The Colonial Countess

By Robin Bell

When, at the urging of her dying mother, eighteen-year-old farm worker Mary Evans sails for the England in 1886 she has no idea that she has inherited her grand mother's heraldic title of Countess. Unused to the way of British aristocracy, and much to the consternation of her peers, she adjusts in her own way to deal with the authority, privileg

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorUnit
• Release date: Jul 8, 2022
• ISBN: 9781958895030

Robin Bell

ROBIN BELL, is a retired teacher who now lives on and manages the family dairy farm in South Gippsland, Victoria, Australia purchased by her grandfather in 1910.

Book preview

1.png

The

colonial

Countess

The

colonial

Countess

Robin bell

By

Copyright © Robin Bell. All rights reserved.

Front cover copyright © acknowledged to Diane Judge.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

While actual locations and events are referred to, all the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

ISBN: 978-1-958895-02-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-958895-03-0 (e)

Printed in the United States.

Contents

Chapter 11

Victoria, Australia

Late December 1885

Chapter 25

On Board ship

Mid-January 1886

Chapter 37

England

Mid-April 1886

Chapter 411

Sussex, England

April 1886

Chapter 517

Longmire Estate,

April 1886

Chapter 625

Longmire Estate Sussex, England

Late April 1886

Chapter 729

Longmire Estate Sussex, England

Late April 1886

Chapter 837

Longmire Estate Sussex, England

Late April 1886

Chapter 940

Longmire Estate Sussex, England

First week May

Chapter 1044

Longmire Estate Sussex, England

May 1886

Chapter 1152

Longmire Estate Sussex, England

Late June 1886

Chapter 1259

London

July 1886

Chapter 1363

Longmire Estate Sussex, England

August 1886

Chapter 1469

Longmire Estate Sussex, England

September-October 1886

Chapter 1573

Oakdale Estate, Yorkshire

October 1886

Chapter 1681

London

October – November 1886

Chapter 1791

Longmire Estate Sussex, England

November 1886

Chapter 18100

Longmire Estate Sussex, England

Early December 1886

Section

Pages

Chapter 1

Victoria, Australia

Late December 1885

Despite the need to get home for the evening milking, seventeen-year-old Mary Evans could not resist pausing at the top of the hill, to gaze out over the view she loved so dearly. The rolling hills, bathed in sunlight, and the flats, with dairy and beef cattle grazing in the paddocks, that stretched down to the sea sparkling on the horizon.

After a couple of minutes, she sighed and turned her horse, knowing that she had a busy afternoon and evening ahead of her before she could relax for a short time after dinner prior to going to bed.

As Trixie cantered slowly along the drive to the farmyard, Mary thought of the letter in her pocket. They rarely received letters these days, let alone ones from overseas. Stratford, Synbeck and Lyons, Solicitors, sounded very formal, and she wondered ‘why is a solicitor from England writing to mother?’

After leaving the groceries and mail in the kitchen, and checking that her mother was comfortable on the couch beside the fire in the living room, Mary went out to the dairy to assist her stepbrother Graham milk the small herd of cows that they still owned, following their father’s tragic death fighting a bushfire two years ago.

They chatted as they milked. While Graham shut the cows in their night paddock, Mary fed the chooks and locked them in their shed. She also shut the pigs in their pigsty, then fed and chained the dogs to their kennels before heading to the kitchen for dinner.

Aunt Clara, their father’s sister, lived on the farm with them, doing the bulk of the house work and cooking now, while Mary and Graham did the farm work. She also nursed Mary’s mother Patricia, who was virtually bedridden these days, following a severe bout of influenza three months ago that had left her with a severe cough and muscle weakness.

When Patricia read the solicitor’s letter after dinner, she went very pale, and took some time to regain her breath before she looked up at Mary.

‘Please help me back to bed, Mary. Then bring me the large yellow envelope that is in the top drawer of my desk.’

Patricia lay back against her pillow with a sigh of relief. ‘Mary, that letter was from my mother’s solicitor, asking me to return to England as soon as possible. My brother David has been killed in a riding accident, and my mother is desperate to see me again.’

Mary was astounded to hear this news, as she had no idea that she had a grandmother and, until recently, an uncle in England. Her mother had always been very reticent to discuss her life before she arrived in Australia, and met her husband Tom, a widower with his two-year-old son Graham.

Imagine Mary’s astonishment when she saw that the solicitor had addressed her mother as Lady Patricia! ‘Why does the solicitor call you Lady Patricia, Mother?’

Before Patricia could answer, she was overcome by a severe bout of coughing and took some time before she could speak. ‘Mary, my love, you will have to go to England in my place, to see your grandmother. There is no way that I could undertake a three-month sailing voyage in my state of health.’

When Mary opened her mouth to reply, Patricia squeezed her hand gently. ‘The contents of the yellow envelope, plus the key taped to the desk drawer, must be taken to the solicitor Mr. Lyons, at his office in Lewes in Southern England as quickly as possible, Mary. I will explain all about our family in England, after you get me a cup of tea.’

While Mary was in the kitchen making the tea, she heard her mother coughing again, so hurried back to her bedroom. To her horror, when she entered the bedroom, she found her mother lying motionless on the bed, eyes staring sightlessly at the ceiling.

Three days later, on the first day of the New Year, Patricia was laid to rest beside her beloved Tom in the local cemetery. Mary was the sole beneficiary of Patricia’s will, her worldly wealth appearing to consist mainly of a few pieces of jewellery, and a small amount of money. The farm was now Graham’s, so Mary was at a loss as to what the future might hold for her.

