Free Loving Daughters by Olga Masters Page A

fists were closed and beat on the verandah rail.
    â€˜Listen to that! What would they do at Honeysuckle if that was ringing in their ears all day long? I’m here bearing it all, and I’m not even a Herbert!’
    (Neither she was, thank God, neither she was!)
    She went ahead of him, flinging the gate open and causing Dolly to swing her head inquiring if Violet was to be carried home as well as George. I’m not in favour of that, said the violet jerks following the swing, and the stamping of a front hoof.
    â€˜Steady on there!’ George cried to Dolly, and he might have used the same words in a more gentle way to Violet.
    â€˜I’m having that hospital, George!’ Violet cried. ‘See if any of them can stop me! I deserve it, George! You know I deserve it!’
    George leapt into the sulky and turned Dolly around. He raised the reins and set her pacing off, as if he were leading an army into battle and the prize was a hospital for Violet.

12
    At Honeysuckle they were all quiet during tea, so quiet that the scrape of spoons on the last of their soup set up a squeaking chorus that normally would have set Una giggling, but she bore traces of a mutinous expression, brought about by a tirade of angry words from Enid for returning right on teatime.
    Enid had no help from her to carve the jellied brawn and whip the potatoes, for she had to send Una off to change her dress and shoes and comb the leaves and twigs from her hair before Jack saw her.
    Eating his brawn, George wondered if Violet could make it, dreaming of the familiarity of saying ‘Make some brawn, Violet.’ He imagined helping Violet with the patients’ trays in the kitchen of her hospital. By heavens, he could almost say ‘their hospital’!
    He lifted his head to look around the table, pitying the others stolidly eating. Their faces were as dull as their lives!
    Jack was heavy jowled because of a discovery at the share farm. Mrs Skinner was expecting again, and an air of neglect had already taken over. He and Alex and George would need to give a hand there or the spring crops would never go in. Henry would have been of some use if he had stayed! He would be in Sydney by morning among those smoking factories and dark little dens, where men and women sat drinking cheap wine and the trams went screeching along with sparks flying from wires overhead. There was more life there than in the people! Every couple of years Jack went to the Sydney Show, sometimes taking Enid and Una. He wanted to return home after two days. But of course the girls trudged about the streets and went into shops buying stuff they didn’t need. Una one night at the hotel dining table talked about staying and sewing for one of the big shops. He soon put a stop to that!
    He watched them now, eating in small ladylike mouthfuls the way women should, Una dreamy as usual and Enid with her efficient, no nonsense face, getting up to bring in the pudding, for they had it at teatime, as well as for dinner, as Nellie used to.
    That girl dying made him think a lot of Nellie, although the two were in no way alike. (What would Nellie have thought of her!)
    A week ago she was at this very table, sitting farther back than everyone else because of that great stomach. He had not even then abandoned the idea of her and Henry and the baby moving into the old cottage, although he knew the girls wanted them right out of the way. As if that would remove the disgrace brought to them.
    Now she and Henry were gone there seemed hardly anyone at the table. A foolish thought that!
    When the girls had gone to the kitchen Jack brought up the subject of the delicate condition of Mrs Skinner. And that wretched man had seemed pleased to tell him!
    Alex appeared unaffected by the news, going off to his room to read. George almost rose from his chair in his excitement. He wanted to get to Violet and tell her! A patient for the hospital! He wanted to be the first to tell Violet, see