Chapter 5 Chapter Three (Part 2)

Sometimes on Sundays, she would walk into the deserted living room, sit by the clavichord by the window, and play music. Although she had no time to practice, her fingering was already unfamiliar, except for some simple pieces, Nothing else popped up.At such times, he always sat in front of the lilacs and lilies under the window, closed his eyes and listened.At that time, a dreamlike scene floated before his eyes, and he saw his mother in a long skirt trimmed with pink lace, sitting beside a piano in a spacious ivory tower-like room. , Surrounded by long and big candles.The sight would bring tears to his eyes.However, since the police sent him home and spent the night in the barn, he has not shed a tear.

Meggie put Hal back in the cradle and went to stand beside her mother.Here's another delayed person.She has the same proud, sensitive face; her hands, that childish body, are somewhat like Fee.When she too grows into a woman, she will be very much like her mother.Who will want her?Another goofy Irish shearer, or that bumpkin from the dairy in Wahine?That deserved a better fate, but she was born with bad luck, and everyone said it couldn't be helped; and every year he lived as if to prove it. Fee and Meggie suddenly realized that he was watching them intently, and they turned in unison, smiling at him with the tenderness that women only give to the people they love most in their lives.Frank put the cup on the table and went out to feed the dog.He wished he could cry, or kill someone, or do anything that would relieve the pain.

Three days after Paddy had lost his job shearing Archibald's sheep, Mary Carson's letter arrived.As soon as he got the letter at the Wyham post office, he tore it open, read it, and skipped home like a child. "We're going to Australia!" he yelled, waving the precious parchment papers in front of the dumbfounded family. There was a silence, all eyes were on him.Fee was shocked, and so was Meggie, but every man had a look of joy in his eyes.Frank's eyes were shining. , "But, Paddy, how did she suddenly think of you after all these years?" Fee asked, after reading the letter. "She's not new to getting rich, and she hasn't been in touch for a long time. I never remember her asking to help us in any way before."

"It seems she's afraid of dying alone," he said, both to convince himself and to convince Fee. "Look at what she wrote: I am old, and you and your children are my heirs. I think we should meet before I die, and besides, it's time for you to learn how to manage It's time for your inheritance. I'm going to make you my ranch foreman--a good opportunity to practice and your boys of working age to be employed as stockmen. Drogheda will be a A family business, run by the family with no outsiders involved." "Did she say she sent us money to Australia?" Fee asked.

Paddy straightened his back. "I'm not going to bother her about this!" he said gruffly. "You don't need to ask her, we can go to Australia too, I have enough savings!" "I think she should pay for us," Fee said stubbornly, which surprised everyone because she didn't often express her opinions. "Why do you give up your life here and go to work for her just because of the promise in the letter? She has never done us any favors before, and I can't trust her. I remember you saying that you never Never seen a cock like her. Paddy, you don't seem to know her very well after all, you're so far apart in age, and she went to Australia before you were old enough to go to school."

"I don't see what it does to the present situation. If she's a cock, we'll have more to inherit. No, Fee, we're going to Australia, and we'll pay for it ourselves." Fee stopped talking.It was impossible to tell from her face whether she was displeased that her opinion had been so simply dismissed. "Okay, we're going to Australia!" Bob yelled, grabbing his father's shoulders.Jack, Hughie, and Stuart were bouncing around, and Frank was all smiles, he had lost sight of everything here, and his eyes were looking far, far away.Only Fee and Meggie felt bewildered and desperately wished the matter had simply been let go, for they would not have an easier time in Australia either, but just lived the same life in strange surroundings.

"Where's Gillumbo?" Stuart asked. So, the old atlas was dug out.Although the Clearys were poor, there were still a few boxes of books behind the kitchen table.The boys scanned the yellowed pages intently until they found New South Wales.They were so used to the small world of New Zealand that they couldn't think of checking the scale in miles in the lower left corner of the map.They just automatically assume that New South Wales is as big as New Zealand's North Island.Killambo is up there on the upper left, about the same distance from Sydney as Whanganui and Auckland, although there seem to be far fewer black dots representing towns than there are on maps of the North Island.

①A state in southeastern Australia--Annotation ②A seaport city in Australia. -- Annotation ③A city in New Zealand. -- Annotation ④ A harbor city in New Zealand. -- Annotation "The atlas is getting old," Paddy said. "Australia, like America, has grown very fast. I'm sure there are far more towns there now." They were going to go by steerage, but luckily it was only three days' journey and it wasn't too bad.It's not like traveling from England to the southern hemisphere for several weeks.They can afford it.The things they took away were clothes, porcelain, knives and forks, quilts, bed sheets, cooking utensils and those few shelves of precious books.The furniture had to be sold to pay for the shipping of the few items in Fee's bedroom—the clavichord, rug, and chairs.