As the days passed, Mary began to think more about the mystery of her mother’s family in England, and reread the solicitor’s letter. He stated that a solicitor in Melbourne had been instructed to arrange and pay for Patricia’s passage to England, and this led Mary to wonder if those instructions might now apply to herself, if she decided to go to England. Following much discussion with Graham and Aunt Clara about the pros and cons of such a trip, it was decided that Mary should at least take the train to Melbourne, and speak to the solicitor Mr. Mee.

So, on a hot January day, a fortnight following her mother’s death, and two days after her eighteenth birthday, Mary arrived at Flinders Street Station in Melbourne, feeling stiff and sore, after sitting on a hard wooden seat for the three-hour duration of her first train journey.

After a refreshing cup of tea at the station, Mary hired a cab to the solicitor’s address in King Street. Walking up the stairs to the office on the third floor, she began to have serious doubts regarding what she was about to do, but then decided that she was being pathetic. Before she could change her mind, she knocked on the door with Mr. Mee’s name on it, opening the door when she heard a voice call, ‘Come in.’

A young lady sitting at the desk smiled as she looked up from her typewriter. ‘Good morning, Miss. How may I help you?’

Mary handed her the letter and Patricia’s will. ‘My name is Mary Evans. Could I please see Mr. Mee about this letter to my mother?’

The letter was taken through to another office. Soon after, a middle-aged man appeared and ushered Mary into in the inner office, where he pointed to a chair in front of his desk.

‘Please take a seat, Miss Evans. I am Charles Mee, the solicitor referred to in this letter to your mother. May I ask why your mother has not accompanied you to speak to me?’

‘Mary took a deep breath. ‘My mother died not long after she read that letter she received just after Christmas.’

‘I am so sorry to hear your tragic news, Miss Evans. How may I help you?’

‘Thank you, Mr. Mee. Before my mother died, she told me that she was too unwell to travel to England, and wanted me to go to meet her mother in her stead. I must tell you Mr. Mee, that I had no idea I had relations in England.’

‘Did your mother never speak to you of her life before coming to Australia, Miss Evans?’

‘Please call me Mary, Mr. Mee. Mother never spoke of her life before she met and married my father in Melbourne, and I’m very puzzled to see my mother being referred to as Lady Patricia.’

‘I’m sorry I can’t help you Mary, and like you, I know nothing of your mother’s history.’

‘Mr. Mee, as the sole beneficiary of my mother’s will, could the reference to ‘arrangement and payment for Mother’s passage to England’ be transferred to me?’

The solicitor quickly reread Patricia’s will, then smiled. ‘I see no reason why not, Mary. The sooner you leave the better. Would you like a cup of tea while you think seriously about what a trip to England would entail?’

While Mary drank the tea brought in by Mr. Mee’s receptionist, he took a folder from the top drawer of his desk. ‘I will start looking into booking your passage on the next steam ship bound for England straight away, Mary. Do you have somewhere to stay in Melbourne while these arrangements are being made?’

Mary shook her head in dismay. ‘No, Mr. Mee. I came to your office straight from the station, and was expecting to travel home this afternoon. I’m afraid that I don’t have enough money with me to stay one night in Melbourne, let alone more.’

‘As your mother’s sole beneficiary, all of your expenses from today on will be covered by her estate.’

Mr. Mee stood up and opened his office door. ‘Carol, please take Miss Evans to the Winsor Hotel, and book her a suite for the rest of the week.’

As Mary and Carol were leaving the office, Mr. Mee handed Mary a heavy leather purse. ‘This should cover your personal expenses while you wait to hear about your passage to England, Mary. Make sure that you leave this purse in the hotel safe whenever you leave the hotel.’

The next three days were a blur of totally new experiences for Mary. She had never seen such splendour as the foyer of the hotel, the rooms of her suite that would have housed a family at home; and the dining room and food were beyond her belief! When she tentatively asked how she was to pay for all this luxury, she was told that everything was taken care of. ‘By whom’ she wondered ‘and why?’

The crowded streets, and the shop windows fascinated Mary, though she was careful not to wander too far from the hotel on her own. Mr. Mee called to see her just after lunch on the third day, to inform her that she was booked on a ship sailing for England in two days’ time.

He introduced her to his Aunt Felicity, who was also booked to travel to England on the same ship, and was seeking a female companion for the trip. Like Mary, Felicity had never travelled abroad, and was rather apprehensive of being on her own.

Felicity had a list of clothing and other articles required for the three-month journey, so the next day, they went shopping together for all the necessary items. Felicity had been left very comfortably well-off by her deceased husband, and Mary had been assured that her family in England would pay all her costs. Mary however was still very careful not to go overboard with her spending, never having been in the habit of spending money on things she really didn’t need.

Chapter 2

On Board ship

Mid-January 1886

The following day, all their luggage was transferred to the ship. Just before they too were taken to board, Mary posted a long letter to Graham and Aunt Clara, explaining that she was about to sail for England, and apologising for not getting back to say goodbye in person.

The ship towered above them as they stood on the dock, and it seemed just as huge when they climbed the gang plank, and stood on the upper deck, waiting to be taken to their cabins. Mary was delighted, but rather stunned to find that she had been allocated a first class cabin all to herself, while Felicity was in a similar cabin a little further down the passageway. Both ladies went back out onto the deck to watch as the ship left the dock and sailed down Port Phillip Bay, and out through the Heads to Bass Strait, each of them wondering if they would ever return.

Thankfully, both Mary and Felicity were good sailors, and were two of the few passengers who regularly met in the dining room for meals during the first three days of the journey, when the weather was extremely windy and the huge waves seemed to toss the large ship around like a cork.

Following their first stop at Albany, on the southern tip of West Australia, the ship headed north into the Indian Ocean, on route to the next