Free The Larnachs by Owen Marshall

to find a really cultivated and perceptive man with a wife quite his equal, although this must be more a circumstanceof convention and upbringing than natural ability. Bessie Hocken I like a great deal and she has become a close friend. She is a Buckland from that wealthy Auckland family and, like me and my sisters, was given opportunity and leisure for a wide education. She takes a full share in her husband’s scholarly interests and loves music, which made a bond between us immediately. They also have a daughter named Gladys, though younger than William’s girl. Bessie and I confide in each other without reserve. I think that is as much a pleasure for her as it is for me, since neither of us easily gives ourself completely to others. Bessie is sympathetic to my situation, partly because of her somewhat similar experience. Her own husband was married before, to a woman who was an ex-seamstress, a drunkard and a close friend of Eliza Larnach. So many links, so much concealed knowledge, in our small stratified communities that one has to be careful with any comment in society. The statuesque Ethel Morley I find a very pleasant companion also, though not her wealthy, but boorish, husband.
    I hope to remain close to Bessie, despite the time we will spend in Wellington. We have talked many times, here, at functions and at her home, and, apart from Dougie, she is the person I shall miss most when I go. I knew when I married and came to Otago that I was leaving my own life behind and was to live in William’s. His house, his friends and acquaintances, his business, even his preoccupations and his past, crowd in on me, but I am not daunted, and have kept a life of my own. My music I take with me always and anywhere. It is not only sustaining when I am alone, but a bridge to the friendship with people similarly inclined.
    In that evening’s company, where he was well known, Dougie was less in William’s shadow than other times, and despite being younger he was quite able to talk as an equal on some topics. He spoke of his many visits to his great-uncle’s estate in Sussex, sometimes with others of the family, sometimes alone on holiday from his boarding school. He is perceptive in noticing the differences between a colonial and an English upbringing, as he has experienced something of both. And his sense of humour is less obvious and more insightful than his father’s.
    William recounted at length his expedition years ago to seek out the Larnach family origins in Wick. All of us had heard the story before, and Bessie and I were close enough at the table to be able to continue our own enthusiasm quietly. She shares my opinion that far too much of the musical world’s attention is at present given to the operas of Gilbert and Sullivan. I have seen both Iolanthe and The Gondoliers . Although they are diverting and colourful, it is sad that Arthur Sullivan’s superior talents are so constrained by the dictates of his collaborator’s jigging lyrics and improbable plots.
    I will suggest we invite that same group again soon, with perhaps the Caughtreys, and the young organist Edward Miles, in place of the Sumpters. Thomas and Helen Bracken would be welcome, but he has accepted the job of parliamentary record clerk in Wellington, offered after William’s intercession. I have noticed, however, that Dr Hocken is slightly discomforted in the presence of his fellow Thomas, not because of any intellectual incompatibility, but because of Bracken’s imposing physical presence. The Brackens will be among the first of our guests in Wellington. I accept that William ispre-eminently a businessman, and then a politician, but I encourage also his natural and intelligent curiosity for the pursuits of the mind.
    I feel it was a successful evening. All our guests stayed the night, as is almost a necessity here, and went the next day with palpable reluctance. The day before the dinner I had spent some time with Miss Falloon and Jane and was