My darling girl, I can’t believe it. To be with you again after so long... To know I’ve not lost you.’ His cheek muscles worked as he struggled for control.
Jo-Beth studied the lines of experience and suffering in his face, noted the grey streaking his hair and beard. He wasn’t the same man who had radiated such blithe confidence when striding the quarter-deck of his small world; but then, she wasn’t the same flighty Jo-Beth. How quickly fate changed people.
She moistened her lips and forced the words out. ‘Where have you been, Ethan? For so long I endured. I grieved for you.’ Her voice shook.
His arm tightened around her. ‘Oh, God! I’m sorry. If I could have spared you one moment’s pain...’
Gently detaching herself, Jo-Beth moved over to Elly’s desk, giving herself space. ‘Tell me what happened to you.’
He waited, seeming to choose his words. ‘The ship sank soon after you went overboard. I had time to shed my boots and grasp a couple of barrel staves before she sucked me under. Afterwards, it was all confusion.’ He shook his head, unable or unwilling to describe his experience in the sea. ‘The currents carried me far up the coast where I was washed ashore on a rocky islet. There I was eventually picked up by a whaler heading for the southern ocean. I later learned that I was out of this world with fever for some weeks, and when I recovered they pressed me to work as one of the crew. We were gone for months, slaving in a brutal climate, living like animals –’ He broke off, adding more calmly, ‘In port they took good care that I didn’t escape ashore. They found me useful, you see.’
Jo-Beth shivered. She could only guess at the privations he had suffered. ‘But you were a clipper captain, Ethan. Didn’t you tell them?’
His laughter had a bitter edge. ‘I did more than tell, but they were too many for me. I spent more hours in the anchor locker than I like to recall, delirious for much of the time, I think.’
Seeing his haunted expression, Jo-Beth’s heart lurched with pity and love. She wanted to cradle the blond head against her breast, to tell him not to remember, not to bother telling his story. But he had more to say.
‘It was the memory of your sweet face that kept me sane, I think. My heart told me you were still alive, that the sea had not taken you. I prayed that one day fate would bring us together again.’ Again he paused. ‘Jo-Beth, there were times when I could easily have given up, yet I struggled to live, to find you again. I knew you would be waiting for me, somewhere.’
Her hands went out to him and he reached her in two strides to grasp and press them to his mouth. His voice came muffled from between her fingers. ‘There’s little more to tell. A few weeks ago the whaler came to grief on a promontory off Van Diemen’s Land, the survivors being taken aboard a coastal trader and brought to Hobart Town. There I took ship for Sydney, to search for you, my own dear one.’
Pulling her hands free, Jo-Beth flung them around his neck drawing him down to her. She looked deeply into his eyes, letting him see the love there for him. ‘You are alive and with me. That’s all that matters now, my dear one.’
Their lips met in a kiss which transported Jo-Beth back to the deck of the East Wind, to the precious moment when she had fallen truly deeply in love. And then she knew it was time to be honest, once more.
‘Ethan, I have something to say to you.’
He drew back to gaze at her. ‘I know it. But you’ve no cause to worry. I’ve done with the sea. The day of the great sailing ships is ending. And when I saw my beautiful East Wind go to the bottom, her hull eaten with woodworm, her back broken, I knew it was the end for me. Nor will I risk your precious life ever again. The sea is a jealous mistress.’
‘Oh, Ethan. Don’t give it up for me.’
‘My dear, I’ve made my decision with a light heart. I’ve other challenges to meet, in the world of shipping commerce. I’ve made my packet trading and there’s plenty of money in a Boston bank to support us. Could you be the wife of a merchant here in Sydney Town? It’s an exciting place, bursting with opportunity.’
‘I’d be your wife if you were the poorest of men. But, my dear, I’m trying to tell you I’ve changed. I’m not the carefree girl you knew and loved. I know myself better, and I can’t resign my independence, even for you. There will be things I want to do, decisions I must make on my own.’
He laughed. ‘Do you think I can’t see that for myself? Or that you’ve grown more beautiful, with a sweet maturity in your face and the serenity arising from suffering overcome. No, you’re not that girl from the past. You are a woman, proud, staunch, the one I need by my side to share what life brings, in storm and calm.’ He claimed her lips once more, this time demanding a response to rising passion.
