The Girl In the Painting by Tea Cooper

Author:Tea Cooper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HQ Fiction

Twenty-One

Maitland Town, 1913

Jane rammed a piece of bacon between two crusts and rushed for the back door.

Bessie blocked her path. ‘Where are you going in such a hurry?’

‘To the auction rooms.’

‘Without breakfast?’

She waved the doorstep sandwich. ‘I’ll have a cup of tea when I’m there.’

‘Who is going to keep Miss Elizabeth company? Mr Quinn’s in Sydney again.’

‘She doesn’t want company. She’s still in bed, I checked on my way downstairs. Her door is closed.’

Elizabeth spent more and more time in her room, and when she wasn’t, she sat outside on the verandah staring into space.

‘I think Dr Lethbridge is coming again today,’ said Jane. ‘It might be a good idea to mention what’s going on.’

‘Not my place.’

‘Bessie, please.’ She turned on her most angelic smile, the one that always earned her an extra slice of cake. ‘I’ve got so much to do. The last of the auctions is today and we have to set up for Mrs Penter’s exhibition.’

Any excuse to leave the house. Since Elizabeth’s turn, her episodes of vagueness and apparent detachment had multiplied from an hour here or there to days when she didn’t leave the security of her room. It made Jane uncomfortable. Timothy and the distraction of the impending exhibition were a godsend.

‘Oh! We do, do we?’

‘Of course Mr Penter will be helping. It’s his mother’s exhibition and he knows how she likes her work presented.’

‘You watch yourself, young lady. There’s enough gossip going on about this family without you adding more woes.’

‘Gossip? What gossip?’

‘Never you mind. Off you go, and I’ll pass the message on to Dr Lethbridge. You can explain your absence to Mr Quinn when he gets home.’

Jane slithered out of the door and pulled it closed behind her. She hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Michael for days. When he was home he was locked in his study, and the rest of the time he was in Sydney doing whatever it was he did. She’d run the last two auctions almost single-handed because John was busy with deliveries; standing up in front of the crowd with a gavel in her hand was not anything she planned to do again in a hurry.

A crowd greeted her at the auction house. Not the usual drop-ins checking the upcoming sale goods, but people huddled in groups chatting, or so it seemed.

It wasn’t until she reached the bottom of the stairs that the buzz of conversation halted and all faces turned towards her. The silence was positively strange, like the time years earlier when she’d walked into the dining room in her nightgown when Michael and Elizabeth had guests for dinner. Jane glanced down at her shirt and blouse and straightened her tie. Nothing seemed amiss.

John must have sensed her confusion because he left his position at the front of the room and came over to her. ‘Morning, Miss Jane. We didn’t know if you were coming.’

The bell over the door tinkled as a group of women left. No bags in their hands, no carefully wrapped packages.

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