"I don't want to hear you say keep them," Paddy told Fee firmly. "Are you sure we can afford the money?" "No problem. As for the rest of the furniture: Mary says she's got the stockman's house ready for us, and everything we might need is there. I'm glad we don't have to live in the same house as Mary." "I'm happy too," Fee said. Paddy went to Whanganui and booked them eight steerage berths on the Wahine.Curiously, the ship had the same name as the town closest to them.They were due to hit the road at the end of August, so by the beginning of August everyone was starting to feel like they were really about to go on this big adventure.The dogs had to be given away, the horses and buggy were sold, and the furniture was loaded into old Ammès McWhite's cart and taken to Whanganui to be auctioned off; Porcelain, sheets and sheets, books, and kitchen utensils were crated together.

Frank found his mother standing by the beautiful old clavichord, touching the pale pink striped plaque and staring blankly at the gold dust on her fingertips. "Mom, was it always yours?" he asked. "Yes. Things they couldn't take from me when I got married. This clavichord, the Persian rug, the Louis XV sofa and chair, and the Regency desk. Not much, But they are mine as a matter of course." Those gray, melancholy eyes looked beyond his shoulders at the oil painting hanging on the wall behind him; The blond woman in a long dress with pale pink lace and 107 ruffles around it is still clearly visible. ①The British Regency period was from 1810 to 1820. -- Annotation

