Chapter 3: Paying a Call

January 1831

It was a few days after New Year when a visitor was announced at Lambert House. Ellen was sitting with Richard’s grandmother when the butler brought them the visiting card. It was a Mister Jameson. She knew the name; he had been Marjorie Binnings’s barrister. At Ellen’s nod, the butler admitted the man to the study where the two women were sitting. He came in and stood with his hat before his chest.

“Milady, thank you for granting me this interview.”

“I was not aware that I granted an interview, Mister Jameson,” Ellen corrected him. “Would you please state your business?”

Mister Jameson swallowed the rebuke in good grace.

“Well, milady, my client, Missus Binnings, is still held at Newgate prison, awaiting her deportation. She has asked for the privilege to speak with you in private, to clear up a few issues between her and your ladyship.”

Ellen thought about it. She smelled a rat. Something was not right. Binnings hated her, so why would she want to talk to her?

“Mister Jameson,” she finally said, “I am afraid that this is not a tempting proposition. Your client has professed her enmity against me in her trial. Why would she want to speak with me? Why should I visit a prison to talk to a person who has repeatedly tried to harm me?”

“Well, I do not really know, but I suppose that she may want to make amends for her previous behaviour. She has had some time to think about her mistakes. In spite of what you may think, Missus Binnings...”

“Mister Jameson,” Old Lady Lambert suddenly interrupted, “I hardly think that your client should be referred to as Missus Binnings. She is a convicted thief and does not warrant the address of a gentlewoman.”

Jameson swallowed.

“Very well, milady. Could you find it in your heart, though, to pay a farewell visit to a repentant woman?”

“I shall have to discuss this with my husband, and I am sure he will consult our own solicitor. I can tell you right away that I shall not be alone with her in one room. She has displayed a hostile attitude towards me, and I am with child. For my safety, and for the safety of my unborn child, I would have to insist on solid iron bars to separate me from that woman. This only in the case that my husband will allow me such an enterprise.”

“And when, milady, can we hope to have your decision?”

“That will depend on my husband, Mister Jameson. He will inform you of our decision.”

“Thank you indeed for your time, milady. I shall await your decision then.”

Jameson bowed politely and left the study. Ellen shook her head and opened her mouth to voice her astonishment, but Old Lady Lambert’s raised hand bade her to be silent. With a smooth movement that belied her age, the old woman glided over the carpet and to the door. When she opened the door, Mister Jameson nearly fell over, and he blushed furiously.

“I was, err, waiting for your butler to show me out.”

“Certainly,” Lady Lambert stated, the single word dripping from her pursed lips and conveying her contempt more strongly than a whole litany. “Oldroyd!”

The butler showed immediately and bowed.

“Show this ... err, gentleman to the door.”

She turned around without a further word to the man.

“How did you know, grandmother?” Ellen asked, her head tilted.

“Intuition, my darling. Don’t you think for a minute that Binnings wants to beg forgiveness. They want to set you up, or Richard, for that matter. She will try to provoke you to admit that you and Richard conspired against her, and they will probably have witnesses sitting within hearing.”

“Then what should I do?”

“That is entirely up to you, my dear. You can simply act the concerned mother-to-be and refuse to go through the emotional ordeal of visiting a prison, or you can go and avoid the trap. The former is easy, the latter may be entertaining.”

Ellen knew what the old woman was implying, but she decided to wait for Richard. Indeed, Richard had a strong opinion on the matter.

“You will not face that woman other than in my company. God knows what she may try, and you are far too precious to me to risk anything.”

The other side indeed agreed to that condition, and the visit was arranged for the next Sunday afternoon. Ellen and Richard were shown into a room that was partitioned by solid iron bars, and they sat on two bare wooden chairs. A look around confirmed their suspicion. Under the ceiling, they saw a vent-hole that obviously connected to an adjacent room.

Richard smiled to himself. He had brought along a witness of his own, Commander Wilson, an Admiralty officer in charge of counterintelligence. In fact, Wilson was none other than the erstwhile volunteer Samuel Wilson, brother of Elisabeth Wilson. The Commander would ostensibly guard the door to the room, but he also carried a listening device in the form of a short trumpet to pick up the conversation in the cell through the solid door. He had a warrant from a justice to listen in, on the grounds that Marjorie Binnings had been accused of high treason.

Marjorie Binnings was led into the room through a door in the back of the cell, and she sat on a chair, facing the two young people. They stared at each other for a few moments until Ellen broke the silence.

“Well, Binnings, you wanted to talk to me. Go ahead!”

Hatred shot through the older woman’s eyes.

“So I am just Binnings to you now?” she asked.

“How do you expect me to address a thief?” Ellen countered coolly. She could see the other woman’s hands clench the cloth of her prison garb.

“A thief, oh yes. You two set me up perfectly. How does it feel to have exacted your revenge?”

Ellen tilted her head and looked innocently.

“What do you mean by that? You stole a letter from my husband’s coat. You admitted that. Because of that, you were sentenced to deportation like other any other thief. I am satisfied, of course, that justice was served, but nobody set you up.”

“Oh please! You were perfect, both of you, I admit it. Young Lord Lambert’s indignation and your blue-eyed, teary innocence, who could stand up to you before those jurors? But this is just between us now. At least admit to it and do not insult my intelligence!”

Ellen could not hold back her derisive snort. Some intelligence!

“Binnings, nobody conspired against you. Nobody set you up. You did that to yourself! It was your scheming that set you up for a fall; you must realise that! The first time, you lost your paramour. The second time, my husband’s love for me was too strong for him to fall into your trap. And the third time, you got finally caught in your scheming, earning you the deportation. Wake up! This was all your fault. By the way, why on earth do you hate me so much? What did I do to you? I looked up to you in admiration in my first days in London; I aspired to be your friend, but you, without hesitation, set me up with Finney to lose my honour.”

For the first time, Binnings let down her mask.

“Why do I hate you? Because this damnable cur, Finney, told me that it was over between us. On the evening before the duel, before he was killed by this stupid boy, he told me that he was leaving me. That he would ask for your hand and change his life. The gall of it! And then he gets himself killed by a boy, no doubt thinking of you in his last moments! And you ask me why I hate you?”

Ellen shook her head.

“Wake up. The man had been using you for years to sate his hunger for innocent girls. You had been feeding them to him, knowing full well that their future was destroyed. Like you would have let him destroy my future. Make no mistake, I am not angry with you. My life turned out better than I could ever hope,” here, Richard thought, Binnings would explode with fury, “and your futile attempts to bring us apart even served the opposite, tightening our bond. All your scheming availed you nothing but misery, and I can only advise you to better your ways. Look at me: I treat everybody as friendly as I can, and I lead a happy life. Now, look at yourself: always trying to put people down; and now you have reached bottom yourself. You still have a chance, though. New South Wales is not a prison. You may yet find a new husband and some happiness. Do not destroy that chance with your unfounded hatred.”