‘Can we get a sweet, Pa?’ Thomas pulled on his father’s leg. William had noticed that around the outskirts of the crowd a few sellers had set themselves up, adding to the celebration and taking the opportunity to make a few pennies from their home cooking and their gardens.
‘In a few minutes, Thomas,’ William patted down his son’s hair. ‘I think the Reverend’s going to say a prayer.’
There was a hush as God’s blessing was called down on the new townships; beacons now of the growing success of the colony, promising hope for the future that had often been doubted in the past but now seemed secure.
‘Pity that’s come too late for poor Joe and Ellen,’ William remarked quietly as the crowd applauded and began to break up.
‘Yes, it’s disappointing they couldn’t get here today but Ellen’s very worried about Joe. He’s not been well at all these past months. He can hardly keep a bite down, she says.’
‘Since he’s had to give up the bit of land they had he hasn’t the heart for anything,’ William said quietly, feeling a deep pain for his friend.
‘They’re hardly managing on the little the older boys bring in and the help of friends. It’s very sad, Will.’
‘It is, lass. Joe and I had such great hopes, but it seems our children will have to fulfil most of our dreams now.’
‘It seems so for Joe, but don’t you go talking like you’re on your last legs, Will. I won’t have it. We’re doing all right, aren’t we?’
‘Yes, we’re doing well enough, love,’ William said reassuringly. ‘With this reassignment of land for us higher up in Pitt Town, we’ll have enough acres to assure our survival. We’ll build a new cottage and do some new gardens. We’re among the lucky ones.’
‘It’s not luck that you’ve worked so hard, Will.’
‘Perhaps, but we are fortunate to have survived the floods and still be here to take up this new opportunity.’
‘Will Dan come back to work for us?’
‘No, he’s taken a lease on a small plot of his own. He’s got his own plans for the future, has that boy.’ William grinned.
‘And the way he and Elizabeth keep huddling together these days, I have a feeling that they’re making their plans together.’
‘I’ve no objection to that, love.’
‘Hmm, seems I’m the only one uncertain about it all.’ Mary’s tone was thoughtful. ‘But whatever happens with Elizabeth, our boys need you for quite a while yet…and so do I.’ She leaned into his shoulder and grasped his arm firmly.
‘Right now they need me to find them a sweet, I think.’ He jiggled Billy, who was wriggling in his arms. When he looked down at Thomas he saw his pleading face. ‘And perhaps while I buy them something, you might find us a nice jar of jam at one of these stalls, eh?’ He kissed Mary lightly on the forehead and gave in to his son’s tugging.
***
In April the following year Mary was doing her best to console Ellen after Joe passed away.
‘I could see it happening, Mary. I felt so helpless. He was so discouraged about how it’s all gone out here. Once his health started to fail, it really was the end of his farming. I’m sure it’s a broken heart he’s died of, even though the doctor said he had much more wrong with him than that. Whatever will I do without him?’
‘I’m so sorry, Ellen. What can we do to help?’
‘Oh, we’ll manage. Robert’s working hard for Daniel Bridge now. He does his gardens and any maintenance he needs. It’s a big house he has up on the hill, much bigger than we’re used to, so there’s plenty for Robert to do and Mister Bridge pays him well. And our Joey’s been sending money from Sydney when he can. I doubt he’ll come back here. He seems to have found his place in the Surveyor General’s Office. Though I won’t be surprised if he gets to do some of the exploring he’s dreamed of some day.’
‘I hope so, Ellen. We all need to follow our dreams. We’ve done our best to make some of ours come true, haven’t we? We want the same for our children. It’s good to see your boys getting on.’
‘Yes, but I’ve still the other five and poor little Tommy’s only two, bless him. He’ll not know his Pa at all, will he?’
‘Only as you speak of him, Ellen, and I’ve no doubt you’ll help him to know Joe was a fine man.’ Mary bit her lip and turned away. It was so hard to think of Joe gone from them. She couldn’t begin to imagine what life would be like without Will. ‘And who will look after you?’ she asked sadly.
