The entertainment given in aid of the Palmerston Sunday School came off on last Wednesday night, and proved to be both pecuniarily and otherwise a most unqualified success. The bill of fare presented was a most enticing one, embracing instrumental and vocal solos, duets, part songs and glees, with a dash of the comic element thrown in by way of savor…. In the song “Tenting,” Mr. Snelson, though evidently nervous, acquitted himself very creditably, and the manner in which the choir joined in the magnificent chorus was beyond all praise and made the item the choicest on the programme. And no small feature in the entertainment was the introduction of a Scandinavian Glee, which on conclusion was heartily applauded, and an encore demanded.
The Manawatu Times, May 18, 1878
Mr. Snelson, the mayor of Palmerston, had found the perfect way to raise money for the Indian Famine Relief. More than three million souls were known to have lost their lives in the famine, and the entire Empire was attempting to stop that number from getting any larger. The British Government alone had amassed almost three hundred thousand pounds for the relief.
After the mayor of Feilding had successfully presented a concert, raising seventy-five pounds, Mayor Snelson had determined that he could do better. He would raise a hundred pounds in one fell swoop for the poor survivors who were still in desperate circumstances. Palmerston would have a concert followed by a ball at the Forester’s Hall. And to tempt residents even more, everyone would be in fancy dress. New Zealanders loved nothing better than a fancy-dress ball. The mayor had commandeered the Palmerston Bachelors to sponsor the event.
Mette and Maren attended the fancy dress ball dressed as Swiss peasant girls - not so very far from their actual way of dressing – wearing embroidered aprons they had brought from Denmark, with the addition of white Swiss linen caps lined with bobbin lace that Maren had stitched. Pieter and his friend Hans Christian Nissen had been more ambitious, and were dressed as Jolly British Tars, swaggering around with arms folded across their chests and large grins on their faces. Maren had added flares to their trousers below the knee, and they wore white shirts with sleeves rolled up to their elbows and flat pieces of cardboard on their heads that were supposed to look like sailors’ caps. They were part of the Scandinavian men’s glee group who were going to sing later in the evening.
“You look charming,” the mayor said to Mette. He was dressed as a ferocious-looking bearded Turk. “Is Sergeant Hardy going to join us?”
“He’s in Wellington on…on business,” said Mette. “I’m hoping he’ll be back tomorrow, or the next day.”
“I have no idea when he’ll be back,” she said to Maren when the mayor had wandered off with Brudder Bones, a Minstrel with black cork smeared across his face, to find something to quench their thirst. Mrs. Snelson had been insistent that no alcohol should be sold in the Hall, and Mette’s cousin Knud was doing a brisk business out among the traps and drays tethered outside the schoolhouse.
Maren squeezed her arm. “He will come back, won’t he?”
Mette said nothing. It had been three days now, and she was terrified that Frank had decided not to return. Pieter’s words had made her realize how much she loved him and wanted him and needed him to come back.
A ripple ran through the room, and Mette noticed that all the women from the Scandi clearing were staring at the door of Foresters Hall where the bachelors had gathered. Mrs. Hansen, the midwife, had gone pink and was giggling, and Johanna Nissen, dressed as Little Bo Peep complete with bonnet and crook, was looking back and forward between the door and Mette, her face a picture of envy.
“He’s here, isn’t he?” she said to Maren.
Maren turned carefully and then looked back at Mette, her eyes wide. “He’s a very handsome man, Mette,” she said, putting her hand on her stomach. She was pregnant again, with the twins barely three months old. “I hope you…”
Mette frowned at her sister. “Don’t mention the bed again,” she said. “I think you’ve caused me enough worry already.”
She stood waiting. After a few minutes, she felt his presence behind her. Apart from anything else, the Scandi women were now staring just at her, and Maren was smiling broadly at someone over her shoulder.
She turned to face him. He was wearing a uniform she had never seen before, blue with gold epaulettes on the shoulders and gold buttons down the front. On his arm, in the place where she knew his tattoo was situated, three parallel gold lines indicated that he was a sergeant. Which of course he was.
“Are you supposed to be a little Dutch girl?” he asked, smiling.
Mette slapped him lightly on his chest. “Of course not. We’re Swiss,” she said.
“I think you’d look better as a Daughter of the Regiment,” he said. “But I see Mrs. Snelson has taken that role.”