"Who is she?" He turned his head away and asked curiously. "I've always wondered." "A wonderful lady." "Oh, she must be related to you, she looks a little like you." "Her? My relative?" The brooding eyes left the portrait and fell sarcastically on the son's face. "Oh, do I look like I have a relation like her?" "elephant." "You're confused, think about it carefully." "I wish you could tell me, Mom." She sighed, closed the clavichord, and wiped the gold dust from her fingers. "There's nothing to say, nothing to say at all. Come on, help me move these things into the middle of the room so your dad can pack them." The voyage was a nightmare. They threw up before the Wahham even got out of Wellington Harbor; they threw up all the way during the 1,200 miles of windy, snowy voyage.Paddy, ignoring the biting wind and the constant splashing of the sea, took the boys out on deck and left them there, only after some kind soul volunteered to look after the poor, retching four. He went down to the bottom cabin to see his wives and babies when they were young.Frank voluntarily stayed down below, tending to the women, though he desperately wanted to get some fresh air.The cabin was small and suffocating, and smelled of oil, for it was below the waterline, near the bow, where the ship rolled most violently. Hours out of Wellington, Frank and Meggie believed their mother was dying; a doctor who was called in from first class by a familiar flight attendant shook his head pessimistically. "It's a short voyage, though," he said, ordering his nurse to pour some milk for the baby. In between retching, Frank and Meggie managed to bottle-feed Hal, who refused to drink properly.Fee was no longer struggling to vomit, but had fallen into a coma, and they couldn't wake her up.The flight attendant helped Frank put her on the top bunk, where the air was slightly fresher.Frank held the towel to his mouth to hold back the runny bile that was still rolling out.He sat on the edge of her bunk, brushing her dull yellow hair back from her forehead.He persisted hour after hour despite his own vomiting.Every time Paddy came in, he was with his mother, stroking her hair, while Meggie curled up with Hal on the lower bunk, a towel over her mouth. Three hours after leaving Sydney, the sea became as smooth as a mirror, and the mist drifted quietly from the Antarctic, surrounding the old ship.Meggie recovered a little.She imagined that the terrible crash was over, but the ocean still roared rhythmically and painfully.They moved slowly through the thick gray mist, stalking fearfully like a hunted prey, until the deep monotonous roar of the waves came again from above, a dazed, poignant uneasiness. The sound of sorrow described.Then, as they glided through that ghostly mist into the harbor, the air around them was filled with anguished trumpets.Meggie never forgot the sound of the foghorn, the prelude to her first trip to Australia. ①The horn used by a ship in fog to alert other ships. -- Annotation Paddy carried Fee off the Wahine, Frank followed with the baby, Meggie carried a suitcase, and each boy was stumbling wearily with some luggage. A foggy winter morning in late August 1921.They entered Pyrmont.This is a place name without any meaning.Outside the iron shed at the wharf, a long queue of taxis waited.Meggie stared dumbfounded. She had never seen so many cars parked in one place at once.Somehow Paddy packed them all into a car, and the driver offered to take them to the People's Palace. "Man, that's the place for people like you," he told Paddy. "That's a hotel run by the Sully couple for the working people." The streets were crowded with cars that seemed to come from all directions, but very few horses.From the taxi, they gazed intently at the tall brick buildings, the narrow and winding streets, and the crowded pedestrians passing by, as if they were participating in some strange urban rituals.They were awed by Wellington, which looked like a rural town compared with Sydney. While Fee rested in the many birdcages that the Salvation Army called "People's Palace," Paddy went out to Central Station to see what time they could catch the train to Killambo.The boys, who were almost recovering, clamored to go with him, because they had heard that the station was not too far away, and that there were shops along the way, including one that sold lollipops.Paddy was so envious of their youthfulness that he granted their request.After three days of seasickness, he was still unsure whether his legs would hold up.Frank and Meggie wanted to go too, but they cared more about their mother's health and wished her well, so they stayed with Fee and the children.Indeed, as soon as she got off the ship she seemed to recover quickly, having had a bowl of soup and a slow slice of toast brought to her by a bonneted angel among the working people. ① A Christian (Protestant) social activity organization founded in London in 1865 by Pastor Booth and officially named in 1880. -- Annotation "If we don't leave tonight, Fee, the next direct train is in a week's time," Paddy said when he came back. "Do you think you'll survive walking tonight?" Fee sat up, shaking. "I can get through it." "I think we should wait," Frank ventured. "I think Mom's body hasn't recovered yet, so she can't hurry." "Frank, you don't seem to understand that if we miss our train tonight we'll have to wait a whole week, and I can't afford a week in Sydney for a week in my pocket. It's a big country and we're going to There are not trains every day in that place. There are three trains tomorrow, and we can only take one of them to Dabo. In this way, we have to wait there for the transfer, and they told me that if we go that way, it will be worse. Let's find a way to catch the car tonight and suffer even more." "I can get through it, Paddy," Fee said again. "With Frank and Meggie taking care of me, nothing will happen." She looked at Frank and begged him to stop talking. "Then I'll telegraph Mary right now and tell her to wait for us tomorrow night." Central Station was larger than any building the Clearys had ever been in, a vast cylindrical glass hall that seemed to resound and absorb the din of thousands of people at once.They waited beside the jumble of roped baskets, staring intently at a large indicator board adjusted by men with long poles.They huddled among the crowd in the growing twilight, staring longingly at the iron gate