The Black Swan

Mrs. Emery laughed and shook her head. “You were always a caution, Miss Belinda.

We never knew what you’d be up to next.”

“No,” I said. “That’s true. Well, let’s get you to the Red Room. Is Belinda’s case up there?”

“Yes, it is,” replied Mrs. Emery.

“Well, I’ll take her up now.”

“She wouldn’t like something ... a cup of tea or coffee, or a glass of wine?”

“No, thank you,” said Belinda.

“Come along then.”

We went up the stairs. Belinda knew the way, of course. “How familiar it all is!” she said. “How it takes me back. No matter how long I was away, I’d find my way about this house blindfold.”

We were in the Red Room. She shut the door and sat on the bed. I took the chair opposite.

“Now,” I said. “I want to hear what it’s all about.”

“I’m in terrible trouble, Lucie. I don’t know what I’m going to do. This can be the end of everything.”

“Then tell me, for Heaven’s sake.”

“I don’t know where to begin. It was in Australia. I told you about Henry Farrell, didn’t I? Oh, you’ve forgotten. He was the one who took over the mine.”

“I remember. Well, what about this Henry Farrell?”

“He was very much in love with me and, for a time ... I thought I was with him. I was only sixteen. He was a good deal older ... in his mid-twenties. He persuaded me.”

“To what? Don’t be bashful, Belinda. That’s not like you.”

“I hate to say it, Lucie. It’s awful. We ... we were married.”

“Married!”

She nodded wretchedly. “In Melbourne. Secretly.”

“And he’s still alive ... so how... ?”

She nodded again wretchedly.

“Then,” I added, “if you are married to him, you can’t be married to Bobby.”

“That’s what I’m telling you. What am I going to do”

I stared at her in blank dismay. Then I said, “Does Bobby know?”

“Of course not.”

“Then you’ll have to tell him.”

“Henry wants me to go back with him.”

“Back with him? Is he here?”

She nodded once more. “What am I going to do, Lucie? I had to get away. I had to come and tell you about it. I want you to help me.”

“Help you? How can I? What can / do about it?”

“I don’t know. I thought... together ... we might think of something.”

“Oh, Belinda, how could you have done this? Didn’t you think of Henry Farrell when you went through this form of marriage with Bobby?”

“He was so far away... and it was long ago. I thought no one need ever know about it. And I’ll tell you something else, Lucie, I’m going to have a baby. Bobby is so thrilled. So what now?”

“I ... I didn’t imagine anything like this. How could you have got yourself into such a mess?”

“I feel as if I’m going mad.”

“You’ll have to tell Bobby right away.”

“I just couldn’t do that. It would break his heart. He’s so pleased about everything.

I just could not tell him, Lucie.”

“Have you seen this Henry Farrell recently?”

“Yes. He’s in London. I saw him today. Then I came straight down here.”

“I thought he was still in Australia.”

“He was. It was all that stuff in the papers when I was married. One of the newspapers turned up over there, and it would be the one with that in it. He said he didn’t believe it at first. Then he had someone make inquiries and found out it was true. He found Celeste’s address and wrote to me, saying he was coming over. Celeste sent the letter on to me. I told Bobby I wanted to shop for the baby. I knew Bobby couldn’t leave the estate at this time, so I came to London. And I met Henry Farrell in London. He said I was his wife anyway and he wanted me to go back to Australia with him. I had to get rid of him, Lucie. I told him I’d think about it. I won’t go back, though. I’m married to Bobby now.”

“But you’re not, Belinda. You’ve just committed bigamy and that’s against the law.”

“I won’t go back. I’m Bobby’s wife.”

“Look, Belinda, it’s no use hiding from the truth. What you’ve just told me is that you have married this man in Australia long before you even met Bobby. Therefore Bobby is not your husband. That’s the plain truth. If we are going to find some solution we won’t do it by shutting out the facts and pretending they do not exist. Tell me exactly what happened.”

“I wanted to get away after Tom died. It wasn’t bad when the mine was doing well, and we had trips to Melbourne. I liked it then. We’d stay there for a week or so sometimes when Tom was doing business, and we’d meet people and it was fun. But then the mine started to fail... and Tom got ill and there we were, stuck in that awful little mining town. There was nothing to do ... and then Henry got friendly and at the time it seemed quite exciting. I was only sixteen and Henry said we could get married quietly and we did. I never told my mother. Her idea was for me to come to England and make a great marriage. I had been brought up as a Lansdon and she wanted me to have the sort of life I would have had if I had really been Benedict Lansdon’s daughter as everyone thought I was in the beginning. So I didn’t tell her. I didn’t want to upset her... because she was ill. It was so dreary ... I had to do something and it seemed exciting at the time.”