Skylark (34 page)

I’m older than the twins. I should have been asked to write something before they wrote their show-off poem, so now I’m not going to write anything.

Elsie

I’m older than the twins too. They should have waited their turn.

Teddy was my brother. He was faster at running than me but sometimes let me win.

He was Mother Lily’s favourite. She liked Teddy better than the twins, ha ha.

Sometimes Teddy was a show-off, but mostly he made you laugh so I didn’t mind.

Frank

I saw Teddy hanging from the tree.

He was wearing his sailor costume.

We buried him in his sailor costume.

I said to Ma that if I could have a sailor costume I would not jump off the tree in it, but she still didn’t let me have one.

I can sing ‘We Sail the Ocean Blue’ right through. Teddy taught me.

I am sorry Teddy jumped in his sailor suit and caught his lanyard round his neck.

Teddy was nice.

Joe

I thought Teddy would always be here. Now there is a hole in our family.

Mummy is very sad, she misses Teddy too.

Teddy was teaching me to dance a clog dance and a hornpipe.

He was nearly always smiling and singing and making jokes.

So the hole in our family is quite big.

I hope we are all happy soon.

Goodbye dear Teddy-boy.

Ronnie

Theodore Valentin Lacey

Born 2nd September 1868 Died 20th October 1881

Dearly beloved son and brother

Rest in dignity and peace

Your father

Teddy has been thoughtless, there is no other way to say it. He has divided and near destroyed the delicate balance in this family. And oh, I have not the strength to mend the rift. We could have healed him. Now who will heal the family?

Mother Mattie

‘Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer …’

[Archivist’s Note:
Richard III
by William Shakespeare. E. de M.]

There is warmth in the air, and the chilly season of anger and blame has melted away. We laugh again over our breakfast. Lily Alouette is forgiven.

My story is told, as far as I have lived it. And Jack’s. I have grown wiser, I hope, in the writing and in the listening. Entertainment it was, but more, much more. Our true lives have been lit, as if upon a stage, and the scenes will not be forgotten. Dear, clever Mattie, you have bound us together again.

Have I written my life true? Who is to judge? Memory is as fickle as the weather. Jack sees a different drama, Mattie another. We are all separate souls (a lesson learned).

Samuel claims to have won his wager, citing a minor detail which we need not waste space on here. I count this as a blessing because Sam is so pleased with himself at catching me out that we are on the best of terms again, and he has agreed to continue his singing lessons with me. A late developer, but showing real promise.

The great mistake I made was that I did not recognise Teddy’s weakness.
Mea culpa
. I saw all his wonderful strengths and was blinded by the way they shone. But an artiste — a true performer — must have that thread of steel woven through the supple cloth of sentiment and dramatic understanding. I have that steel; Teddy did not: perhaps would never have developed it. The twins, I believe, have inherited that steel. We will see.

Teddy’s death was an accident, I’m sure of it. That treacherous lanyard
looked
so feeble. Surely Teddy was, in his over-dramatic way, making a point: that he was miserable; that we were not showing enough care. Notice me, notice me!

And now? Where does the future lie for the Lacey family?

Mattie has laid a solemn burden upon me. ‘You must not run away any more, Lily,’ she said, and looked at me very straight, her eyes ringed with shadows, her weakened voice still betraying a shortness of breath. ‘You are needed here among your own family. I cannot do it all.’ I nodded and squeezed her hand and reassured her, but was even so filled with a sort of terror. I am not suited to be another Mattie. To cook and sew and live a motherly life. Sarah would do better. But Mattie has entrusted the family’s wellbeing to me. I must not fail her.

So, I have come up with a new plan, as Mattie surely knew I would. I am, after all, only forty or thereabouts. Not yet ready to settle into a corner and become like other old folk. A good artiste carries on until the voice or the body fails. I am still in my prime.

Next winter, when the tasks on the farm are slight and the children need a challenge, I propose that we go on tour
as a
family
! A lecture tour with entertainment! It is all the rage now to be informed as well as entertained. I am up with the latest fashions and prepared, as any good artiste, to adapt. Jack shall stand on stage in his smartest horseman’s top hat and cravat, and with his beloved filly Ariel, who will do anything Jack demands of her. He will instruct the audience on how to train a horse to step and dance and rear up. Included in the demonstration will be some breeding and breaking-in tips. Samuel will help with that and we will have painted backdrops: Elsie and Bert are talented with their hands and it will be good for them to develop those skills. I will do my ‘famous women from Shakespeare’. All the younger ones will put on a play, centred around a horseman, perhaps (I have not finalised all the details). It will put the Pollards’ noses out of joint, just you wait! The twins will do their splendid juggling and clog-dance act. (I will develop that with them to include a humorous song.) We will of course have several musical interludes in which we will perform
ensemble
(excluding Jack and Bert, of course). Sarah and Maud will sew the costumes, and naturally they will sing too. Audiences would love such a mix, I feel it in my very bones.

