by David Field
Daniel shot from the settle and glared back down at her. ‘A man visits this house while I’m absent, tells you he wants to make you his own and you’re “not allowed to tell me”? Not allowed by who, exactly?’
Her eyes dropped in confusion down to the carpet. ‘I’ve been sworn to secrecy, but you’ll find out soon enough. Let’s leave it at that, shall we? Or am I to believe that our marriage vows mean so little to you that you suspect me of being unfaithful?’
‘Wouldn’t you, in my position?’
Martha gave a strangled cry and rushed from the room and then the house. When she returned two hours later, soaking wet from the unseasonal evening downpour, she refused to tell Daniel where she had been and was asleep by the time he came to bed.
The atmosphere in the house was frigid for days afterwards and Daniel was therefore not in the best of moods when a clerk from the governor’s office arrived one day to advise him that, in accordance with the terms of the lease under which the Sydney English Exchange Institute occupied the former Commissary Store, the governor was exercising his power to occupy it for colonial purposes for a week commencing on 1st October. This gave Daniel only three weeks to make the necessary arrangements for the running of the business while the premises were closed and on his way back down the High Street he stopped off at the Domain in search of George, hoping that he could shed some light on what was going on.
He was advised that George was at home, so he ordered the coachman to drive to Annandale. He stepped out of the coach and was admitted into the house by a wary-looking Sarah Biddle. As he walked down the hall, he could see directly into the rear garden through the full-length window at the foot of the staircase and there was the man Martha had identified as Michael Hargreave, heading down the lawn towards where George’s service cutter was waiting to take him away.
George looked embarrassed as Daniel was shown into the sitting room, where he sat in his civilian clothes with Rachel and Martha. Papers were noisily but surreptitiously slipped under the table between them and Daniel glared suspiciously at George.
‘Do you have any idea why the governor’s commandeered our business office for a week?’
‘Yes,’ Rachel replied, just as George simultaneously replied ‘No’. Martha turned bright red with embarrassment and Daniel glared back at Rachel.
‘Well?’ he demanded, but it was George who offered the reply.
‘We know that he requires it for government purposes, but he hasn’t told us why.’
‘And you just let him do it — without, I might add, even informing me?’
‘I was going to tell you, obviously,’ George replied, ‘but Martha told us that you had a lot on your mind at the moment and I didn’t want to add to your problems.’
‘I wasn’t aware that I had any problems,’ Daniel spat back, ‘so thank you for being more honest with me than my own wife. I’ll see you back at home for supper,’ he added with a curt nod towards Martha before turning on his heel and storming out.
When Martha returned home and chided Daniel for the rudeness of his departure from Annandale, which only got worse when Martha refused to tell him why Michael Hargreave had been meeting with her at Annandale and then declined Daniel’s invitation to take two horses on a three-day sightseeing trip out west while the Institute was closed under the governor’s order.
A week before the scheduled business break, Daniel asked their housekeeper to have the coach brought to the front door in order that he might travel into Sydney, only to be told that Martha had taken the coach two hours earlier, without telling him, or even enquiring as to whether or not he might need it that day.
He ordered his horse from the stable and rode it hard down the road into the town. As he approached the Institute, he first of all noted that the family coach was further down the road, then became aware of men carrying lengths of wood and canvas through the front door, while Jim Broadbent sat on an empty barrel to the side of the door, smoking his pipe. He stood up as he saw Daniel riding towards him with a stern expression on his face and walked over to where the horse was being tied to the railing.
‘What’s going on?’ Daniel demanded. ‘We’ve still got some deliveries to make from that last shipment.’
‘Only a few cases,’ Jim reminded him. ‘They’re up in your office, so that the ground floor can be cleared.
‘Cleared for what, precisely?’ Daniel demanded.
‘No idea, sir. That man who’s in there says it’s got the governor’s approval, so I just left them to it.’
