by Anna Jacobs
‘We can find someone else to help me.’ Mrs Largan patted her with one twisted, arthritic hand.
‘You’ve been better since I came here.’ Maia gave her a tearful smile and clutched that hand tightly. ‘And . . . I don’t want to leave Galway House, either. I like living here.’
‘My dear girl, my days are numbered and your life is just beginning. You mustn’t give up your life for me.’
Zachary watched emotions warring in Maia’s gentle face, saw her shake her head as if in bafflement, and wondered whether he was the only one to notice the way Conn was staring at her. It was a very revealing look, but within seconds Conn’s face took on a shuttered look again. If Zachary hadn’t been watching at just the right time, he’d not have seen how the other man felt.
The poor fellow must have learned to assume that blank facial expression as a convict, because it gave nothing away. They’d told Zachary that Conn had been a political prisoner, one given his ticket of leave on arrival because he’d brought money with him. Nonetheless the imprisonment until then must have been very hard for an educated gentleman to bear. Zachary could remember the convicts on board his ship, how hopeless some of them had looked.
‘Tell her, Conn,’ Mrs Largan urged. ‘Tell her to do what’s best for herself. She has her whole life before her.’
‘I agree with my mother, Maia. I only ask that you don’t leave until I’ve found someone else to help her.’
Zachary had to intervene. ‘We have to set off quite soon, I’m afraid. There’s a mail steamer leaving Albany around May the first and I’ve sent ahead to book cabins for us – if they have space. If not, we’ll have to travel steerage as far as Point de Galle in Ceylon. We can easily find another ship going to England from there, I’m told.’
The Largans stared at him in consternation. The twins looked at one another. No one spoke.
He continued to give them the necessary information while all the time feeling sorry for them. ‘For some reason, there aren’t many ships leaving Western Australia this year, just the P&O mail ships, which only call at King George Sound. They’re steam ships so we’ll travel more quickly on them. If we miss this one, we’ll have to wait two months for the next.’
Pandora turned to Xanthe. ‘You’ve not said anything. Do you want to go or stay?’
Her tone was decisive. ‘I doubt I’ll ever go back to Outham, and definitely not to stay.’
Everyone stared at her in shock.
‘Why not?’ Pandora asked.
‘Because there’s nothing for us to go back to, not really, with Dad dead. The shop means nothing to me and I don’t want to work there and have to fuss over women like our aunt’s friends. It can be sold and the money divided between us. Like Cassandra, I’m enjoying the better climate and spending more time out of doors.’
She turned to Conn. ‘I don’t want to stay here at Galway House for ever, though I won’t leave you in the lurch. I never thought I’d get the chance to live the sort of interesting life you read about in books, had resigned myself to that. But if I’ve got some money, I can do as I please. Dad always wanted to see the world, didn’t he?’ Her sisters nodded. ‘Well I’d like to travel, too, and do it for him.’
She turned to her twin. ‘We want different things from life, Maia love. I’ve known that for a while. You’re a homebody. I’m not. You ought to marry, have a family. That’s what would make you happiest. I’m not intending to marry, not ever.’
Maia’s voice was thick with tears and desperation. ‘Xanthe, don’t talk like that! We’ve never been separated before, not even for a day. If you feel the need to travel, I’ll come with you.’
‘You’d hate it. And us being separated was bound to happen one day. I don’t want babies or a husband, but I hunger for a more interesting life.’
Her sisters were all looking astonished.
‘Why don’t you want to marry?’ Cassandra asked.
Xanthe shrugged. ‘If you’re married, you’re at the beck and call of your husband, and your time’s taken up with raising children. Even richer women must do as their husbands say. And with all respect, Mrs Largan, it was bad enough working in the mill, where at least I had company, but I find doing housework all day on my own quite tedious. Only I thought I had no choice. If I do . . . if I’ve got some money, I’m definitely going to do something different with my life.’
‘Travel can be dangerous for a woman on her own,’ Conn said.
‘How many women die in childbirth? That’s dangerous too. Pandora’s fiancé was young and strong, but he died from a sudden fever. Life is never safe.’
