A Faulkner Possession – Margaret Way

“Hello there, Mrs. Earnshaw!” Justine called as they mounted the steps to the veranda. “It must be wonderful for you to have Roslyn come to visit?” “Lovely!” Olivia smiled. “How are you both? Well, I hope?” “You’ll hear about it so I might as well tell you. I’m pregnant,” Dianne announced as though no one else had ever had that experience. “I’m delighted for you, Dianne,” Olivia responded in her gentle voice.

You must be a little tired after your journey. Would you like tea?” “We’d love it, Mrs. E.!” Justine swept off her wide- brimmed hat embellished with masses of dried flowers. “What about here in ten minutes?” She indicated the spacious veranda with its charming arrangements of white wicker armchairs and glass-topped wicker tables. “I want to go up to my room,” Dianne said in almost her late mother’s tone of voice.

“Have Ernie get a move on with my bags.” As a consequence of Dianne’s attitude Olivia did her best to cry off sitting down to dinner, but Marsh insisted. “I won’t have you off by yourself,” he told her emphatically. They were in the kitchen where Olivia and Roslyn were making preparations for the evening meal. I shouldn’t have agreed to this charade in the first place.” Dianne’s abrasiveness had thrown them all off balance. Marsh included. “Dianne is pregnant. Marsh.” Olivia moved to the oven and popped in a chocolate pecan torte.

“I don’t want to upset her.” Marsh’s handsome face tautened. “She’s only been home a few hours and she’s succeeded in upsetting everyone else.” Olivia looked more worried than ever. “Can’t you see she doesn’t want us around. Marsh?” “Nothing changes,” Roslyn said. “Well, that’s not true. Jusdne is really making an effort to be pleasant.” “I’m rendered dumb by such jealousy,” Marsh frowned. “Maybe it’s genetic and not taught. I don’t understand it. I honestly don’t!” His eyes gave off an angry shimmer. Roslyn went to him and put a hand on his arm.

“Be gentle. Marsh. Justine told me there was a little pressure put on Dianne to have this baby before she was ready and maybe because of it she’s been plagued by morning sickness. ” “Then implore her to take her medication!” Marsh sounded exasperated. “Her doctor wouldn’t have given it to her unless he was sure it was safe.

Di always did like making things difficult for herself. I’ve asked Harry to join us, as well. Harry can keep the conversation going in the most difficult situations.” But even Harry’s amazing conversational powers were put to the test. They were all assembled in the study, Marsh’s now, which the family often used for intimate gatherings.

end of school. It invoked so many memories, exquisite and painful, time was suspended while Roslyn became lost in them. Students and fellow teachers were mostly long gone, but she continued to sit at her desk staring out broodingly over the beautifully manicured lawns and gardens of Seymour College for Girls. There were many jacarandas in bloom in the grounds, but instead of emerald sweeps of lawn and a glorious, lavender blue haze, her inner eye was possessed by her old visions.

The immensity of the desert. a burning sun going down over infinite miles of red sand. towering, windswept dunes transformed by the sunset into pyramids of gold. a raven-haired young man–how beautiful he was astride a wonderful, palomino horse–a small girl up before him, her enormous topaz eyes full of wonder and adoration for all the vast chasm between them.

Macumba. Marsh Faulkner. It gave her no peace to think of them. Marsh, once her idol, now the man she struggled daily to keep from her thoughts. The old, remarkable friendship? Banished without a trace. Except for memories. Memories had the power to return at any time, like old passions that refused to die. Roslyn’s eyes clouded with melancholy. She slumped back in her chair unaware her hands were gripping the mahogany arms.

It wasn’t as though she hadn’t tried. Even now she blinked furiously in an effort to dispel those haunting images, but they continued to possessher; so vivid, so immediate, she felt nostalgia and pain in every cell of her heart. For most of her childhood and adolescence, the end of term meant only one thing. The return to Macumba.

Stronghold of the Faulkners. Flagship of Faulkner Holdings, a beef cattle empire that spread its operations over the giant state of Queensland, from its desert heartland to the lush jungles of the tropic north and into the vast wilderness of the Northern Territory, one of the world’s last great frontiers. The Faulkners, descendants of the founding fathers, were the landed establishment, enormously rich and powerful, and heirs to a splendid, historic homestead that had in its history entertained royalty, Indian maharajahs and countless V. I.

P’s. And my mother is the housekeeper, Roslyn thought. The whole thing just broke her to pieces. Her beautiful, hardworking, incredibly loyal and long-suffering mother was housekeeper to the Faulkners and had been for the past ten years. She would never come to terms with it, her nature behind the cool facade, bright, passionate and above all, proud. My mother, all I have in this world, is just another Faulkner possession. She could be here with me, free and independent, yet she chooses to remain in service. It didn’tbear thinking about, and most of the time Roslyn couldn’t.

Her great purpose in life since she’d been able to earn money was to provide for her mother: to repay all her mother’s endless sacrifices. She had a house: there was room: they could live together.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: 42cbb1bbbdcc6d81
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 658,818 bytes (0.628 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• Pages: 215
• Language: English (en)

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• Estimated Reading Time: 253.35 minutes
• Total Words: 50,670
• Total Characters: 286,745
• Average Words per Page: 235.67
• Average Characters per Page: 1333.7

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