Jessica (50 page)

And so he rides out to Riverview Station on his hired horse to confront Meg and Hester. He had spent the past three nights in Jessica's hut and he looks even more derelict than usual. He sets out after a breakfast of half a bottle of claret and a tin of sardines and arrives at the Thomas homestead around mid-morning.

It is Hester who first comes to the door. She takes one look at the forlorn-looking little man standing in front of her and it is obvious she doesn't much like what she sees.

‘If you want work, see the foreman at the office. If you want something to eat, go round the back and ask the cook,' she instructs bluntly, beginning to turn away. Richard Runche raises his battered derby. ‘Ah, a moment please, madam?' Hester turns haughtily. ‘You must be Mrs Bergman, Mrs Hester Bergman?'

Hester looks surprised. ‘Yes?' she replies, her voice a little more cautious as she notes Runche's cultured tone. ‘How do you do, madam? May I introduce myself? Richard Runche. You may well have heard of me?' ‘I really don't think so, Mr Runche,' Hester sniffs.

‘I met your youngest daughter Jessica at the William D'arcy Simon trial.' ‘Who?' .

‘Oh yes, how careless of me. You would probably know him locally by the sobriquet Billy Simple. I was the counsel for the poor lad's defence.' ‘Fat lot of good you did him,' Hester snorts, her confidence now fully restored. Joe had told her about the drunken barrister Jessie had been to see on the idiot's behalf. ‘If you want my daughter Jessie, she doesn't live here, she's in Sydney.'

‘Well, yes, I am aware of that. I have come to see your other daughter, Mrs Meg Thomas. Is she in?' Runche now asks brightly, ignoring Hester's snub.

Just then Meg comes to the door. ‘Who is it, Mother?' ‘This is William D'arcy Simon's lawyer,' Hester says tartly. ‘Who?'

‘Billy Simple, madam. May I introduce myself? My name is Runche — Richard Runche.'

Meg smiles inwardly. She recalls the name, not only from Jessica and Joe, but from the newspapers reporting the trial which had, on several occasions, mentioned the notorious Liquid Lunch, the incompetent barrister in charge of Billy Simple's defence.

‘How do you do, Mr Runche,' Meg replies, glancing knowingly at Hester.

‘Do you think I might come in? I've taken the liberty of giving my horse to your stable boy to mind.'

Meg nods and she and Hester step aside to let Richard Runche pass through to the large, cool enclosed verandah which contains a wicker setting, four chairs and a small table. A large marmalade cat is asleep on one of the chairs. Richard Runche removes his hat and looks about him. He indicates the chairs. ‘Shall we sit here?' he asks. ‘Mother, could you ask Martha to bring us some tea,' Meg says. ‘Yes, sit down, Mr Lunch.'

‘Runche. Ah, tea, yes, how jolly,' the lawyer cries. Settling himself into the chair next to the cat, he reaches over and strokes the back of the animal's ear. ‘Ah, a marmalade cat, quite the best ratters.'

Both women ignore the remark and Hester turns to her daughter. ‘Meg, wait until I return,' she commands. Meg looks annoyed. ‘Mother, I'm quite capable of .. .' ‘Oh, yes, we shall wait, I'd like to talk to both of you,' Richard Runche says, smiling at a grim-faced Hester.

When Martha, a fresh-faced country girl, brings the tea and a plate of biscuits Hester pours a cup for each of them. Handing a cup to Meg and Runche, she takes up her own and sits back, resting her cup and saucer comfortably on her lap. She tries to look unconcerned. ‘Well then, Mr Runche, what is it you wish to see my daughter about?'

‘Both of you, really. I'd like to talk with you about the boy Joseph “Joey” Thomas.'

The barrister can see the sudden anxiety in the eyes of both women and Hester hurriedly places her cup and saucer on the wicker table.

‘And what about the boy?' she asks sharply. Runche deliberately ignores her and turns to Meg. ‘There is some doubt that the boy is your legitimate son, Mrs Thomas. I need to talk with you.'

Hester rises from her chair. ‘I think you should leave, Mr Runche.' She points to the door. ‘Right now!'