Daniel brushed past him and stormed through the front door that gave access to the ground floor of the premises. Michael Hargreave was directing several men who were erecting some sort of platform at the end of the large room, which was otherwise empty. The door to Jim Broadbent’s tiny office was lying open and from within it could be heard the sound of hammering.
‘What the hell do you think you’re playing at?’ Daniel demanded.
Hargreave turned from supervising the labourers with a languid stare as he sized Daniel up and down. ‘And who might you be?’ he asked.
‘Daniel Bradbury, partner in the Institute whose premises you seem to have commandeered. And the husband of the lady you’ve been seeing rather too much of in recent weeks. So unless you want to lose your teeth, you’d better begin explaining yourself!’
‘Please forgive my husband,’ came a soft and familiar voice as Martha stepped out from Jim’s office, ‘but he learned rough manners when he was a marine and they obviously haven’t improved since. Daniel, meet Michael Hargreave.’
‘I know only too well who he is!’ Daniel bellowed. ‘What I want to know now is what he’s doing with my wife, in my business premises, behind my back!’
‘It’s easily explained…’ Hargreave began, before Martha interrupted him.
‘But it doesn’t need to be, Michael. My husband can be very childish when he takes it upon himself and he clearly thinks that you and I are conducting an affair. Because he’s so stubborn when he’s in one of these moods, you could stand there all day trying to convince him otherwise, to no avail. Now, Daniel, if you’ll excuse us, we’re behind schedule already. I’ll no doubt have to explain this all to you over supper, since you clearly won’t give up until you get the answer you think you’re entitled to.’
‘It’ll be supper for one, I’m afraid,’ Daniel said as he turned on his heel. ‘Give me time to get some belongings from the house and you can have the damned place all to yourself, for you and your fancy man here. Good afternoon to the pair of you!’
22
Daniel sat on the beach at Botany Bay, staring at the incoming tide and reflecting on his finest achievement — the bringing in of Bennelong. Nobody had thought him a coward that day, the day he’d won Martha her ticket of leave, freeing her from convict labour into convict service.
He heard the sound of a footstep on the shingle behind him. He spun round and there stood George.
‘I suppose Martha sent you? Conscience got the better of her, did it?’
‘I have to get you to accept my word that Martha hasn’t been unfaithful to you with Michael Hargreave. We’ve all been guilty of deceiving you and what was meant as a pleasant surprise has all gone horribly wrong. Just trust me far enough to come to the Macarthurs’ place; Martha can join you there and she can tell you as much as she chooses to. Please, Daniel, trust me this one more time.’
Daniel let George lead him to the Macarthurs. As they sat on the back veranda with a jug of wine and a basket of Elizabeth’s home-made biscuits, Daniel appeared to be finally convinced that Martha and Michael Hargreave were not conducting an affair, but argued that he was entitled to some explanation of their suspicious behaviour.
‘We’re putting on a play,’ Martha explained. ‘It was originally Elizabeth’s idea. You know how obsessed she is with anything to do with the theatre and what an insufferable social climber she is —’ this said in a lowered voice, following a backward glance to confirm the absenc
e of any audience — ‘Anyway, she came up with the idea of putting on a play to welcome the new governor and got him to agree to the use of the Institute as a theatre. She also found out — don’t ask me how — that Robert Sidaway, before he became the baker next door to you and before he became a convict, was an actor. Anyway, to cut a long story short, Michael Hargreave is his nephew and, as luck would have it, the current rave of Drury Lane, everyone’s favourite leading man. He’s out here visiting his uncle and was prevailed upon to take the leading role. It was meant as a surprise for you, but it just got worse and worse when we told lie after lie. Will you come and watch the play?’
Daniel kissed her. ‘I’m just so glad that you weren’t unfaithful to me that right now I’d agree to anything.’
