by Anna Jacobs
‘Yes.’
Xanthe sniffed back a tear. ‘She wants to prevent us from attending it. She’s even denying us a proper farewell to our uncle. I didn’t know him for long, but I really liked him.’
‘It’s no use dwelling on that. Come on, we must let Mrs Rainey know we’re leaving.’
The Minister’s wife looked at the sisters in horror. ‘You can’t mean it?’
‘We do.’
‘But – what if your sister comes back? What will Cassandra think if you’re not here? No, no. I can’t allow this. Your aunt is wrong to urge you to go.’
Pandora swallowed hard, couldn’t dredge up a lie and pleaded desperately, ‘Please. We have no choice.’
Mrs Rainey stared at them. ‘What do you mean by that?’
‘We can’t tell you anything else.’
‘Is that woman forcing you to go?’
‘We’re going,’ Pandora said quietly. ‘That’s all we can tell you. We gave our word not to say why. We wanted to ask you if you’d keep Cassandra’s clothing and sell our furniture and other household possessions, then keep the money for her. We’ve not got time to do that ourselves.’ She hesitated and allowed herself to say, ‘We’ve been assured she’s alive. If she comes to you ... you’ll tell her where we are, why we had to go?’
Mrs Rainey looked at her sharply. ‘Of course I’ll do that. And we have some clothes donated by the more affluent members of our congregation. Probably some of those will fit you. You’ll need to take a few extra things, apart from what’s on that list. And you’ll need trunks.’
‘Our aunt is providing those.’ Pandora’s voice broke and she dashed away a tear with the back of her hand. Mrs Rainey’s sympathy was nearly her undoing.
Her sisters moved closer, put their arms round her. She didn’t know what she’d have done without them. How would Cassandra feel about them leaving her on her own? It broke Pandora’s heart every time she thought of that.
‘Let me fetch my husband and you can tell him what you’ve told me.’
So they repeated to the Minister what they’d already said.
Mr Rainey tapped his fingers on the arm of his chair. ‘You’re quite sure you can tell me no more? I wouldn’t betray a confidence, you know.’
They shook their heads.
He sighed. ‘I won’t press you. I’ve been told about this scheme and if I didn’t believe this to be a good opportunity for you and the other young women who’re going, I’d not give in so easily. I promise you faithfully that my wife and I will look after your sister. Write to us once you arrive and we’ll write back.’
‘It’s all happening too quickly,’ Xanthe said as they walked home. ‘How can we go so far away without being certain that Cassandra’s all right?’
‘We have no choice,’ her twin replied.
‘I never wished anyone ill before, but I wish something terrible would happen to her.’
‘It won’t. Look what she’s done so far, and no one suspects a thing.’
‘We’re not sure she had our uncle killed.’
‘I am,’ Pandora said with such quiet certainty their steps faltered for a moment or two, then they started walking again in silence.
When they’d gone, Mr Rainey looked at his wife. ‘What hold has that woman got over them? And why is the Vicar helping her to send those poor girls away? For a man of God he is singularly unsympathetic towards our poorer brethren.’
‘There’s nothing we can do about it. The whole arrangement looks like a good deed. People will praise Isabel Blake for helping her nieces. We’re the only ones who know she’s doing it to separate them from Cassandra. Heaven knows why.’
‘I can’t begin to guess. I never did understand why she hated them so.’
She hesitated, then said, ‘I don’t like to speak ill of others, but I’m beginning to think Mrs Blake is – well, deranged.’
‘I too, though as we have no proof, we’d better not say that to anyone else. What do you suppose has happened to Cassandra?’
She looked at him with tears in her eyes, ‘I’m afraid to think about that. She’s either dead or ...’ She didn’t dare finish that sentence, but they both knew what happened to some women who were abducted. She let him put his arms round her, then joined him in a heartfelt prayer for Cassandra’s safety.
The following week Francis wanted to go into Perth again and this time he allowed Reece to come with him to the Land Office and listen to the discussion about which blocks of land were available for buying or renting. They were given the locations of three which sounded suitable.
‘We’ll ride out to see them,’ Francis decided.
‘I’ve not ridden before,’ Reece said mildly. ‘Though I’d like to learn.’
‘I’ll be happy to teach you. You’ll be a bit sore at first, but it’ll be worth it. The roads are so bad here and there are no railways, so it’s the best way to get around quickly. Besides, you’ll be looking after the horses when we find our own land.’
‘You’ll have to show me how to do that, as well. But I’m usually a quick learner and I got on well with the animals on my cousins’ farm.’
When they’d finished at the Land Office, they went to buy some horses, leading them back to the livery stable Paul used and arranging to have them cared for there when they were not in use.
‘Reece and I will go and inspect the blocks of land tomorrow,’ Francis told his wife and cousins as they sat drinking cups of tea on the veranda.
‘You’ll tire yourself out, doing so much,’ Paul said.
‘I think I’ll come with you,’ Livia said.
The men looked at her in surprise and Charlotte in horror.
‘I don’t think that would be suitable, my dear,’ Francis said. ‘We’ll be camping out.’