‘I don't think that would be in your daughter's ultimate interest, madam,' Runche says softly, not in the least intimidated by Hester's imperious command.

‘Just who do you think you are, barging in on us like this without so much as a by-your-leave and making these horrible claims?' Hester shouts again.

‘Calm down, Mother,' Meg says in a surprisingly composed voice. She turns back to the lawyer. ‘What are you trying to say, Mr Runche?'

Richard Runche KC looks surprised. ‘Why, I'm not sure I can put it any more precisely than I just have, madam.' He pauses and looks at Hester, then back to Meg. ‘Do you wish me to repeat what I have just said?'

‘Take no notice, Meg, the man's quite mad. I'll call two of the boys from the stable.'

‘You've seen Jessie, haven't you?' Meg says, still ignoring her mother.

‘Yes, that I have,' Runche agrees.

‘And you know she's ... she's in the lunatic asylum?'

‘In Callan Park, yes.'

‘Well, that's why. She has delusions — she
thinks
I've stolen her baby.'

‘Oh, but you
have,
my dear,' Richard Runche replies, smiling.

‘He's mad! Look at him, he's a mess. Are you trying to threaten us, Mr Runche?' Hester shouts. ‘Because if you are, you're going to be very, very sorry you ever came snooping around here!'

‘Mother, do sit down!' Meg. cries. She turns to Richard Runche. ‘Mr Runche, I don't think you quite understand — my sister is insane. She's been committed!' ‘Ah, glad you brought that up.' Richard Runche turns to Hester. ‘I believe it was you, Mrs Bergman, who signed the committal papers?'

‘I had no choice, she attacked me.'

‘She?'

‘Jessica.'

‘And why would Jessica do that?'

‘She was hysterical, she said ... I mean, she deluded herself that Meg had stolen her child.'

‘Ah, there we are, right back to the very reason why I've come to see you and your daughter, madam.'

Meg's bottom lip suddenly starts to quiver. ‘Can you imagine how sad that makes us, Mr Runche? Joey is my child, I love him more dearly than my life. Oh, how very much I wish I could share him with Jessie, with his auntie,' she sobs softly.

Hester is suddenly aware that she's not taken Richard Runche seriously enough and that Meg sees the threat posed by the dirty man in front of them much more clearly than she has. She curses herself inwardly for having lost her touch. Meg, so far, is handling the situation far better than she. Hester resumes her seat and silently takes up her cup of tea.

‘Ah, I'm so glad you feel this way about your sister, Mrs Thomas. I believe she has written to you both on several occasions — seven to be precise — to beg you to agree to her release. You did not respond to any of those letters. Why is that?'

‘I imagine that should be obvious,' Hester says, her voice now greatly mollified. ‘We were naturally afraid she might harm the child, harm Meg's baby.'

‘I believe she told you in the letters that she would first have to be declared sane by three separate doctors, experts. And that only after they had all agreed did she need your permission and custodial care for a period of six months. Doesn't that suggest that the baby would have been quite safe?'

‘Yes, well, Mother and I agreed we couldn't take the chance,' Meg sniffs tearfully.

‘The doctors might be wrong,' Hester says, then bites her lip, knowing what Runche will say next.

‘Doctors wrong? Three separate doctors? Experts in their field? Does it not occur to you that the
one
doctor who Jessica told you examined her in the first place might have been wrong?' He looks at Hester. ‘Yet you were perfectly willing to allow
him
to commit her, to sign the papers involved, despite the fact that Jessica told you in her letters that he'd been drinking and was clearly overworked. One drunken, overworked doctor is right to commit Jessica but three sober experts may be wrong? Is that it?

‘You never once inquired after Jessica's welfare, in fact you made no attempt whatsoever to contact her. You were quite happy to allow her to rot forever in that ghastly place. Is this really the act of a loving mother and a caring sister who laments the absence of a kind and loving aunt for the baby she claims as her own?' Hester's tea cup rattles as she places it down on the table again. ‘I think you've said quite enough, Mr Runche. We shall contact our own lawyer.' She raises one eyebrow slightly. ‘Perhaps you know of Major General Septimus Cunningham-Thomas, who is also a noted Sydney barrister?'