Maia burst into tears and it was Mrs Largan who comforted her, acting as if the gentler twin was a daughter of the house not a maidservant.
‘You only have a day at most to decide,’ Zachary said as the silence dragged on. ‘We have to get to Albany. Bert says the main road we came from Perth on is the same one the mail wagon uses, and we can go that way rather than trying to get back to Fremantle. We should get to Albany in about a week. It might take longer, though, if the weather’s bad, so I’d thought to set off as soon as possible, to make sure we don’t miss the SS Bombay.’
They all began talking at once, gesturing and pleading, refusing and explaining. He took no part in the sometimes heated debate but continued to watch Pandora. Poor lass, she was hurting badly. But there was nothing he could say or do, for her or for her sisters. It was their decision.
‘Perhaps you all need to think about this quietly,’ Conn suggested. ‘I could bring Maia and Xanthe over to Westview tomorrow.’
‘I shan’t change my mind,’ Cassandra said.
‘Nor I,’ Pandora said in a voice choked with tears.
Conn turned to the twins. ‘Do you need more time to consider it?’
‘I do. And whatever the others say, I think we all do,’ Maia said. ‘You two heard the news yesterday; we only heard it a short time ago. It’s not a decision to make lightly.’
Xanthe shrugged.
Zachary could only repeat, ‘I’m sorry, but we have to leave quite soon. If you do decide to return to England, you should come to Westview tomorrow with your things packed, ready to leave the next day.’
After another of those heavy silences, Conn said, ‘Perhaps you four would like to talk in private now? You could go and sit on the front veranda. I’m quite capable of making a pot of tea and bringing it out to you.’
‘I’ll set a tray,’ Maia said, and was up doing it before anyone could stop her.
Zachary watched the four young women. Maia finished setting the tray and they left the room. They looked alike, could be spotted instantly as sisters, but they had very different natures and that showed, even with the twins. Some twins you could hardly tell apart but these two were very different from each other, in looks and character.
Pandora was by far the most beautiful of them all. The sight of her took his breath away, made him think thoughts he had no right to. She was the owner of the store where he worked, not a lass he could court. He had to remember that.
‘It’s a difficult decision for them to make,’ Mrs Largan said in her soft lilting voice.
Zachary nodded. ‘Mr Featherworth will be surprised not to see them all returning. He assumed they’d jump at the chance. After all, they didn’t choose to come here, they were forced. And what’s to happen to the inheritance if only one comes back?’
‘Presumably they’ll sell the shop,’ Reece said quietly.
‘It’s a bad time to sell. It’ll not fetch half as much money just now. People are still facing hard times in Lancashire.’
‘They can wait to sell the shop till times are better, or if Pandora wants to keep it, she can pay us back gradually for our shares. There are cottages as well, you said. Those could be sold, may even cover our share of the inheritance. Cassandra and I won’t go hungry in the meantime. I’m sure I can make a go of it here – especially with a wife like her by my side.’
Conn’s voice was bitter. ‘You�
�re very fortunate in your wife. They aren’t all as loyal and hard-working as she is.’
Mrs Largan cleared her throat and he changed the subject. ‘We’re behind the times here with news, but we do get the occasional newspaper and I’ve been thinking the war in America is drawing to a close. Once that ends, the cotton industry will start up again.’
Zachary sighed. ‘From something Mr Blake said to me after he’d started seeing his nieces and brother again, I think he was hoping his nieces would keep his shop in the family. He was very proud of the success he’d made of it. His wife’s father didn’t do half as well, you know. The emporium is much bigger now than when Mr Blake inherited it and could do better still once times improve.’
‘You sound as if you love working there.’
Zachary smiled. ‘I did when Mr Blake was in charge. He was a good employer, a good man too.’
‘Who’s in charge now?’
‘Harry Prebble.’
Reece frowned. ‘Is he related to Martin Prebble?’
‘He’s a nephew of Martin.’
‘Bad blood there, then.’
