CHAPTER NINETEEN - A FAMILY DISGRACE
Lucy’s brother, Robert Mascall, had always been the ultimate opportunist whose beady eye was concentrated on the lookout for a “quick quid, ” and who periodically strayed from the side of the fair Jane. At “home” before emigrating with Jane to New Zealand in the latter part of the nineteenth century he had indulged in a bit of gambling and had a good understanding of people’s need for indulging in risk taking. His interest in gambling had been carried with him to his new country and some four years after Maggie moved to Grafton from Devonport he had taken up the role as a bookie in taking off course bets in horse racing.
He was an outward going person, with plenty of chat, and got on well with most people from his social background, especially the “ladies.” He was looked upon as “a decent bloke” and just the sort of person to act as a “go-between” in the business of gambling. At the Devonport dockyard he quickly chummed up with Derek Forbes, an electrician, who was of a like mind. With a large ready made on-site clientele at the Dockyard who had quick cash and were happy to indulge in the passion of gambling they formed a lucrative business partnership about which their employer knew nothing.
Robert had married Jane in Sheffield some two years before coming to New Zealand. She was an attractive girl from Bakewell, but having a wife of whom he was quite fond had not limited his extra marital activities. He had no intention of curbing his sexual appetite. He regarded himself as being something of a lad and intended to maximise on his potential as eligible bait for women for as long as he was able. His prime interest in life was his own self-indulgence and everything else fell into second place.
Poor Jane had been in complete ignorance of his “weakness for the fair sex” until informed of Robert’s indiscretions by one of her friends in Sheffield some six months after she married. She had not known what to do, whether to confront him with the story of his escapades or simply ignore it. In the end she opted for the latter, and this had set the pattern for her future relationship with Robert. She was too vulnerable to do otherwise. She had no independent source of income. She had been a children’s nurse for a few years before marrying but could not return to that way of life. She simply had to make the best of what she had now.
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Jane had hoped that coming to New Zealand would provide Robert with a fresh start and reduce his interest in other women, after all Jane herself was reasonably pretty with fair hair and good skin. She found it difficult to understand why Robert was so intent upon making the acquaintance of other women, and why he was not satisfied with what he had. She could not understand that for some men whose personalities are seriously flawed and who suffer from self-delusion, the conquest of a woman restores their youth and invigorates their egos.
Robert’s view of women was ambiguous. On the one hand he expected his sister Maggie and his wife to uphold a virtuous stance towards men and to keep them at a distance, whereas he, by contrast, was entitled to seduce as many women as he could lay his hands upon, regardless of whose sisters or wives they were. To him all women were fair game over the legal age. He was a mine of bigoted contradictions.
Working in the same office as Robert was George Dean, an amiable fellow who was approaching middle age early in life with a receding hairline. When he had been younger and more attractive he had succeeded in capturing a very pretty wife, Jean, by whom he had two children. Now at the age of 36 he was showing signs of fraying at the edges with approaching baldness and a sagging figure veering towards portliness, whilst Jean appeared as pert and pretty as ever.
Jean was fond of her husband and her affection for him was built upon years of familiarity and deep seated understanding but the passion and excitement that she had once held for him had gradually eroded over the years. He was comfortable to her in the same way as one enjoys a pair of comfortable shoes or a well worn armchair. There was no element of lust or surprise in their relationship.
Robert had first spied Jean at a distance when she had come one afternoon with her two children to the gates of the dockyard to meet George at the end of his shift. He noted her appearance and recorded it in a predatory manner. She hadn’t noticed him or seen the way his gaze ogled her every move as she chatted with her husband and took his arm. Occasionally Robert and George were on the same shift and after that time Robert took to walking to the dockyard gates with George and chatting generally before their ways parted. On about the sixth occasion he was rewarded for his consistency. Jean and the children were at the gates waiting for George. George kissed her on the cheek and Robert remained. Had he been a gentleman he would have doffed his cap and disappeared but there was nothing akin to that about Robert, he waited to be introduced. George seemed slightly surprised but said, “Jean this is Robert Mascall. We work in the same office.”
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She smiled revealing good even white teeth and a luscious mouth. Robert overcame a desire to step forward and kiss her. She was quite delicious.
