The Pride of the Peacock
by
Victoria Holt


Available in Fontana by the same author

Mistress of Mellyn Kirkland Revels Bride of Pendorric Menfreya The
Queen's Confession The Shivering Sands The Secret Woman The Shadow of
the Lynx On the Night of the Seventh Moon The Curse of the Kings The
House of a Thousand Lanterns Lord of the Far Island King of the
Castle

ColUns

FONTANA BOOKS

First published in 1976 by William Coffins Sons & Co Ltd First issued
in Fontana Books 1978 Second Impression May 1978

Victoria Holt 1976

Made and printed in Great Britain by William Collins Sons & Co Ltd,
Glasgow

CONDITIONS OF SALE

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of
trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated
without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover
other than that in which it is published and without a similar
condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent
purchaser

 CONTENTS

1. The Dower House 7 2. Oakland Hall 34 3. A Letter from the Dead el 4.
The Peacock 90 5. Outward Bound 142 6. The Burned-out Inn 153 7.
Peacocks 171 8. Harlequin 186 9. Treasure Hunt 217 10.  Saturday Night
228'll.  Discovery at drover's Gully 234 12.  The Spinet Player 244 13.
In the Haunted Mine 263 14.  The Green Flash 271

I.

THE DOWER HOUSE

I was quite young when I realized that there was something mysterious
about me, and a sense of not belonging came to me and stayed with me.

I was different from everyone else at the Dower House.

It became a habit of mine to go down to the stream which ran between
the Dower House and Oakland Hall, and gaze into its clear waters as
though I hoped to find the answer there.  That I chose that particular
spot was somehow significant.  Maddy, who was a general servant and a
sort of nurse to me, found me there once and I shall never forget the
look of horror in her eyes.

Now why do you want to come here.  Miss Jessica?  " she demanded.

"If Miss Miriam knew she'd forbid it Mystery again 1 What was wrong
with the pleasant stream and pretty bridge which crossed it?  It was
especially attractive to me because on the other side of it loomed the
magnificent grey walls of Oakland Hall.

"I like it here," I retorted stubbornly; and as forbidden fruit could
never have tasted sweeter to anyone than it did to me, having
discovered that there was some reason why I should not go to the
stream, I went there all the more.

"It's not right for you to go there so much," insisted Maddy.  I wanted
to know why.  This was characteristic of me and resulted in Maddy's
calling me "Miss Why, Where, and What'.

"It's morbid, that's what it is," she declared.

"I've heard Mr.  Xavier and Miss Miriam say so.  Morbid!"

Why?  "

There we go!  " said Maddy.

"It is.  That's why, and don't keep going there."

"Is it haunted?"  I asked.

"It might well be that."

So thereafter I went often to the stream and sat on its banks and
thought of its rising in the mills and meandering through the country,
widening as it went into Old Father Thames and, with that mighty
companion, finally flowing into the sea.

What danger could there be?  I asked myself.  Shallow except when there
were heavy rains, it was pellucid, and looking down I could see the
pebbles on its brownish bed.  A weeping willow drooped on the opposite
bank.  Weeping for something?  I pondered.  Something morbid?

So in those early days I would come to the stream and dream mainly
about myself, and always the theme of my wonderings was: You don't
really belong to the Dower House.

Not that the thought disturbed me.  I was different and wanted to be.

My name for one thing was different.  It was in fact Opal Opal Jessica
and I often wondered how my | mother had come to give me such a
frivolous name, because she was a far from frivolous woman.  As for my
poor sad father, he would surely have had no say in the matter;

a cloud hung over him as sometimes I fancied it hung over me.

I was never called Opal, so when I talked to myself I sometimes used
it, and I talked to myself a good deal.  This was no doubt due to the
fact that I was so much alone; and thus I became conscious of the
mystery about me which was like a mist through which I could not see.

Maddy occasionally shone a little light through the mist, but it was
only the faintest glimmer and often had the effect of making everything
more obscure.

In the first place I had this name which nobody used.  Why give it to
me if they didn't intend to use it?  My mother seemed very old; she
must have been in her forties when I was born, and my sister Miriam was
fifteen years older than I and my brother Xavier nearly twenty;

they never seemed like brother and sister to me.  Miriam served as my
governess, for we were too poor to engage one.  In fact our poverty was
the remorseless theme of our household.  I had heard countless times of
what we had had in the past and now had no longer, for we had come
sliding down in the world from the utmost luxury to what my mother
called penury.

My poor father used to cringe when she talked of "Better Days', that
time when they had been surrounded by myriads of servants and there had
been brilliant balls and elegant banquets.  But there was always enough
to eat at the Dower House, and we had Poor Jannan to do the garden and
Mrs.  Cobb to cook and Maddy as maid of all work, so we weren't exactly
penniless.  As my mother always exaggerated about our poverty, it
occurred to me that she did the same about past riches and I doubted
that the balls and banquets had been as grand as she implied.

I was about ten years old when I made a portentous discovery.  There
was a house party at Oakland Hall, and the grounds on the other side of
the stream were noisy with the hearty voices of people.  From my
window I had seen them riding out to hounds.

I wished they would invite me to call, for I longed to see the inside
of the big house.  True, I could catch glimpses of it from my side of
the stream in winter when the denuded oaks no longer shielded it, but I
could see no more than its distant grey stone walls and they fascinated
me.  There was a winding drive of about half a mile so it was
impossible to see the house from the road either, but I had promised
myself that one day I would cross the stream and, with great daring,
approach.

I was in the schoolroom with Miriam, who was not the most inspiring of
teachers and was frequently impatient with me.  She was a tall, pale
woman, and as I was ten years old she must have been twenty-five.  She
was discontented-they all were because they could never forget those
Better Days and sometimes she looked at me with cold dislike.  I could
never think of her as my sister.

On this day when the hunting party-guests from Oakland Hall came riding
past I got up and ran to the window.

"Jessica," cried Miriam, 'what ore you doing?  "

"I only wanted to see the riders," I replied.  ^ She gripped my arm,
none too gently, and dragged me from the window.

They might see you," she hissed, as though that would be the depth of
degradation.

"What if they did?"  I demanded.  They did see me yesterday.  Some of
them waved and others said Hello.  "

"Don't dare to speak to them again," she said fiercely.

"Why not?"

"Because Mama would be angry."

"You talk about them as though they're savages.  I can't see what harm
there is in saying Hello to them."

tou don't understand, Jessica.  "

"How can I when nobody tells me?"

She hesitated for a moment and then as though she was considering that
a little indiscretion was credible if it saved me from the mortal sin
of being friendly towards the guests from Oakland Hall, she said:

"Once Oakland Hall was ours.  That can never be forgotten."

"Why isn't it ours now ?"

"Because they took it from us."

Took it from us?  How?  " I immediately visualized a siege, Mama
militant and dominating, commanding the family to pour down boiling
oil from the battlements upon the wicked enemy who were coming to take
our castle, Miriam and Xavier obeying without question and my father
trying to understand the other side of the case.

They bought Oakland Hall.  "

"Why did we sell it then ?"

Her mouth hardened.

"Because we could no longer afford to live there."

"Oh," I said, 'penury.  So it was there that we had our better days. 
"

"You never had them.  It all happened before you were born.  I lived my
childhood at Oakland Hall.  I know what it means to come down in the
world."

"As I've never had better days, I don't.  But why did we become so
poor?"

She would not answer that.  All she said was: "So we had to sell to
those ... barbarians.  We did, however, keep the Dower House.  It was
all that was left to us.  So now you see why we do not want you so much
as to notice those people who have taken our house."

"Are they really barbarians... savages?"

"Not much better."

They look like ordinary people.  "

"Oh, Jessica, you are such a child!  You don't understand these things
and therefore you would be wise to leave them to your elders, but now
at least you know that we once lived in Oakland Hall and perhaps you
will understand why we do not want you to go about staring like a
peasant at the people you see coming from there.  Now, it's time for
our algebra lesson and if you are going to have the slightest education
you must pay more attention to your books."

But how could one be interested in x plus y squared after such a
discovery, and now I was desperately anxious to know something of the
barbarians who had taken our house.

That was the beginning of discovery, and in my energetic -and as I
thought subtle-way, I began to probe.

It seemed to me that I might have more success with the servants than
the family so I tried Poor jar man who came for long days in the summer
and short ones in the winter and kept the Dower House garden in good
order under Mama's supervision.  Poor Jarman!  He was kept poor, he
told me, by Nature, who presented his wife with a new baby every
year.

