Page 85 of Lizzie’s Spirit

Charlotte rolled her eyes. “The creditors came, pounding on the door, demanding payment. Sir William did his best to put them off, but piece by piece they took away our furniture and the cattle from the home farm. Collins, the coward that he is, would hide in the attic. But even he saw that he would soon be sent to Marshalsea as a debtor.”

“And you, Charlotte, surely you wouldn’t have gone with him!”

“One night, Mr. Collins had the remaining horses put to the carriage—it was only a matter of days before the creditors came for the equipage—and we drove to London. He had contacts in the London Missionary Society and saw an opportunity to escape the law in England. As his wife, I felt my duty was to accompany him.”

“You need not tell me the rest if it’s too painful.”

“Oh, Lizzie, nothing to the hardships you have endured. But, I must confess, it was hard enough. We took ship to Cape Town, and thence the journey by bullock wagon to Bethelsdorp, a missionary station some nine miles from here. At the Cape, I heard much against Bethelsdorp, and it was, indeed, a most miserable place. The houses are mean in the extreme, and the ground on which it stands is barren, so that nothing green is to be seen near the houses. There are neither trees nor gardens to relieve the eye. But all this would have been nothing if Mr. Collins had not shown his true base nature.”

“Charlotte, he is depraved? You poor, poor dear.”

“Oh, I knew he had appetites, for I had to endure him most nights of our marriage. Even during my courses.”

Elizabeth was only shocked that Collins had been a clergyman, for she knew from her time as counsellor and midwife that many men cared little for the disposition of their wives .

“You’re not shocked, Elizabeth. How so?”

“Later, I’ll explain, but I’m also a midwife. There’s little about the carelessness of men that I do not know.”

“Midwife? If you were to stay here in the district, you would have much business—the women are cared for very ill. But I digress. Mr. Collins found the nakedness of the young girls too much temptation. We had been at Bethelsdorp for only a week when he began interfering with them. At first, a touch here, an indecent hand wandering where it shouldn’t.

But when he told a girl, perhaps no more than fourteen years old, that she should go with him…

I will not say more, but the brethren forced him to quit the place. ”

Charlotte leant back in her chair, gazing out of the window at the bay, where some whales lazily spun and twisted in the water.

“He was a silly man and determined to go into the veld—to save the heathen souls and show the brethren they were wrong to censure him; he would found his own mission and lead the Xhosa to Jesus—as if he knew the Lord! Lizzie, I refused to go. He had broken his vows to love and cherish me. In my heart, I am no longer his wife—I keep his name, for that is how people know me. Major Grant and I will wed. We are prepared to wait the seven years for his legal death, but sooner maybe, God willing. So, there you have it.”

She gave Elizabeth a heartfelt hug—such relief to talk of her shame.

“Now, when the Major returns, but perhaps on the morrow, you shall tell of your great adventure and how you came to care for the young girl, Ellie, and the dog—Bumper?—who lazes in my kitchen by the hearth.”

***

What a pleasure it was living with Charlotte in her comfortable home.

With Ellie sitting in the parlour playing with little Ben, she could easily have been Charlotte’s sister, Maria, playing with a doll or younger brother.

Laughing, singing songs with Elizabeth—such a changed child since the spoilt brat of Bombay.

They often walked out along the shore of Algoa Bay.

Since she now dressed as an English lady, people no longer stared, but whispers of Mamlambo still followed her.

Major Grant dispatched a messenger to Graaf Reynet, where Viscount Needham had based himself for the search for his daughter.

While inland from the coast, it was within easy communication and not so far from the Cape.

The distance was nearly one hundred and sixty miles, but over very rough terrain.

Some three weeks later, a reply was received—Lord Needham was setting out for the coast.

“Is my father coming?” asked Ellie, looking anxiously to Elizabeth for reassurance.

“Yes, sweetling, he has already left Graaf Reynet, and should be here very soon.” She truly hoped he would come sooner, but the end of the month was likely the earliest he could come; he must travel accompanied by soldiers and their supplies, the pace set by lumbering wagons pulled by oxen.

On the 28th of January, four weeks after they had arrived, a ship, the brig, Unicorn , anchored in Algoa Bay. Chartered to supply the forts along the southern coast, Fort Frederick was its last port of call. Elizabeth prayed that it would return to Cape Town with her and Ben as passengers.