Robert looked at her in an open and uncomplicated manner. “Pleased to meet you,” he said cordially and he smiled at the two boys beside her. “I work with George,” he continued and after a couple of seconds he added. “Well I better get going. Glad to have met you,” and he certainly meant it.
She had been polite and pleasant but as she turned and took George’s arm she did not give a backward glance at Robert. “She is going to be a hard nut to crack,” he thought, and the challenge made the excitement more intense for him.
Getting himself noticed was a slow affair. It was a few days later before Jean was again at the gates and Robert waved to her as he parted company with George. Then he took to occasionally leaving the office a few minutes earlier than George and reaching the gates before him and on a few occasions Jean was there with the children. He would stop to talk to her and after a few weeks she would smile with pleasure when she saw him coming and they would chat easily together as old friends. He would try to ensure that he left before George arrived on each occasion. Jean was not naïve. She knew that Robert was flirting with her and she quite enjoyed it. It was harmless enough, she thought. She found him attractive and liked his easy going charm which emanated from a confident manner. Gradually over the weeks seeing him for a few minutes became of some interest to her. She began to appear more regularly at the gates of the dockyard and looked forward to seeing Robert approaching and he observed the gradual change in her view of him. He noticed how receptive she was when he had forgotten prudence on one occasion and had accidentally kissed her on the cheek. She did not turn away.
George and Jean lived in Devonport in a small weather boarded house not too far distant from the dockyard. On a Friday night Robert and George with most of their fellow workers would visit the local pub and drink from 4.30 pm when they finished work until the need for food lured them from the “Temple of Sin” to their homes. Respectable women did not venture into these unholy places that were sloshing with beer and foul mouthed utterances, and these sanctuaries of male dominance only just survived closure when in1919 the prohibition referendum lost out through the votes of the troops still overseas.
CHAPTER NINETEEN - A FAMILY DISGRACE
It was on a Friday night late in 1911 that George overindulged himself and Robert felt obliged to do a good deed.
“I think I better see you home George,” said Robert, as he observed George swaying to and fro against the bar, although he was himself little better.
“I’m alright.” said George. “I can manage.”
“Of course you can manage,” said Robert, “but I think it would be best if I saw you home George. It wouldn’t sound too good on Monday if I heard that you were waylaid on the way home,” and he took George by the arm supporting him as he moved away from the bar.
George’s protests became more subdued. Friday was pay day and all the men carried their wages in cash. Jean would be upset if anything happened to him or his week’s money. Being robbed on the way home from the pub was not an uncommon happening.
Together they left the premises with George leaning heavily upon Robert , although probably one good shove would have send them both sprawling. They had only a few hundred yards to go, though in that time George managed to retch in the gutter on two occasions, so that by the time they reached his home he was quite exhausted. Still supporting George Robert reached the house and banged on the door.
Jean was surprised when she opened the door but quickly said. “Can you get him upstairs to bed Robert. He’ll be alright then.” With George still protesting slightly he was helped up the stairs to his bed and fell to sleep in a drunken stupor almost immediately.
Robert came down the stairs. “He’ll be alright,” he said to Jean. “As right as rein in the morning, I wouldn’t be surprised.”
Jean was standing in the hallway leaning against the wall. He noted that two buttons of her blouse were undone revealing a good part of her bosoms. There was no other sound in the house. Robert hung around.
“Thank you for bringing him home,” said Jean and she smiled at Robert. To Robert her smile seemed inviting.
He moved a little closer to her. “That‘s alright,” he said. “Haven‘t seen George over the top too much.” He moved nearer to her and then nearer again and then he leaned against her and felt her breasts against him and then slowly he bent forward and kissed her. He could feel her response, she was willing. His mouth explored hers. She could feel his passion digging hard into her. She knew what he wanted. She moved her legs apart. His hands ran down over her breast and over her thighs. He tugged at her underwear. She felt his flesh against her, but she didn’t protest. He pushed himself up and into her, it was all quite sudden and then he was moving with her rhythmically until she tore her mouth away from his and groaned. He released his fluid into her. She was panting and then their passion gradually subsided. He kissed her again and removed his penis from her. She pulled him against her and he kissed her again. She ran her hands over his buttocks and caressed his genitals. She continued to kiss him and gradually he could feel the fluid build up in his penis. He was swollen again. He tugged at her unbuttoned blouse and pulled out one of her bosoms and sucked at the nipple. She took hold of his penis pulling it towards her. He inserted the swollen member into her again and she moved with him in a sexual dance until they had each achieved their organism and then their movement of passion subsided. They panted with the effort. Robert removed himself from her and she dressed. Neither spoke, probably too tired from exhaustion. Robert kissed her and then he left. In his mind’s eye he had already put that down as being one of his more enjoyable escapades.