‘The boys will still look out for me. Robert is good with his hands. He’ll do any fixing I need around the place. I can manage the garden we have and it’ll produce plenty for us. We’ve little to look after now that the fields have been leased out. And the younger ones all help.’
‘Will you have enough money coming in?’
‘Well, Daniel Bridge has said that when I’m up to it I can do some domestic work for him. Some washing and mending and such. He lost his wife two years ago now, poor man, so he needs a bit of help and he says he can’t abide some of the younger women he’s hired. No common sense, he says. He has one daughter who does some cooking for him but she’s married now herself and has a little one on the way. I feel sorry for him, really. He’s a banker in Windsor and he’s very busy. Coming home to a lonely house must be awful for him. He’s been very kind to us. He knows what it’s like to lose someone.’ Ellen’s eyes filled and she wiped them with her sleeve.
‘And you have us, remember.’ Mary reached for Ellen’s hand. ‘Will and I will help however we can.’
‘I know that, Mary. We’d not have got by without you two all these years and I’ll need you still.’
The friends hugged again and shed more tears.
***
Mary came out of the butcher’s shop in Windsor one morning late in November to find a crowd milling around the street. It was almost the hottest part of the day and she was keen to get home and get the chops she’d just purchased into a pot. It wasn’t often she had store-bought meat. William was still good at trapping small animals around the property and Thomas was becoming quite a hand at it, even though Elizabeth was still appalled. But the butcher shop had a good array of slaughtered beef now and every once in a while William would agree that they could afford a few neck chops. Even though they needed quite a few hours cooking, with lots of onions and carrots and potatoes in the mix, they made a lovely stew. Her mouth watered at the thought of it. And the boys did love to chew on the bones. The crowd in front of her was making it difficult to hurry and when she heard shouting coming from the midst of them she couldn’t resist pushing her way amongst the people to see what was going on.
‘Can you believe this?’ a stout woman said as Mary got close to the front.
‘What’s he doing?’ Mary’s mouth fell open when she saw a man standing in the middle of the road with a woman a few feet behind him, attached to the end of rope, which was tied around her waist.
‘He’s selling his wife!’ The woman said, her voice stunned and disapproving. Mary looked about, disbelieving. Most people were just staring at the couple with their mouths hanging open.
‘Don’t be daft,’ Mary scoffed. ‘A man can’t sell his wife!’
‘So who’s going to start the bidding?’ came a shout from the short stocky man. He held up his end of the rope as if displaying what he was offering and looked around the crowd expectantly.
‘That’s Ralph Malkins, isn’t it?’ Mary asked, still thinking this must be some sort of prank.
‘It is, and apparently he and his wife have been fighting for years.’ The woman beside Mary leaned in to her and said between her teeth. ‘She screeches like a banshee, those who live around them say. And she’s not averse to throwing whatever’s at hand at him, either.’
‘That’s no reason to be selling her.’ Mary was indignant. ‘I don’t hold with such brawling in the home but this is ridiculous. Surely he can’t be serious?’ She looked more closely at the woman with the rope around her waist and saw that her face was ri
gid with rebellion. Her fists were perched on her hips as if she was daring her husband to go right ahead with his auction of her.
‘Apparently he’s as easy roused to violence as her,’ Mary’s companion whispered with a roll of her eyes. ‘I think there’s been times she’s been black and blue with it.’
‘How dreadful.’ Mary wasn’t sure which of the couple now stomping around in front of them she felt most sorry for or most annoyed with.
‘Come on, you lot! There must be someone could do with a cook and washerwoman,’ the man yelled again, yanking at the rope and causing his wife to jerk along behind him.
‘Shame, shame,’ came a call from the crowd. ‘Shame on you both.’
‘Can she cook?’ another cry came and a few heads turned, searching for the owner of the voice.
‘She’s good at the cookin’ and she does a reasonable job of the washin’ as well,’ Ralph shouted, a silly grin plastered on his face.
‘And what’s she like in the cot?’ a guttural boom came from behind Mary, at which there were gasps and guffaws all around.
