Chapter 11 Chapter Eight (Part 1)

The new year comes with an annual New Year's Eve feast at Rudna Hunes' Angus King, and the move to the Great House is still not over.This is not something that can be done overnight. They are busy managing the daily accumulation of the seven years.Fee claimed that the living room of the mansion should at least be tidied up first.No one panicked, although everyone was looking forward to moving in.In some ways, the mansion is no different: it has no electricity and is thickly infested with flies.But in summer it was twenty degrees cooler than outside because of its thick stone walls and devil gums shading the roof.The bathroom was a real luxury, too, and hot water was supplied all winter through pipes running behind the big stove in the adjoining kitchen, and every drop in the pipes was rainwater.Although there are ten cubicles in the great building, for baths or showers, no expense has been spared in the great mansion, as well as in the smaller ones, with indoor washrooms of a degree of luxury unheard of, envious Kiri residents call it luxury and lust.Apart from the Empire Hotel, two inns, the Catholic priest's mansion, and the Abbey, there are only a few cottages and shacks in the Killambo area.Drogheda Manor is not one of them, thanks to its numerous tanks and roofs that collect rainwater.The rules are strict: the abuse of douche water and the extensive use of sheep-washing potions are not allowed.But once you get a taste of what it's like to dig a hole in the ground and use it as a toilet, it's heaven.

Father Ralph sent the Paddys a check for £5,000 at the beginning of December of the first year, which he said was for their living.With a bewildered cry, Paddy handed Fee the check. "I wonder if all my jobs put together will make that much money," he said. "What am I going to do with it?" Fee asked.She looked at the check, then up to him. "It's money, Paddy! At least it's money, don't you understand? Oh, I don't care about Aunt Mary's thirteen million pounds--that's unrealistic money. But it's real. I'll take What is it good for?"

"Spent it," said Paddy flatly. "Would you like some new clothes for the kids and you?" Perhaps, would you like to buy something for the mansion?I can't think of anything else we need. " "Me too, isn't that stupid?" Fee stood up from the breakfast table, beckoning to Meggie eagerly. "Come on, girl, let's go to the mansion to have a look." Although three months had passed since the tumultuous week that followed Mary Carson's death, the Clearys had not yet been near the Great House.But that goes back there.Much better than the begrudging visits of old.She and Meggie went from room to room, accompanied by Mrs. Smith, Minnie, and Kate.Phoebe was far more active than Meggie; Meggie was confused by her.She kept thinking to herself, what this is terrible, that is disgusting, is Mary colorblind?Had she no taste at all?

In the reception room, Fei stayed the longest, looking at her very expertly.This reception room is just too long, 40 feet long and 20 feet wide.Ceilings are 15 feet high.Its decor is an inexplicable mix of the best of things and the worst.The room was painted a uniform creamy white, already yellowed, which did nothing to accentuate the rich moldings on the ceiling or the carved panels on the walls.Along one side of the hallway, a 40-foot stretch of huge French windows.Thick brown velvet curtains cast dark shadows on tarnished brown chairs.There were also two settees of stunning peacock blue and two equally handsome settes of Florentine marble, and a majestic fireplace of creamy white marble with purple-pink veins.Three Aubusson rugs were laid in precise geometric patterns on the polished teak floor, and a six-foot Waterford chandelier hung from the ceiling, surrounded by chains.

①Chandeliers produced in the Waterford area of ​​Ireland. -- Annotation "Mrs. Smith, I really appreciate you," Fee said. "The decor is horrendous, but it's clean and spotless. I'll give you something to look after. There's nothing to set off those expensive benches - what a disgrace! Since I saw This room is amazing. I just want to tidy it up so that everyone who comes in will appreciate it, and it will be so comfortable that you won't want to leave." Mary Carson's writing desk is Victorian and ugly.There was a telephone on the desk, and Fei walked up to it, flicking the darkened wood lightly with her fingers contemptuously. "That desk of mine would make this place pretty," she said. "I'm going to get my hands on this room and get it done before I move over from the creek. I won't be here until then. That way at least we'll have a place where we can all gather together without getting stuffy."

Her daughters and servants stood there, huddled together in a little crowd, not knowing what to do.She called Harry Gough.Mark Foy & Co. commissioned the night post to send swatches: Chuck Kirby & Co. will send samples of paint, Grace Brothers & Co. will send samples of wall-covering, Sydney shops of one kind or another Catalogs specially compiled for her, boasting their complete furnishing sets.Harry laughed. He promised to have a competition between the furniture dealers and the painters who could meet Fee's exacting requirements.Mrs. Cleary was lucky!She was going to sweep Mary Carson out of the house.