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He was late arriving home but not so late as to cause any cross-questioning from Jane. “You look tired,” she said to him.
“Yes, had to take George home. He was a bit of a weight. Drunk as a skunk he was,” he said and laughed.
“Is that the person who works in the same office as you?” asked Jane.
“Yes, he’s a good sort,” replied Robert, but thought to himself, and his wife is even better. Robert had no principles when it came to indulging himself. He would have slept with his brother’s wife or his sister had the occasion presented itself, so importuning himself with the wife of a friend counted as nothing to him. He had enjoyed his sexual romp with Jean in the hallway and wondered how he could repeat the performance.
On Monday he saw George who said to him. “Thanks for bringing me home on Friday. Had a hell of a head the next morning.”
“That’s alright,” said Robert. “Don’t often see you over the top.”
George grimaced and said. “Guess we all do it now and again.”
At the end of the day Robert left as usual a little earlier than George and found Jean at the gates.
He greeted her warmly but avoided being too familiar with the children present and with work colleagues passing by.
“Did you enjoy yourself on Friday evening?” she asked.
“I certainly did,” he replied. “When do you think there might be another occasion?” he asked.
“I‘ll let you know,” she said. “Sometime soon probably on Wednesday.” They then talked of other things for a few minutes before he moved off.
On Tuesday she was again at the gate but without the children. “George is out for the evening on the south side seeing friends tomorrow night and there will be no-one else at home.” He understood her well.
He would be out for the evening on Wednesday night he told Jane. He needed to see some clients in connection with his betting business. Jane was suspicious. She knew him well enough by now to know that such a feeble excuse invariably meant that he was seeing another woman. She was fond of him for all his excesses and there was nothing she could do to change him.
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He called at Jean’s home at about 8 pm. She was ready for him. She almost pulled him in through the door and began to undress him. He could scarcely get her up to the bedroom. Her clothes and his were intertwined on the floor and on the stairs leading to the bedroom and then they fell naked on the bed and remained so for several hours. He was amazed. She was a tigress. It was as though she had suddenly been released from a cage and having pounced upon her victim she would not let go until every last drop of semen was drained from him. At the end of an hour and a half when he had satisfied her on three occasions she was still demanding more. He felt jaded and slightly bemused and began to wonder how he could extricate himself from this woman who was so delicious but possessed a ferocious sexual appetite. Her need for sex was even stronger than his. She was not content to lie in a prone position and be taken from the rear or to be subordinate to his demands in a supine role, she on several occasions climbed upon him and rode him whilst he was forced to lie in a subservient position, something to which he was not used to.
“When is George coming back?” he asked her after yet another flurry of activity had taken place on the bed.
“He’ll be back on the late ferry,” she said and Robert looked at the nearby clock.
“Hell, he’ll be back in half an hour. I better get dressed,” replied Robert and he made to leave her side.
“Just one more,” she said, “before you go.” He could scarcely refuse such a desperate plea. He ran his hands over her body. She was a true delight. He kissed her and pushed himself hard against her body. He seemed to swell as soon as she touched him. He lowered himself upon her and she opened her legs and pulled them up to allow him in. He pushed his bloated member inside her and moved to and fro inducing himself to release his sperm. She held tight to him moaning to herself and then gradually responded until she was moving in harmony with him. He released himself and groaned in enjoyment as together they reached their climax. They were too absorbed in each other to hear the front door of the house open as George inserted his key, but Robert heard the footsteps on the stairs as he withdrew his penis.
CHAPTER NINETEEN - A FAMILY DISGRACE
He made a dive for his trousers and shirt but where were his socks and bracers? At least he had his shoes. He moved rapidly towards the window. The room was one storey up from the ground and there was a drainpipe usefully placed to the right hand side. He opened the window wide, flung out his shoes onto the lawn below and moved with great rapidity towards the window and the drainpipe. There was not a second to lose. Jean closed the window after him as he slid down the drainpipe. It was only a matter of a few more seconds before George came into the room. Jean was asleep in their bed. George stood and looked at her, something was not right. He thought he had heard the noise of banging. It was dark, but there were clothes strewn around the room and on the stairs. He was too tired to do anything about it now but in the morning he would have to find out what this was all about.
