tha lend me a razor?’

There were two occupied beds in the sick ward. One held an old woman sick with fever, the other a girl who was pregnant and lay semi-comatose with her eyes staring into space.

‘Her child is probably dead,’ Clavell said in a low voice to Emily. ‘And she’s not far off, her body is full of poison.’

‘Can you do anything for her?’ Emily whispered. ‘Will she suffer?’

‘Give her something you mean? Laudanum? Yes, I have already.’

‘You didn’t give me enough.’ The girl’s voice, low and husky, came from the bed. ‘I need more to pass from this world into the next.’

Emily went across to her. She was young, as young as she was herself. Her hands, red and puffy, lay on top of the sheet above her swollen belly and Emily stroked them. ‘You’re not ready to go yet, surely?’ she said softly.

‘Why should I stay?’ she whispered. ‘There’s nothing for me in this life. Nobody who cares and nobody who I care for. Babby’s gone, I know. It’s so still I know it’s dead.’

Emily pulled up a stool and sat by the bed. ‘I’ll stay with you if you like.’

‘Please,’ she said. ‘I’m frightened. Frightened of being alone.’

‘Would you like the parson to come?’ Emily asked. ‘Would he be of any comfort?’

The girl gave a hoarse laugh, which set her coughing and wincing. ‘Last time I saw a parson he said I was wicked and would go to hell! I was wicked ’cos I went with men. He doesn’t know what it’s like to be hungry.’ Her eyes became bright with tears. ‘Mr Clavell brought me in. He found me outside the gate. He’s the onny man that’s ever shown me kindness.’ She clutched Emily’s hand. ‘Do you think I’ll go to hell?’

‘No.’ Emily’s voice trembled with emotion. ‘I think you’ve been there already.’ She urged her not to distress herself and to try to rest.

The girl sighed. ‘I’ll be getting plenty o’ rest soon, more than I bargained for just yet. But I don’t mind,’ she added huskily. ‘I’m ready. I’m sick of this life. It’s given me nothing but misery.’

She fell asleep shortly as the laudanum took effect and Emily went to look at the other patient. There was a great heat emanating from her, and as she muttered and sighed in her delirium, Emily saw that her mouth and tongue were swollen and her eyeballs were yellow. She fetched a bowl of water and a cloth to bathe her face, and then becoming more anxious went to find Mr Clavell, who had gone off somewhere.

She found him with the governor of the prison outside in the yard. ‘I’m sorry, sir,’ she said, ‘but
could you come? The old woman is very sick.’

‘Don’t let her come into contact with anybody,’ the governor boomed. ‘We don’t want an epidemic.’

‘It’s what you’ll get, Morrison, if this place isn’t cleaned up,’ Clavell barked back. ‘And the women who are punished for offences work too hard. That woman is sixty and she’s been on the treadmill for three days! There’s no wonder she’s sick!’

The governor shrugged. ‘She’s a troublemaker. In the old days she would have had the cat and then she would have behaved!’

Emily shuddered as she looked at the governor. His eyes gleamed. He would have enjoyed seeing the women lashed, she was sure of it.

Clavell looked at the young pregnant girl as he passed the bed and pressed his hand to her neck. Then he bent low and listened to her chest. ‘She’s gone.’ He pulled the sheet over her head and turned to the other bed, leaving Emily staring horrorstruck in the face of death.

‘Already! But I said I would stay with her,’ she whispered, ‘and I didn’t.’

Clavell shook his head. ‘She wouldn’t have known. Be thankful for her that she went when she did. At least she has been spared the trauma of childbirth, for she would have died in agony then, without a doubt.’

He turned his attention to the old woman. ‘Did you wash your hands after attending her?’ he asked.

‘Yes,’ she said, feeling tears gathering. ‘I did.’

He looked down at the woman. ‘Then wash them again, up to your elbows. Scrub them until they
hurt. I’ll have to warn the governor. We have gaol fever here. Typhoid!’

Emily poured water into a bowl and took soap and a brush and started to scrub her hands. She felt so miserable. The poor girl, lying still and silent in the bed across the room, who had died unloved and unwanted. Perhaps if she had kept the baby things would have been different. At least she would have had someone to love. But in her heart Emily knew it wasn’t so. The woman on the ship who had had the child, Ralph, had known how difficult life would be with two mouths to feed. And I, how would I have coped had my child lived?

What kind of life is this? Her shoulders heaved with sobs as she scrubbed vigorously and angrily at her hands. It’s no better here than it was in England. I don’t know if I can go on. I don’t know if I want to.

‘Emily!’ The voice was low and she thought that it was Clavell come back into the room. She turned and with wet, soapy hands she brushed away the tears which streamed down her cheeks.

‘Mr Linton!’ Relief and happiness flooded over her. So he hadn’t forgotten her after all.

‘Emily!’ He took hold of her hands with both of his. ‘Are you all right? Why are you crying? Have you been ill treated?’ His face was suffused with anxiety.

‘No, no, no! I’m crying because – because people keep dying and babies are abandoned by their mothers, or they die before they have lived.’ The tears ran unchecked down her face. ‘And the woman over there has typhoid and – oh, Mr Linton,
this is such a dreadful place and Mr Clavell is going to try and close it down!’

He took out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped her eyes and patted her face, then gently hushed her and led her to a stool and sat her down. ‘Emily! I’ve bought a house and Meg is there with the child and the man she says is her husband. Will you come back with me? Please!’

She stared at him and her mouth trembled and her eyes were so awash with tears that she couldn’t see and had to close them. She shook her head. ‘I can’t,’ she sobbed. ‘I’ve told Mr Clavell I’ll help him here. He needs someone to help with the sick women.’