‘Suitable or not, I’m coming. I want to help choose where we live and I want to see more of Australia. So you’d better arrange to hire a horse for me. And I’ll need one of those – what did Reece say they were called? – swags.’
‘It may be raining,’ Paul protested. ‘You’ll get wet.’
‘I shan’t melt.’
She eyed them so challengingly Francis let out a crack of laughter. ‘Very well.’
The thing he liked best about the Southerhams, Reece thought, was how much they loved one another.
He hoped one day he and Cassandra would be as happy together as they were.
11
The Vicar himself came to escort the three sisters to the railway station two days after their interview with him, walking along beside them with a grim expression. He’d sent a cart for their trunks.
People they passed in the street called out to wish them well. Some tried to stop them to shake their hands, exchange a few final words, but he hurried them on, calling ‘Stand back, if you please!’
When they got to the station, they saw their aunt standing just outside the entrance. She made no attempt to speak to them but followed them far enough inside to watch them leave. She had a smug smile on her face.
The Vicar stayed with them till the train arrived, not speaking, then handed them over to an older woman who got off the train to collect them.
‘These are Susan, May and Dora Blake,’ he said.
‘Those are not our Christian names,’ Pandora said at once.
The woman looked from them to the Vicar in puzzlement.
His face went red and he glared at them. ‘Their father called them by highly unsuitable names. It was thought better to change them. Don’t pander to them, it gives them ideas above their station.’
When they got into the compartment with her, they found four other young women sitting there. They smiled wearily at the newcomers, looking thin and tired, as if it was a long time since they’d eaten a decent meal.
Maia burst into tears as the train pulled out of the station.
‘Sit upright. Don’t give her the satisfaction!’ Pandora snapped. But her eyes were brimming with unshed tears as she stared stony-faced at the l
ast sight of their aunt, standing beside the Vicar now, still smiling.
‘What are your real names?’ the lady asked once they were out of the station and rattling through the countryside.
When they told her, she smiled. ‘I think they’re very pretty names. I’ll make sure the other ones are corrected on the ship’s manifest.’
At any other time the sisters would have been excited at the long railway journey into parts of England they’d never seen before, not to mention visiting the capital city. Today they watched tiredly, did as they were told and said little.
Pandora changed seats to watch the moors disappear into the distance, to be replaced by towns and softer countryside.
‘I hope Cassandra is all right,’ Maia said once in a low voice.
Xanthe reached out for her hand. ‘She will be. She must be. Once our aunt hears that we’ve left England, she’ll let our sister go. She promised.’
‘Who are you talking about?’ the lady asked.
‘Our sister. She wasn’t able to come with us. She wanted to, but our aunt wouldn’t let her.’
‘You’ll be able to write to her.’
Maia burst into tears again.
Cassandra sat staring listlessly at the fire burning low in the grate of the room where they kept her now. There was always a woman with her, but none of them would speak to her, though one or two looked at her in a pitying way. She felt soul-sick, and hadn’t been able to sleep properly at night, suffering nightmares that woke her whimpering and struggling against the brutal men who peopled those nightmares.
How many days had she been here? She couldn’t work that out, couldn’t think clearly about anything. And she shivered every time that man came into the room to check that she was still there, which he did several times a day.
The door opened and Jane nodded dismissal to the one now sitting with her. ‘You’re leaving in the morning.’
‘Where am I going? What are they going to do to me next?’
‘I don’t know. A lady’s coming to see you tonight, the one who arranged all this.’
It was as if Cassandra’s brain suddenly started working again. ‘She’s my aunt.’
‘Your aunt?’
‘Yes. She hates me, hates us all.’
‘Well, don’t say a word about who she is to anyone else. I’m to inform you that if you tell anyone her name, she’ll have you killed. And if you’ll take my advice, you won’t say anything except yes and no when she speaks to you. She’s – not a kind person and she has enough money to get people to do whatever she wants.’ Jane hesitated then added, ‘If you say a word about what I’m going to tell you next, I’ll let him have you again before you leave.’
Cassandra shuddered and said hastily, ‘I won’t. I promise I won’t.’
‘I thought you should know that your sisters have already left England. She’s sent them to Australia.’
The room spun round Cassandra and she couldn’t breathe properly.
‘It’s all round the town that they’re sending about sixty young women from Lancashire out to Australia, ones who have no family left. They need servants there, apparently. And your sisters are among them.’
‘My sisters have left the country?’ She wanted to scream and protest, beg her companion to say that it wasn’t true. It was a struggle to say quietly, ‘I can’t understand why she didn’t send me with them.’
‘Nor I. I shouldn’t really have told you. You’ll never be able to keep it to yourself.’
It was as if the apathy and dullness that had surrounded Cassandra like a cloud for the past few days had suddenly lifted. ‘I’ll not say a word, I promise you, Jane. And I’m grateful for that information. Very grateful. It’ll help me stay in control of myself when she taunts me with it.’
‘I can’t do anything else to help you. I’ve my own safety to think of.’
This was, Cassandra thought when the other woman came back to sit with her, like one of the Greek tragedies her father had so loved. Only now was she beginning to understand how deeply such events affected people, how scarred you could feel inside from the things that happened to you.