She gripped his hand. ‘I don’t know how you could possibly have thought that I’d been conducting an affair with that conceited popinjay, although I suppose it did look suspicious. But how could you have believed that George and Rachel were covering up for me? We should have let you in on it weeks ago and once you came across us setting up the theatre that was obviously the time to own up. But you were your own worst enemy when you got all angry with Michael — you reminded me of my stepfather with your domineering manner and it brought it all back to me. I’m afraid that brought out the worst in me and you know how I can get when I think I’m being challenged or demeaned in some way — like when I thought you’d bought my freedom.’
‘No need to apologise — it was my fault for getting jealous and possessive. I think I’m the luckiest man alive and I can’t wait to see this play you’re producing.’
‘I’m not actually the producer — Elizabeth claimed that role and Robert’s been directing.’
‘So what’s your part in it all?’
‘You’ll see. I have to leave for Sydney in the morning to set things up. Elizabeth will be coming back with me, and you can spend a few days here, then travel in with John; you’ll be able to talk business and the Institute’s closed anyway, while we put up all the scenery. We’ll need to commandeer every chair in the colony, because we reckon we can seat almost two hundred. You have a reserved seat on the front row.’
‘And will you be there?’
‘Of course, but I’ll be busy. You wouldn’t believe how much work goes into staging a production.’
The next morning Martha set off back to Haberfield with a promise to have Devlin return with Daniel’s clothing and shaving equipment, in return for Daniel’s promise to wear his best suit for the production, and Daniel and Macarthur occupied most of the day going over business plans. Daniel was anxious to ensure that they still had a secure future and asked Macarthur what he knew about the new governor and his likely attitude towards the Institute.
Macarthur frowned. ‘I think this new man Bligh may be made of sterner stuff than King. The last three governors were removed from office because of their inability to face up to the military component of the colony, but Bligh’s already proved that he can put down uppity sailors and I think that London hopes he’ll do the same with former soldiers running businesses out here. Back in London they seem convinced that it’s all about rum and it suits Bligh to let them think that. But something tells me that he can see the fuller picture and we have to be doubly careful not to give him any excuse to undermine our farming interests. He’s under pressure from smaller concerns that are jealous of our pre-eminence and they’re the ones writing all the poisonous letters back home. Anyway, just make sure that we don’t transgress any stupid laws — that’s just the excuse he’d need to cut us down to the size he thinks we should be.’
‘Have you settled the matter of your land grant over in Camden?’
‘No, that’s still being debated. Bligh’s latest argument is that it’s the best pasture in the colony and that he needs it for government cattle — which is a better argument than King ever came up with. But as long as my fleeces and carcases are bringing money into the colony, I hope that the Colonial Office will see the sense of letting me keep it, as well as saving face over the original grant that Camden gave me.’
Three days later, John and Daniel took the Macarthur coach back down the well-worn track to Sydney along the Parramatta Road. Daniel paused briefly at Haberfield in order to leave his belongings, hug the children and thank Lucy for the excellent job she was doing with them, then hopped back into the coach. As they trotted along the High Street, Daniel was amazed at the transformation of the outside of the Institute, the former Commissary Store that he remembered so well from the earliest days in which he was grappling with his emotions regarding the young Martha Mallett. He looked up at the massive canvas poster hanging above the entrance, announcing:
INSTITUTE PRODUCTIONS
FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY
PRESENTS
“Love for Love”, by William Congreve
Tickets 2/- and 1/-, available at door,
or in advance from Harbour Bakery
Full London cast
Daniel was wondering how they could possibly justify the claim to a ‘full London cast’, unless they were all former convict actors who had fallen upon hard times, like the baker next door. But his thoughts were distracted as he entered the hall and saw the three-foot-high stage that had been constructed at the far end, with a pair of heavy drape curtains and areas on either side that had been screened off and were presumably what they called the ‘wings’, through which the actors and actresses made their entry and exit. He’d attended the theatre a few times during his Bristol days along with a friend who had pretensions to be a playwright and he had a rudimentary knowledge of how it all worked.