He awoke early on the Thursday with a vague feeling of unease, then he remembered about the clothes on the stairs and around the bedroom. He looked round the room. Everything was in order and when he went to the top of the stairs he could see there were no clothes scattered where they had lain the previous evening. He wondered for a brief moment whether he had been dreaming and then he remembered about the bed and the smell. His side of the bed had been hot when he climbed into it, hot with excessive body temperature - someone else had been there.
“Did you have a good evening?” he asked Jean as she prepared his breakfast and handed him his packed lunch.
“Quiet,” she replied. “I am going to collect the children from Laura’s this morning. I know they like going to stay with her but I do miss them when they are away.”
She bustled around.
“I saw clothes lying on the stairs and in the bedroom last night,” he said. “Were they yours?” he enquired.
“For the most part. I had a clear out of old clothes last night, some of which can go to the second hand shop, but I rather tired myself out and didn’t quite finish getting them all together,” she replied guilelessly.
CHAPTER NINETEEN - A FAMILY DISGRACE
George said nothing more. He didn’t want to disbelieve her but the warmth of his bed coupled with the smell of intermingling human juices, was something that could not be disguised or explained away in his eyes. He wondered who the Goldilocks in his bed had been. There was no point in him mentioning the matter to Jean she would have some explanation or reason for his instinctive reasoning. She would argue with him and put him down as she always did. He did not want to lose her. He dearly loved her, but he was sure someone else had been there, he could almost smell him. He knew he wasn’t the man he had once been but he wasn’t prepared to have someone else move into his bed, well not just yet anyway.
Robert had made his escape with his shoes tucked under one arm, holding his shirt, and his trousers barely hanging on him. He wondered about his jacket, socks and bracers and hoped that Jean would be able to hide those until he could collect them. By the time he reached his own house he was slightly less dishevelled. Jane was long since asleep and he slipped into bed beside her and grinned to himself at the evening‘s entertainment.
Jane had long since avoided asking Robert about his illicit evenings out for which he invariably gave a feeble excuse. She had a fair idea when he was “carrying on with another woman” and her only consolation was that she was the anchor to whom he invariably returned after his “flings.” She accepted that she was always there and that part of her role as a woman and wife was to be “used and abused.” Perhaps if she had been responsible for a visible economic contribution towards their relationship Robert might have accepted that she was worthy of a greater amount of respect. He might have exercised a little more discretion when playing away from home. As it was he was a free man unrestrained by morality or convention. He was able to do whatever he chose without thought for another.
George was perhaps a little slow, but he was not daft, and over the next few days he systematically thought of the various men with whom he and Jean came into contact. He considered their personalities, background and ethics and there were several who were prime candidates for the role of adulterer and who would have been delighted to sleep with Jean if given the opportunity.
CHAPTER NINETEEN - A FAMILY DISGRACE
A couple of days later he said to Jean casually at breakfast. “I’m going over to see Jack Reading on Wednesday evening. I want to see if he can help me with the window repairs for the back of the house.”
“Very well,” she replied, and seemed scarcely to have noted what he said. “I think we’ll come and meet you tonight. The boys enjoy the walk.”
She was there at the dockyard gates early and smiled when Robert approached her. “Hello Robert,” she said. “How are you?”
He grinned. “All ready and rearing to go.” The two boys were a few paces off.
“Wednesday night,” she said.
“Well must away, nice to have seen you,” and he smiled at them all as he moved off. George arrived a short time afterwards.
“Robert didn’t stay long,” he said.
“No, ” she said. “He said he was pretty busy with the betting at the moment.”
George said nothing. He was still betting through Robert and Derek. He had seen that they were continuing with their bookie business even though off-course betting had now been made illegal. He took her by the arm as they moved away from the dockyard area towards their home.