As arranged, Marshall slipped round to Ralph’s one evening after he’d been working at the shop for a week. He made sure he wasn’t seen and went to the back door, not the front.
The door was slightly ajar and he took this as a sign to go straight inside. Only then did he tap on the inner scullery door.
‘Come in.’
He found Ralph sitting in the kitchen, with the blinds drawn. No sign of Ralph’s sister.
‘Sit down, lad. I’ve just brewed a pot of tea.’
Only when each had finished drinking the first cup of tea in an appreciative silence did Marshall start to talk about Prebble.
‘He thinks himself something, that little sod does. I’m used to telling people what to do, but if I took that tone with the mill lasses, they’d soon let me know what they thought of me.’
‘What tone?’
‘Like we’re nowt but dirt beneath his feet. The other fellows working there don’t say owt, just do as he tells them, but the looks they give him behind his back would curdle milk.’
‘Is he providing you all with dinners now?’
‘Of a sort. He buys in the stale loaves from the baker’s, uses the gristly bits from the ham, the rind from the cheese, things I’d have given my dog afore the cotton stopped coming.’
‘You’d think the money for it came out of his pocket.’
‘Aye, you would.’
Ralph considered this for a moment. He hadn’t forgotten that cash box full of money and he still wasn’t convinced it’d been intended for the new owners. ‘What about his own dinners?’
‘He takes them in the office, but I’ve kept my eyes open. He doesn’t go short and there’s no gristle on his plate.’
The men looked at one another, shaking their heads.
‘Has he tried to upset you?’
Marshall grinned. ‘Aye. Won’t manage it, though. Thinks I’m dumber than I am. Useful, that, I reckon. I’ll give him his own one day, see if I don’t.’
‘Do you see anything of Miss Blair? She lives above the shop.’
‘No. She keeps the door to the living quarters locked all the time. I’ve seen him try it now and then. The maid comes into the shop sometimes for food, but she comes through the front door. He treats that poor lass like she’s an idiot as well, keeps her waiting and serves others first, but he’s all over the better customers. Nothing’s too much trouble for them.’
‘You do have to keep customers happy.’
‘I don’t think all of them appreciate his compliments and fuss.’
‘Hmm. So there’s nothing obvious to report.’
‘Not yet. But he wouldn’t risk doing anything, would he? Not the first week I’m there.’ He chuckled. ‘I did say summat sharp about you to another of the lads when I knew he was listening. Mebbe he’ll stop being so suspicious of me.’
‘Do you feel there’s something going on?’ Ralph asked.
Marshall tapped his nose with one finger and nodded. ‘I saw one fellow come in, not the usual sort to patronise our shop, and Prebble shook his head. The fellow bought a box of matches and left. I know him from somewhere, can’t remember where. It’ll come back to me, though. I never forget a face.’
‘Another cup of tea before you leave?’
‘No, thanks. I’ll be getting home now.’
The two men shook hands and Ralph went with Marshall to the back door. ‘I’ll just check that the back alley’s clear before I open the gate. Same time next week?’
‘Aye.’
He went to stand on a pile of bricks and saw two men standing in the back alley, so got quietly down again. ‘I think you were followed here.’
‘Nay, that I wasn’t. I got Bill to walk a bit behind me to make sure of that.’
‘Then why are there two men in the alley, near my house?’
‘You’ve upset a Prebble. I reckon it’s you as needs to watch your back from now on, lad.’
Ralph breathed deeply. ‘Can you find me a strong fellow to keep watch at night? I’ll pay him a shilling a night and he’ll be cosy enough in my shed.’
‘I could find you a dozen in times like these.’
‘One will be enough. How are you going to get out without being seen?’
‘It won’t be the first time I’ve climbed over garden walls. I’ll have someone round here within the half-hour. Lock up till then. I’ll tell him to knock on the front door. Three times, then three more. Don’t open to anyone else. That little sod’s got the wrong fellows if he thinks to play dirty tricks on you and me. I’ve got a few friends who have nothing better to do, who’ll keep an eye out for us both.’
