The Soldier's Curse

by Thomas Keneally

  ‘For the love of God, Slattery, tell me you didn’t conduct any experiments.’

  ‘I’m not a monster, Monsarrat. No, I’m not. But we started hearing stories. Young children who licked the stuff – God knows why they would, but they did; I’m told young children can do foolish things – well, they died. And then there was talk of banning it. It all came out of England, so if it was banned there we wouldn’t get any in Dublin, either. The foreman was very worried, because everyone was demanding that green. If it were suddenly unavailable, well, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to sell them on other colours. He needn’t have worried, I fancy you can still get that paper in Dublin today. But not from me, of course. I hated being in those places, knowing the paper I hung was likely paid for by the labour of people like my parents. That’s why I joined the army. That, and I also thought the system which sponsored the monster who destroyed my family might as well feed me. And I might be able to get up to some mischief while I was in the way of it. No one would know, of course. But I would. The balance would shift just ever so slightly, and it might be enough.’

  Monsarrat sighed. ‘You know, Diamond has tipped out all of the poison Mrs Mulrooney keeps in the kitchen, to make it seem as though she had used it on Mrs Shelborne. To that point, why didn’t you? Use it, I mean?’

  ‘Hard enough to douse the tea without anyone noticing,’ said Slattery. ‘Getting the white powder out of its jar would have been impossible, not with herself in the kitchen all the time. And you know what she’s like – she’d have noticed if a mere grain was missing.’

  ‘Either way, poisoning a young woman who’d done nothing to harm you is a little more than mischief, wouldn’t you say?’

  Slattery looked at Monsarrat, and rising up to meet him was the hatred he had seen in the young man’s face when he was forced to flog Dory.

  ‘Oh, she did nothing to harm me? She was the agent of my sister’s deformity; it was thanks to her that Mary was marked forever, that the split cheek which hadn’t grown together properly forced her to do unspeakable things to feed me. His lordship may as well have killed her there and then. And then his little girl grew up, fed and clothed by the labour of my family and others. And later, she was fed and clothed by the rents, which just kept going up – every six months or so one of her father’s men would show up and let us know that next week it would be twice as much, or three times. And where do you think all that money was going? It was going, Monsarrat, into supporting her lifestyle, into keeping her in pretty dresses and trips into Dublin. So you may think she’s an innocent, but she benefited from my loss. She’s as guilty as her bastard father.’

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous, man. What did you expect her to do? As a child? She wouldn’t even have known what was going on.’

  ‘She knew – she must’ve done. She was always trailing around after Mary. Mary used to call her Honny, and for a long time I thought that was a real name. But the day her father brutalised my sister, he called her by her real name, Honora. There aren’t many of those around now, Monsarrat, are there? Not many women on these shores with overblown names like that. And even fewer who come from Castle Henry, which is the pit that demon slunk out of to disfigure my sister and destroy my family. I don’t mind telling you, Monsarrat, I nearly choked when I saw that name on the back of a letter. She’d only been here a month, maybe two, so the letter was probably written when she was still at sea. Castle Henry. Addressed on the front to Honora Belgrave Shelborne. I have been in torment since then and yet the ease with which she lived here, the way she played with her mercy when her father had none on us, her show of goodness that cost her nothing … How could I remember my dead ones and not punish her? Why do you think the Blessed Virgin sent her all this way to the other side of the world, if not for me to balance the scales?’

  ‘Don’t call on your faith now as a justification, Fergal. I’ve heard you rail against it enough, and its priests. Don’t pretend that some divine power lifted her across the seas for you to dispatch.’

  ‘But it’s hard to believe otherwise, Monsarrat. Especially when she was followed by a shipment of that green. It’s a most distinctive colour; I think you’ll agree. Very bright. And only achievable through the use of copper arsenic, you know. My family paid for that wallpaper, Monsarrat. Or they might as well have. Why shouldn’t I use it?’

  ‘How did you even know what to do?’