"It's Nature what keeps me poor," was a favourite saying of his, which
I thought very unfair of Nature.

"Nature is the great provides," I used to write out in best copperplate
under Miriam's guidance.  She had evidently been too beneficent to
Poor Jarman.  It had made him very humble and he touched his forelock
to almost everyone except me with great reverence.  To me it would
be:

"Keep off those drat ted flowerbeds, Miss Jessica.  If the mistress
sees them trod down she'll blame me."

I followed him round for a week hoping to prise information from him.

I collected flowerpots, stacked them in the greenhouse, watched him
prune and weed.  He said: "You're getting interested in orty-culture
all of a sudden.  Miss Jessica."

I smiled artfully, not telling him that it was the past I was
probing.

Tou used to work at Oakland Hall," I said.

"Aye.  Them was the days."

"Better days, of course," I commented.

Them lawns I' he said ecstatically.

"All that grass.  Best turf in the country.  Just look at this St.
John's Wort.  You only have to turn your back and it's all over the
place.  It grows while you're watching it' " Nature's bounty," I
said.

"She's as generous with St.  John's Wort as she is with you."

He looked at me suspiciously, wondering what I was talking about.

"Why did you leave Oakland Hall?"  I wanted to know.

"I came here with your mother.  It seemed the faithful sort of thing,
like."  He was looking back to the old days before Nature's bounty had
made him Poor Jarman.  He leaned on his spade and his eyes were
dreamy.

Them was good days.  Funny thing.  Never thought they'd end.  Then
suddenly .  "

"Yes," I prompted, 'suddenly?  "

"Mistress sent for me.

"Jarman," she said, "we've sold the Hall.  We're going to the Dower
House."  You could have knocked me down with a dove's feather though
some had said they'd seen it coming.  I was took back though.  She
said: "If you come with us you could have the cottage on the bit of
land we're keeping.  You could then marry."  That was the beginning. 
Before the year was out I was a father "You said there was talk..."

"Yes, talk.  Them that knew it all was coming after it had happened ..
they was talking.  Gambling was in the family.  Old Mr.  dave ring had
been very fond of it, and they said he'd lost quite a tidy sum.  There
was mortgages for this and that and that's not good for a house, and
what's not good for a house ain't good for them that works there."

"So they sensed the gathering storm."

"Well, we all knew there was money trouble, 'cos sometimes wages wasn't
paid for two months.  There's some families as makes a habit of this,
but Claverings wasn't never that sort.  Then this man came.  He took
the Hall.  Miner, he'd been.  Made a fortune out of something.  Came
from abroad.2 " Why didn't you stay and work for him?  "

"I'd always been with gentry.  Miss.  Besides, there was this
cottage."

He had eleven children so it must have been about twelve years ago.

One could calculate the years by Jarman's children, and people were
never quite sure which was which so that it was like trying to remember
which year something had happened.

"It all took place before I was born," I went on, keeping his thoughts
flowing in the right direction.

Tes.  Tis so.  Must have been two years before that.  "

So it was twelve years ago--a lifetime-mine anyway.

All I had learned from Jarman was that my father's gambling had been
responsible.  No wonder Mama treated him with contempt.  Now I
understood the meaning behind her bitter remarks.  Poor father, he
stayed in his room and spent a lot of time playing patience-a solitary
game in which he could not lose to an opponent who would have to be
paid, yet at the same time preserving contact with the cards he still
loved, although they had apparently been the cause of the family's
expulsion from the world of opulence.

Mrs.  Cobb could tell me little.  Like my family, she had been
accustomed to Better Days.  She had come to us when we went to the
Dower House and was never tired of telling any who would listen that
she had been used to parlour maids, kitchen maids, a butler, and two
footmen.

It was, therefore, something of a come-down to work in a household like
ours; but at least the family, like herself, had known Better Days, and
it was not like working for people who had 'never been used to
nothing'.

My father, of course, playing his patience, reading, going for solitary
walks, with the heavy weight of guilt on his shoulders, was definitely
not the one to approach.  He seemed scarcely aware of me in any case.
When he did notice me, something of the same expression came into his
face as that which I saw when my mother was reminding him that it was
his weakness which had brought the family low.  To me he was a sort of
non-person, which was an odd way to feel about one's own father, but
as he expressed no interest in me, ] found it hard to feel anything for
him except pity when they reminded him, which they contrived to do on
every occasion.

As for Mama, she was even more unapproachable.  When I was very young
and we sang in church :

"Can a mother's tender care Cease towards the child she bear?"  I had
thought of a little female bear cub beloved by its mother bear, but
when I had mentioned this to Miriam she had been very shocked and
explained the real meaning.  I then commented that my mother's tender
care towards me had never really ceased because it had never ex sited

At, this Miriam had grown very pink and told me that I was a most
ungrateful child and should be thankful for the good home I had.  I
wondered then why for me it was a 'good home', though dearly despised
by the others, but I put this down to the fact that they had seen those
Better Days which I had missed.

My brother Xavier was a remote and romantic figure of whom I saw very
little.  He looked after the land we had been able to salvage from the
Oakland estate and this contained one farm and several acres of pasture
land.  When I did see him he was kind to me in a vague sort of way, as
though he recognized my right to be in the house but wasn't sure how
I'd got there and was too polite to ask.  I had heard that he was in
love with Lady Clara Donningham who lived some twenty miles away, but
because he couldn't afford her the luxury to which she was accustomed,
he wouldn't ask her to marry him.  She apparently was very rich and we
were living in what I had heard Mama so often call penury.

The fact was that he and Lady Clara remained apart although, according
to Mrs.  Cobb who had a link through the cook at the Manor, which was
Lady Clara's house, her ladyship would not have said no if Mr.  Xavier
had asked her.  But as Xavier was too proud, and convention forbade
Lady Clara to ask him, they remained apart.  This gave Xavier a very
romantic aura in my eyes.  He was a chivalrous knight who went through
life nursing a secret passion because decorum forbade him to speak.  He
certainly would tell me nothing.

Miriam might be lured into betraying something, but she was not one for
confidences.  There was an 'understanding' between her and the Rev.

Jasper Grey's curate, but they couldn't marry until the curate became a
vicar, and hi view of his retiring nature that seemed unlikely for
years to come.

Maddy told me that if we'd still been at Oakland Hall there

would have been coming out dances, people would have been visiting and
it wouldn't have been a curate for Miss Miriam.  Oh dear no.  There
would have been Squire This or Sir That .  -and maybe a lord.  They had
been the grand days.

So it all came back to the same thing; and as Mrs.  Cobb could never be
kept from telling of her own Better Days I couldn't hope to get her
interested in those of my family.

As I might have known, Maddy was the only one who could really help.

She had actually lived at Oakland Hall.  Another point in her favour
was that she loved to talk and as long as I could be sworn to
secrecy-and I readily promised that-she would at times let out little
scraps of information.

Maddy was thirty-five-five years older than Xavier-and she had come to
Oakland Hall when she was only eleven years old to work in the
nursery.

"It was all very grand then.  Lovely nurseries they was."

"Xavier must have been a good little boy," I commented.

"He was.  He wasn't the one to get up to mischief."

"Who, then?  Miriam?1 No, not her either."

Well, why did you say one of them was ?  "

"I said no such thing.  You're like one of them magistrates, you are.

What's this?  What's that?  " She was hurry now, shutting her lips
tightly as though to punish me for asking a question which had
disturbed her.  It was only later that I realized why it had.

Once I said to Miriam: "Fancy, you were born in Oakland Hall and I was
born in the Dower House.  " Miriam hesitated and said: "No, you weren't
born in the Dower House.

Actually.  it was abroad.  "

Miriam looked embarrassed as though wondering how I could have lured
her into this further indiscretion.

"Mama was travelling in Italy when you were born."

My eyes widened with excitement.  Venice, I thought.  Gondolas.  Pisa
with its leaning Tower.  Florence, where Beatrice and Dante had met and
loved so chastely or so Miriam had said.

"Where?"  I demanded.

"It was... in Rome."

I was ecstatic.

"Julius Caesar," I said.  '"Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your
ears."  But why?  "

Miriam looked exasperated.

"Because you happened to appear when they were there."

"Father was with her, then?"  I cried.

"Wasn't it costly?

Penury and all that?  "

She looked pained in the special way Miriam could.  She said primly:

"Suffice it that they were there."