on platform five; closed, but with handwritten words on it: "KILLAMBO POST ".On platforms one and two, intense activity heralds the imminent departure of night express trains to Brisbane and Melbourne, with travelers bustling through ticket gates.Soon it was their turn.The doors to platform five creaked open and people began to move impatiently. Paddy found them an empty second-class car, and put the older boys in the window seats, while Fee, Meggie, and the little ones sat on the slides of the long aisle that led to the junction. by the door.Some people poked their faces in hoping to find a vacant seat, but they were immediately frightened away when they saw so many children in the carriage.Sometimes having a large family has its advantages. It was cold at night, and they untied all the large plaid traveling blankets that were strapped to the outside of all the suitcases; although there was no heating in the carriages, there was steam on the floor from steel boxes full of hot ash.In any case, no one is looking forward to heating, because in Australia or New Zealand, there is never any heating anywhere. "Dad, how far is it?" Meggie asked as the train started, jerked, and clanged toward its destination. "Much longer than we see in our atlas, Meggie. 610 miles. We'll be there by tomorrow evening." The boys were breathless in shock, but when the lights outside the window first came on, the fairyland-like picture formed by the lights of thousands of houses made them forget this.They all gathered at the windows and watched, and for the first few miles of the train there were still many houses.As the speed of the car increased, the lights became less and less, and finally disappeared completely, replaced by sparks constantly rushing towards the howling wind.Meggie watched their backs enviously as Paddy led the boys outside so Fee could nurse Hal.She seemed not to be considered one of the boys these days, ever since the baby had messed up her life and kept her as tightly chained to the house as the mother.She was no longer one of them.It didn't really bother her, she said to herself wholeheartedly; he was such a sweet little fellow, and the chief joy of her life.Her mother treated her like a grown girl, and that made her happy in the bottom of her heart.She had no idea what caused her mother to have children, but it turned out pretty well.She handed Hal to Fee.After a while, the train stopped and made a creaking sound. It seemed that it would stop for a few hours to take a good breath.She wanted desperately to open the window and look out, but, despite the hot ashes on the floor, it was getting colder and colder in the compartment. Paddy came in from the hall and brought Fee a steaming cup of tea.Fee put the stuffed and drowsy Hal back in his seat. "What is this place?" she asked. "A place called Heights Valley. To get up Lithgow Hill, you'll have to add a locomotive here; that's what the girl in the snack bar said." "How soon do I have to drink it?" "Fifteen minutes. Frank'll bring you some sandwiches, and I'm going to watch the kids eat. Our next tea is at a place called Blaney's, and it's going to be in the middle of the night." Meggie and her mother drank the hot tea with sugar.When Frank brought the sandwich, Meggie felt a sudden surge of uncontrollable excitement and began to eat it in big mouthfuls.He made her lie on the chair next to little Hal, wrapped her tightly in a blanket, and then wrapped Fee in the same way, and let her stretch out on the opposite seat.Stuart and Hughie were on the floor between the seats, but Paddy told Fee that he was going to take Bob, Frank, and Jack to talk to some of the shearers in the car a few cars away, and spend the night there. up.Moving forward in the rhythmic sounds of "click, click" and "wheeze, wheeze" issued by the two locomotives, listening to the sound of the wind blowing the wires, and the steel wheels sliding on the inclined rails, violently It was much better than being on a boat, and Meggie fell into a deep sleep. In the morning they gazed with jaw-dropping awe and amazement at a landscape so foreign they had never dreamed that such a place existed on the same planet as New Zealand.It is true that there are rolling hills here, but otherwise there is little that reminds one of his homeland.Everything is gray and gray, even the trees!The strong sunlight has turned the winter wheat into a silver-brown color, and the endless wheat fields are undulating in the wind. Only the sparse and slender trees with blue leaves and the boring gray bushes cut off the endless scenery .Fee's indifferent eyes looked at the scene without any change in the expression on his face, but poor old Ji's eyes were filled with tears.It was a frightful, bare and vast land, not a speck of green. As the sun rose to the top of the sky, the bone-chilling night turned into a scorching day, and the train rattled endlessly, stopping occasionally in some town full of bicycles and carriages; It is rare to see here.Paddy opened both windows to the top, not caring that the soot that had been blown into the car fell everywhere.The atmosphere was so hot that it made people breathless, and the heavy New Zealand winter clothes they wore were itchy when they stuck to their bodies.It seems that there is no place hotter than here in winter except Hell. It was a strange little place, a wide dusty street lined with crumbling wooden houses with corrugated iron roofs, treeless and tiresome.The setting sun in the west painted everything with a golden color, endowing the town with a very short-lived golden dignity, even when they were still standing on the platform looking at it, it was gradually fading away. It is a typical colony in the remote fringes, the most remote village in the rainforest zone with steadily decreasing rainfall, and not far to the west of it is the 2,000-mile-deep, rainless desert land-Never- Never ①. ① Refers to the northern part of Queensland, Australia. -- Annotation A gleaming black car was parked in the station square, and a priest strode towards them with indifferent expression across the dusty ground.His long surplice made him look like an ancient figure, as if he did not walk on two feet like ordinary people, but came floating like a dreamer; In the last halo of the setting sun, it looks bright red. "Hello, I'm Father de Bricassart," he said, holding out his hand to Paddy. "You must be Mary's brother, you are a living