Robert had only lived in New Zealand for a short time before he became aware of the strength of the moral evangelical movement that was attempting to prohibit both drinking and gambling. Political will was being conducted through a code based upon morality that served as both an utopian ideal and a repressive force. There was a strong attempt to create “moral harmony” in every facet of New Zealand life with a moralist line proclaiming upon every single subject matter or item in society no matter how trivial to which the population was expected to adhere to and live by without questioning the true benefit of such a dogma. For those who did not follow the moral code of self-restraint, Puritanism and conformity there was the cloak of shame and stigmatism to bear.
As a symptom of the immorality it created, gambling was seen as the perpetrator in “causing havoc to family life” and was classified with drink as being the evil “destroyer of the home.” Family life had to be protected from both these two great evils. They had to be exorcised from the clutches of the common man, and in respect of the sale of alcohol the moralists succeeded in reducing the licensing hours of public houses from 1917 for fifty years thereafter to a closing time of 6pm.
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In 1911, some six years after Robert and Derek commenced their betting business, the moralists, who although widely disseminated in New Zealand Society came mainly from church groups, managed to produce enough support in Parliament to ensure that off-course betting through bookmakers became illegal. It was hoped that this action would reduce the ability to gamble by limiting it to the racecourse only. At that time “bookies” were individuals who took bets from clients who then passed these bets on to an on course tipster. There were no gambling shops and bookie client contact took place in person or over the telephone. Robert faced with the prospect of a reduced income through having to cease his activities by a change in the law consulted his business partner.
“Well what do you think Derek?” he asked. “Do you think we ought to drop the betting for a while, until we see how the land lies?”
“Oh I reckon we can ignore it. Can’t see that a bit of paper through government is going to make much difference to gambling.” said Derek, and he added. “People will still do it. A law won’t make any difference. Anyway think of the loss if we give up.”
And quite a loss it would be. Robert had already put a goodly sum aside from his bookmaking business towards the future purchase of his own house and was hoping to add to this money in the future. He was not keen to see the end to a lucrative business and in any event there were plenty of other bookies he knew who were simply carrying on as though nothing had changed. There had been no prosecutions that he knew of since the introduction of the law, so he and Derek resumed their trade without interruption.
It was late when Robert arrived at Jean’s house through the garden gate. She let him in via the back door. It was dark and he had shown some discretion by pulling his hat down low over his face so he could not be seen. He did not want to alert the neighbours to any indiscreet liaison. There were plenty of busybodies around without giving them something positive to talk about that was genuine scandal.
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“I’ve got your coat, and other clothes upstairs,” she said. “I think we better get undressed there this time, don’t you?” She grinned at him in a telling manner and enquired. “ Like a whisky?”
“Rather,” he said and she poured them each a double. They took their glasses and climbed the stairs and he thought to himself, she has done this before.
She swallowed her whisky in three gulps, and began to undress.
“What’s the hurry?” he asked her.
“George will be back at about eleven so we don’t want to waste any time,” she replied and hastily and rapidly began to undress him, almost tearing at his clothes in her attempt to get rid of them.
Robert inwardly groaned, aware that he was in for a hard time for the next two or three hours. Still I shouldn’t complain, he thought, for it wasn’t often that he found someone quite as sexually vociferous as he was. In that respect they were very similar and their attraction to each other was based upon physical desire. There was no room in either of their lives for anything else.
This time they both kept a careful eye on the clock and half an hour before the witching hour of George’s return Robert made his careful departure. All lights were out and he slipped quietly out of the back door with his hat well down. He let himself out of the back garden gate and had scarcely taken three steps down the road before he was set upon by two masked figures.
They were larger than Robert who at almost six foot possessed a strong lean frame, but his assailants each came equipped with a club which they wielded with some anger. By the time they had hit him several times around the head his face was bloodied and cut and then they commenced kicking him as he lay on the ground. It was all over so quickly that he didn’t have time to call out. They left him on the ground. They had not injured him sufficiently to stop him from staggering home. They had simply beaten him and whipped him so as to give him the greatest pain. They had known what they were about. They were professionals in their field.
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Robert made it to his home. He literally fell in the door. It was nearing midnight. Jane was asleep upstairs in bed and heard a noise of falling and general banging around. She was terrified but bravely came downstairs with a broom in her hand. When she saw the condition of Robert she was horrified.
“What has happened, Robert?” she asked
“I was beaten up by a couple of thugs on the way home and they took my wallet,” he replied. He coughed, but the pain in his ribs deterred him from trying that again. His face was bleeding and he was fairly certain that his nose was broken. How his back and shoulders hurt.