"It's as though they didn't know I was about to be born.  I mean they
wouldn't have gone there, would they, if ..."

"These things happen sometimes.  Now we have chattered enough."

She could be very severe, my sister Miriam.  Sometimes I was sorry for
the curate, or should be if she ever married him-and for the sad
children they would have.

So there was more to brood on.  What strange things seemed to happen to
me!  Perhaps it was because they were in Rome that they had called me
Opal.  I had tried to discover information about opals.  After looking
up the dictionary I had mixed feelings about my name.  It was not very
flattering to be called after 'a mineral consisting chiefly of hydrous
silica', whatever that was, but it did not sound in the least romantic.
I discovered however that it had varying hues of red, green, and blue
in fact all the colours of the spectrum and was of a changing
iridescence, and that sounded better.  How difficult it was though to
imagine Mama, in a moment of frivolity inspired by the Italian skies,
naming her child Opal, even though the more serviceable Jessica had
been added and used.

Soon after that occasion when I had seen the guests riding out from
Oakland, I heard that the owner had gone away for a while.  Only the
servants remained, and there were no longer sounds of revelry across
the stream, for visitors never came- only those, of course, connected
with servants and they were quite different.

Life went on for a while in the old way-my father solitary with his
patience and his walks and the ability to shut himself away from his
complaining family; my mother dominating the household, busying herself
with Church matters, looking after the poor, of which community she was
constantly're minding us we had become a part.

However, we were at least still sufficiently of the gentry to dispense
benefits rather than receive them; Xavier went his quiet way, dreaming
no doubt of the unattainable Lady Clara (my sympathy was tinged with
impatience because had I been Lady Clara, I should have said it was all
nonsense to make a barrier of her money, and if I were Xavier, I should
have said the same); and Miriam and her curate too.  Of course she
might be like Poor Jarman and bring a lot of children into the world.
Curates did seem to breed rather freely and the poorer they were the
more fecund they seemed to be.

So as the years began to pass the mystery remained, but my curiosity
did not diminish.  I became more and more certain that there was a
reason why the family gave me the impression that I was an intruder.

Prayers were said each morning at the start of the day and every member
of the household had to be present for them -even my father was
expected to attend.  These were said in the drawing-room, "Since," my
mother often commented coldly, 'we have no chapel now!  " And she would
throw a venomous glance towards my father and then turn to Oakland
Hall, where for so many years she had knelt in what was meant to be
humility.  Poor Jarman, Mrs.  Cobb, and Maddy would be present.

"All the staff," my mother would say bitterly.

"At Oakland there were so many that one did not know all their names,
only those of the ones in higher positions."

It was a solemn ceremony conducted by my mother when she exhorted us
all to be humble, grateful, and conduct ourselves with virtue in the
station into which God had called us-which always seemed incongruous to
me since she was far from contented with hers.  She was inclined to be
a little hectoring towards God, I thought.  It was: "Look down on this"
and "Don't do that..."  as though she were talking to one of the
superior servants she must have had at Oakland Hall.

I always found morning prayers irksome, but I did enjoy the church
services, though perhaps for the wrong reasons.  The church was a fine
one, and the stained glass windows, with their beautiful colours, a joy
to study.  Opal colours, I called them with satisfaction.  I loved the
singing of the choir and most 'of all I liked to sing myself.  I always
thought of the times of the year through hymns.

"Christian, dost thou see them," used to thrill me; and I would look
over my shoulder almost expecting to see the troops of Midian prowling
around.

Harvest time was lovely.

"We plough the fields and scatter ..."  and "Hark the Herald Angels' at
Christmas; but best of all I loved Easter:

"Hallelujah.  Christ the Lord is risen today."  Easter was a lovely
time, when the flowers were all delicate colours whites and yellows,
and the spring had come and the summer was on the way.  Miriam used to
go and decorate the church.  I wondered whether the curate helped her
and whether they sadly talked of their inability to marry' because they
were so poor, I always wanted to point out that the people in the
cottages had far less and yet seemed happy enough.  But at least the
church was beautiful and particularly at Easter time.

We still had the Clavering pew in the church.  This consisted of the
two front pews with a little door, which had a lock and key, and when
we walked in behind my father and mother, I believe she felt that the
good old days were back.  Perhaps that was the reason why she enjoyed
going to church.

After luncheon on Easter Sunday we always went to the churchyard taking
flowers, and these we put on the graves of the more recent family dead.
Here again, prestige was restored, for the Clavering section was in the
most favourable position and the headstones were the most elaborate in
the churchyard.  I know my mother was constantly irritated by the fact
that when she died her memorial would be far less splendid than it
would have been if the money to provide a worthy one had not been
gambled away.

I was sixteen years old on that particular Easter Sunday.  Growing up,
I thought, and I should soon no longer be a child.  I wondered what the
future held for me.  I didn't fancy growing old in the Dower House like
Miriam, who was now thirty-one years of age and as far from marriage
with her curate as ever.

The service was beautiful and the theme interesting.

"Be content and thankful with what the Lord has given you."  A very
good homily for the Claverings, I thought, and I wondered whether the
Rev. Jasper Grey had had them in mind when delivering it.  Was he
reminding them that the Dower House .  was a comfortable residence and
quite grand by standards other than those of Oakland Hall; Miriam and
her curate should be thankful and marry; Xavier and Lady Clara should
do the same; my father should be allowed to forget that he had brought
us to our present state; and my mother should rejoice in what she had. 
As for myself, I was happy enough and if only I could find the answers
to certain questions which plagued me I should be quite content. 
Perhaps somewhere inside me I yearned to be loved, for I had never
really enjoyed that blessing.  I wanted someone's eyes to light up when
I came by.  I wanted someone to be a little anxious if I were late
coming home-not because un punctuality was undesirable and ill-mannered
but because they were fearful that some ill fortune had come to me.

"Oh God," I prayed, 'let someone love me.  "Then I laughed at myself,
because I was telling Him what i7 to do just as my mother did.

When the time came to visit the graves I took a basket of daffodils and
walked with Miriam and Mama from the Dower House to the church.

There was a pump in the Clavering section from which we filled the jars
which were kept there, and then put the flowers on the graves.

There was Grandfather, who had begun to fritter away the family
fortunes, and there was Grandmother and the Greats, and my father's
brother and sister.  We could not, of course, deck out the graves of
all the dead.  I liked to wander round and look at the shrubs and open
books in stone and read the engraved words.  There were memorials to
John Clavering, who had died at the battle of Preston for his King in
1648. James who had died at Malplaquet.  There was another for Harold,
who had been killed at Trafalgar.  We were a fighting family.

"Do come away, Jessica," said Mama.

"I do declare you have a morbid streak."

Called from the guns of Trafalgar I walked solemnly back to the Dower
House, and it was later that afternoon when I wandered out through the
gardens to the edge of the stream.  I was still thinking of long-dead
dave rings who had died so valiantly for their country and how John had
fought the Roundheads in an unsuccessful attempt to keep his King on
the throne, a struggle which had cost the King not only his throne but
his head, and James fighting with Marlborough and Harold with Nelson.

We dave rings had taken our part in the making of history, I told
myself proudly.

Following the stream I came to the end of the Dower House gardens.

There was a stretch of meadow-about an acre in which the grass grew
long and unkempt.  By the hedge grew archangel or white dead-nettle
with its flowers just coming out.  They would be there until December,
and later the bees would be so busy on them that it wouldn't be
possible to get near them.  Very few people ever came here and it was
called the Waste Land.

As I walked across it I noticed a bunch of dog violets tied ;

up with white cotton, which was wound round their stems.  I stopped to
pick them up and as I divided the grass I saw that the spot on which
they had been lying was slightly raised.  It was a plot of about six
feet long.

Like a grave, I thought.  I How could it be a grave?  Because I had
been to the church1 yard that afternoon with Easter flowers my mind was
on;

graves.  I knelt down and pushed aside the grass.  I felt round the
earth.  Yes, it was a mound.  It must be a grave, and today someone had
put a bunch of violets on it.

Who could possibly be buried on the Waste Land?  I went and sat
thoughtfully by the stream and asked myself what it meant.

The first person I encountered when I went back to the house was Maddy,
who, now that I no longer needed a nurse, had become maid of all work.
She was at the linen cupboard sorting out sheets.

"Maddy," I said, "I saw a grave today.8 " It's Easter Sunday so I
reckon you did," she retorted.