  ‘I didn’t. I did a number of experiments, there amongst the paperbarks. A little bit of tea might have gone missing from Mrs Mulrooney’s tea chest, because I wanted to mix it in to disguise the flavour. I just got a few flakes from the paper here and there. Brewed it up in the copper and diluted it until it didn’t look like some sort of witch’s potion.’

  ‘But how could you possibly have known there would be no taste?’

  ‘Oh, I made what you might call an educated guess. There were one or two dogs, chickens, pademelons and the like who helped me with my experiments. That man, he was no more than an animal himself, so I thought if other animals would stomach it, so would his daughter.’

  Slattery drew a small stone jar from his coat. He opened the cork stopper and showed Monsarrat the contents – a mostly clear liquid with a greenish cast, from which Monsarrat thought he might be able to detect the faintest whiff of almonds.

  ‘And here it is, Monsarrat. The ticket to heaven. A little each day sprinkled over the leaves in the tea chest, the one which holds the good tea, the only kind Mrs Shelborne drank. Not much left now. Before Diamond dragged me off into the bush I had to make sure Mrs Shelborne had enough of this stuff to help her along. She was taking her time about dying – it was making me nervous, to be honest. Pouring this into the tea itself that last morning, rather than over the leaves, was a risk. I hoped Mrs Mulrooney wouldn’t be able to smell it. As for tasting it – well, by the time Mrs Shelborne got a spoonful into her it would be too late, even if it did taste a bit odd.’

  It was nearly completely dark now, but Monsarrat could see Slattery’s teeth and the whites of his eyes very clearly. The young soldier gave him a contorted version of a grin. ‘Would you like to try some, Monsarrat? Surely if you’re going to investigate this matter fully, you should leave no stone unturned.’

  Monsarrat wanted to swat the jar from Slattery’s hands, but decided against it – it might be useful as evidence, if he could get anyone to listen to him. Now he said, ‘If you were going to kill me, Fergal, I imagine I would have found this in my tea long before now.’

  ‘I would never have polluted Mrs Mulrooney’s wonderful stuff with this. It was only those pretentious fragrant infusions that herself liked that deserved it.’

  ‘Did it not occur to you, Fergal, that if Mrs Mulrooney smelled something amiss with the tea, she might have tasted it? You could have killed her!’

  ‘Well, Monsarrat, the thing about Mother Mulrooney is that she is a good girl. She would never have dreamed of tasting her ladyship’s tea, because good servants don’t do that, now, do they?’

  ‘You can’t know that, Fergal. You might have been the cause of her death, and if there’s anyone more innocent than Mrs Shelborne, it’s Mrs Mulrooney. You might yet kill her.’

  ‘Kill her? I love the woman, Monsarrat. She is the closest thing to a mother I’ve had since my own passed away. It would be a far darker place here without her.’

  ‘Well, adjust your eyes to the dark, Fergal. She intends to confess to murder.’

  Slattery looked genuinely shocked. Such a course of action clearly had not occurred to him. ‘Why on earth is the silly woman going to do that?’

  ‘To save you. She will be sent to Sydney for trial, she will plead guilty, and she will be hanged. And there’s nothing I can do to prevent it. Even if I went to the major with this story, you could easily say I was making it up, and I’m sure Diamond would back you, for once. In the face of her confession, anything I might say will carry no weight.’

  ‘There must be something you can do, Monsarrat. You’re an ed
ucated man, you know the law – there must be a way around this. Please! She can’t be hanged!’

  ‘If she confesses, it’s over. My arguments will be seen as an attempt to save a friend, or even an accomplice. Nothing anyone says will stand if she claims she is guilty. So no, there’s nothing I can do. But Fergal, you must realise there’s something you can do.’

  The soldier sat on the riverbank, looking across the wide mouth of the Hastings. Fires were beginning to spring up on the other side and further upriver, lit by natives or cedar-cutting crews.

  ‘I can’t hang, Monsarrat,’ he whispered. ‘I can’t. You mustn’t ask it of me.’

  ‘Then she will die in your place, take your punishment. And what will that do to the balance you seem so keen on maintaining?’