As soon as the call was hung up, the first person was directed to tear off the brown curtains immediately.Under Fee's personal supervision, the curtains were dumped outside in the rubbish; she was not even afraid of waste, and burned them all with her own hands. "We don't need these curtains," she said, "I'm not going to destroy them in front of the poor people in Killambo." "Yes, Mom," said Meggie, dumbfounded. "We don't need any curtains," says Fee, who has no qualms about blatantly going against the trend of decor. "These porches are so deep that the sunlight doesn't get in directly, so why are we hanging curtains? I want to brighten this room."

As soon as all the materials arrived, so did the painters and upholsterers.Meggie and Kate were assigned to climb the ladder and wash and polish the top windows, while Mrs. Smith and Minnie worked on the lower windows.Fee walked around, checking everything with keen eyes. By the second week of January, the drawing room was all packed.The news, of course, spread over the wires.Mrs. Cleary had turned Drogheda's parlour into a palace.Mrs. Hopeton accompanied Mrs. King and Mrs. O'Rourke when the people were welcomed to the great house; and was not that the first thing in the country? There is no doubt that Fee's efforts have resulted in great success.A creamy opaque rug with pale pink stripes and leafy red roses was scattered randomly around the polished mirror floor; the walls and ceiling were painted with a fresh coat of creamy white paint; every molding and carving was painted the large oval plane intervals on the paneling were covered with a layer of light black silk, and the pattern on it was the same as that of the three rugs-a series of roses, as if in cream and gilt. Several exaggerated Japanese paintings are hung in the environment.The Waterford chandelier was lowered to a mere six and a half feet from the floor, and its thousands of tiny crystals had been polished to a shine of every color.The brass chains on the chandeliers are attached to the walls, not coiled to the ceiling.On the slender cream and gilt table stood the Waterford lamp and the Waterford vase with cream and pink roses by the Waterford ashtray; In the corners are little ottomans to match the chairs; each ottoman is covered with a pleasant moire; There is a big creamy white vase with pink roses on it.Over the mantelpiece hung a portrait of Faye's grandmother in a pale pink dress with a frame.On the opposite wall is a larger portrait of a young, red-haired Mary Carson.Her face was that of a young Queen Victoria, and she wore a stylish black pleated skirt with bustles.

"Okay," said Fee, "now we can move over this side of the creek. I'll take up the other rooms when I have time. Oh, money, and spend it on a decent home." , isn't it great?" Three days after they moved, it was very early, and the sun had not yet risen, and the roosters in the poultry yard were happily crowing and raising their hooves. "Poor thing," Fee said, wrapping her china in old newspaper. "I don't understand why they bark. I don't even have an egg for breakfast. The men stay at home until we move. Meggie, you have to go to the chicken coop for me, I'm too busy." ’” She glanced at a yellowed copy of the Sydney Herald, sniffing at the ad for corsets that accompanied her waist. "I don't see why Paddy wants us to order so many papers that no one has time to read. They're just piled up too late to burn on the stove. Look at this one! It's cheaper than the lease on our house." Old. Well, at least they're good for wrapping."

It was a joy to see her mother so happy.Meggie thought as she trotted down the back steps and across the dusty yard.Although everyone is naturally looking forward to living in a big house, but my mother seems to be more urgent, it seems that she can recall the feeling of living in a high-rise building.How clever she was, what taste she had!There are many things whose meaning no one has ever understood before, because they have neither the time nor the money to make them shine.Meggie was very excited. Daddy had been sent to Gilly's jewelry shop.He would use part of the five thousand pounds to buy mother a real pearl choker and a pair of real pearl earrings, the only things with little diamonds on them.He intended to give these to her at the time of their first meal in the house.Now, she could already see that the old look of depression on her mother's face was gone.The children, from Bob to the twins, were eagerly awaiting this moment, for Daddy had shown them the big flat leather box.After opening the box, I saw the white opalescent beads on the black velvet base.Mother's elation deeply infected them, just like seeing a gratifying soaking rain.Until now, they hadn't understood how unfortunate the woman they'd known all these years was.