‘We may be wrong. It may be nothing. But I’m not taking risks. If they upset my sister, she’ll have one of her breathless attacks. Asthma the doctor calls it. He can’t do much to help her, though.’
Conn saw signs of tears on all four of the sisters’ faces as he carried the tray out to the veranda, so hesitated in the doorway. ‘How’s it going?’
Cassandra shrugged. ‘Pandora and I haven’t changed our minds.’
He set the tea tray down carefully on the rickety outdoor table and looked at the twins.
‘I keep trying to imagine myself living in Outham again,’ Maia said, ‘and I can’t. Besides, I don’t want to leave your mother.’
His eyes softened as he looked at her. ‘I can’t help hoping you’ll stay, for her sake. And I’ll point out to you now that you can always go back later if you change your mind. I’ll help you if you need to.’
She nodded.
He looked at the fourth sister.
‘I’m not going anywhere yet,’ Xanthe said. ‘Certainly not back to Outham.’
He heard his own Irish accent become more pronounced, as it did when he was strongly moved about something. ‘Argh, life’s hard sometimes. Terrible hard. If there’s anything I can do to help, you have only to ask.’
It was Cassandra who spoke for them. ‘Could we ask one favour?’
‘Of course.’
‘Could you bring my sisters over to Westview tomorrow for the whole day? We’ll all help Pandora with the packing and . . . be together.’
‘I’ll do that willingly.’
‘How will your mother manage?’
‘She can move about, though slowly. If we leave everything she needs, Sean will keep an eye on her. It’s different when it’s only for a few hours.’
‘That’s arranged then.’
A thought suddenly occurred to him as he rejoined his mother and Reece. ‘They’ll need to sign papers giving Pandora the legal power to act on their behalf. I can draw them up for you, if you like, though you’d better not use me as a witness, given my circumstances.’
Reece looked at him in surprise. ‘Do you know how to do that?’
Conn’s face twisted into another of those bitter smiles. ‘Indeed I do. Wasn’t I a lawyer in my other life?’ He
saw the surprise on their faces and shrugged. ‘I’m a younger son. I had my living to earn.’
He hadn’t meant to tell anyone that, was annoyed with himself, so added, ‘I’d appreciate it if you’d keep that information to yourself.’
As the men finished eating, Conn asked abruptly, ‘How are you going to get to Albany, Mr Carr?’
‘I’d thought to continue on horseback, though it’s not a comfortable way to travel, but we’ll need to hire another horse for Pandora. Only where can we do that? I didn’t realise when I left Perth how isolated this place is.’
‘Horseback won’t do,’ Mrs Largan said decisively. ‘What about Pandora’s clothes and possessions? You can hardly expect her to travel so far with only a change of clothing in her saddlebags. There’ll be three months of sea travel to England. No, you’ll need to go by cart.’
‘We don’t have one,’ Zachary said.
‘Kevin does,’ Reece said. ‘We came here in it today. It’s a bit old but it seems sound enough. I’m certain he’ll lend it to you, Zachary. And his horse Delilah.’
‘Is that the one who pulled the cart today?’ Conn asked. ‘She’s a sturdy creature, even though she’s not the prettiest horse I’ve ever seen.’
Zachary nodded. ‘Kevin thinks the world of her. Only, Mr Southerham says we’ll be lucky if the horses we’ve hired get us that far. They’re poor specimens, even I can see that, and they tire easily.
‘I’ll look at them,’ Conn offered. ‘I’ve got a gelding who’s very strong, bigger than that mare. I’ll bring him tomorrow, in case you need to borrow him. You won’t need packhorses with a cart, at least. But I’ll only lend you my horse if I find your guide trustworthy. I care a lot about my animals and I’ll not have them neglected or pushed too hard.’
On the return journey Pandora and Zachary sat together in the rear of the cart.
‘Penny for them,’ he said to her.
‘My thoughts aren’t worth a halfpenny, even.’ She lowered her voice. ‘I’m trying to think how to change Cassandra’s mind. She’ll regret it if she stays here, I know she will.’
‘No one can know the future, or make decisions for someone else.’