  Slattery did not answer. He looked out over the water, his mouth slightly open, crying now and shaking his head.

  This is what was under that card game face, thought Monsarrat. Hatred, a warped sense of justice, and cowardice.

  He opened his mouth to ask Slattery one more time to confess, but closed it again. If the soldier would not do so now, he never would. He stood, turned and walked away. He moved more slowly than usual. Maybe there was some legal recourse, some clever trick that could save her. If he thought hard enough, he might just be able to discover it. While his legal training did not make him a legitimate lawyer, his knowledge was nonetheless genuine, and he was Mrs Mulrooney’s only advocate. In the meantime, he would certainly tell the commandant what he knew, and take whatever consequences that brought.

  He was reluctant to reach his hut and go to sleep. Losing consciousness would make the morning come more quickly, dragging them all one day closer to the event he very much feared was inevitable. Pausing, he tried to pick out which of the few lights still burning belonged to which building. He fancied he saw a light from the major’s study, and another from the hospital. Further down, a few of the overseers’ cottages were dimly illuminated. But the rest of the lights had already been snuffed out.

  As he stood, he became aware of a footfall on the sand behind him. A long, loping stride. And then a large hand, clamped firmly on his shoulder.

  He’s going to kill me, thought Monsarrat. He will do away with me and let Mrs Mulrooney take his place at the gallows, and no one will be any the wiser.

  He turned and looked at Slattery, and was astonished to see the twinkle had returned to the young soldier’s eyes.

  ‘Mr Monsarrat,’ he said with his odd half-smile, bowing slightly. ‘I’d be honoured if you would accompany me to the commandant’s office, where I believe we have some business to discuss. There’s not much point in redressing the balance, only to have it thrown off again by another unjust death. If Mrs Mulrooney hangs, the bastards have won.’

  Monsarrat stared. ‘That’s brave of you, Fergal.’

  The young man shrugged. ‘It’s to be hoped the fact of my coming forward will convince them to give me a long rope, and I’m a heavy article, so I imagine it will all be over quite quickly. If I can convince some of the lads to come and play cards with me while I wait in the cell, so much the better. Taking some of their money from them before I go would, I think, be fitting.’

  BOOK THREE

  Chapter 28

  Monsarrat suspected the major liked Slattery. He seemed to find the young soldier’s impishness endearing, and enjoyed the opportunity to roll his eyes at Slattery’s goings-on. If anyone complained of a lack of funds, he would ask them if they’d been playing cards with ‘that lightsome Irishman’.

  He had also, after his wife’s funeral, taken pains to thank those who had come to fetch him, including Slattery, to whom he had said, ‘You are not to be blamed that your intervention came too late.’

  So he looked surprised, but not annoyed, to see his clerk standing at the door of his study with the tall young man at his shoulder. ‘I was about to retire, Monsarrat. Can this wait until morning?’

  ‘I fear not, sir. I have brought the private here on a matter of the most significant gravity. Forgive me for disturbing you so late; however, I believe once you have heard him out, you will forgive the disturbance, if not the news we bring.’

  Monsarrat turned and looked expectantly at Slattery, who had been looking at the major and now dropped his eyes.

  ‘Sir,’ the soldier said, ‘I fear I have done you the most grievous wrong. I don’t ask for your forgiveness, as I know there will be none forthcoming. But I do ask for the release of your housekeeper, so that I can take her place.’

  Slattery’s opening words sounded almost rehearsed to Monsarrat, who wondered whether the young man had foreseen this possibility, and prepared for it, all the while hoping it would not eventuate.

  The major smiled sadly. ‘It’s very brave of you to offer yourself in her stead, Fergal. I do admire you for it. But punishments should be reserved for the guilty. No one benefits when the wrong person hangs.’

  ‘I agree with you, sir,’ said Slattery.

  The major frowned. He sat down, and gestured both Monsarrat and Slattery to a seat. Monsarrat took one; Slattery decided to remain standing.

  ‘I’m glad to have your agreement, private. So why come to me?’