‘So why are you tryin’ to get rid of ‘er?’ A woman in the front row called, her tone suggesting she was feeling very sorry for the wife.
‘Cause I’m too much woman for ‘im, that’s why,’ the wife shrieked, piercing the air. She wriggled her hips and spun about as much as was possible given the rope that attached her to her husband.
At this a few men cheered. Women made clucking sounds of disapproval, and some of them began shaking their heads, huffing and puffing as they pushed their way out of the crowd and headed home.
‘I’ll give yer ten pounds for ‘er.’ One large man pushed his way forward and held up his hand, as if bidding for a cow. All heads spun to the leering face, sure they could see him drooling.
‘Give over, man,’ Ralph bellowed. ‘She’s got plenty o’ years in ‘er yet.’
‘An’ years you’ll regret the loss o’ me,’ his wife screeched and leaned forward to shove him in the back.
‘Fifteen, then.’ The buyer rubbed his hands through his unruly beard, threw back his head and laughed raucously.
‘Sixteen, an’ she’s yours,’ came the reply.
‘I do believe they’re going to go through with it,’ the woman beside Mary nudged her lightly. ‘That’s Tom Quire, so it is. I think he’s actually going to buy Missus Malkins. Wait till I tell my John about this.’ When Mary stared at her in amazement she quickly added, ‘Not that he’d think o’ doin’ the same, mind. He wouldn’t be without me for the world. He’d starve to death in a week.’ She almost giggled at the last and then went silent as she looked back to the scene being played out in front of them, which for most people gathered was gravely disturbing.
‘Done!’ Ralph dragged his wife towards the successful and only bidder, and handed over his end of the thick rope that now strained against his wife’s hip as she dug in her heels and glared at the back of her husband’s head.
‘You’ll regret this, Ralph Malkins,’ she spat. Then she looked her buyer up and down and grimaced. ‘You’d better be treatin’ me better than this swine, or you’ll get the same treatment I gave ‘im.’
‘We’ll see about that, won’t we now?’ Tom Quire said, leering at his purchase greedily.
‘An’ if you can pay sixteen pounds for me, then yer can afford a little more for some cloth for a new dress,’ she said haughtily, now seeming to be enjoying the interchange. The crowd was stunned to silence as they watched the deal finalised.
Quire laughed again, this time lasciviously, clearly relishing the challenge ahead of him. ‘I suppose yer could do with some prettyin’ up.’ He handed Ralph a bundle of notes and, oblivious to the scathing remarks from the crowd, he pulled hard on the rope and led his purchase down the street.
While many in the crowd stood gaping and passing comment to each other, still hardly able to believe what they’d seen and for the most part considering it an abomination, Mary pushed her way free and hurried towards home. She didn’t want her chops spoiling in the growing heat and she could hardly wait to tell William what she’d witnessed. Surely there’d never been the like of it in the colony before.
‘And it ought to be a lesson to us all,’ Mary said soberly as she completed the story that evening while William and Elizabeth enjoyed the last of the stew. Mary hadn’t had a moment alone with William since she’d arrived home that morning. He’d been off in one of their farthest fields for hours and when he’d come in she’d contained herself till she’d bathed and bedded the boys, knowing such tales were not for their ears. When William and Elizabeth did not comment she went on. ‘Marriage is a very serious business and it seems to me that men and women don’t always know what they’re getting themselves into when they march off to the church. It’s no light matter at all.’
William grinned at her across the table.
‘And what do you find funny in all this? Surely you’re appalled at what I’ve said about the Malkins.’
‘I am definitely appalled.’ His face immediately turned to a somber frown. ‘I can’t imagine what would possess a man to bring such shame on himself and his wife. It’s just that I was wondering if you were worried I might consider it.’
‘Of course I wouldn’t think that. And if you did ever consider such a thing, you’d not get so far as to get a rope around my waist and parade me through the streets like a prize bull.’
‘I think it’s me that Ma’s worried about, Pa.’ Elizabeth’s sweet voice broke into their conversation. She looked from one parent to the other, her expression a little perturbed.
