heard him say, in a voice harsh with pain, “It was bad enough, losing our dearest Elizabeth and the child-but now we’ve lost Luke as well.”
“You’ve lost him, Rick?” Judge De
Lancey exclaimed, clearly startled. “You don’t mean the boy’s dead, do you?”
Rick Tempest shook his head. “No, no-he simply walked out on us, said he could not bear to stay at Pengallon, which I suppose is understandable.
He had no plans, poor lad, but nothing I could say would induce him to change his mind.
I’ve been worried about him, as you can image, but … I learnt today that he shipped out in one of Claus Van Buren’s traders, bound for New Zealand-as a deckhand.” He shrugged his broad shoulders, and Kitty’s heart went out to him as she heard him sigh, the pain he was enduring somehow reaching across to her as if it were a living thing.
“Luke’s heartbroken,” he added flatly.
“And so are we all. Given time, though, the lad will get over it and come back to Pengallon, God willing. Well-was He braced himself and then bent to drop a kiss on Abigail Dawson’s lined cheek. “Forgive me if I don’t stay. I had to put in an appearance here, but I won’t wait for the toasts-I’m aiming to make an early start for Pengallon in the morning. We’re short of labor, as always, and the Chinese I’ve taken on are pretty useless, though they claim to be shepherds.”
He turned to shake Judge De Lancey’s hand and then that of Captain Justin Broome. “I’m resigning from the Council-in fact, I informed the governor today. Edmund is going to stand for election to the Assembly in my place.”
“I’ll walk you to the door,” the older Broome said, and took his arm. Watching them go, Magdalen Broome said sadly,
William Stuart Long
“Poor soul, his only daughter died in childbirth a few weeks ago, Lady Kitty.
Her husband, the one he was talking about-Luke Murphy-is such a fine young man. An
American, he came over here from the California goldfields, and the whole family are devoted to him. It’s a tragedy—they were so happy, he and little Elizabeth. I …” She flushed, looking down at her distended stomach and then at Kitty.
“It makes me a little afraid, you know.
Childbirth can be risky, and Elizabeth was so young.”
Kitty’s diffident attempt to console her was cut short by the announcement that a buffet supper had been prepared for the viceregal guests and was now ready. They wended their way slowly into the adjoining anteroom, and seeing that Patrick was engaged in earnest conversation with Captain Red Broome and his father and brother, she did not go to join him but remained in the pleasant, feminine company of Magdalen and the two ladies John Broome had
claimed as his aunts Abigail and Rachel.
The laden tables occupied their attention, and when they had again found seats, the servants brought round glasses of wine, and Governor Denison rose to make a short speech. Kitty gave it only cursory attention; the governor’s delivery was slow and a trifle pedantic, but when he raised his glass to propose the first toast, she heard him say, with a wealth of pride and feeling, “Ladies and gentlemen, may I ask you to charge your glasses and be upstanding? Let us drink to the heroic victory of Great Britain and her allies in the Crimea, and to pray for peace henceforth with Russia and all other aggressors. As you will have read in your newspapers, a peace treaty was signed in Paris on March the thirtieth, and our troops and ships will, by this time, be on their way home.”
The toast was drunk to loud acclamation, and the governor, still on his feet, held out his glass to be replenished and again raised it high above his head.
“This reception, as you will also know, my friends, is being given in order that we may bid farewell to Colonel and Mrs. William De Lancey, who are about to depart this colony for service in India.
William De Lancey was one of that
immortal band which, in obedience
“You’ve lost him, Rick?” Judge De
Lancey exclaimed, clearly startled. “You don’t mean the boy’s dead, do you?”
Rick Tempest shook his head. “No, no-he simply walked out on us, said he could not bear to stay at Pengallon, which I suppose is understandable.
He had no plans, poor lad, but nothing I could say would induce him to change his mind.
I’ve been worried about him, as you can image, but … I learnt today that he shipped out in one of Claus Van Buren’s traders, bound for New Zealand-as a deckhand.” He shrugged his broad shoulders, and Kitty’s heart went out to him as she heard him sigh, the pain he was enduring somehow reaching across to her as if it were a living thing.
“Luke’s heartbroken,” he added flatly.
“And so are we all. Given time, though, the lad will get over it and come back to Pengallon, God willing. Well-was He braced himself and then bent to drop a kiss on Abigail Dawson’s lined cheek. “Forgive me if I don’t stay. I had to put in an appearance here, but I won’t wait for the toasts-I’m aiming to make an early start for Pengallon in the morning. We’re short of labor, as always, and the Chinese I’ve taken on are pretty useless, though they claim to be shepherds.”
He turned to shake Judge De Lancey’s hand and then that of Captain Justin Broome. “I’m resigning from the Council-in fact, I informed the governor today. Edmund is going to stand for election to the Assembly in my place.”
“I’ll walk you to the door,” the older Broome said, and took his arm. Watching them go, Magdalen Broome said sadly,
William Stuart Long
“Poor soul, his only daughter died in childbirth a few weeks ago, Lady Kitty.
Her husband, the one he was talking about-Luke Murphy-is such a fine young man. An
American, he came over here from the California goldfields, and the whole family are devoted to him. It’s a tragedy—they were so happy, he and little Elizabeth. I …” She flushed, looking down at her distended stomach and then at Kitty.
“It makes me a little afraid, you know.
Childbirth can be risky, and Elizabeth was so young.”
Kitty’s diffident attempt to console her was cut short by the announcement that a buffet supper had been prepared for the viceregal guests and was now ready. They wended their way slowly into the adjoining anteroom, and seeing that Patrick was engaged in earnest conversation with Captain Red Broome and his father and brother, she did not go to join him but remained in the pleasant, feminine company of Magdalen and the two ladies John Broome had
claimed as his aunts Abigail and Rachel.
The laden tables occupied their attention, and when they had again found seats, the servants brought round glasses of wine, and Governor Denison rose to make a short speech. Kitty gave it only cursory attention; the governor’s delivery was slow and a trifle pedantic, but when he raised his glass to propose the first toast, she heard him say, with a wealth of pride and feeling, “Ladies and gentlemen, may I ask you to charge your glasses and be upstanding? Let us drink to the heroic victory of Great Britain and her allies in the Crimea, and to pray for peace henceforth with Russia and all other aggressors. As you will have read in your newspapers, a peace treaty was signed in Paris on March the thirtieth, and our troops and ships will, by this time, be on their way home.”
The toast was drunk to loud acclamation, and the governor, still on his feet, held out his glass to be replenished and again raised it high above his head.
“This reception, as you will also know, my friends, is being given in order that we may bid farewell to Colonel and Mrs. William De Lancey, who are about to depart this colony for service in India.
William De Lancey was one of that
immortal band which, in obedience
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