"Oh, not in the churchyard.  In the Waste Land.  I'm sure it was a
grave."

She turned away, but not before I had seen that her expression was one
of shocked horror.  She knew there was a grave in the Waste Land.

"Whose was it?"  I insisted.

'now why ask me ?  "

"Because you know."

"Miss Jessica, it's time you stopped putting people in the witness box.
You're too inquisitive by half."

"It's only a natural thirst for knowledge."

"It's what I call having your nose into everything.  There's a word for
that.  Plain nosiness."

"I don't see why I shouldn't know who's buried in the Waste Land."

"Buried in the Waste Land," she mimicked; but she had betrayed herself.
She was uneasy.

"There was a little bunch of violets there--as though someone had
remembered it was Easter Sunday."

"Oh," she said blankly.

"I thought someone might have buried a pet dog there."

That's as like as not," she said with some relief.

"But it was too big for a dog's grave.  No, I think it was some person
there ... someone buried long ago but still remembered.  They must have
been remembered, mustn't they, for someone to lay flowers there so
carefully."

"Miss Jessica, will you get from under my feet."

She was bustling away with a pile of linen sheets, but her heightened
colour betrayed her.  She knew who was buried in the Waste Land, but,
alas, she wasn't telling.

For several days I worried her but could get nothing out of her.

i9 "Oh, give over, do," she cried at length in exasperation.

"One of these days you might find out something you'd rather not
know."

That cryptic remark lingered in my mind and did nothing to curb my
curiosity.

All that year I brooded on the matter of the secret grave until the
following spring when there was activity across the stream at Oakland
Hall and I ceased to think about it.  I was aware that something was
happening because suddenly tradesmen called constantly at the house,
and from my seat by the stream I could hear the servants shouting to
each other.  There were regular thwacks as carpets were brought out of
the house and beaten.  The shrill feminine tones mingled with those of
the dignified butler.  I had seen him several times, and he always
behaved as though he were the owner of Oakland Hall.  I was sure be was
not haunted by the spectre of Better Days.

Then the day came when I saw a carriage arriving and I slipped out of
the Dower House to see it turn into Oakland's drive.  Then I hurried
back, darted across the stream, crept close to the house, and hidden by
bushes I was just in time to see a man lifted from the carriage and
placed in a wheelchair.  He had a very red face, and he shouted in a
loud voice to the people around him in a manner to which I was sure the
rafters of Oakland Hall had been unaccustomed during the Better Days.

"Get me in," he shouted.

"Come on, Wilmot.  Come out and help Banker."

I wished that I could see better, but I had to be careful.  I wondered
what the red-faced man would say if he saw me.  He was clearly a very
forceful personality and it was, I felt, very necessary indeed for me
to remain hidden.

"Get me up the steps," he said.  Then I can manage.  Show 'em.  Banker.
"

The little procession went into the house at last, and as I made my
cautious way to the bridge I had a fancy that I was being followed,
perhaps because I felt so guilty to be on the wrong side of the stream.
I did not look round but ran as fast as I could and it was only when I
had sped across the bridge that I paused to look back.  I was sure I
saw a movement among the trees but whether it was a man or woman there
I was unsure, but I did have the feeling that I had been observed.  I
began to feel uneasy, wondering whether whoever had seen me would
complain to Mama.  There would certainly be trouble if he-or she-did.
That I had stepped on to forbidden territory would be bad enough but to
have been seen doing it would bring forth storms of contempt upon my
head.

On my way to my room I met Miriam.  The owner of Oakland Hall is back,"
I told her.

May God preserve us!  " she cried.

"Now I suppose there'll be entertaining, eating and drinking and all
kinds of depravity."

I laughed gleefully.

"It'll be exciting," I began.

"It'll be disgusting," she retorted.

"I think he's had some sort of accident," I ventured.

Who?  "

The er .  the one who took Oakland from us.  "

"I've no doubt he deserved it," she said with satisfaction.

She turned away.  The very thought of them was obnoxious to her; but I
was enormously interested.

I asked Maddy about them because she always gave me the impression that
she could tell me a good deal if only I could make her break some vow
she had made not to, and often, in fact, she did seem secretly as
though she wanted to talk.

I said: "Maddy, a man in a bath chair was taken into Oakland Hall
yesterday."

She nodded.  That's him," she said.

The one who bought it from us ?  "

"He made a fortune.  Never been used to such a place before.  He's what
you call one of them new rich."

"Nouveau riche."  I informed her grandly.

"Have it your own way," she said, 'but that's what he is.  "

"He's an invalid?"

"Accident," she said.  That's what happens to his sort.  "

"His sort?  What sort?"

Made a great fortune, he did, and he buys Oakland Hall and them that
has lived in it for generations untold has to give it up.  "

The Claverings gambled while he worked," I said.

"It's like the ant and the grasshopper.  It's no use blaming him.  They
both got their deserts."

"What's insects got to do with it?  You're what I call a hopper
yourself.  Miss Jessica.  You're no sooner on to one thing before
you're after another."

This is all part of the same subject," I protested.

"I'd like to get into the Hall.  Is he going to stay here?"

You can't get about all that easy when you've had one of your legs
off.  Still, he got the fortune, though it did cost him a leg.  " Maddy
shook her head.

"It only goes to show that money's not everything .. though in this
house you'd sometimes think it was.  Mrs.  Bucket says she reckons he's
home to stay."

Who's Mrs.  Bucket?  "

She's cook over there.  "

What a perfectly glorious name.  Bucket!  Though that ought to have
been the housemaid.  The cook should be Mrs.  Baker or Mrs.  Stewer. 
So you know Mrs.  Bucket, do you, Maddy?

"Considering that she was at Oakland when I was there it seems natural
that I should know her."

"And you see her now and then ?"

Maddy pursed her lips.  I knew that she was visiting Mrs.  Bucket and I
was glad.  A little careful prodding and I might learn something.

Well, it ain't for me to stick my nose up in the air when I pass
someone I've known for twenty years, just because .  "

"It certainly is not.  You're an example..."

"It couldn't be laid to Mrs.  Bucket's door, nor Mr.  Wilmot's neither.
It wasn't as though there was a place for them here.  To expect them to
throw themselves out just because ..."

"I understand perfectly.  So he lost a leg, did he?"

You're on your cross-questioning again.  Miss.  I can see through that
sure as eggs is eggs.  It's one thing for me to have a word with Mrs.
Bucket now and then and it would be another for you to.  So you make
certain you keep on the right side of the stream and don't go asking so
many questions about things that don't concern you.  "

So in spite of the fact that Maddy had visited Mrs.  Bucket I was not
going to prise any more information out of her.

It was a sultry July day and I was sitting by the stream i looking over
Oakland territory when suddenly it happened.  A chair, with a man
sitting in it, came into view.  I started up because as the chair came
towards me I realized that the occupant was the man I had seen arriving
in the carriage.  There was a tartan rug over his knees so I couldn't
make out whether or not he had one leg.  I watched while the chair
seemed to gather speed as it came towards me.

Then I realized what had happened.  It was because the chair was out of
control that it moved so fast and it was gathering momentum as it came
down , the slight incline towards the stream.  In a few moments it
would be there and would surely overturn.

I wasted no time.  I ran down the slope and waded through the stream.

Fortunately we had had a drought and there was not a great deal of
water, but willingly I splashed through what there was and ran up the
slope on the other side just in time to catch the chair before it went
down into the stream.

The man in the chair had been yelling: "Banker 1 Banker 1 Where in
God's name are you.  Banker?"  until he caught sight of me.  I was
clinging to the chair and it took all my strength to hang on to it and
at one moment I thought it was going to carry me down with it.

The man was grinning at me; his face was redder than ever.

"Goodo!"  be shouted.

"You've done it.  A little shaver like you and you've done it."

There was a kind of steering bar in front of him; he guided this, and
the chair started to move along parallel with the stream.

There," he said.  That's better.  I'm not used to the perishing thing
yet.  Well, now I've got to say my piece, haven't I?  Do you know I'd
have turned over but for you ?"

"Yes," I said, coming round to the side of the chair.  Tou would.  "

"Where were you, then ?"

"On the other side of the stream... our side."

He nodded.

"Lucky for me you were just at the right spot at that time."

"I'm often at that spot.  I like it."

"Never seen you before.  Do you live over there?"

"In the Dower House."

"You're not a Clavering?"

"Yes I am.  What are you ?2 " A Henniker.  "

'you must be the one who bought Oakland from them.  "

The very same.  "

I started to laugh.

