Love Lies and Legacies

Chapter 4

When James finished with her, Catherine turned away, brought her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around them. She drifted off to sleep, but first prayed she would not be with child.

Up before sunrise, she left James asleep in their bed. She washed and dressed. Creeping out of the house, she sat in her chair on the verandah, taking in the sights and smells of Hobart Town as it woke. Autumn was her favourite season in Van Diemen’s Land, the temperature didn’t fluctuate as much as it did in summer and the land was easier to till after more consistent rain. But this was a summer morning. There was no sign of rain; the sky was cloudless, and the sun rose with a vengeance, heating the roads, the trees, the people, the animals, the plants as it worked its way up from the horizon.

With the rising of the sun came the chorus of the Van Diemen’s Land bird life. The cockatoos squawked as they congregated in huge flocks, attacking any fruit trees unprotected by farm dogs. The green rosellas made that annoying, harsh two note sound when the cockatoos bullied them out of the trees. Catherine was seven when she left Norfolk Island and she remembered it with fondness. She remembered the sounds of the seabirds. They were noisy, but a symphony compared with the screeching of the cockatoos and complaints of the green rosellas.

Taking its cue from the rising sun, the wind gathered intensity and picked up the dust from the Hobart Town streets, swirled it in the air and dropped it on the washing Catherine’s neighbour had just hung out to dry. She went inside before the dust settled on her.

‘Hurry and get me something to eat, I have to go out,’ James Jr ordered as Catherine made her way back into the cottage.

She and the children had oatmeal for breakfast, but her husband wouldn’t eat it, he said it reminded him of the voyage from England on the Kangaroo. He ate biscuits soaked in warm goat’s milk, sprinkled with sugar.

Kangaroo‘I wonder where he thinks the money comes from to buy his food.’ she thought, as he dribbled milk on his nightshirt.

James put on his clothes and rubbed his hands through his dishevelled hair. He splashed water from the washing bucket onto his face, pulled his boots on and left the cottage without so much as a goodbye to his wife.

Relieved to have him out of the house, Catherine sat at the kitchen table with a fresh cup of tea. Sadie was the first of the girls to get out of bed. Tiptoeing in her bare feet, she snuggled next to Catherine, put her arms around her and kissed her cheek.

‘Good morning, Mama,’ the three-year-old said smiling. ‘Has Papa gone to work?’

‘Yes, Sadie. Sit up at the table, Mama will get you something to eat.’

‘Me too, please,’ quipped Margaret as she came into the kitchen rubbing her eyes and pushing her hair off her face. ‘Am I going to school today, Mama?’

‘Not today. We have too many things to do at home.’

Accepting her mother’s edict, Margaret pulled out a chair and sat opposite her sister.

Sitting at the table with her daughters, eating oatmeal, Catherine struggled with different scenarios that involved educating Margaret without disobeying her husband.

Keeping busy in the little cottage, the children were learning their responsibilities: Margaret looked after the hens and the vegetable garden, feeding table scraps and wheat to the hens each morning, changing their water, and collecting eggs. Sadie followed her big sister around, copying and learning.

Margaret taught herself to count by lining up the eggs. She needed something physical to move around to grasp the concept, because she had yet to learn to recognise numbers, and couldn’t add them up. ‘Will I learn to count numbers when I go to school, Mama?’

Catherine patted her cheek and nodded. She hadn’t found a solution to the problem of educating her daughters without her husband’s permission.

This last excursion from Hobart Town had seen James away for five days and Catherine didn’t know if this should make her happy. She hoped he was in a pleasant frame of mind when he came back.

Returning on the fifth day, he stormed into the cottage owned by his wife and threw a piece of paper on the table. ‘This paper says I am entitled to the rents from the flour mill that Tedder built. Lt Governor Sorell signed it. You won’t be getting any more of the money from the mill. It’s mine.’

His malicious grin reflected in his eyes, Catherine was sure they turned black.

‘But that was property, not a land grant, it belonged to Teddy, he built it. He left it to me.’ Catherine took deep breaths to slow down her emotions, to keep her voice level, to stop herself from fainting. Without the rent from the flour mill, she wouldn’t be able to survive. ‘How did Lt Governor Sorell work out it was yours? What did you say to him?’

‘It is no concern of yours what I said to him. The flour mill’s rent will come to me.’

James’ evil sneer sent shivers down her back.

He didn’t stay at home long, leaving three days later. Making use of his absence, Catherine put the girls in fresh summer dresses, fastened their hats in place, and together they walked to her sister Sophia’s house. Sophia’s husband, William Rayner Jr, was establishing a corn mill and when he had business in Hobart Town his little family joined him. They rented one of James Blay Sr’s houses.