Clinging as if her life depended upon him, her body moulded against his, Jo-Beth gave thanks to her God from a bursting heart, then gave herself up to her own desire.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Since J.G. had telegraphed their arrival date to Paul, the Pattersons were met on the wharf by a reception committee consisting of Paul, Elly, Ethan and Jo-Beth. Pearl disembarked ahead of the other passengers, a diminutive figure in proper gown and bonnet, pelting down the plank like an excited child straight into Elly’s arms.
Elly, hugging her until she squeaked that her ribs were cracked, felt a rush of emotion bringing tears and laughter and blessed relief that her dear friend had come safely home.
‘Oh, I’ve missed you, Pearl.’ She held her at arm’s length and was struck with dismay.
Pearl’s smile slipped a little. ‘I know. My face. It doesn’t matter, Elly dear, not any longer.’ She beckoned to her husband. ‘J.G. come, kiss Elly and be welcomed.’
‘Do I dare?’ Nevertheless, J.G. saluted Elly heartily on the cheek, his own happiness evident, despite his gaunt appearance.
‘You’ve been ill.’
‘Merely a clip on the head during the little affray at Eureka, girl dear.’
‘How foolish to involve yourself. You’re lucky not to have spent weeks imprisoned awaiting trial, along with the other accused men.’
He grinned at her severe tone. ‘They were acquitted, weren’t they? There was overwhelming public support for them. Besides, it would have been worthwhile. The affair brought me my heart’s delight.’ His gaze went to Pearl, with such a light of love there that Elly caught her breath. Then he strode over to clap Paul on the shoulder. ‘Take your hands off my wife, you cad, and give an account of yourself.’
When Jo-Beth introduced Ethan, J.G’s jaw dropped, but Pearl held out her hands immediately.
‘This is the working of Fate. You two were meant to be together in this life. I am so happy for you.’
Ethan’s great laugh rumbled from behind his beard. ‘Little Miss Pearl. I always knew you would win through, with all that determination.’
‘Which she sharpens on me.’ J.G. had recovered. ‘Well met, Captain. It’s not every day a man’s privileged to encounter a ghost.’
Finding themselves the centre of a milling crowd of passengers with luggage, sightseers, clerks waving manifests trying to board, labourers waiting to unload cargo, they took cabs to the York Hotel where Paul had hired a private room and ordered a celebratory lunch. Here all the pent-up news of months was exchanged, with many exclamations and requests for details.
Elly turned to Pearl. ‘Tell me what grand plan you have for the future. I know you will have one.’
A brief silence had fallen in the room. They all stared at Pearl, awaiting her answer. She glanced across the table at her husband to receive a smiling nod.
‘We have been very fortunate,’ she began. ‘My brother died an extremely wealthy man, with much gold in a bank in Melbourne. He willed his fortune to me.’
When the exclamations died, she went on. ‘J.G. and I have formed a definite plan, and since it concerns you, Elly, I hope it meets with your approval.’
‘Concerns me? But Pearl, it’s your money…’
‘Wait. Listen. We’re going back to China.’<
br />
Elly felt her heart plummet, but J.G. said reassuringly, ‘Wait until you’ve heard it all, Elly. Pearl has thought this out carefully.’
He nodded at his wife, who continued, ‘I want to carry on the medical work of my foster parents. I plan to set up a clinic, to attract at least one Chinese doctor of medicine to help me, and to train local girls in nursing.’ Seeing their amazement, she continued earnestly, ‘You can have no idea what the lives of unwanted girls are like in my country. I can rescue some of them, at least, from virtual slavery. Then, Elly, I’ll send to you those who wish a final polish, as you might say. They can then return to China to pass on their skills to others. The network of good nursing will thus be spread, gradually, over long distances. So, what do you think of my plan?’
Elly swallowed her disappointment. ‘How could I not approve? It’s a wonderful plan, my dear, and a worthy way of using your brother’s money. I’ll be happy to carry out my part.’