"What's funny?"  he said; he had a rather sharp way of talking.

"Meeting like this after all these years," I said.

He started to laugh too.  I don't know why it should have seemed so
funny to us both, but it did.

"Nice to meet you.  Miss Clavering."

"How do you do, Mr.  Henniker?"

"Quite well, thank you.  Miss Qavering.  I'm going to drive

my chair up a bit.  It's uncomfortable here.  Up under the tree there
in the shade.  Let's come and get acquainted.  "

"Don't you want... Banker?1 " Not now.  "

Tou were shouting for him.  "

That was before I saw you.  "

I walked beside the chair thinking what a marvelous adventure this was
and I heartily applauded his suggestion for I had no wish for us to be
seen.  He brought the chaii to rest in the shade and I sat down on the
grass.  We studied each other.

"Are you a miner?"  I asked.

He nodded.

"Gold, I suppose."

He shook his head.

Opals.  "A sudden shiver of excitement ran through me.

"Opals!"  1 cried.

"My name is Opal."

"Well, now, is it?  Opal Clavering.  It sounds very grand to me."

They never call me by it.  I'm always Jessica.  That's rather ordinary
after Opal, don't you think?  I often wonder why they gave me the name
if they didn't want to call me by it.  "

"You couldn't have a prettier name," he said.  The reddish tinge in his
cheeks deepened, and his eyes were a very bright blue.  There's nothing
more beautiful than an opal.  Don't start talking to me about diamonds
or rubies.  "

"I wasn't going to."

"I can see you know better than to do that to an old gouger."

A what?  "

"An opal miner."

"What do you do?  Tell me about it' " You smell out the land and you
hope and you dream.  Every miner dreams he's going to find the most
beautiful stones in the world.  "

"Where do you find them ?"

"Well, there's South Australia -Coober Pedy and Mooka Country, and
there's New South Wales and Queensland."

"You're from Australia," I said.

That's where I found opal, but I started out from the Old Country.

Australia's rich in opal.  We haven't scratched the surface of the land
yet.  Who'd have thought there was opal in Australia?  You'can picture
the excitement when they found it.  Con you picture it?  Some brumbies
scratching the lan4 with their hoofs and .  there's opal.  By God,
what a findl In those days we thought they had to come from Hungary . 
never thought to look elsewhere.  They'd mined them there for hundreds
of years.  That milky kind.  Very pretty .  but give me the black opals
of Australia.  "

He paused and looked up at the sky.  He was scarcely aware of me, I was
sure.  He was back in time, in space, miles away on the other side of
the world, gouging-or whatever he called it-for his black opals.

Diamonds .  pah!  " he went on.

"What's a diamond?  Cold fire, that's what.  White 1 Look at an
opal..."

How I should have loved to, but the next best thing was to listen to
him.

"Australian opals are the best," he went on.  They're harder.  They
don't splinter as easily as some.  They're lucky stones.  Long ago
people used to believe opals brought good fortune.  Do you know
Emperors and Nabobs used to wear them because they were said to protect
them against attack?  It used to be said that an opal could prevent
your being poisoned by your enemies.  Another story was that they cured
blindness. What more can you ask than that?  "

Tsfothing," I agreed heartily.

"OcuJus Mundi.  That's what they're called.  Do you know what that
means?8 I confessed that my education did not carry me so far.

The Eye of the World," he told me.

"Wear it and you'll never commit suidde."

"I've never had one, but I've never wanted to commit suicide."

"You're too young.  And you say Opal's your name?  And Jessica too.  Do
you know, I like that Jessie.  Ifs friendly."

"At least it doesn't make you think of a cure for blindness and a
protection against the poison cup."

"Exactly," he said, and we both burst into laughter.

"Opals bring the gift of prophecy," he went on.

"So they used to say-prophecy and foresight."

He took a ring from his little finger and showed it to me.  It was
a-beautiful stone set in gold.  I slipped it on my thumb, but even that
was too small for it.  I watched the light play on the stone.  It was
deep blue shot with red, yellow, and green lights.  He held out his
hand for the ring as though he were impatient that it should be too
long out of his possession so I gave it back to him.

"It's beautiful; I said.

"New South Wales ... that's where it comes from.  I teB you this.

Miss Jessie, there are going to be some big finds there one day .  even
bigger than we've had already.  I won't be in on it, though.  " He
tapped the tartan rug.

"Hazards of the business.  Got to accept them, you know.  Think of the
rewards.  I'll never forget the day this happened.  I thought it was
the end of me.  I was collecting nobbies.

Clinging to the roof, they were, like oysters .  yes, just like
oysters. I couldn't believe my luck.  Picture me .  gouging away.  It
was in a cave and I was deep in, and there they were in this gritty
reddish seam . lovely nobbies.  Suddenly there was a rumble and down
came the roof of this cave.  It was three hours before they could get
me out.  I'd got my opals, though, and one of them-well, it was a real
beaut, worth losing a leg for, or so I told myself.  But between you
and me your own limbs shouldn't be bartered for anything .  not even
this little beauty of mine.  By God, she's a prize.  For a moment I
thought I'd found the Green Flash again.  Not quite, though .  still,
there's a wonderful green in this one .  a magic sort of green.  She
was the first thing I saw when I came round .  because I was in a
hospital for a long time while they cut my leg off.  Had to.

Gangrene and all that.  It was a long time before they could get me
down to Sydney, and by that time the leg was a goner.  And the first
thing I said was: "Show me that green opal."  And there she was lying
in the palm of my hand, and though I knew there was nothing there where
my leg used to be, I felt such pride as you wouldn't understand just to
look at the lovely thing lying there in my hand.  8 "It ought to have
brought you protection against the falling rock," I commented.

"Well you see, it wasn't mine until the rock started to crack.  I look
at it like this: It was the price I had to pay for my nobbies.  That
strike made me a millionaire."

"It would have been awful to lose your leg for nothing."

"I knew it was the end of my mining days.  Whoever heard of a
one-legged gouger?  But perhaps I'll get out again when I get used to
hobbling around.  But first I'll have to educate myself in the way of
my wooden leg.  I've got to have a long rest, they tell me, so I
thought the best place to come to was Oakland.  And here I am trying to
get used to a crutch and at wooden leg and relying on this old chair to
carry me around," and you see what nearly happened to me but for a
certain young lady "I'm so glad I saw you, not only because..."

"Yes, because what?"

"So that we could meet and I could hear about opals."

There's been a sort of feud between our families.  " He laughed aloud,
and I laughed with him.  It was a certain bond between us, which kept
us laughing for not much reason, for it wasn't so much the laughter
provoked by amusement as that of sheer pleasure and the unusual nature
of our meeting.  I thought then-and I became sure of it later-that he
liked the idea of snapping his fingers at my family.

I bought their home, you see," he said, 'and it had been in their
family for ages.  They've got the Clavering arms over the hall
fireplace ... all drawn out on the wall and very pretty too.  This one
married that one and there'd been Claverings at Oakland Hall since
1507, until this rough Henniker came along and took it from them-not
with fire and sword, not with gunpowder and battering rams-but with
money!"

The Claverings should never have let it go if they wanted to keep it so
much.  As for you, Mr.  Henniker, you risked your life to get it and
you've got it.  and I'm glad.  "

"Strange words from a Clavering," he said.

"Ah, but this one's an Opal."

"I could never think why they gave me such a name- except that I was
born in Italy.  I think my mother must have been very different then "
People change," said Mr.  Henniker.

"What happens to them can often bring a turn-about.  I've got a man
calling to see me at half past four, so I shall have to go now, but
listen.  We're going to meet again."

"Oh yes, please, Mr.  Henniker."

What about here .  at this spot .  tomorrow at this time?  "

I'd love it.  "

"I reckon we'd have a lot to say to each other.  Same time tomorrow
then."

I watched him guide his chair towards the house and then, in high
spirits, I ran down to the bridge.  I stood on it looking back.  The
trees hid the house-hjs house now-but I was picturing him in it,
shouting for Banker, laughing because one of the Claverings had become
his friend.

"He's an adventurer," I thought, 'and so am I. "

I tried to hide my exuberance but Maddy noticed it and commented that
she couldn't make up her mind what I resembled

most-a dog with two tails to wag or a cat who's stolen the cream.

Very pleased with ouzself, I'd say," she added suspiciously.

"Ifs a lovely day," I answered blithely.

Thunder in the air," she grumbled.