‘Catherine, look how much weight you’ve lost. You look awful.’

Her eldest sister, Sophia was always happy to let Catherine know what she thought.

‘That wretched man isn’t looking after you. Mary, take Sadie and Margaret to play with the other children.’

Sophia’s eldest daughter, Mary, took Catherine’s girls by the hand and led them into the back garden to play.

‘You have quite a brood, now, Sophia,’ Catherine smiled at her sister while the children made their way out into the sunshine.

‘Yes. William James is the most demanding. I’m fortunate Mary is old enough to help with the other three children. Sit down, I’ll fix refreshments. Tell me what is troubling you.’

Sitting up straight and breathing deeply, Catherine clasped her hands on her lap and spent a few seconds gazing at them.

Sophia didn’t hurry her.

Catherine looked at the worry on her sister’s face. ‘I have two pressing concerns: James is refusing to let Margaret attend school, and he has a document he says he got from Lt Governor Sorell that allows him to take the rents from Teddy’s flour mill.’

The heartache that had been building up for months poured out of Catherine. She wept into her sister’s embrace.

Sophia held her close, stroking her hair while the pent-up emotion found a release. ‘My William will meet with the Lt Governor to sort out the flour mill. In the meantime, you will pack up yours and the girls’ belongings and go back to New Norfolk to stay with Mama. Margaret can go to one of the schools the teachers run in their homes. We too are going back to New Norfolk. Margaret can go to school with Mary.’

Catherine shook her head at her sister’s suggestion. ‘I can’t move the girls to New Norfolk. He is likely to sell my house while I’m not there.’

‘William will see he does not. He will watch the newspapers for advertisements and speak to the solicitors in Hobart Town to make sure they know the house is yours and you are not selling it. Tell James you are going to New Norfolk to look after Mama for a time. From what you have said, I don’t think he will be too concerned.’

Elizabeth Cullen waited on the riverbank for her middle daughter and two of her grandchildren. The sun’s rays danced on the Derwent. The river turned to fresh water at New Norfolk, but the depth of its colour didn’t change. In parts it reflected the sky; and in others, the banks and the trees. Her husband, James, had built a bench on the edge of the Derwent not long after he finished the mansion, and they used to sit there on summer evenings watching the insects flit over the surface of the water.

She sat on the bench under the old gum tree that groaned and creaked in the breeze, reminding her of the noise her knees made when she went up and down the stairs. She expected the little group late morning and would wait, in this spot, until they arrived - no matter the time.

.Catherine helped the children out of the boat and made sure her mother had hold, so they didn’t tumble into the cold, dark water. She watched the assigned convict load their bags into the handcart. Determined not to melt under her mother’s embrace, Catherine hugged Elizabeth and kissed her cheek, using the moment to steel herself for the inevitable questions.

Margaret pushed her cap, so it hung around the back of her neck, and buried her head in her grandmother’s embrace. ‘I’ve missed you Grandmama,’ she said. ‘I hope we are staying for some time, it’s such a long way on that river.’ Grabbing hold of Sadie’s hand, Margaret followed the convict and the handcart to the main house.

Elizabeth Cullen left her daughter and the children to unpack their bags. As she often did, she went into her bedroom, took one of her late husband’s shirts from the cupboard, and held it up to her face. She could still smell him in his clothes. She often saw him walking around the house, smiling at her, proud of his achievements. ‘Oh, James,’ she whispered. ‘What is happening to Catherine?’ She wiped a solitary tear with James’ shirt, folded it up and put it under her pillow.

‘Grandmama, Mama said I can go to school while we are staying here,’ Margaret squealed when Elizabeth joined them in the dining room.

‘Well, then tomorrow we will ask where the teachers are and see what we can do.’

Margaret jumped up and down on the spot a few times, then took her place next to her sister, for supper.

The children fed and sent outside to play in the mild summer evening, Elizabeth led Catherine into the parlour ‘What is going on, Catherine? Margaret is talking of school. Are you here for an extended time? I love the company, but you have a husband and a house to care for.’

Sinking into the chair near the fireplace that her father used to occupy every evening after supper, Catherine felt the weight of a hand on her shoulder. Turning, she expected to see her mother, but Elizabeth stood near her own chair, opposite. From the corner of her eye, she saw her father leave the room.

‘I see and feel him too,’ Elizabeth said. ‘He often sits in his chair, watching me. When I look up to catch his eye, he disappears. When I’m unhappy, he puts his hand on my shoulder to reassure me. I’ll never understand why he did what he did.’

Still glancing at the door, Catherine told Elizabeth the reason for her visit. ‘James is trying to cheat me, Mama. He says he has a document from Lt Governor Sorell that says he is entitled to rents from Teddy’s flour mill, that the mill is his. Without the rents from the flour mill, I won’t be able to look after the girls. We can’t live here, because I can’t pay you for our board and I know you have financial concerns of your own since Papa died. I don’t trust James not to sell the house Teddy bought for us.’

Elizabeth Cullen sat in her chair mulling over her daughter’s problems. Her own husband died in 1821, she and her youngest daughter Betsy, heard the report of a gun from the bedroom soon after he’d gone upstairs. The coroner’s report showed an accidental death. Elizabeth hadn’t argued. It meant she could bury her precious James in the St David’s Church cemetery in Hobart Town. He left behind significant debts, and Teddy had been helping Elizabeth with the Letters of Administration and the settlement of James’s estate when God took him too.

‘Teddy was such a gentle and caring man, Catherine. He would be heartbroken to see you and the girls on the receiving end of James Blay Jr’s spitefulness. What are you doing about it?’

‘Sophia has promised that William will speak to Lt Governor Sorell, and to the solicitors in Hobart Town to put a stop to any sale. All I can do is wait until I hear something. The girls and I are here so I have an excuse not to be at home when James finds out I have gone behind his back.’

‘Oh, Catherine. Did we not warn you against marrying him?’ Elizabeth shook her head in disbelief. ‘You are welcome as long as you need; I still have some money coming in. Your sisters’ husbands are helping oversee the farm. Sarah Blay is often here and your father in law, James Sr, supervises the convict assignees when required.’

Catherine quizzed her mother about keeping the house. ‘When Teddy went with you to the solicitor in Hobart Town after Papa died, the solicitor told Teddy you would have to sell the farm, Mama. Have things improved so that is not a consideration?’

‘I imagine I will still have to sell. That breaks my heart. All the work your Papa put into building the house and setting up the farm, and all after doing it on Norfolk Island too. He never did get over having to leave there. Seventeen years to build a life, a family, a future, and then to have it all taken away and told you must start again. That took a lot of strength to overcome. Another reason for me to hate the English Government.’

Catherine nodded. Although neither Catherine nor her two sisters had been to England or had to deal with the English Government, the hatred born from the arbitrary treatment of their parents, instilled the same hatred in them.

‘There is something else, Mama. James won’t give permission for Margaret to learn to read and write. I am just as determined that she have an education. I have to work out how to arrange it without openly defying him.’

‘We’ll make inquiries about Margaret’s learning. Sarah Blay might be able to help,’ Elizabeth said.

Catherine grinned, ‘That’s an excellent idea, Mama. How clever of you. James can hardly challenge the expense of Margaret’s learning when it will be his own mother doing the teaching, and she kept up the education of her own three boys. All were good at reading and writing. William was also quite good at numbers; I seem to remember.’

Sarah Blay clapped one hand on her mouth, but still managed to let a delighted squeal leave her lips.

‘Oh, I would be happy too, of course, I would. I’d love to teach Margaret how to read and write.’

She hugged Catherine, relishing the realisation that she was considered a real grandmother.

‘I can go to Hobart Town with my husband on some of his visits and spend time with Margaret. And when you come to New Norfolk, I’ll continue her education here.’

Sarah smiled widely and bent down to hug the two little girls she looked on as her granddaughters.

Elizabeth Cullen kissed Margaret and Sadie, hugged her daughter and waited with Sarah Blay on the banks of the Derwent, shading her eyes with her hand, until the boat carrying them back to Hobart Town was out of sight.

She put her arms around Sarah’s shoulders, and together they walked to the grand house her husband finished in 1818. The building stood as a testament to the courage and strength of James Bryan Cullen.

‘Come and sit down, Sarah, I’ll make us a cup of tea,’ Elizabeth said as she ushered her friend into her kitchen. ‘I’ve still got the mismatched cups from the first cup of tea we shared. Do you remember?’

‘Yes, I do.’

Sarah thought about the first time she’d sat in the kitchen of the Cullen’s original house; she and the boys had just completed a fourteen-month journey from England. She was so grateful for a good cup of tea in a china teacup that the mismatched cups and saucers were of no consequence.

She smiled at Elizabeth, grateful for their friendship. Since Cullen’s death, Sarah’s husband had helped with the management of the assigned convicts on Elizabeth’s farm. He had been an assigned convict in 1812 and thankful fate sent him to work for James Bryan Cullen in New Norfolk.

‘Are you still managing with the house and farm, Elizabeth?’ Sarah said.

Elizabeth Cullen slumped into the chair at the head of the table the one her husband used to sit in for supper at the end of the day. ‘I don’t know how things are going to continue. In time I’ll have to sell this house my James built. I’m heartbroken to think there is no other way for it. But, may I speak freely?’