“I wanted Mette to dress as a houri,” said Maren. “But…ouch. Mette…!”
She had expected Frank to be annoyed with Maren’s comments, but he looked at her sister and smiled. “She can dress as a houri for me,” he said. “But not for the whole of Palmerston.”
That sent Maren off into hysterics, half laughing, half crying.
Frank held out his elbow to Mette, and she took his arm.
“May I escort you home, Miss Jensen,” he said.
She took him to the new house, which she had wanted to do ever since she had first seen it with Hop Li. She had dreamed of them living there together. And now it was about to come true…unless Frank had come to take her back to Wellington, or to Wanganui or Patea. He seemed to have rejoined the army, with his handsome new uniform.
She unlocked the door and stepped aside as he walked into the house. She could not read his expression. “Our house,” she said. “Hop Li built it for us…”
She followed him into the kitchen and started to babble, annoyed with herself as she did so. “Look at this…a new, modern stove that is so easy to use, and lots of cupboards…” She opened one of the cupboards… “This one opens to the outside with netting at the back, to keep milk and cheese cold but not let rats and possums in.”
He said nothing, so she stood by the table and stroked it lovingly. “This beautiful carved table isn’t ours…Hop Li uses it to show people how nice a house can look if…”
He took a few more paces and she turned to see where he was going. He had walked into the parlour and was staring through the bedroom door. “This is the bed that Maren bought for you, I imagine,” he said.
“How did you…?”
“Pieter,” he said. “Look, Mette…” Her heart sank. “It’s a wonderful house, and Hop Li will have no problem renting it to someone. But I can’t take it.”
“But why…?”
“I know you love it,” he said. “And we could have a very good life in Palmerston, living here.” He took her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. “But it isn’t my place. I didn’t build it.”
A faint hope was growing in her heart. He didn’t want to leave Palmerston, just this house.
“And you didn’t build it either or choose the furnishings. We have to build somewhere together.”
“But where…?”
“I bought a small piece of land outside Fielding,” he said. “Not far from Bunnythorpe. You’ll be able to walk over to your sister’s place. And you’ll have room for a very large garden. As large as you want. And fruit trees…”
“You’re going to be a farmer?” she asked. It was the last thing she expected from him. “But you’ll hate being a farmer. Are you sure…?
“Not a farmer,” he said. “I’m going to start a stud farm, to breed horses. You know how I love working with horses. It was Captain Porter’s suggestion, and he helped me find a section with exactly the right conditions. Good grass, a stream running right through the middle, trees blocking the prevailing winds…and there are horse races taking place all over the district now. Fielding, Marton, up in Hunterville. And on the other side of the Gorge…Woodville, and Pahiatua…”
“Why are you wearing a uniform then?” she asked. “I thought you must have rejoined…”
“I’ve been appointed to lead the reserves,” he said. “Under Captain Viggo Monrad. I won’t have much to do, but if I’m called on I’ll have to go. Things are settled now, and Porter has assured me I won’t be sent to the Front. It will mean extra money coming in while we build our farm…”
She was still not quite ready to throw her arms around him. “Maren says Agnete needs a place to live. Frederic went back to Melbourne and she’s very upset. Perhaps she could have this place.”
“Of course, if we’re not using it and if Hop Li agrees. She’ll have to buy herself some furniture.”
“I was thinking…”
“About the bed?” he asked. “We can take it with us, if you like. We may not have such a modern place as this…we may even have to live in a soddy for a while, but…”
“No. I was going to say, I hate to think of Agnete sleeping in…in our bed, especially as she will… but we don’t need it as much as she does. I have a little money saved, you know. From my books, and Mr. Robinson says he wants to print more and sell them in book shops all through the Manawatu and Wairarapa. If I buy us another bedstead, perhaps one with a feather tick, we can leave this one for Agnete. And…”
“A good solution,” he said. “And…?”
“John Masterson is coming to Palmerston tomorrow,” said Mette. She could see Frank was wondering why she had changed the subject, so added. “We’re getting married.”
“I know,” he said hesitantly. “And we have to decide when…”
“Tomorrow,” she said firmly. “We’re getting married tomorrow. John has said he’ll marry us. He’ll be in Palmerston tomorrow. And about that bed…”