portrait of her." He turned to Fee, raised her delicate hand to his lips, and smiled with unadulterated astonishment; Father Ralph could see more quickly who was a classy woman. "Oh, you're beautiful!" he said, as if it were the most natural thing a priest could say in the world.Then his eyes turned to the boys standing huddled together.For a moment those eyes rested bewilderedly on Frank, who, holding the baby in his arms, reprimanded the boys, one by one, as they huddled together.Meggie stood alone behind them, mouth open, staring at him stupidly as if she were looking at God.He didn't seem to notice that his serge robe was dragging in the dust, and he stepped past the boys, squatted down, and put his arms around Meggie, hands that were firm, soft, and full of love. "Ah! who are you?" he asked her, smiling. "Meggie," she said. "Her name is Megan." Frank said sullenly.He hated the handsome man and his surprisingly tall stature. ① Meggie is the pet name of Megaan, and Megaan is the official name. -- Annotation "Megion, that's my favorite name." He stood up, still holding Meggie's hand. "You had better stay at the rectory tonight," he said.Leading Meggie to the car. "I'll drive you to Drogheda in the morning. It's a long train ride from Sydney." Apart from the Empire Hotel, the Catholic Church, the Mission School, and the Convent, the Rectory was the only building of brick and tile in Killambo, and even the large public school was of timber frame.It was night now, and the air was cold, but in the drawing-room of the rectory the log fire was burning brightly, and from somewhere outside there was a craving smell of food.The housekeeper is a haggard but energetic old Scots lady.She babbled on and on in her thick West Scottish Highlands accent as she bustled around showing them her room. Accustomed to the arrogance and indifference of the priests of Wahine, the Clearys found it difficult to deal with Father Ralph's straightforwardness and amiability.Only Paddy grew more natural, as he recalled the friendliness of the clergy at home in Galway, and the intimacy they had had with those of lesser rank.The rest ate their supper cautiously and without saying a word, and slipped upstairs as fast as they could, Paddy reluctantly following.To him his religion was a warm consolation, but to the rest of his family it was a sort of expedient which had to be done out of fear and to avoid hell. When they were all gone, Father Ralph stretched himself into his favorite chair.He was smoking a cigarette, staring blankly at the fire, smiling.His mind went back to seeing the Creeleys for the first time in Station Square.The man was really like Mary, but bent under the weight of hard work, and he was obviously not so mean as Mary; the dark Frank, grumpy, with dark eyes, and dark eyes; and the other sons, most of whom resembled their father, but the youngest, Stuart, resembled their father. His mother, he will be a handsome man when he grows up.What that little baby would be like was hard to tell; and Meggie, she was the sweetest, sweetest little girl he had ever seen in his life.Her hair was an indescribable color, neither red nor blond, but a combination of both.Her silver-gray eyes looked up at him like molten gems, with a soft, pure light.He shrugged.He threw the cigarette butt into the fire and stood up.He is no longer young, but he actually thinks about others, molten gems, how strange!It is likely that his own eyes were filled with the long yellow sand. In the morning he drove his overnight guests to Drogheda, where they were now used to the sights; their comments amused him greatly.The nearest mountains lay two hundred miles to the east; here, he explained, were the plains of black earth.This is a grassland with sparse forests, and it is almost flat as far as the eye can see.The day was as hot today as yesterday, but the journey was much more comfortable in a Daimler than by train.It was the day of fast and they started early, Father Ralph's surplice and communion bread carefully packed in a black basket. "The sheep are so dirty!" Meggie said sadly, looking at the hundreds of russet sheep nodding their noses up and down the grass. "Ah, I see, I should choose to go to New Zealand," said the priest. "It must be like Ireland, with milky sheep." "Yes, a lot of places are like Ireland; with green grass as beautiful as Ireland. But a little wilder and far less cultivated than Ireland," Paddy answered.He liked Father Ralph very much. At this moment, a group of emus suddenly staggered, stood up, and began to run; they were as fast as the wind, their ungainly legs were vaguely visible, and their necks were stretched out.The children gasped and burst out laughing, looking at it fascinatedly so that they could run fast instead of fly fast and become giant birds. "If only we didn't have to get out of the car to open those broken doors," said Father Ralph as Bob, who got out to open the door for Father Ralph, climbed back into the car as the last door closed behind them. The elegant Georgian facade of the Drogheda house, with its budding wisterias and thousands of rosebushs, seemed to have given them so much attention when the land of Australia terrified them with unprepared quickness. They have a certain feeling of being at home. "Are we going to live here?" Meggie asked sharply. "Neither right nor wrong," said the priest quickly. "The house you're going to live in is about a mile from here, down the creek." Mary Carson, who was sitting in the spacious drawing room waiting to receive them, did not rise to meet her brother, but sat in her high chair and insisted that he come to her. "Oh, Paddy," she said rather cheerfully, looking past him at Father Ralph with Meggie in his arms; Meggie's little arms were wrapped tightly around his neck.Mary Carson struggled to her feet without greeting Fee or the children. "Let's go to Mass at once," she said. "I'm sure Father de Bricassart is in a hurry to go." "Not at all, dear Mary." He laughed, his blue eyes shining brightly. "I'll say Mass first, and then we'll have a nice, hot breakfast at your table. Then I promised Meggie to show her where she lives." "Meggie," said Mary Carson. "Yes, this is Meggie. But isn't this a reversed introduction? Mary, please let me start from the beginning. This is Fiona." Mary Carson nodded casually.She barely listened as Father Ralph introduced the boys one by one, too busy watching him and Meggie.