Richard Runche leans back and chuckles. ‘A fine advocate, madam. None better in both war and peace. Perhaps we can show him this?' The barrister puts his hand into his jacket pocket and withdraws the little Chinese silk baby dress.

Both women give an involuntary gasp. ‘Ah, you've seen it before. Pretty little dress, isn't it? Mary Simpson liked it when she gave it to Jessica for her child. I believe some sixteen of what she refers to as “aunties” went shopping for this little dress.'

‘So?' Meg turns to Hester. ‘Mother and I have never seen that dress.'

‘All the better, my dear. The testimony from Mary Simpson and her aunties will then bear out the truth that,
unbeknownst
to you, the dress was bought for Jessica's baby.'

‘They're blacks, the court would take no notice, not against the word of two white women,' Hester snorts. ‘It's their word against ours.'

‘A very sound point, Mrs Bergman. I admit, the courts are somewhat biased against our indigenous people.' He pauses. ‘But I don't think Mr George Thomas, your late husband's father, will see it quite your way. And I dare say there will be others. There is nothing like a questionable will attached to a large inheritance to bring relatives out of the woodwork. In my experience, where money is concerned, families have a nasty habit of ... well, turning thoroughly horrid to each other.'

‘You don't know what was in Jack's will, Mr Runche.'

‘Oh, but I do, madam. The will has been published for probate. I am aware that a great deal of money and property is held in trust for the son of the late Jack Thomas. I imagine your late husband's uncle, Major General Septimus Cunningham-Thomas, will be a very interested party should it be suggested that Joseph “Joey” Thomas is not legitimately his nephew's son. What do you think?'

Meg suddenly rises and brings her hands up to her face and £lees from the verandah sobbing, leaving Hester with Richard Runche. Meg's previous confidence has dissolved and she has reverted to her old panicky self. Hester is back in control, though now she is more cautious with the scruffy man seated in the wicker chair, nibbling on an oatmeal biscuit.

‘What is it you want, Mr Runche?' she asks.

‘A very sensible question, Mrs Bergman, and the answer may well be less than you might suppose.'

‘I must warn you, Mr Runche, that we will fight for my daughter's child, if it costs us every penny we've got.' Hester can't help herself and she realises once again that she has overstepped the mark with this sharp man, who seems to know what she is thinking.

‘Well then we are agreed, madam. I too shall fight for your daughter Jessica's child with all the sensibility at my command.' He pauses and his voice grows hard. ‘Unless we stop this nonsense.' He shrugs and then in a perfectly modulated voice says, ‘Please, madam, no more empty threats. I think we should sit down and talk sensibly, don't you?'

‘Mr Runche, Joey is the light of our lives. Please, I beg you, if some terrible miscarriage of justice should take place and you are skilful enough to take Meg's precious child from her, how do you imagine the boy will fare in Jessica's care? Do you for one moment think she can give him the advantages he will enjoy as my eldest daughter's rightful child?'

‘Mrs Bergman, I am a bachelor, but I do know that Jessica is a young woman of outstanding character. She would love her child and care for it with all her heart and soul. While the boy may not enjoy the privileges your daughter Meg may bestow on him, I do have some experience of a privileged upbringing without love and I can tell you that a mother's love is a fortune far greater than any other. Do not for one moment suppose that Jessica would disadvantage the boy in this regard.' ‘Yes, well, we shall never find out,' Hester says crisply. ‘He is not her child and we have a birth certificate to prove it.'

‘Oh dear, I see that you persist, madam. And I have a little silk dress and the evidence of seventeen people.' ‘Aboriginals, itinerant blacks,' Hester snaps. Richard Runche KC smiles and in a soft, reasonable voice says, ‘Well, let me tell you how I might go about the case, Mrs Bergman. That is, of course, if the Thomas family don't pre-empt me, with Uncle Septimus and your daughter's late husband's father, George Thomas, leading the charge.