“Mrs. Darcy, I’ll draft a note payable by the commissary in Cape Town for your passage.” Major Grant sat at table with Charlotte, Elizabeth, and Ellie. “‘Tis the quickest way back to the Cape, perhaps three days if the winds hold. By land, ‘twould take a month.”

“Oh, how wonderful. But I do wish Lord Needham would arrive very soon. Oh, Ellie, would you forgive me if I left before your father were here?”

The girl looked to her, tears in her eyes. “But Lizzie, I thought we were sisters. Surely you will stay—I ever so much need your company. And Bumper’s my dearest friend.”

“Sweetling, little Ben needs his father. ‘Tis still a long journey to England, perchance three months. Your father may wish to return to Bombay and not travel further. I must return—I’m so sorry.”

Eleanor ran around the table—Elizabeth hugged her tightly to her bosom.

“We will write to each other,” she said, fighting back her tears. “Dear Ellie, I will give you my direction, and when you know where you are settled, you shall write and tell me of your adventures. We never did see a lion or tiger, but I suppose Bumper scared them away.”

“Do you mind, ma’am, if you wade to the cutter from the beach? There’s no jetty here; ‘tis the best we can do. The mate will carry the babe—he’s mighty careful.”

“Captain Webber, I would swim to your fine ship if I knew your sailors would take me aboard. When do you sail?”

“On the morning tide, ma’am, four bells of the forenoon watch.”

“I shall be here. Is two bells timely enough?”

Elizabeth watched the captain enter the fort to make his farewells.

She sighed; poor Ellie, to be left alone without her company after all this time, some seven months—she was a sister to her.

But the child’s father had not yet arrived, and her own departure could not be delayed.

Somewhat despondently, she descended from the high knoll from which the fort overlooked the town and bay.

The view was majestic: the great curving arc of Algoa Bay that she and Ellie had traversed in its entirety—it seemed such a long time ago.

Closer, just three miles away, she observed a great cloud of dust—mounted soldiers and bullocks pulling covered wagons.

Gathering up her skirts, Elizabeth ran down the hill.

“Ellie, Ellie! Your father has come.”

***

Cape Town, February 16, 1814

“My apologies, ma’am, but you’ll need to find another ship. I’ll not return to England this season unless there’s a good cargo. Perchance, I’ll seek another contract with the governor when he returns to town.”

“I myself must speak to the governor,” said Elizabeth, “for I need the fare for England. Captain Webber, you’ve been good company. Please thank the crew for having a woman and babe on board. The journey from Algoa Bay to Cape Town was very easy.”

Captain Webber walked away towards the Waterkant district, where most of the merchants and traders had their offices.

Elizabeth was left standing on the stone jetty.

Memories of Darcy standing close, holding a telescope, the scent of sandalwood and amber in the air came to her.

She shivered. But how to find accommodation?

She couldn’t impose on Meneer Brand, for he no longer lived at Cape Town, having been appointed Landdrost at the new town of George.

And how vexing that the governor was away!

She had relied on him, her being the wife of a lieutenant governor, to obtain passage back to England.

What now?—the only sea-going vessel in the harbour was the Unicorn.

It could be months before a ship to England called at the port.

She found herself retracing the route she had taken with William on that lovely day some four years before, towards the Rogge Bay Battery, where, to her surprise, she saw Captain Webber in agitated conversation with another man. She could scarcely believe it.

“Senhor Nunes!” she called, impulsively. Both men ceased their conversation and turned to her.

“Ah, you rescue me again, Mrs. Darcy, though it’s been a very long time.” He bowed, smiling broadly, speaking Portuguese with his unusual accent.

Captain Webber was all astonishment. “You know Senhor Nunes and speak Portuguese? Will mysteries never cease? Indeed, Mrs. Darcy, you have certainly rescued us. My Portuguese is very poor, perhaps worse than Nunes’s English, and that is bad enough.

We are trying to make a trade, but our understanding is very limited. ”

She was bemused to find the two gentlemen in conversation, and that she had already met Senhor Nunes. Little Ben in her arms was heavy; she needed to establish some oasis of calm to think through her circumstances—perhaps assisting them would give her the intermission she sought.

“Gentlemen, if you can offer me tea and a place where I can settle little Ben, then I am at your disposal.” How strange to say the same thing twice over—once in English, then in Portuguese.