That made me laugh.  Yes indeed, the atmosphere would be decidedly
stormy if it was discovered that I had actually spoken to the enemy and
arranged another meeting.

I could scarcely wait to see him again.

He was there when I arrived.  He talked-how he talked and how I loved
to listen!  He told me about his life when he had been very poor in his
early days in London.

"London 1' he cried.

"What a city!  I never could forget it, no matter wherever I was.  But
there were some hard memories too.  We were poor-not as poor as some
others, there being only one child ... me.

My mother couldn't have more, which in some ways was a blessing.  I
went to a dame school, where I learned my letters, and after that to a
ragged school, where I learned the ways of the world, and when I'd done
with education at the age of twelve, I was ready to fight my battles.
By that time my father had dropped dead.  He was a drinker so it wasn't
much of a loss, and I started to keep my mother in a degree of comfort
to which she had not been accustomed.  8 I wondered why he was telling
me all this.  He was an actor of a kind, for when he talked of people
his voice and his expression would change.  When he told me of the
baked potato seller, his face would be grizzled and he'd shout:

"Come, me beauties, all hot and floury.  Two a penny hot spuds.  Fill
your bellies and warm your hands."

There, Miss Jessie," he would go on becoming himself.

"I'm being a bit vulgar now, you'll be thinking, but that was the
streets of London when I was a nipper.  Life!  I never saw such life
no, never.  There it was all over the streets of London.  It's
something you don't take much notice of when you're there, but you
never forget it.  It gets in your blood.  You get away from it, but
you'll always love it and it'll always draw you back."

Then he would tell me of the orange woman and the sellers of pins and
needles.

"Five sheets a penny, pins," he sang out;

"All neat and middlings'; then there were the vendors of what he called
'green stuff, which was mainly watercress gathered' in the fields on to
which, in those days, the city had not encroached.

"Why there were fields just beyond Portland nace-meadows and woods;
and there were market gardens too, so there was plenty of green stuff
about.  Woorter creases," he shouted.

"All fresh and green.

Funny, when I talk of it, it all comes back fresh to me.  Most clear in
my memory is Easter time.  Good Friday was what I thought of as the Day
of the Buns.  It was the Just thing I thought of when I got up on Good
Friday morning.  It was the day of the buns.  "

He began to sing:

"One a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns, If your daughters won't eat
them, give them to your sons.

If you ain't got any of those pretty little elves, Then you can't do
better than to eat them up yourselves.

"We used to go round singing that with our trays of buns on our
heads."

I was fascinated.  I had never met anyone like him.  He talked all the
time about himself.  That didn't worry me because I wanted to hear and
I was getting a glimpse into a world hitherto unknown to me.

"I was born to make money," he said.  The Midas Touch, that's what I've
got.  Ever heard of that.  Miss Jessie?  Everything he touched turned
to gold.  That was how it was with old Ben Henniker.  If I tossed with
a pie man I'd be the winner.  You know what was done, don't you?  There
was the pie man with his tray of pies.  You tossed your penny.

"Heads," he'd say, for the pie man always called heads.  And sure
enough if it was old Ben's penny, it would come up tails.  So I kept
the penny and had the pie.  Other people-they'd lose every time.  Never
me.  A proper gambler I was then and have been ever since.  I found
selling things was the answer.  You find something people want and they
can't do without and you bring it out much better and, if you can,
cheaper than the next man.  You get the idea?  Even when I was only
fourteen I knew how best to sell things.  I knew where to get the
cheapest and give the best value -sheeps' trotters, pigs' trotters,
whelks, sherbet, ginger beer and lemonade.  I had a coffee stall once,
and when I got the idea of making gingerbread it seemed I was set fair
to make my fortune.  I hit on the idea of making it in fancy
shapes-horses, dogs, harps, girls, boys .  the Queen herself with her
crown on her head.  My mother made 'em and I sold 'em.  It got so big
we had a little shop right there on the Ratcliffe Highway, and a fine
shop it was.  The business grew and we were more comfortably off. 
Then one day my mother died.  Right as rain one day and gone the next
She just dropped dead on the floor when she was making her gingerbread
fancies.  "

"What did you do then?"

"I got me a lady friend.  She hadn't got the touch, though.  Pretty as
paint but a fiery temper, and she couldn't make the shapes and the cake
wasn't right either.  Business fell off and she left me.  I was
seventeen years old then, and I took a job in a gentleman's home
looking after the horses.  One day they went visiting friends in the
country.  It was my job to ride there at the back of the carriage, and
when we stopped I'd jump out and open the door and see the ladies
didn't muddy their skirts.  Oh, I was very handsome in those days.  You
should have seen my livery.  Dark blue with silver braid.  All the
girls would look twice at me, I can tell you.  Well, one day we went
out visiting in the country, and where do you think we came to-the
little village of Hartingmond.  And the house we called on was named
Oakland Hall."

"You were calling on the dave rings!8 .

"Quite right, but calling in a humble capacity, you might say.  I'd
never seen a house like that.  I thought it was just about the most
beautiful place I'd ever seen.  I went round to the stables with the
coachman, and we looked after the horses and then got ourselves
refreshed while we talked to the stable men of Oakland Hall, and they
were very superior, I can tell you."

"How interesting!"  I cried.  That must have been years ago.  "

"Long before you were born.  Miss Jessie.  When I was seventeen or
eighteen and that's a good many years ago.  How old do you think I am "
Older than Xavier .  lots older, but somehow you seem younger.  "

The answer seemed to please him.  Tou're just as old as you feel.

That's the answer.  Ifs not how many years you've lived, ifs how
they've left you.  Now I reckon I've lived mine pretty well.  It was
more than forty years ago that I first set eyes on this place, and do
you know, I never forgot it.  I remember standing there in those
stables and feeling the age of it.  That's what I liked-all those stone
walls and the feeling that people had been living there hundreds of
years, and I said to myself:

One of these days I'm going to have a house like Oakland^ Hall and no
one's going to stop me.  In six months' time I was on my way to
Australia.  2 To look for opals," I cried.

"No.  I hadn't thought of opals then.  I was after what every.

one else was after-gold.  I said to myself: I'll find gold and I won't
rest until I we made my little pile and when I've got it I'll come home
and buy myself such a house.  And that's why I went to Australia.

What a journey!  I worked my passage.  I'll never forget that trip.  I
thought it would be the end of me.  Such storms we had, and the
ship-she nearly turned turtle, she did, and I thought it would be all
hands to the pump and save the women and children first.  I couldn't
believe it when I stepped ashore.  That sun!  Those flies!  Never seen
neither like it before.  But something told me it was the place for me,
and I swore there and then that I wouldn't come home till I was ready
to buy me a house like Oakland Hall.  "

"And you did, Mr.  Henniker."

"Call me Ben," he said.

"Mr.  Henniker makes me sound like someone else."

"Ought I to?  You're very old."

Not when I'm with you.  Miss Jessie.  I feel young and gay.  I feel
seventeen again.  "

"Just as you did when you stepped ashore at Sydney."

"Just like that.  Well, I was certain I was going to be rich.  So I
worked my way across New South Wales to Ballarat and there I panned for
gold."

"And you found it and made your fortune."

He turned his hands over and stared down at them.

"Look at them," he said.  *A bit gnarled, eh?  Not the hands of a
gentleman of leisure, you'd say.  Those hands don't fit Oakland Hall.
Nor does anything else, as far as you can see.  But something inside me
fits.  " He tapped his chest.  There's something in here that loves the
old place as it couldn't have been loved more by all the grand ladies
and gentlemen who lived here.  They took it for granted.  I won it, and
I love it because of that.  Never take anything for granted.  Miss
Jessie.  If you do you might lose it.  If ifs worth cherishing, cherish
it.  Think how I snapped up Oakland Hall."

"I am thinking," I said.

"So you made your fortune."

"It wasn't done in a night Years it took.  Disappointments,
frustrations ... that was my lot.  Shirting from place to place ...
living in the fields, staking my claim ... I remember the trek out of
Melbourne.  There they were-a ragged army, you might say-a crowd of us
all marching off to the Promised Land.  We knew that some of us were
going to strike it rich and others were going to die disappointed men,
but which of us?  Hope marched with us on that journey, and we all

3i thought we'd be the chosen ones.  Some of us had wheel" barrows
carrying our load, some took what they had on their backs ... across
the Keilor Plains, through forests where the fires had blazed, making
you shiver, for the first time realizing something of what these fires
meant, never being quite sure whether some bushranger was going to
spring out on us and murder us for our bit of tucker.  We'd camp at
night Oh, it was something-singing round the campfires ... all the old
songs from Home we used to sing and I'm not going to say that there
weren't some of us glad of the darkness so no one could see the tears
in our eyes.  And then on ... to Bendigo then ... living in a little
calico tent.  I sweltered there one summer and longed for the cool
weather, but when it came with the driving rain and the mud I was
longing for the sun again.  Hard days-and there was no luck at
Bendigo.