The Lacey Family Lecture and Musical Entertainment! Well. Perhaps I can think of a more dramatic title for us. Are the Pollards really Pollards, I wonder, or simply Smiths or Joneses? We need a good, ringing stage-name for the family. We could start by touring locally: up to Waverley, down to Kai Iwi, and then, as our fame spreads, take on larger towns and more discerning patrons. Oh, it fills me with such energy to plan this! With spring comes new plans, new life, rich futures!

The children will be so excited!

Last night I put my plan to Jack and Mattie. Wednesday is Mattie’s night with Jack, but I was so on fire with the possibilities that I couldn’t sleep. I crept into the bedroom and seeing them still awake (and not too involved in other matters) I jumped in with them and spilled out my ideas. Jack clutched at his head in mock despair; Mattie clapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes rolling. I ignored their theatrics. All my best ideas are greeted thus.

‘It will be such fun!’ I said. ‘Remember, Jack, when you came to see me at Foley’s Circus, the day we first met? And you so admired Mr Foley’s riding skills on Lucy? We have come full circle! What do you think?’

‘In God’s name, have pity!’ Mattie gasped.

Jack groaned. ‘Lily, Lily, you are out of your mind. No. No. No. That is my last word on the matter.’

But they both looked at me with such love, such hidden laughter, that I knew I would prevail.

Let the new entertainment begin!

Lily Alouette
1883

Archivist’s Note: I have searched through old newspapers, but found no reviews of the Lacey Family Entertainers. I concluded that Lily’s considerable persuasive talents had not prevailed over Jack or Mattie’s wishes for a peaceful life. Then, by luck, when mentioning the matter to an old colleague, I was presented with a clue. A mention, in an early oral archive, of a childhood visit to see the Larkendale Family Entertainers! Larkendale! Of course. The stage name that Lily and Teddy took. A translation from Lily’s French name, Alouette — the lark.

I listened carefully to the archived tape-recording. The old lady’s wavering voice described a childhood trip from her farm to New Plymouth and there seeing the Larkendale Family. Her comments are brief. She mentions a ‘splendid fellow and his marvellous horse’ as the stars of the show. Also a comment about the children: ‘So many of a similar age! I suppose they were not really all that handsome man’s’. No comment at all about Lily, which is disappointing. A further search threw up no reviews. None at all. A puzzle. At present I have no answer. I cannot believe Lily or her talented family retired after one season. Perhaps a different stage name was coined? I would be grateful for any information readers might furnish.

Eleanor de Mountfort

I owe a great debt to the theatrical historian Peter Downes, whose books,
Top of the Bill, Shadows on the Stage
and
The Pollards
and whose contributions to
The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography
, informed much of this novel. James Belich’s
Titokowaru’s War
was also most useful.

Also thanks to Alan and Jill Bagnall for information about Foley’s Circus, Tom and Diane Pearce for an introduction to the Waitotara Valley, Dick Rawson for nineteenth-century medical information, the website ‘Papers Past’ for information of every description, especially the drownings at Croixelles Harbour and the 1856 Wellington earthquake; to my publisher Harriet Allan, as always, for her invaluable observations, and Emma Neale for her thoughtful copyediting; also to Christine Lorre and Christine Leurquin for help with French language. And to my first reader, Laughton Pattrick.

The theatres and the performances in this novel are taken from historical record, at the dates and places described.

Baron Alzdorf was the only person killed in Wellington by the devastating 1855 earthquake.

The exposure of Bully Hayes’s severed ear and the farce that lampooned him actually happened. So did the drowning at Croiselles Harbour. Hayes reported himself to be the only survivor. He reported George Buckingham, Rosa, her baby Adelaida and the nursemaid all drowned. He remarried two years later.

The attack on Maori children by Kai Iwi Cavalry at Hendley’s Farm is an historical event, as are the circumstances of Titokowaru’s Pai Mairire attacks and retreat in the Waitotara area.

Lily Alouette is a fictional character, as are the members of the Lacey family.

First performance dates refer to New Zealand appearances. Many performers were already established in Australia or further afield before they came to New Zealand.

F
OLEY’S
V
ICTORIA
C
IRCUS
(A
LSO KNOWN AS
F
OLEY’S
R
OYAL
A
MERICAN
C
IRCUS
): F
IRST TOUR, 1854

T
HE
B
UCKINGHAM
F
AMILY
E
NTERTAINERS:

O
THER
E
NTERTAINERS:

P
OLLARD’S
L
ILLIPUTIAN
O
PERA
C
OMPANY:
F
IRST
N
EW
Z
EALAND TOUR, 1881

P
OLLARD CHILDREN: