And Those Who Trespass Against Us (3 page)

"She lived with me and my brother, Alexander, on our property. As you've seen, her house is not located in the best area of town. Apparently, one of the previous pastors, Father McGuire, decided that sisters who came to work in this country should take their vows of poverty literally. While he was cloistered in his comfortable residence, he supervised the building of the sister's house in the poorest part of town. His idea wouldn't have upset the nun who was to be the recipient of the arrangement, except the house wasn't only situated in the poorest part of town but also in the most drunken and thieving area. Not surprisingly, Father McGuire didn't last long. The current father doesn't take the sister's vows of poverty so strictly. He allowed Sister Coreen to live with Alexander and me. She only ever used the house as a retreat for mothers from their drunken husbands." She craned her neck at the road. "There'll be plenty of time to talk once we reach Gleneagle. For now I need to concentrate on getting us home in one piece and before the bushrangers are out on these roads. If we keep going at this pace, we'll reach home in time to turn around again and return to town to assist in tomorrow's cleanup. Hang on Sister." She urged the horse into a greater, yet controlled, pace.

Katherine was grateful she heeded the advice. The next part of the trip was nothing like the carriage rides back home. Hurtling along at breakneck speed, the cool evening wind picked up her veil and flailed it in the breeze. Katherine assessed her options of using one hand to hold onto the side of the wagon while using the other to steady her veil. One of the wheels of the wagon hit a rut, causing her to momentarily leave her seat. She opted to hold on and let her veil fare for itself.

How could anyone drive at such a pace in such poor light? She opened her mouth to comment and, just as quickly, closed it. In the compressed time of her acquaintance with Miss Pelham, she sensed it would be against her better judgment to ask her to slow down. Besides, Katherine thought, this is her country. If anyone should know the standard of the road, then Miss Pelham should.

Still, Katherine didn't quite know what to make of Miss Pelham. She was so blunt at the station, and yet so gentle with the women and children who waited for their husbands at the end of the day. Despite being in the presence of men, she displayed a complete disregard for her own femininity. Katherine couldn't help but think there was more to the woman who sat beside her. Through the moonlight, Miss Pelham's pre-occupied determination was accentuated by the set of her jaw and the manner she sat forward in her seat, staring into the semi-blackness. Not once did Miss Pelham's concentration wander, and the determination in her face made Katherine feel afraid. Was this what living in this country did to women? Katherine resignedly held on, waiting for their eventual arrival. Luckily she didn't have long to wait.

The wagon slowed and turned, its wheels connecting with something metal that shook the wagon. Katherine yelped. "What was that?"

"It's nothing, just a cattle grid." She steered the wagon up a gently winding driveway. "It stops our herd from wandering out of the property when they're in the lower paddocks."

Katherine attempted to make out what was in front of her. Except for the ambient light of the moon, the darkness had all but engulfed them. Miss Pelham's stance relaxed and she slowed the horse's pace. Katherine finally made out the silhouette of a house.

"We're here." Miss Pelham brought the horse to a complete stop, and applied the hand brake. "If you wait, I'll come around and get you down."

"It's kind of you, but there's no need," Katherine said and then proceeded to fall off the wagon into the darkness. She hit the ground with a resounding thud.

"Are you all right?" Miss Pelham's tone was testimony to her frustration. "I told you I'd help you."

Flustered and embarrassed, Katherine reacted to the timbre of Miss Pelham's voice. "I heard you. I wasn't expecting alighting could be so difficult."

"Well, you're off now. Let's hope next time your landing onto
terra firma
is a much safer one." This time Miss Pelham's tone was more conciliatory.

"You speak Latin?"

"Why do you sound so surprised?" The irritation in her voice reasserted itself. "England isn't the only place where you can be educated."

"I did not mean for it to sound as it did." The lilt in Katherine's voice matched the Irish anger now bubbling to the surface. "And besides I'm not from England."

"I must say, I'm surprised! A sister with a bad temper. Such a temper should take you far in this country. About as far as the train station I expect."

"I don't believe this. You've brought me all the way out here, and now you're going to take me back to the train station? That's absurd!"

"If I was going to do that, you wouldn't be here at all. You've nothing to worry from me. I don't care how forward you are. Believe me, though, the rest of the townsfolk may not be so receptive to your blunt tone and
Irish
anger." She emphasised the country of Katherine's origin. "This conversation is getting us nowhere." She rubbed her hand across the back of her neck. "Besides, it's getting cold. Let's go inside and see if we can try again."

The sisters had constantly warned Katherine of her tendency to talk without first measuring her words so she hastened to say, "I'm sorry but it's been a long day for me. I think I'm a bit tired." Katherine pulled her two suitcases out of the back of the wagon.

"If you wait there, I'll tether the horse and be back. Then we can go inside and I'll fix us a brew or what you know better as a cup of tea." Miss Pelham turned and led the horse into the moonlight and across the yard.

"Is it possible I could also have a hot bath?" Katherine called after her. "I don't believe I've had a good hot bath since leaving Ireland." Driver and wagon blended into the shadows cast by the full moon.

It wasn't long and Miss Pelham had returned. "It might take a while, but I think a bath could be arranged." Miss Pelham opened the front door of the house and Katherine followed, suitcases in hand.

Inside, Miss Pelham reached for a lamp to provide some light to the room. "If you wait here, I'll light this lamp. Hopefully there are still some residual embers in the stove."

After a few moments, Miss Pelham returned, her features bathed in soft light. "First things first, let me show you to your room. It may not be what you're used to, but it's a bed and a private space all the same." She walked down the hall, the lamp casting a warm glow in front of her as the shadows played off the walls. Katherine picked up her bags and followed, stopping behind Miss Pelham when she opened a door. She motioned Katherine through the entrance.

Even by the lamp's illumination, Katherine was aware the room was more than she could have expected. "Thank you, this is quite nice and very spacious." She placed her bags on top of the bed. "If it hadn't been for your kindness I don't know where I would have been spending the night."

"Oh, I do," Miss Pelham replied with an air of assuredness. "You'd have been put up with one of the fine upstanding families of the town and forced to tell them tales of the Old Country all night." Using a taper, she lit the lamp on the bed stand.

"If that's the case, then thank you for rescuing me. You sound as if you don't have much time for the townsfolk. Have they done something to you to make you feel this way?" Katherine slipped into her more common role of religious confidant.

"Let's just say the fine, upstanding families' ideals of life and mine differ somewhat. If you like, I'll leave you with your belongings to unpack." Miss Pelham looked at the two meagre suitcases. "I've heard of travelling light but never as light as that," she muttered and turned to leave the room. "I'll finish seeing to the wagon and put some water on."

Katherine listened to the echo of footfalls as the other woman made her way through the house. She turned back to the room. Its overall size wasn't readily discernible, for the fingers of the lamp's light failed to reach much farther than its immediate surroundings. She moved the lamp onto the dressing table, using the mirror's reflection to increase the light's beam. Katherine gasped.

The room contained a bedside table, dressing table, hand basin, and a wardrobe. Sitting almost centrally in the room, and opposite a pair of full-length French windows, was a huge double bed. Oh my, she thought, what luxury it will be to be able to stretch out in this bed. Being a sister, and even as a daughter in a fine, country home, she'd never known the extravagance of a double bed. Such pleasures were normally reserved for wedded couples.

She longed to lie down. "Of course if I do that, I may not get up again." Shaking herself out of her self-indulgent musings, she pulled her Bible from her bag and sat, taking time to recite not only her evening prayers, but prayers for the souls who had lost so much that day. Finally closing her Bible, she placed it on the dresser and began to unpack.

SATISFIED HER HORSE was settled for the night, Catriona returned to the kitchen, and the kettles she'd set to boil. She checked the tea kettle and took it off the direct heat of the wood stove. Replacing the lid of the larger simmering kettle, she left it to reach a boil and ambled out of the kitchen to retrieve the metal hipbath stored on the verandah. She paused and turned her face to the night sky. The sky was clear, lit by stars and a full moon. She sighed, finding it hard to believe the devastation that had been brought to bear on this part of the country today. Although country born, she never ceased to be in awe of the way nature could be so kind one moment yet, in the same breath of wind, so wanton. Shaking her head, she bent down, grasped the lip of the metal bath and dragged it toward the kitchen door.

"Miss Pelham, where are you?" Sister Flynn called, the lamp in her hands flickering in the dim light.

"I'm getting the bath. The job would be accomplished a lot quicker if you could help me get it into the kitchen."

Sister Flynn divested herself of the lamp and, moving beside Catriona, grabbed the edge of the metal bath and proceeded to drag it along the verandah toward the back door of the house. "Where do we have the bath?"

"It's too unwieldy to take far so we usually bathe in the kitchen. Don't worry, I'll close the back door before you bathe." Catriona continued to push the lead-lined bath through the back door entranceway.

"Things are certainly done differently out here. I don't mean to sound prudish, but didn't you mention you shared this house with your brother? What happens if he should walk in during the bath?"

"Then I expect he'll see you in your full glory like God intended."

"I beg your pardon?"

Catriona held up her hand. "You needn't worry about him making an unexpected entrance. Alexander's away up north and isn't expected back for a few weeks yet. Your privacy, apart from me, is therefore assured." She brought the bath to a halt next to the stove. "While we're waiting for the bigger kettle to boil we'll have that cup of tea. If you don't mind, we'll take tea in the kitchen. It takes a while to light up the parlour. I'm sure, at this time of night, formalities can be dispensed with." She placed two vitreous beige mugs, sugar, and a tin of biscuits on the table. "Truth be told, with only Alexander and I in the house, the parlour is very rarely used."

"You may have misunderstood me," Sister Flynn said. "I'm comfortable with this welcome rather than one full of the social graces. After all, I'm a sister, not a social butterfly. I'm more used to this reception than you could possibly know."

Having allowed the tea to draw, Catriona poured the steaming liquid into the two mugs. She handed one to Sister Flynn. "That's good. You'll get both out here, so I suppose you can say you'll get the best of both worlds." She motioned toward the tin. "Have a biscuit."

Sister Flynn took one and sat silently munching on the sweet, golden-coloured oat biscuit.

Catriona silently reflected on the day's events and then eased herself out of her chair. She opened the stove door and placed another log on the fire. "Your water will take just a bit longer to boil. So, if you want to get your toiletries, I'll wait here and keep an eye on the water."

Sister Flynn rose. "Thank you. I might just do that. I shouldn't be long."

"No bother, take your time," Catriona replied as she settled back into her chair.

TAKING THE LAMP she'd earlier carried from her room, Katherine headed back through the house. She held the lamp high to cast light out in front of her and was distracted by a painting, which could have only been a portrait of the Pelham family. She paused to get a better perspective. The painting contained an elderly couple, most likely Miss Pelham's parents and, sitting in front of them, were a girl and boy. These she took to be Miss Pelham and her brother. Miss Pelham's dress reminded Katherine of a time when she wore such things. The striking green colour set off Miss Pelham's face in a much different way than what Katherine had witnessed since her arrival in the town. Entranced by the painting, Katherine jumped at the sound of a door closing. Realising her bath would soon be waiting, she continued through the house.