It was Castlemaine where I had my first big find-not enough to make me
rich but an encouragement.  I banked it in Melbourne right away.  I
wasn't spending it on drink and women like so many did and then be
surprised at the short time it lasted.  I knew all about that.  It
wasn't bought women for me.  It had to be love, not money.  That's a
wise way and you don't squander your hard-earned gold.  But I'm talking
out of turn.  You can see why the Qaverings didn't want to know me. 
"

This Clavering does," I assured him.

"Well, I'm beginning to discover she's a most unusual young lady.  Now
where was I ?"

Tour women.  for love, not money.  "

"We'll skip them.  It was Heathcote and after that to Ballarat.  I
wasn't a poor man any more-nor yet a rich one.  I had time to look
about and ask myself which way now.  It's a funny thing-there's
something about mining-finding something the Earth has to offer.  It
gets in your blood.  You've got to Know what's under that hard crust of
earth.  It's not only for the money.  When men talked of money out
there they thought of gold.  Gold!  It's another name for money, you
might say.  But there's other things besides gold, as I wastoifind."

"Opalsl' I said.

Tes, opals.  At first it was just a bit of fossicking.  There I was
with a nice little bit in the Melbourne bank and I thought I'd go on a
trek into New South Wales .  just to take a look at the country, you
might say.  I was in the Bush camping, at nights .  when I fell in
with a party who were looking for opal.  Oh, not like proper gougers,
oh no. Just a bit of fun.

Weekend fossickers, you'd call them, just going out to see what
beginner's luck would bring them.

"What you looking for, mates?"  I asked and they answered "Opal."

"Opal," I said, and I thought: Not for me!  I was always a man to look
for my market whether it was saveloys and pigs' trotters or gold and
sapphires.  Well, to cut a long story short, as they say, I went along
with them for a bit of fossicking.

All I had was a couple of picks-one was a driving pick, the other a
sinking pick.  Then I had my shovel and a rope and what we call a
spider, which is a sort of candlestick-for you may have to work in the
dark.  You want a snip too .  that's a sort of pincers for snipping off
the useless potch.  Oh, I can see I'm getting a bit too technical for
you, but with a name like yours you'll want to know.  "

"And you found opals?"

"Nothing to speak of ... fossicking.  That just gave me the taste for
it.  But I knew I had to go on, and within a month I was a proper
gouger.  Then I started to get my first real finds.  I just knew as
soon as I held it in my hands and it winked and twinkled at me that it
was opals I was going after.  Funny, you know.  They say there's a
story in each stone ... Nature's pictures.  I could show you
something"

He looked at me and laughed.

"I'm going to show you.  You're going to come and see my collection.
We're not going to go on meeting out here, are we ?"

"It seems the best way," I said, visualizing what would happen if I
introduced him to my parents or Miriam and Xavier.

He winked.

"We'll find a way.  Leave it to me."  He was laughing again.

"I do talk, don't I?  And all about myself.  What do you think of me,
eh ?"

"I think you're the most exciting person I ever met.8 " Here!  " he
cried.

"It's time I went in.  Next time you come to the house, eh?  I'll show
you some of my most predous opals.  You'd like that, wouldn't you ?"

Tes, I would, but if they knew.  "

"Who's to know?"

Servants talk.  "

Tou can be sure they do.  Well, let 'em, I say.  "

"I should be forbidden."

He winked again.

"What do people like us care for a bit of forbidding, eh?  We're not
going to let them stop us, are we?"

They could forbid me to see you.  "

p. p. 33 b

"Leave it to me," he said.

"When shall I see you again?"

Tomorrow I have visitors so it won't be then.  Business, you see-and
they'll be with me for a while.  Say next Wednesday.  You come and walk
boldly up the drive to the front porch.  They'll be expecting you, and
they'll bring you straight to me and I'll entertain you in a fashion
worthy of one of the Claverings.  "

I was so excited I could scarcely thank him.

Later I thought it would be the end, for we couldn't possibly keep my
visits a secret.  But I had a whole week to anticipate it.

2.

OAKLAND HALL

That week seemed a long time in passing for I was eager to hear more of
Ben Henniker, who had shown me in our two meetings a different kind of
world and made my own life seem colourless in comparison.  I was not
sure whether it was what he had to tell me or his manner of telling
which made it so vivid to me, but I could picture myself in a calico
tent fighting off the flies in the heat of the sun, wading through the
mud and panning in the creeks.  I could feel all the frustration of
failure and the wonderful excitement of success.  But that was gold. 
It was opal that I should look for.  I could picture myself holding my
candle, peering into crevices, gouging out the opal-the beautiful
iridescent stone, the lucky stone which gave the gift of prophecy and
which told a story, nature's story.

I never stopped congratulating myself on being at the stream that day
when the chair came hurtling along and I had been able to save Ben
Henniker from an accident which I had already convinced myself would
have been certain death.  I could have liked him for that alone and he
would have liked me for saving his life, but there was more to it than
that.  There was something in our natures that matched each other.

That was why it was so irksome to wait.

I would sit by the stream and hope he would come in his chair.

"I know it was next Wednesday we were to meet," he would say, 'but to
tell the truth I thought it was too long to wait.  "

Then we would look at each other and laugh.

But it didn't happen like that.  I just sat at the stream and nothing
happened.  I could see him so vividly, for his conversation had
conjured up one image after another; I thought of the sun's beating
down on him and what would have happened if the rock which had fallen
on him had been a little heavier and had killed him.

Then I should never have known him.

That started me thinking of death, and I was remembering the graves in
the churchyard and they reminded me of the raised earth in the Waste
Land where the archangel grew.  Was it really a grave, and if so,
whose?

It was no use sitting and staring across the stream.  He wouldn't
come.

He had visitors who would perhaps be people who had come to buy or sell
opals.  I pictured them with a decanter of wine or whisky between them,
filling then- glasses as soon as they were empty (for I was sure Ben
Henniker drank heartily).  He was the sort of man who would do
everything with a special gusto.  They would talk together and laugh a
great deal and perhaps discuss the opals they had found or bought or
sold.  I wished I were with them.  But I had to wait until next
Wednesday and it was a long way off.

Sadly I stood up and wandered, aimless, along the stream and so I found
myself in the Waste Land kneeling by the grave.

Oh yes, it was a grave.  There was no doubt of that.  I started to pull
up the weeds which grew there and after I had worked for a while it was
clearly revealed.  It was not a dog's grave.  It was too big for that.
Then I made a startling discovery.  A stake protruded slightly from the
earth, and when I seized it and pulled it up, I saw that it was a small
plaque and on it was a name.  I knocked off the earth and what was
revealed made me feel as though icy water were trickling down my spine,
for on that plaque was my own name-Jessica-simply Jessica Clavering.

I sat back on my knees studying' the plaque.  I had seen such used
before on the graves in the churchyard.  They were put there by those
who could not afford the crosses and angels holding books on which were
engraved the virtues of those who lay beneath them.

In that grave lay a Jessica Clavering.

I turned the plaque over and there I could just make out some
figures.

'1880' and above it "Ju ..."  the other two letters were obliterated.

This was even more disturbing.  I had been born on the 3rd of June,
1880, and whoever lay in that grave not only bore my name but had died
at the time of my birth.

Momentarily I had forgotten Ben Henniker.  I could think of nothing but
my discovery and wonder what it meant

I found it impossible to keep this to myself and as Maddy was the
obvious one to approach, I waylaid her as she was going into the
kitchen garden to cut curly kale for dinner.

"Maddy," I said, deciding to come straight to the point, 'who was
Jessica Clavering?  "

She smirked.  Tou haven't far to look for that one.  She's her who asks
too many questions and was never known to be content with the answer.
"

That one," I said with dignity, 'is Opo2 Jessica.  Who is just
Jessica?"

"What are you talking about?"  I began to notice the signs of
agitation.

"I mean the one who is buried in the Waste Land."