Paul shifted his attention to J.G. ‘Just what is your role in all this? I don’t see you sitting on the verandah sipping gin while your wife saves lives.’
‘I’ll be setting up my own newspaper to give those colonial boyos a run for their money. One little matter I have in mind is the roaring trade in opium through the treaty ports.’
With a crack of laughter, Paul raised his glass. ‘They don’t know what they’re in for over there. You’ll undermine trade and reorganise the whole of their society if they don’t watch out. I’d like to propose a toast to this marvellous new venture: to Pearl’s clinic; J.G’s journal; and a brave new world, both in the east and west.’
The toast was drunk with solemnity. Then Pearl slipped out of her seat to place an arm around Elly.
‘Don’t be sad, Elly. I shall miss you, too. Yet we always knew we would go our separate ways in the end. You have achieved your purpose in pulling the hospital into order, making it a safe place for the poor to receive care. The Board is still difficult, I know, particularly as you say Mr Cornwallis has withdrawn his support, but they dare not lose you.’
Elly smiled tightly. ‘We walk a careful line, the Board and I, yet I agree there have been vast improvements over the past year. Of course, you’re right. Each of us must take her own path, although I’ll miss you all so much.’
She refused to dampen the occasion by detailing the difficulties of her life at present. Not only had the Board blocked all further plans, but she knew Cornwallis had stirred an undercurrent of feeling against her, evident in the attitude of the medical staff as well as in the myriad small frustrations she met with every day: problems with appointments and deliveries; broken promises; odd and inconvenient accidents. The list never ended. The pettiness annoyed her, but the consequences of disruption to the patients made her furious, sometimes bringing her close to despair.
Then to cap all, she had just learned that the building housing the nurses and hospital stores would be handed over to the newly established Government Mint. Work had begun last year on conversion of the southern block occupied by the Military as staff offices, plus construction of factories and staff cottages. Elly failed to see why her one small extra building should be reft from her, but needless to say she had not been consulted by the Board.
Pearl hugged her. ‘We won’t leave you just yet, Elly. It will take time for us to organise our journey, so I can come back to the hospital for several days each week until we go.’
‘I’ll stay on for a while, too,’ Jo-Beth added. ‘Ethan has much to do setting up his business and we must find a suitable home. You’re not being deserted just yet.’
Smiling in gratitude, Elly put aside her bleak vision of the future in order to entertain Pearl with the story of her trip to Bathurst. This led to talk of Lucy Whatmough, with Jo-Beth confessing that lately she found the girl both wayward and difficult to talk to. Guiltily, Elly realised she hadn’t given a lot of thought to Lucy in the past few weeks. Her anger with the girl over her attitude towards Paul’s illness had passed, and she and Lucy had re-established a rapport, or so she had believed. But against a background of worry over Cornwallis’ machinations, her own preoccupation with the hospital’s affairs and with Paul’s protracted recovery had taken up most of her time.
Jo-Beth had befriended Lucy, since her dismissal from the millinery establishment for laziness and impertinence, but Jo-Beth had her own life. So Lucy rode daily in Hyde Park, usually accompanied by an admirer or one of the young women met socially through Jo-Beth, and in general enjoyed an unusual amount of freedom. Mrs Brokenhurst, in whom Paul had placed his hopes, had proved a pliable reed, quite unable to control Lucy’s high spirits.
‘I’ve been remiss,’ Elly said. ‘I undertook to help establish Lucy in her new environment. She’s far too young and inexperienced to be left alone.’
Jo-Beth looked down at the peach she was peeling and said, carefully, ‘She’s Paul’s responsibility, after all. If he can find the time for his own political interests, which he seems to have done, he can organize a proper chaperone for Lucy. She’s had a taste of freedom and won’t want to return to work, even if he can find someone willing to take her on.’
Paul broke off his conversation with the two men to plead, ‘Don’t forget the poor child has suffered the loss of everything in her former life. It takes time to adjust. Yet you are quite right. She needs occupation. I must find a more suitable situation for her where she will be carefully chaperoned. It’s a pity she has no bent towards nursing.’