The chicken coop is huge, with four roosters and more than 40 hens in it.At night, they roost in a dilapidated den.On the carefully swept ground, surrounded by a row of red-yellow crates filled with straw, chickens can crouch inside.Some perches are raised and lowered across the rear of the chicken coop.But during the day, the hens just cluck around in a large barn fenced off with barbed wire.When Meggie opened the gate of the feedlot and squeezed in, the chickens hurried around her, thinking she was coming to feed.But Meggie was fed at night, so she taunted them for their stupidity as she walked past them to the hen shed. "Seriously, you worthless chickens!" She rummaged in the chicken coop, reprimanding them solemnly. "You've got 40 of them, and you've only laid 15 eggs! Not even enough for breakfast, let alone cake. Well, I'm warning you now - if you don't get your act together, your Destiny is on the chopping block, and that thing is for lords and ladies in chicken coops. Don't stick your tail and neck with me like I didn't count you, gentlemen!" Meggie carried the eggs carefully in her apron, and ran back to the kitchen singing. Fee was sitting in Paddy's chair, reading a copy of Smith's Weekly.Her face was pale and her lips were moving.Meggie could hear the men moving about the house, six-year-old Jens and Patsy laughing on the shaker, never coming to keep the men from getting up until they left the house. "What's up, Mom!" Meggie asked. Fee didn't answer, but just stared ahead, a bead of sweat forming around her upper lip, her eyes staring blankly, filled with a restrained, hopeless pain, as if she was trying to keep herself from crying out. "Daddy, Daddy!" Meggie screamed in terror. The tone of her voice called him out, and he was still in flannel.Bob, Jack, Hughie, and Stu came out after him.Meggie said nothing, just pointed at her mother. Paddy's heart seemed to be in his throat all at once.He bent over Fee and took her limp wrist. "What's the matter, dear?" he said in a soft voice the children had never heard, but they all knew it was the voice he used to talk to her when they weren't around. . She also seemed to recognize the peculiar voice, which was enough to bring her out of the man's astonished trance, and the large gray eyes were raised into his face; And haggard, never look so young again. "Look here." She pointed to a message at the bottom of the newspaper and said. Stuart had just walked behind his mother and stood there with his hands lightly on her shoulders.Paddy glanced at his son before reading the article.Stewart's eyes were exactly the same as Fee's.Paddy nodded to him.Circumstances that had made Frank jealous never made Stuart jealous, as if their love for Fee only bound them together rather than drove them apart. Paddy read slowly and aloud, his voice increasingly mournful.The little headline was: "Boxer Sentenced to Life." Francis Armstrong Cleary, 26, a professional boxer, was sentenced in Goulburn District Court today for the murder of worker Leonard Albert Cumming, 32, last July.The trial lasted only 10 minutes, and the jury made a verdict, recommending that the court give the offender the most severe punishment.Mr Justice Fitzhugh-Cunnely said it was a simple, clear case. On July 23, Cumming and Cleary had a violent argument in the public bar of the Harbor Hotel.Constable Tom Beardsmore of Goulburn Police Station, accompanied by two police officers, was called to the Harbor Hotel that night by Mr. James Ogilvie, the proprietor of the hotel.In an alley behind the restaurant, police found Cleary beating Cumming, who was unconscious, on the head.His fists were stained with blood and tufts of Cumming's hair.At the time of his arrest, Cleary was intoxicated but sane.He was charged with assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.But the charge was changed to murder after Cumming died of a concussion at Goulburn Regional Hospital the following day. Mr. Arthur White, the solicitor, pleaded not guilty on the grounds of insanity, but four medical witnesses expressly asserted that Cleary could not be considered insane under the provisions of Menavden's law.In his statement to the jury, Mr Justice Fitzhugh-Cunnely told them there was no question of guilt or innocence and the verdict was a clear crime, but he begged them to give serious consideration to clemency or strictly both, for he will be at the mercy of their opinion.In sentencing Cleary, Mr Justice Fitzhugh-Cunnely described his actions as "inhuman brutality" and regretted that, given the thoughtless crimes caused by drunkenness, nature, excluding the penalty of hanging.He said that Cleary's hands were like real knives and real guns.Cleary was sentenced to life imprisonment and hard labor.The sentence was carried out at Goulburn Prison, which is designed to deal with rape prisoners.When asked if the inmate had anything to say, Cleary replied, "Don't tell my mother." Paddy glanced at the top of the paper and saw the date: December 2, 1925. "It was three years ago," he said helplessly. No one answered or moved, because no one knew what to do.From the front of the house came the joyous laughter of the twins, talking incessantly, very loudly. "Don't—don't—tell my mother," Fee said dully. "And nobody told his mother! Oh, God! My poor Frank!" Paddy wiped the tears from his face with the back of his hand, then knelt down in front of her and patted her thigh lightly. "Pee dear, pack up your things. Let's find him." She just stood up halfway, and sat down again.On the pale face, those eyes stared