  Slattery inhaled for what seemed like minutes. Then he told his commanding officer the story of his background, and Honora’s family’s part in it. And he described the means by which he had brought about her death.

  Monsarrat had often thought that, had he been inclined to it, the major could have made as good a card player as Slattery. He had clearly put significant effort, over the years, into training his face not to betray his emotions. Now he sat and listened to the tale with so little expression that Monsarrat feared he was concluding Slattery was indeed attempting to be noble, concocting a story which would free Mrs Mulrooney.

  When Slattery had finished, the major rose slowly from his desk. He walked around to face the young man, and stood staring at him for several moments. Then he drew back his hand, and cracked Slattery across the face, splitting his lip so that the blood ran down over his chin and disguised itself on the red of his coat.

  He turned Slattery by the shoulders, then, and marched him out of the door towards the gaol. He did not appear concerned that Slattery might try to escape, nor did the young soldier seem inclined to do so.

  Meehan was on duty again that night. Monsarrat knew he had been treating Mrs Mulrooney well. When Slattery was marched up to him by the commandant, he seemed surprised and did not immediately comprehend what was happening.

  ‘Get some irons, man!’ barked the commandant. ‘And release Mrs Mulrooney.’

  Meehan had lost money to Slattery in several card games, but clearly had not taken the loss personally – he apologised to Slattery as he applied the irons to his ankles, taking a great deal more care than he usually would. He then clapped a hand on Slattery’s shoulder as though congratulating him for a particularly quick win at cards, and moved him gently towards the cell.

  Mrs Mulrooney appeared not to have moved since the previous night. She was still immaculate, still sitting on the bench staring at the walls. But when Slattery came into view, cuffed and bleeding from the lip, she sprang up so quickly that a splinter of wood from the bench tore her skirt.

  ‘There’s no one to make my tea, Mother Mulrooney, so I thought I’d come and see where you’d got to, and here I find you lazing around in a private room. What’s a man to do without you to look after him?’

  Mrs Mulrooney took in the state of him, and began to cry. ‘Fergal, you haven’t done this. Tell me you haven’t. There’s no need. Everything was in place; there is no need.’

  Meehan was unlocking the door of the cell now, gesturing to Mrs Mulrooney to exit before Slattery entered.

  Mrs Mulrooney refused to leave. ‘Another young life, major. Your wife was an angel from heaven; I was desperate when she passed away. But sending another young soul to join her, now that will do no one any good, will it? I’m getting old – I’ve limited use t
o anyone now – let me stay in here.’

  ‘I would do almost anything for you, to compensate you for the injustice which nearly befell you, and to thank you for your care of my wife. But this I will not do, Mrs Mulrooney. This man separated my wife’s soul from her body, and the King’s justice will come down on him. Nothing you say will change that. Please leave the cell, now.’

  Monsarrat stepped past Slattery, put his arm gently around Mrs Mulrooney’s shoulder, and started easing her towards the door. As she passed the soldier, she threw herself at him, slapping his face, catching him across the cheek. ‘You foolish boy! Why did you do this? Why would you go against me like this?’ Then she reached up so that her arms were around his neck – she nearly had to straighten them to do so, as her head only came up to his chest – and her tears were added to the blood on his coat.

  Slattery’s hands were manacled by now, so he couldn’t return her embrace. Instead, he rested his cheek against the top of her head. ‘I owe you a lot, Mother Mulrooney. Gallons of tea, and oceans of care. You’ve made my time here bearable, sometimes even more than that, enjoyable, despite the fact that you wouldn’t play cards with me – yes, I know it’s the devil’s work. Now it seems I’ve been doing his work even more assiduously than you would have believed. But even someone as diabolical as myself is not going to let you put your head into the noose where mine should be.’

  The commandant had stood back, but now clearly decided it was time for Slattery to be contained behind bars. He nodded to Meehan, who nudged the soldier into the cell as Monsarrat eased Mrs Mulrooney out. Meehan closed the door and locked it, frowning at Slattery as though he had suddenly turned into a different kind of beast.