Jo-Beth and Elly were both amused at the idea, but gracefully guided the talk away to a new topic. The lunch party broke up soon after, with the ladies preparing to return to the hospital.
Standing on the street corner, Elly’s attention was attracted by Mrs Burton, the Gaol Governor’s wife, waving from the shelter of a doorway opposite. Excusing herself to the others, Elly stepped into the roadway, then hurriedly retreated as a pair of horses pulling a smart town carriage almost ran her down. She looked up to see Lucy watching her from the window with a mixture of defiance and triumph as she turned to her companion, D’Arcy Cornwallis.
~*~
Alone in her office Elly berated herself. She had been too proud to reveal her experience at Cornwallis’ hands. Naturally Lucy, and Jo-Beth, who introduced them to one another, believed him to be a gentleman. Why hadn’t she, Elly, kept a closer eye on Lucy’s associates? He could so easily ruin her. Yet the affair might not have gone too far. If Lucy could be warned in time...
No. She’d never listen. The poor, silly child probably believed she had brought off a coup. There was only one thing to be done. Elly must approach Cornwallis herself and warn him off. Paul could not be told. There was enough trouble between the two men. But the rogue might respond to a threat to spread the story of that night on the hospital steps. His reputation was precious to him. He’d be ropeable, of course. How could she best protect herself at such an interview? By taking someone with her, and staying within his view the whole time.
Not J.G. He’d be bound to tell Paul and it would all come out. Alan McAndrews, still awaiting his orders from on high, would oblige her. He remained a friend, despite the break with Jo-Beth. And he was too polite to question her if she preferred not to tell him her errand. She prayed she would be in time. She could just shake the little wretch. But Lucy had no idea of the danger she was in.
Tangled in her chaotic emotions, Elly found it hard to carry out her duties until she could be relieved, but once free she put her simple plan into operation by running Cornwallis to ground at his club. The co-operative Captain McAndrews sent in a note requesting an interview, and soon Cornwallis emerged to peer about him, then follow McAndrews’ summons to the mouth of a lane. There he found Elly waiting.
‘What the devil!’
McAndrews said sharply, ‘Watch your tongue in a lady’s presence. Miss Ballard has something to discuss with you. I shall wait just beyond earshot.’ Elly was glad to hear the menace implicit in his voice, glad to know that he wouldn’t move f
ar off.
Cornwallis jeered at her. ‘Well, Miss Eleanor Ballard, I believe I can guess your errand. It’s effort wasted. I’m losing interest in the callow charms of your protegee.’
He loomed unpleasantly close, but Elly refused to give ground. She looked up at his shadowed features, teeth and eyes gleaming like some beast – a true predator.
‘That’s just as well since, if you were to injure Lucy, I should have no hesitation in spreading the story of your attack on me and your humiliation at Paul Gascoigne’s hands.’
‘Don’t try a fall with me, my lady. You would be worsted. Besmirch my reputation and I’ll inform the world that you are the daughter of a foul abortionist, forced to hide in the backwoods to save himself from public dishonour or worse.’
Elly clutched her midriff and reeled as if from a physical blow. All thought of Lucy fled, submerged in a wash of grief. ‘You’re lying. My father was devoted to saving lives.’ It was a whisper, forced out by lungs suddenly short of air.
‘It’s a matter of record, which, incidentally, I hold safely. I’ve always found it useful to keep such “records”.’
Elly had recovered her breath. ‘I don’t believe you. My father was not a Christian but he believed in the sanctity of all life and fought for it unremittingly.’ She saw the dark outline of his shoulders rise and fall.
‘Perhaps he believed the lives of the women to be more important. Who knows how he reasoned? Yet he was a criminal, for all that, performing criminal acts. How does it feel, Eleanor, to be the daughter of a felon?’
‘You shan’t call him that!’ She threw the words in his face, hitting out at him with her fists.
Alan McAndrews came running. Seeing her apparently struggling in Cornwallis’ grasp, he wasted no time in thrusting the hilt of his sabre hard under the man’s chin, knocking him backwards. He staggered and fell as McAndrews grasped Elly, pulling her away.
A HAZARD OF HEARTS Page 36