Pearl in a Cage Read Online Free PDF

they headed into town to rouse the constable.
    Ernie Ogden had great faith in Gertrude’s doctoring skills. He fetched his bike, lit his lantern, then rode before them through a mile of strung-out town and out along that dark bush road, not for the first time wishing Gertrude lived a bit closer in.
    No dog to give warning of their approach, she was sleeping soundly when Ernie knocked on her wall.
    She came towards his light, white-gowned, her long hair hanging. No need to ask who wanted her. Lonnie was behind Ogden, the woman in his arms, Nancy behind him, hugging a towel-wrapped infant to her breast.
    No room to put anything, anyone, down in Gertrude’s kitchen. She moved her lamp to the dresser, flung a blanket over the table, then Lonnie eased the woman down, the old table five and a half foot in length, was just long enough.
    â€˜Who is she?’
    â€˜Nancy found her in the gully beside the railway line —’
    â€˜Boss-dog found her.’
    â€˜We thought she could have been one of Monk’s mission girls. He’s got a couple of them working out there.’
    â€˜She looks more Italian to me. Jenner’s got a couple of families of them out at his place,’ Ernie said.
    â€˜How’s she going to get from his place out to ours?’ Lonnie said.
    â€˜She wouldn’t have, not wearing that shoe,’ Gertrude said. The stranger’s right foot was shod, her left wasn’t. She removed the shoe, looked at its two-inch heel. ‘City,’ she said. ‘Light that lamp for me, Ernie.’
    Ernie lit it, set it on the washstand, placed his hurricane lantern on the stove hob and turned the wick high. Strange tall shadows playing on wall and ceiling, three shadows standing still, Gertrude’s ever moving.
    â€˜No way of knowing how much blood she lost?’ Two shadows shook their head. ‘No one else around? How far from the road? She’s no tobacco grower’s wife,’ she said. The coat now off, a blood-soaked gold frock was exposed; a fancy thing, its yoke encrusted with beadwork. ‘She’s dressed for travelling.’
    â€˜Lost a lot of blood by the look of it,’ Ernie said.
    â€˜Births are bloody,’ Gertrude said, bundling the coat and pitching it through her open doorway. The men followed it outside as Gertrude reached for her scissors to cut the frock away.
    â€˜Girl or boy?’ she asked, nodding towards the baby, now lying on her cane couch grunting.
    â€˜Girl,’ Nancy said. ‘It’s such a pity to cut that frock, Mrs Foote. Blood will usually wash out.’
    They got it off intact. It followed the coat out the door. They bathed the woman, removed her stockings, bound her gashed knee. Apart from a few scrapes, it appeared to be the woman’s only injury. They clad her in one of Gertrude’s nightgowns, then called the men in to lift her onto the couch.
    Gertrude turned to the baby. She was a fragile little mite, but determined enough to make herself heard. By two, she was sleeping in a makeshift crib, the kettle had boiled and Nancy was pouring tea. They sat then, four sets of eyes watching that stranger, waiting for her to come around and tell them who she was.
    â€˜She must have seen our light and tried to cut across the railway line towards it,’ Lonnie said. ‘The line’s built up high at the spot.’
    â€˜What is a woman in her condition doing walking around in the dark?’ Ogden said.
    â€˜Fell off the train?’ Gertrude said.
    â€˜No one opens the doors of a moving train.’
    Then they heard her breathing stop, or heard her sigh out a breath and not bother to draw another.
    â€˜No! Don’t you go doing that!’
    But she’d done it. She was gone and nothing Gertrude could do about it. She walked outside and Nancy wept.

THE STRANGER
    The Bryants went home to their guests, Ernie went home to get an hour or two of sleep. Gertrude walked. She’d slept