blankly, shining like dead, the pupils were large and shone with a layer of golden light. "I can't go," there was no sign of pain in her words.But everyone felt her pain. "He'll die of grief when he sees me. Oh, Paddy, it'll kill him! I know him too well--know his pride, his aspirations, his determination to be important. Let him bear the shame alone." , that's all he wants. Read it and don't tell my mother. We must help him keep his secret. What good will it do him or us to see him?" Paddy was still weeping, but not for Frank. He was weeping for the life that had faded from Fee's face, for her eyes that had died out.This Jonah, this guy has always been like that.The bitter, ruinous man who stood forever between him and Fee was the bane that took Fee from his heart and the hearts of his children.Every time it seemed like Fee's happiness was coming, Frank took it away.But Paddy's love for Fee was as deep and inextricable as her love for Frank.After that night at the rectory he could no longer think of the young man as a successor. ①The prophet in the "Bible Old Testament" refers to the person who brings misfortune. -- Annotation So he said, "Well, Fee, if you don't think it's better not to see him, let's not see him. But I'd like to know if he's all right, and if there's anything I can do for him, to become him." Do something. How about I write to Father de Bricassart and ask him to take care of Frank?" There was no pleasure in her eyes, but there was a slight blush on her cheeks. "Well, Paddy, let's do it that way. Just make sure he doesn't let Frank know we found out. Frank sure thinks we don't, and he'll be fine." Within days, Fee regained her vigor, and her interest in decorating the mansion kept her busy.But her reticence had turned to melancholy again, only with less obstinacy, and a dull composure.It was as if she cared more about how the mansion would eventually look than about her family's livelihood.Perhaps, she thought they could take care of themselves mentally, and Mrs. Smith and the maids would take care of their material life. However, discovering Frank's plight deeply affected everyone.The older boys grieved for their mother, and tossed and turned all night, with her face in their minds at that terrible moment.They loved her, and her gaiety in the first few weeks had left them with a never-to-be-forgotten gleam of light, and aroused in them an ardent desire to regain it.If, before that, their father was the pivot on which their lives turned, then, since then, their mother has been as important as him.They cared for her with tenderness and single-mindedness, no matter how cold she was they didn't care.No matter what Fee wanted, from Paddy to Stu, the men of the Cleary family worked together to make her life go well, and each demanded of himself to do so consistently.No one ever bumped into her or broke her heart again.When Paddy gave her the pearls, she gave a curt dry thank you, without pleasure or interest in looking at it; How differently she would have reacted because of Frank's words. Poor Meggie wouldn't have suffered more if she hadn't moved into the big house, since Meggie hadn't been accepted into the all-male League for the Protection of Mothers (perhaps because of the reluctance of her membership).Her father and brothers wanted her to do everything Fee was clearly unwilling to do.It turned out that Mrs. Smith and the maids shared the burden with Meggie.The thing Fee hated most was looking after the two youngest boys; and Mrs. Smith had taken up the burden of bringing up Jens and Patsy with such enthusiasm that Meggie didn't feel uneasy about her.It seemed to her that sooner or later the two children would have to be entrusted to the housekeeper; this pleased her on the contrary.Meggie grieved for her mother too, but not as wholeheartedly as the men, for her devotion had been so painfully tested.Fee's indifference to Jens and Patsy deeply hurt the maternal love that filled her heart.If I had children, she thought, I would never favor one of them. Of course, the taste of living in a mansion is completely different from before.First of all, not used to everyone having a bedroom.They don't have to worry about cleaning the house inside and out.Minnie, Kate, and Mrs. Smith took care of everything from laundry and ironing to cooking and cleaning, and they were terrified to be helped.Because food is abundant and they can earn a small wage, a continuous stream of unemployed people are temporarily recorded in the roster of the ranch as ranch handymen.They chopped wood for the farm, fed the poultry and pigs, and milked the cows, and helped old Tom look after the lovely gardens, and did all the heavy work. Paddy had written to Father Ralph. "Mary's property has an income of about four million pounds a year, and thankfully Michal & Co. is a privately owned company, with the bulk of its property invested in the steel, shipbuilding and mining industries," wrote Father Ralph, "So what I'm transferring to you is a drop in the ocean of Mary's property, and less than a tenth of Drogheda's annual profits. Don't worry about bad times any more. The Drogheda ranch is very profitable, and if necessary, I can waive your interest forever. That way you get exactly what you deserve and don't cripple Michal & Co. You get ranch money, not company money. I just need you Keep the ranch books, and keep them honestly, till the auditors." After Pare received that extraordinary letter, he once held a meeting in that beautiful living room while everyone was at home.With his steel-rimmed