The Hanging of Mary Ann. Angela Badger
New South Wales Corps… surely not. The scum of the land! Why, I heard that in England they took the men from the condemned cell gave them a second chance of life if they would join the Corps.”
“You don’t need to look so shocked, young Frank. Those were hard times. I had served in Flanders before I went to the court of Versailles, all I knew was court life and soldiering. Getting across the Channel to London was the luckiest day of my life. Meeting your grandmother, that was the second most fortunate.”
He paused and sipped at his port. “The king and queen had been taken from Versailles, taken up to the Temple prison in the city and do you know what that mob did? They paraded outside their prison with the head of the Princesse de Lamballes upon a pike. The Queen had to look upon her dearest friend’s white face, that beautiful hair caked with blood. Think of that! I was lucky to escape with my life.”
“Fortunate to have a haven, fortunate to have friends.”
“Friends! I had no friends. I knew no one in that cold unfriendly city… that London. No money, no one to assist…I’d not wish such a predicament on any man. But then Fate smiled… that was then I met your grandmother,” he leant across and patted Mary Ann’s hand…“met her at a wine trader’s house…only person I knew in the whole of London, had once shipped cognac over from the de Guise estates. Only there because of some hope the fellow could find employment for me…and of course some of those English liked to feel they helped the émigrés, as they called us. Ha! Emigrés. Outcasts more likely. I’d been invited for dinner and when I walked into the room – there she was.”
“Grand-mère’s never told me this.”
“Perhaps one day she would have done, if she’d been spared long enough. There’s tales you don’t tell children,” he paused and smiled to himself. “Well, I’m telling you now. Seems you are ready for it.”
“Ready for it?”
“It was love my girl. Love at first sight. You aren’t the age to know about love…but when you do then you’ll understand. Love at first sight they call it and there is no going back, not in a lifetime.”
Amazed, Mary Ann stared at her grandfather. Never before had she heard him speak so intimately of his past.
Surprisingly confused she gave a laugh. “Oh Grand-père, such things only happen in stories!”
“One smile, one look and that’s enough. Sometimes you look straight into another’s soul.”
“Sir…you are quite the poet.” Frank de Rossi stared down at the table, his expression shielded by shadow.
“But then those were hard times…my dear Elizabeth preferred not to remember the hardship but believe me she went through the mill… we both did.”
“You had a long and happy life together.” Frank leant over and refilled the other man’s glass.
“The best. The very best. You hear about such things but you don’t believe them do you? One look, one glance and you know that you have found all you ever need in life.”
“Yes, that can happen, indeed it can.” Frank suddenly found a thread unravelling on his sleeve and doggedly set about tucking it in and smoothing the stitches.
“You were going to tell us about the inn Grand-père.”
“Indeed. The inn which changed my life! All things happen in threes don’t they, think of the fairy tales. The princess has three wishes, the king has three sons, the suitor has to perform three tasks. Well going to that inn was the third thing for me, it changed my life. My first piece of luck was escaping across the Channel, my second was meeting dear Elizabeth, the third was walking into that inn.” Sipping his port the old man’s gaze drifted into that middle distance when memory picks up the brush and paints once again those enduring pictures of the past.
“We were stationed up beyond Parramatta, a wild and lonely place but travellers passed that way on many occasions and Seamus 0’Reilly’s inn was all they could hope for. You could smell the bugs the moment you stepped over the threshold, that’s what brought it to mind. Bless me I’d nearly forgotten about that inn, and the captain, and those murderin’ Irish and what happened.”
“Was he murdered then, was that what you meant.”
“He came as close as any man, the knife was on his throat.”
“And what happened?”
“I’m telling you, child… stop being so impatient, listen for once, Always skimming around, wanting to know this or that or hurry folk along. Listen.”
Frank de Rossi smiled. “Your grandfather is right, he’ll tell the story in his own time.”
Not another person telling her what to do! Mary Ann scornfully half turned her back on him. What was the matter with old people. First grandfather never seemed to keep up with things. And now this man, old enough to be her father trying, to tell her what to do.
“Our Captain Corrigan had been visiting a young woman for quite some time. She was the daughter of this inn keeper, Seamus 0’Reilly. Now his inn was not a place you’d want to spend the night in, I can tell you that.
“That Seamus was a good enough fellow but like all the Irish he couldn’t keep his inn clean, neither did he keep his nose clean. Got himself mixed up with every shady deal in the place and in particular he’d taken to helping out many another Irishman. You know the Irish, forever rebelling or escaping. Well his inn was a haven for anyone on the run from the road gangs and such.
“Of course we didn’t know what was going on under our noses, typical of the military I’d say, and certainly Captain Corrigan didn’t realise he was keeping company with the daughter of a traitor.
“That evening a messenger had galloped over from Parramatta with a message, an order more likely. Governor Hunter would be arriving that night. Quite unexpected, I might say. Well, if the governor arrived and our commanding officer was nowhere in sight there would be hell to pay. I knew very well where he would be.
The door of the inn was unlocked and as I stood there that stink of bugs made my guts heave. A filthy place, and that smell! Well, I’ve spoken about the smell of bugs before. I might have shouted out for the landlord or a maid, I could have called out for the potboy or anyone but I didn’t want to set foot in the place. Could not face the stink of those bugs. So I walked round to the kitchen, which as you know, would be quite separate as they always were for fear of fire. It lay out the back behind that establishment. Unexpected, unannounced, I got the shock of my life.
“I’ll never forget the sight of those men, and our poor Captain lying, spread eagled on the floor. Later he told me he’d never suspected there were any such goings-on. Usually he visited his lady-love late at night, this time he arrived unusually early, no one expected him at the inn. When he went round to the kitchen and walked in as usual six desperate men confronted him. They never meant him to get away and tell the tale.
“As I said when I came looking in that kitchen, the knife was already at his throat and it didn’t take much to make me realise they’d do for me next. No one must know and believe me there’s miles and miles of wild country stretching on for ever. Two bodies could be disposed of in a trice.
“‘Let the captain go lads, let him go. No more will be spoken of this.’ I knew how weak that sounded as I mouthed those words, ‘This began as a matter of the heart, let’s not make more of it.’
“That’s all fine speaking, sorr’, said Seamus ‘but I’ve a livin’ to make. One word blabbed and I’ll be hanging from that tree outside. Never trust an Englishman.’”
“That single word saved my life I am sure. ‘I am not an Englishman,’ I said. “I am a Frenchman, baptized in the faith, and in the name of the Holy Mother I swear this shall be the end of the matter. Have you thought what will happen if an officer of King George disappears? The country hereabouts will be turned upside down