‘Why on earth would your mother be worried about you, love?’ William said. ‘You’ve done nothing to cause any worry as far as I can see.’ He winked at her and smiled reassuringly.
‘I reckon Ma’s thinking I’m in too much of a hurry to marry Dan.’ Elizabeth’s gaze fell to her empty plate.
‘Would you two stop speaking about me as if I wasn’t in the room,’ Mary said, leaning forward. ‘I didn’t say I was worried about you, Elizabeth. I simply feel the incident I saw today reinforces the gravity of entering into marriage, that’s all.’
‘And do you think I don’t take it seriously?’ Elizabeth’s voice held a touch of defiance.
‘I’ve no doubt you’re very serious about it, love. But you’re so young and it takes time to really know someone and I’m not sure Dan even realises how you feel about him.’ Mary’s words faded away as they often did when she approached this subject with her daughter. For all her apprehension she often felt her warnings, when voiced, sounded unwarranted.
‘I think you worry too much about Dan and Elizabeth, too,’ William said, siding with his daughter, though he tried hard to keep any critical tone out of his voice. He merely wanted to put his wife’s mind at rest.
‘Oh, you do, do you?’ Mary retorted, seemingly taking offence to William’s words, despite the care he’d taken.
‘I believe we can trust Dan to treat Elizabeth with the respect she deserves, before and after a wedding.’
‘So you’re resigned to it, are you?’
‘Now you two are talking about me as if I’m not here,’ Elizabeth objected. When both her parent’s eyebrows rose in surprise at her retort, she went on. ‘I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be rude. But I want you to trust me. And I want you to trust Dan.’
‘Perhaps it’s time we sat down with you and Dan, love,’ William said gently. ‘It might help all of us if we heard from Dan about how he’s feeling about all this.’
‘Has he already talked to you, Will?’ Mary asked, though she had little doubt about the answer.
‘Often, love. He’s been quite open with me about his feelings for Elizabeth and he’s asked my opinion all along. He’s very keen to have our approval. And, to be quite honest, he’s a bit afraid of you.’
‘Good,’ Mary sniffed and stuck her chin out. ‘If he’s afraid of me then he knows what he’d be dealing with if he hurt a hair on our daughter’s head
.’
‘He’d never hurt me, Ma. You don’t know him,’ Elizabeth pleaded. ‘Not like I do.’
‘Of course I don’t know him like you do, love. And your father’s probably right. It would help me to feel better if we could all sit down and have a talk about this. He is a man twice your age, Elizabeth. You can’t blame me for being concerned.
‘But I’m catching up,’ Elizabeth grinned. ‘I’ll be sixteen right after Christmas. Dan’s thirty-three now but in two more years he won’t be twice my age any more.’
Mary stared quizzically at her daughter for a few moments and then shook her head. ‘That’s too much for me to understand. Sounds like you worked that out between you.’
‘Dan told me so, Ma. And he said when I’m thirty he’ll be forty eight and that’s not such a big difference for a husband and wife at all.’
‘Is that so?’ Mary cast a meaningful look at William, expecting him to make a comment for she didn’t know what to say to that.
‘And Pa’s ten years older than you, so there’s not that much difference, really,’ Elizabeth continued confidently.
‘I was twenty when your father and I were married,’ Mary defended, though she felt like she was losing the argument again even before she’d finished speaking. ‘Oh, I give up. Let’s have Dan here for dinner soon and have a family talk. I think that should settle any worries I have…or not.’ She arched her eyebrows and began to clear the table.
William reached over and patted Elizabeth’s hand softly. When she turned to him he nodded his head and winked.
***
‘Surely you’ve realised by now that there are some things you just can’t control, my love,’ William said gently as he and Mary lay in bed that night.
‘I will certainly not stop trying to control what happens to our daughter, Will. I failed her once and I don’t intend to let anyone hurt her again if there’s anything I can do about it.’ Her tone was adamant.
‘We both failed her, Mary. And we both don’t want her to be hurt again. Though that might still happen despite our best efforts, I’m afraid. But we certainly can’t control who she gives her heart to and in my opinion she’s chosen very well. I prefer to just be happy for her.
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