And she still didn’t know what was to become of her, whether hers would be a tragedy that ended in death – or whether her aunt had something else in store for her. It’d not be pleasant, whatever it was. Of that at least she was certain.
When her aunt was shown in, Cassandra said nothing.
Radiating triumph, Isabel sat down. Her eyes were fixed on her niece as she adjusted her full black skirts and leaned back in the chair.
‘Leave us alone,’ she told Jane.
As the door closed, she turned back to Cassandra. ‘If you wish to live, you’ll do exactly as I say. Your sisters were wise enough to obey me.’
It would look better to say something, so she did. ‘What do you mean? What’s happened to my sisters?’
‘They’re on the way to Australia. I’ve got rid of them once and for all.’
Cassandra gasped, murmured, ‘Oh, no!’ and clapped her hands to her face. She was grateful that Jane had given her this information earlier, that she had been able to plan how to respond.
‘It only remains to get rid of you.’
Cassandra pretended to wipe away tears, found that there really were tears. She looked up at this. ‘Are you going to have me killed?’
‘No. That’d be too easy.’ She waited, clearly enjoying her power.
‘What are you going to do with me? Send me to Australia, too?’
‘No. You’re the worst of them all and you don’t deserve that chance. You’ll be left in Manchester and you’ll have to do the best you can to make a living for yourself. You’ll probably enjoy being on the streets. I saw you pressing yourself against that man in the churchyard, you slut! No, don’t say another word. Just listen.’ She leaned forward and said slowly, emphasising the words. ‘If you ever come back to Outham, I’ll have you killed. These people will do anything I ask if I pay them.’ She laughed and went on laughing for a long time, hiccupping and gulping as if she found it hard to control the laughter.
Cassandra and her sisters had suspected that their aunt had had her husband killed and now, seeing the expression on the older woman’s face, she felt sure of it.
‘Well? Aren’t you going to plead with me to send you to join your sisters?’
‘Would it do any good?’
‘No.’ Isabel smiled.
‘How did you persuade them to go?’
‘Showed them your hair, told them it’d be your thumb next.’ She laughed at the sight of her niece’s shock, another shrill laugh, but this one cut off suddenly as she clapped one hand to her mouth and muttered something.
Cassandra prayed for the strength to keep silent, wondering how long the taunting would go on.
‘The men will come for you tomorrow afternoon,’ that hateful, gloating voice continued, ‘and take you into Manchester. You’ll be left there with nothing but the clothes you stand up in.’
She glanced at her fob watch and stood up. ‘Well, I must go. My maid will be wondering where I am.’
She turned the door handle. ‘I shall remember the sight of your face today, the horror on it, how white you look. I shall enjoy that memory as I live my comfortable life and run my shop.’
Without another word she left.
As one of the other women came back in to sit with her, Cassandra closed her eyes and tried to think. She still had trouble believing this was happening, that her aunt was able to do such things. It was like a gothic novel from the library, but without the haunted castles and ghosts. Only it was much worse than those tales, because it was true – horribly, painfully true.
Why did no one else realise her aunt was mad? She was sure her uncle had known. Perhaps that was why he’d been killed?
And how was Cassandra going to manage on her own in Manchester?
When he’d shown the old hag out and pocketed the guinea she always slipped him, Pete went to see Jane. ‘I’m to ta
ke your guest into Manchester and leave her on the street with only the clothes on her back.’
‘Poor bitch.’
‘Proper waste, that’d be, if you ask me. She’s not bad looking and she’s almost a virgin.’ He laughed heartily at his own joke. ‘I don’t see why I shouldn’t take a little more benefit from this. There are whore houses who’d pay good money for a fresh young woman like her.’
‘You’d not sell her into one of those places!’
‘Of course I would. She’s worth ten guineas at least, perhaps more. I want you to find her something nicer to wear, though, something that shows off her attractions.’
‘All right. But I’ll want a share of the money.’
He smiled. ‘I’ll pay you two guineas, that’s all.’
‘You’re a mean sod.’
‘You’re no different. You’ll do anything for money.’
‘I like my comforts.’
Jane came into the room and again dismissed the woman guarding Cassandra. ‘Listen carefully.’ She explained what Pete intended to do.
‘I’ll kill myself first.’
‘They won’t let you once they get you into one of those places. They have ways of taming young women who don’t behave, drugging them, beating them till they beg for mercy.’
‘And you’ll let Pete do this to me?’
Jane glanced at the door and raised her voice slightly. ‘I can’t stop him so I might as well make myself some extra money. Now, I’ll find you some nicer clothes to wear than those rags. If you look pretty and behave yourself, you’ll be treated better.’
Cassandra looked at her in horror, terror roiling inside her belly. She thought she’d experienced the most dreadful thing possible for a woman, but it seemed there was worse to come.
Two hours later one of the young girl servants brought up a tray of food and Jane followed her carrying a pile of clothes. She waited till they were alone and moved closer to Cassandra, whispering as she took a piece of cake from the tray, ‘If you want to escape, this is the time to do it.’
Cassandra shot her a puzzled look. Was this another way to trick her?