Elizabeth was ushering people to their seats up at the front and she waved furiously in order to gain their attention, beckoning for Daniel and Macarthur to move down to the front row. ‘The first seat here on the right is for the governor,’ she instructed them in her best bossy tone, ‘then you, John, and then Daniel.’
‘Where will George and Rachel be sitting?’ Daniel asked.
‘You’ll see soon enough,’ Elizabeth replied. ‘And before you ask, Martha will be out once we get into the Second Act.’
‘Should I save her a seat?’ Daniel asked.
‘She has her own,’ was the enigmatic reply, as Elizabeth recognised someone else of colonial importance and waved to them before bustling off in their direction.
There was a programme on every seat and Daniel took his, sat down and opened it. The play was in five acts, apparently, and the opening page was devoted to a cast list that was pompously headed ‘Dramatis Personae’. Daniel read it with deep interest, chuckling from time to time at the depth of the deception to which he’d been subjected.
SIR SAMPSON LEGEND, father to Valentine and Ben — Mr. Robert Sidaway
VALENTINE, his son — Mr. Michael Hargreave
SCANDAL, his friend — Mr. Joseph Tremayne
TATTLE, a half-witted beau — Mr. Percy Froggett
BEN, Sir Sampson’s younger son — Mr. William Bright
FORESIGHT, an illiterate old fellow, uncle to Angelica — Mr. George Johnston
JEREMY, servant to Valentine — Mr. Amos Black
TRAPLAND, a scrivener — Mr. Julian Freeman
BUCKRAM, a lawyer — Mr. Thomas Dance
ANGELICA, niece to Foresight — Miss Marianne Merchant
MRS. FORESIGHT, second wife to Foresight — Miss Caroline Blunt
MRS. FRAIL, sister to Mrs. Foresight — Miss Rachel Julian
MISS PRUE, daughter to Foresight by a former wife — Miss Margaret Prentice
NURSE — Mrs. Elizabeth Macarthur
JENNY — Miss Anne Blenkhorn
The scenes: two houses in London
There was a rustle of activity as the governor was bowed into his front row seat by a beaming Elizabeth, who then mounted the short staircase at the side of the stage, walked to the centre of it and raised her hands for silence.
‘Your Excellency, ladies and gentlemen, it gives me profound pleasure to welcom
e you here this evening, to the first of what we hope will prove to be many fine productions here at the Institute Theatre. The play you are about to see has been performed to excellent reviews in London’s Drury Lane and was written by one of England’s foremost Restoration playwrights, Mr. William Congreve.
‘We are doubly fortunate to have here in the colony some fine dramatic talent and several seasoned actors who come to us from recent successes in Drury Lane itself. First of all, that doyen of the London scene, Mr. Michael Hargreave, who will be playing the leading role of our hero, aptly named “Valentine”. Playing the role of his father is Mr. Robert Sidaway, who some of you will recognise as your local baker, but who had a distinguished career on the stage before circumstances brought him out here among us.
‘But most exciting of all is the presence on stage of our leading lady this evening, Miss Marianne Merchant, who was for several years a leading Drury Lane actress. She has been resident in the colony now for several years and only disclosed her previous experience to me — I have to shamefully admit, in confidence — during one of my regular social gatherings. She is this evening playing the leading lady role of Angelica and I would ask you to be most appreciative of her generosity in allowing us to enjoy such a cultural experience in this new land of ours. Ladies and Gentlemen, “Love for Love”.’
Elizabeth stepped to the side with a gracious wave towards the curtains. The play progressed through what seemed, to Daniel at least, to be very short scenes, all with the same scenery and setting. Since there was no indication of when each act of the play began and ended, Daniel had no way of knowing when Martha would be joining him as promised, in the seat that he had carefully kept vacant for her by his side. The opening and closing of each scene was indicated by the drawing and reopening of the curtains and the only break occurred after just under an hour or so, when noises behind the drawn curtains suggested that scenery was being changed.