Sarah nodded.

‘I am concerned about Catherine and the way your eldest son is treating her. He is trying to gain control of the properties Teddy left and is taking advantage of Catherine’s inability to read and write.’

Elizabeth watched her friend’s face as Sarah worked through a response.

‘It worries my husband and me as well, Elizabeth. You and I both warned her not to marry him, but she is as headstrong as her Irish mother. James and I will help where we can. I’ve told Catherine she must contact us when she needs assistance.’

Elizabeth Cullen, still struggling with the death of her own husband a year and a half ago, and with the financial complications that followed his demise, patted Sarah’s hand, and thanked her before topping up her teacup.

Catherine unpacked hers and the girls’ clothes from the bags she’d taken to her mother’s. There were no signs in the cottage to show that James Jr had been there. The fire hadn’t been lit for several days, the bed hadn’t been slept in and the hens’ eggs not collected. She got the fire going and filled the pot with water, so the girls could have a wash before bed. Catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror in the bedroom, she saw the reason for her Mama’s concerns. She was twenty-three. Her chestnut brown hair had a couple of streaks of grey in the front, and her complexion was looking dry and tired. She promised the reflection she would take better care of herself.

While Catherine helped Sadie wash and get into her night clothes, the child asked where James was.

Ever the little champion, Margaret told her sister that ‘Mama doesn’t know where Papa is. He will be home when his business finishes.’

Margaret tended to herself and climbed into the bed she shared with Sadie. ‘Goodnight Mama. Don’t worry, Papa will be home soon, and we can tell him Grandmama Sarah is going to teach me to read and write.’

Catherine kissed the girls, pulled the covers up to their necks, and took the candle back into the sitting room.

The weather was turning: each day a little shorter and the evenings that bit colder. She sat in her chair by the fire and started mending the girls’ aprons and socks. Margaret was growing quickly. Without the clothing Sophia sometimes passed on from her eldest, Mary, Margaret wouldn"t have enough suitable clothes to wear.

She looked over at the chair Teddy used to sit in when the girls were in bed. He would look across at her and smile a smile that lit up his face and her heart. Margaret had the same smile. Teddy uncrossed his legs, reached out to her and she felt his touch on her knee. Disappearing from her vision, she knew he would never disappear from her heart.

‘Have you heard about the authenticity of the document James said was from Governor Sorrell? About the flour mill?’ Sophia asked her husband, William.

‘An appointment has been hard to arrange: when the governor is in residence, I am in New Norfolk on our land. When I am in Hobart Town, he is away. We will have to organise a meeting with your brother-in-law, John Lilley Pearce, and Blay Jr’s parents, James and Sarah. Plans are afoot to keep Catherine and the children fed and clothed until this is resolved.’

‘He is such a nasty person,’ she said as she snuggled into him in their bed. ‘It’s as if he is determined to be rid of Catherine but to keep Tedder’s properties. My poor sister does not deserve his treatment of her. Did you know that Mama has arranged for Sarah Blay to teach Margaret to cipher? James refuses to let the child go to school and Catherine is just as resolute that she should learn to read and write. I wonder how he will receive that news. Catherine has not disobeyed his instruction, because Margaret isn’t attending school. But she will learn to cipher and that will reduce the impact of his power over the three of them.’

William Rayner brought his wife in closer to him, held her near, and whispered ‘Enough about your sister and her problems. Love me before William James starts screaming from his crib for comfort.’

Sophia cherished her husband and their children: Mary, Eliza, Sophia Christiana, and William James, but she gave a silent prayer these last few months when she and her husband lay together, that she could have a rest before becoming with child again.

Catherine sat in the kitchen of her sister’s house while the children played in the garden.

‘Are you worried about having a baby to James Jr?’ Sophia blurted.

‘What a strange thing to ask. But, yes, I pray each time he wants my body. I pray that I will not be with child. It doesn’t happen all that often anymore; I think he is finding comfort in the arms of other women.’

Sophia gasped. ‘Well, perhaps that is good for you. ‘William has an appointment with Governor Sorrell next week to discuss the document James said Sorrell signed about the flour mill.’

Catherine smiled at her sister and went over to the fire to refill the teapot with hot water. Pouring another cup for herself and Sophia, she said ‘He will have more reason to be cruel and vicious if he finds out I have gone behind his back about this as well as an education for Margaret. Please tell William to let it be. My parents in law are providing funds for food and supplies when I need it.’

Covering a growl, pretending it was a hiccup, Sophia told her sister she would not ask William to cancel the appointment. ‘We will see what is to be done.’