“Shall I get a doctor?” Jane asked.
“No, I think I will be alright,” he said. “Bathe my face will you,”
“I think you better have a bath to help with the bruising,” she said.
He allowed her to take charge while she “mothered” him. He felt quite ill and said. “I won’t be able to work tomorrow.”
“Do you think we should tell the police?” asked Jane.
“No point,” replied Robert. “I feel sure that they must get this sort of thing fairly regularly.”
He knew very well that the police would want to know where he had been at the time of the attack. That wouldn’t look too good. They would ask what he had been doing. It wasn’t as if he had been playing cards at a friend’s house. When they found out that he’d been “playing the field” with someone else’s wife they would certainly take the view that his beating had been a form of retribution. He had been carrying out an immoral act and he had been punished accordingly. He would be laughed out of the police station. That would certainly make their day.
Jane ran a bath for him and with some help he managed to climb into it. He had to think. Where had those villains come from? Had they been hanging around on the off chance that someone might pass that way? Certainly they had taken his wallet, but it had seemed almost as an after thought, and they hadn‘t even bothered about his watch. They had seemed much keener to beat him than rob him, but had he been wrong about that? Perhaps they had been disturbed. Had they been sent to see if anyone came out of Jean’s house? Alternatively had they intended to strike George and had struck an “innocent” man instead?
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He hurt. Every part of his body ached with pain. He said a few coarse words about his attackers. His ribs were particularly bad. He would have to go to the doctor in the morning.
Jane dried him with the towel very gently, since every time she touched a tender spot he swore. He certainly looked a mess. His skin was turning a bright purple and red. His face was puffy and one eye was completely closed. His face might possibly be marred he thought and cursed even more. He slept in his own bed that night, and Jane moved into the spare room to allow him more space to move round. In any event he got little sleep even though he took a good tot of brandy before he went to bed to help ease the pain.
In the morning he saw the doctor and Jane informed Robert’s superintendent at the dockyard that he had been waylaid and beaten the previous evening and would not be coming into work for a couple of days.
George noted Robert’s absence from work on the day and when he heard that he had been beaten up by villains on his way home, he smiled to himself. George was a thoughtful chap and never resorted to violence himself that was for others to do, for a fee. He always preferred to deal with difficulties in a civilised and sometimes underhand manner. A few days afterwards the police were quietly informed of Robert and Derek’s illegal bookmaking activities. It was all done under the guise of moral outrage.
Before Robert had recovered from his ordeal and could return to work he was served with a summons by two burly policemen and ordered to appear in Court in connection with his illegal bookmaking activities. He could scarcely believe his misfortune. Beaten up on his way home and now he and Derek had been summonsed to Court. He wondered who the bastard was who had bleated to the police. Still it was a piffling matter and he was sure to receive a lenient sentence such as a small fine for such a trivial offence so he pleaded “guilty” to the charge in Court a few days later.
Derek who pleaded “not guilty” to the offence was discharged, whereas Robert in his turn was sentenced to six months in prison. Probably he did not present a picture of respectability with a facial appearance that clearly indicated he had been beaten up in a fight and was not the upstanding character that he was trying to present to the judge. How could he appear as an abject sinner when his face showed otherwise. That can’t have helped his situation and might well have induced the judge to assume he was an unsavoury person whose disposition might improve with a few months in the “cooler”.
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It was a hard blow. Jane was greatly upset. Robert was sacked from his employment and Jane was faced with living alone until such time as he returned from prison. She took up employment, something she had not done since she nursed in Sheffield. It made the time pass quickly and gave her some money to live on. Jane’s unfortunate situation added to Lucy’s worries though Robert Todd put it all down to “rotten bad luck”. Indeed Robert Mascall could scarcely be regarded as a criminal in his eyes he had simply been the example made whilst others continued to operate in illegal bookmaking. It was in his view a civil matter not a criminal one.
At the end of his sentence Robert emerged from prison, and about five weeks later his brother-in-law (who had pulled a few strings) suggested that perhaps he and Jane might want to think about leaving Auckland and living in New Plymouth. His brother-in-law had heard that there was the chance of employment for Robert in a business in the town as a clerk. Robert jumped at the chance and early in 1913 he and Jane settled in Taranaki.