The Black Swan

“That makes no difference. She was willing enough. She knew what she was doing. She was dead keen. If she’s changed her mind now... well, that’s too bad.”

“I know exactly how you feel.”

“I don’t know why she sent you. What does she want you to do?”

“She didn’t exactly send me. I agreed to come. She told me all about it. She’s very unhappy. She deeply regrets ...”

“She’s said all this to me. But she’s my wife and I’m going to take her back with me.”

“Do you think it would work?” I asked. “Could it possibly be a happy marriage in those circumstances?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well... with your insisting while she is reluctant.”

“It’s what is right.”

“Oh yes, I’ve no doubt of that. But what is right does not always make for happiness.”

“Look here, I don’t really see ...”

“I know how you feel. I’m interfering. It’s no business of mine.”

“You’re dead right, it’s not.”

“But I do appreciate the fact that you listen to me ... even to tell me it’s no business of mine. It’s just that I’m very fond of Belinda. We spent a great deal of our childhood together. There’s a closeness... and she is very unhappy.”

“I tell you, she’s married to me.”

“I know, but if people don’t want to be with you, can you force them to be?”

“Yes,” he said sharply. “You can. She’d change if she came back.”

I shook my head.

“I know her well,” he persisted.

“So do I. Would you let me say something? I do appreciate your seeing me. I do really.

It must seem like a dreadful impertinence... and it is in a way.”

“Why don’t you get on with it?”

I said, “Belinda went to the goldfields when she was little more than a child. She was fascinated by the strangeness of it, the novelty. She was happy there for a time, but she had been brought up here and she knew there was a different way of life. I don’t know what happened to your marriage. But it wasn’t exactly idyllic, was it?

I mean before all this. Hadn’t you agreed to part?”

“That was in a temper. I admit I’ve got one.”

“You agreed that you’d be better apart.”

He was silent and I continued. “She came over here,” I went on, “right to the other side of the world. All that had happened in Australia seemed remote to her. She put it out of her mind. She met this man. They fell in love and she married him.”

“How could she, when she was married to me?”

“She went through a form of marriage with him. He believes he is married to her.

She suits him... and he suits her. There is to be a child.”

“What? She didn’t say.”

“Think of it, Mr. Farrell. I believe you to be a kind and good man.”

He stared at me in amazement. “You don’t know me.”

“I’m a good judge of character and I’ve summed you up.” A faint smile touched his lips and my spirits rose a little. I believed that the mention of the child had had some effect on him.

I decided to press the point. “Think of the innocent child,” I said. “Are you going to let it be born with the stigma of illegitimacy?”

He continued to stare at me. “What’s that to do with me?” he demanded. “It’s her little bastard, ain’t it? Not mine. She’s married to me. That’s how it is.”

“I know. I know.”

“What is it you’re after?”

“I want to make it right for Belinda ... for all of you.”

“Why should you?”

“Because I care about her. You understand that. You care about her, too.”

He was silent.

I went on, “I know she’s treated you badly. She hasn’t always treated me well. But I am fond of her and I believe she has a chance of finding a way of life which will suit her.”

“Yes, Lady Da-de-da.”

“Maybe. But that is what she wants. If you forced her to go back it would be a life of misery for you both. And what about the child?”

“She could have that and leave it here.”

“Mr. Farrell, a mother does not leave her child.”

“Some of them do ... and I’ve a notion Belinda might be one of them ... if it suited her.”

“I don’t believe that would be so. Well, all right. Break up this happy home. Don’t consider the child at all. Be selfish. There’s a recipe for a happy life for you!”

He smiled at me slowly. “You talk like a lawyer! But, do you know, if I were in a spot of trouble, I’d like you to get me out of it.”

“Thank you,” I said. “I wish you’d take me seriously.”

“I like to hear you talk. Tell me some more. Tell me why she got you to come to me.”

“There is a way out of this,” I said.

“For her?” he asked, with a little quirk of his eyebrows denoting amusement.

“For her, for you and for everyone.”

“Yah?”

“Look. Your marriage is over, isn’t it?”

“No, it’s not. It’s binding, ain’t it? You’re married... and it’s forever.”

“Unless you decided to break the bond.”

“Divorce, you mean?”

“I see it this way. There could be a quiet divorce and Belinda could be quickly married to Robert Denver afterward. It could all be done without too much fuss.”

“Divorce,” he repeated incredulously.

“You’ve reason to do this, surely?” I pointed out.

“Reason enough. But... divorce ...” He shook his head. “You’d never have any happiness together,” I pointed out. “What was between you is over.”

“Why should I do this for her, while she treats me as she has?”

“Are you vindictive?”