reading glasses on his Roman nose, he sat in a cream chair with his legs comfortably resting on the matching footrest, his pipe in a Waterford ashtray . "That's a great letter," he smiled, looking around happily. "I guess we should say thank you to Mom for that, right, boys?" The "boys" all grumbled their approval.Fee bowed her head. She sat in the high-backed chair that had once belonged to Mary Carson, which was now covered with cream moiré.Meggie's legs hovered by the ottoman, which she used as a chair, and she kept her eyes on the sock she was mending. "Well, Father de Bricassart has arranged everything, and he is very generous," Paddy went on; Opened a £2000 account. Pay me £4000 a year as the ranch manager and Bob £3000 a year as an assistant manager. All the working kids - Jack, Hughie and Stu - pay £2000 a year , little boys get £1,000 a year each until they are old enough to decide what they want to do. "When the little boys grow up, even if they don't intend to work in Drogheda, it will guarantee them, like full-time service in Drogheda, that each will get an income each year as their property. Jen When Smith and Patsy turned 12, they would be sent to board at Riverside College in Sydney, using the estate to fund their education. "Mum gets £2,000 a year herself, and so does Meggie. Housekeeping expenses are kept at £5,000, although I don't understand why the priest thinks we need so much money to manage a house. He says it's just in case we get bigger For changes. I have had instructions from Mrs. Smith, Minnie, Kate and Tom regarding their compensation: I must say, it is very generous. Other salary expenses are up to me. But I as ranch manager The first decision made was to have at least six more stockmen so that Drogheda could run decently. It was too much work for such a small group." As to her sister's management, this was He said the most important words. Getting so much money is unheard of by all people.They sat there in silence, trying to get used to their good fortune. "We can't even spend half, Paddy," Fee said.He left us nothing to spend the money on. "Paddy looked at her kindly." "I know, Mama."But wouldn't it be nice to think we'll never have to worry about money again? "He cleared his throat. "Now, it seems to me, especially Mum and Meggie, are going to relax," he went on. "I've never been good with numbers, but Mum is like a teacher of arithmetic, adding and subtracting." multiply and divide.So, instead of Harry Gough's office, Mama was going to be Drogheda's bookkeeper.It never occurred to me, but Harry had to hire someone to run Drogheda's accounts, and he's short on staff at the moment, so it wouldn't bother him to hand it back to us .In fact, it was Harry who suggested that mother might be a good bookkeeper.He's going to send someone from Gilly to teach you, mother.Obviously, it's a pretty complicated thing to do, you have to keep the ledger, the cash book, the journal, keep everything in the journal, et cetera.You are busy enough.Still, it's not going to daunt you like cooking or doing laundry, is it? " The words were on the tip of Meggie's tongue, and she wanted to shout: What should I do?Washing, cooking, I do as much as my mother! Fei actually showed a smile, which was the first time since seeing the news of Frank. "I'd love this job, Paddy, I really would. It would make me feel like a part of Drogheda." "Bob will teach you to drive that new Rolls-Royce, because you'll have to run a lot to Gilly, to the bank, to see Harry. Besides, it'll do you good, and make you understand that you You can drive where you want without having us with you. We're so ignorant here. I'm always going to teach you women how to drive, but I don't have time. Okay, Fee ?" "Well, Paddy," she said cheerfully. "Now, Meggie, we've got to make arrangements for you." Meggie put down her socks and needles, looked up at her father with a questioning and complaining look.She knew what he had to say: her mother was busy with the books, so it was her job to keep the house and the neighborhood in check. "I'd hate you to be such a loafing, snobby lady like some rancher's daughters we know," said Paddy, with a smile that made his words sound without contempt. "So, little Meggie, I'm going to put you on a full-time job. You'll tend the inner paddocks for us--Ballhead, Little River, Carson, Winnemoola, and North Danker. You'll have to Look after the home enclosure. You're in charge of the herding horses; which ones have to work and which ones have a shift. Of course, we'll all be hard at work when lambing in the flock, but I think otherwise you That's up to you. Jack can teach you how to make a dog and a shepherd's whip. You're a very naughty girl, too, so I suppose you'd rather work on the ranch than run around the house," he said with With a more kind smile than usual, he ended his words. When he was talking, her complaints and dissatisfaction flew to the sky, and he became the father who loved her and thought about her again.What happened to her just now, why should she doubt him like that?She felt so ashamed that she really wanted to prick her leg with that big needle.But she was too happy to have time to think about the pain she was asking for.But, then again, this is just an extreme thought to express her self-blame. There was a lot of light on her face. "Oh, Dad, I'm going to love this job." "Dad, what about me?" Stuart asked. The Maids don't need you around the house anymore, so you're going out, too, to the pasture, Stu. " "Okay, Dad." He looked at Fee longingly, but said nothing.