'now look here.  Miss, I've got work to do.  Mrs.  Cobb's waiting for
her curly kale.  "

Tou can talk while you're cutting it.  "

"And am I supposed to take orders from you?"

Tou forget, Maddy, I'm seventeen years old-That's not an age to be
treated like a child.  "

Them that acts like children gets treated as such.  "

"ICs not childish to take an interest in one's surroundings.  I found a
plaque on the grave.  It says " Jessica Clavering" and when she
died."

"Well, now get from under my feet."

"I'm nowhere near them and I can only presume that since you behave
like this you have something to hide."

It was no use talking to her.  I went to my room and wondered who else
would know about the mysterious Jessica, and I was still thinking of it
when I went down to dinner.

Meals were dreary occasions at the Dower House.  There was
conversation, but it never sparkled.  It usually centred round local
affairs, what was happening at the church and to people of the village.
We had very little social life and that was entirely our own fault for
when invitations came they were declined.

"How could we possibly return such hospitality?"  Mama would cry.

"How different it used to be!  The Hall was always full of guests."  At
times like that I would find myself watching my father, who would pick
up The Times and cower behind it as though it were some sort of
shield, and often he would find an excuse to get away.  I once pointed
out that if people invited guests they didn't necessarily ask for
anything in return.

"You are socially ignorant," said Mama;

then with resignation: "How could we expect anything else after the
manner in which we have had to bring you up."  And I would be sorry I
had given here another opportunity for reproaching my father.

On this occasion we were seated round the table in the really rather
charming dining-room.  The Dower House had been built at a later period
than Oakland Hall, for it had been added in 1696 and there was a plaque
over the porch to confirm this.  I had always thought it a beautiful
house and it was only when compared with the Hall that it could be
considered small.  It was built of brick with stone dressings, and the
roof sprang from a carved cornice which, with the mullioned windows,
gave great charm.  The dining-room was lofty, although not large, and
from its long windows we had a view of the lawn, which was Poor
Jarman's pride.

We sat at the mahogany table with its cabriole legs, which had once
been at Oakland Hall.

"We were able to salvage some pieces," Mama had said, 'but to bring all
the furniture from the Hall to the Dower House was impossible so we had
to let some of it go.  " She spoke as though they had all been
sacrificed, but I reckoned Mr.  Henniker had paid a high price for
them.

My father was at the head of the table saying scarcely anything; my
mother at the other end kept a sharp eye on Maddy who had to serve at
meal times in addition to her other duties a fact which Mama found more
distressing than Maddy ever did and on my mother's right hand was
Xavier and on one side of my father Miriam and on the other myself.

Xavier was saying that the summer's drought had not been good for the
crops and he was sure that when we did need the ram it wouldn't come.

This was said every year, and somehow the harvest was safely gathered
in and there were great marrows and sheafs of wheat decorating the
church to show that the miracle had happened again.

"When I think of the land we used to own ..."  sighed Mama.

It was the sign for my father to clear his throat and talk brightly
about how much less rain there had been this year compared with last.

"I remember what disaster there was last year," he said.

Most of Yarrowland crops were under water.  " This was a mistake
because Yarrowland was a farm on the Donningham estate, and it had
reminded Mama of Lady Clara.  I looked at Xavier to watch his
reactions.  He gave no sign that he was wounded, but then Xavier never
would because he was the sort of man who considered it ill bred to show
his feelings.  I wondered whether that was why he found it so difficult
to show Lady Clara that he really did want to many her.

The Donninghams can take disaster in their stride," said Mama.

"They retained their fortune throughout the generations."

That's true enough," my father agreed in the resigned way which implied
he wished he hadn't spoken.  I was sorry for him, and to change the
subject I blurted out: " Who was Jessica Clavering?  "

There was immediate silence.  I was aware of Maddy, standing by the
sideboard, a dash of curly kale in her hands.  Everyone at the table
was looking at me and I saw the faint colour begin to show under Mama's
skin.

"What do you mean, Jessica?"  she said impatiently, but I knew her well
enough to realize that this time the impatience was to hide
embarrassment.

"Is it some joke?"  said Miriam, her lips, which seemed to grow thinner
with the passing of the years, twitching slightly.

"You know very well who you are."

"I'm Opal Jessica.  And I often wonder why my first name is never
used."

Mama looked relieved.

"It's not very suitable," she said.

Why did you give it to me.  then?  " I demanded.

Xavier, who was the sort who always came to the rescue when he could,
said: "Most of us have names we'd rather not own to, but I suppose when
we were born they seemed suitable enough.  In any case, people get used
to names.  I think Jessica is very nice, and as Mama says, it's
suitable."

I was not going to be side-tracked.

"But who is this Jessica who is buried in the Waste Land?"  I
insisted.

"Buried in the Waste Land?"  said Mama tetchily.

"What's that?  Maddy, the kale will be getting cold.  Do serve."

Maddy served, and I felt frustrated as I had so many times before.

Miriam was saying: "I hope Mrs.  Cobb has given it an extra boiling.
Did you think it was a little tough last time.  Mama?2 " It was and I
did speak to Mrs.  Cobb about it.  "

"You must know," I said.

"You couldn't have someone buried so near the house and not know.  I
found a stake with her name on it."

"And what were you doing in this-as you call it-Waste Land?"  demanded
Mama.  I knew her tactics.  If she was ever in a difficult situation
she retaliated by going into the attack.

"I often go there," I told her.

"You should be better employed.  There is a whole stock of dusters to
be hemmed.  Isn't that so, Miriam?"

"Indeed it is.  Mama.  There is much waiting to be done."

"It always seemed to me a wasted effort," I grumbled.

"Hemming dusters!  They collect the dust just as well without the
stitching."  I could never resist stating an obvious fact, no matter
how irrelevant.

This gave my mother the excuse she needed to go off on one of her
sermons on industry and the need to give the poor as good as we took
ourselves, for the dusters-made from old garments which had passed
their usefulness and were cut up for the purpose-were distributed to
the poor.  If we could no longer afford to give them shirts and
blankets we could at least cling to some of the privileges of the upper
classes.

Xavier listened gravely--so did Miriam, and my father, as usual, was
silent while the cheese -was brought in and.  eaten.  Then my mother
rose from the table before I had time to pursue the matter of the grave
and the plaque.

After the meal I made my way straight to my bedroom, and as I was
mounting the stairs I heard my parents talking in the hall.

My father was saying: "She'll have to know.  She'll have to be told
sooner or later."

"Nonsense,!"  retorted Mama.

I don't see how.  "

"If it hadn't been for you it would never have happened."

I listened, shamelessly straining my ears for I knew they were talking
about Jessica's grave.

They went into the drawing-room and I was as bewildered as ever.  It
seemed that everything came back to the fact that my father had gambled
away the family fortune.

As Wednesday approached I forgot my curiosity about the grave in the
Waste Land in my excitement at the prospect of visiting Ben Henniker at
Oakland Hall.  In the early afternoon I set out and as I turned into
the drive it struck me as strange that I should be a visitor to what so
easily might

have been my own home.  Oh dear, I thought, I sound like Mama!

Oaks-solid, proud and beautiful-grew on either side of the drive which
wound round-a fact which had caused me some irritation in the past
because I had been unable to see the house from the road, but now I was
glad of it.  It added a sort of mystery and as soon as I had rounded
the bend I was out of sight, which was useful in case anyone might be
passing and saw me.

When I saw the house I caught my breath in wonder.  It was
magnificent.

It had always looked interesting seen through the trees from the
stream, but to come face to face with it and have nothing impeding the
view was thrilling.  I could even understand and forgive my mother's
years' old rancour, for having once lived in such a place it would be
hard to lose it.  It was Tudor in essence although it had been
renovated since those days and added to so that there were hints of
eighteenth century here and there.  But that lovely mellow brickwork
was essentially Tudor, and it could not have been much different in
those days when Henry VIII had visited Oakland Hall, as I had heard my
mother say he did on one occasion.  The tall dormer windows, the
projecting bays and the oriels might have been added later, but how
graciously they merged, defying criticism by their very elegance.  The
gate tower had been untouched.  I stood awe struck looking up at the
two flanking towers with the slightly lower one in the centre.  Over
the gateway was a coat of arms.  Ours, I supposed.

I went through the gateway and was in a courtyard, where I was facing a
massive oak door.  The ancient bell was fixed on the door.  I pulled it
and listened delightedly to the loud ringing.

It could only have been a second or so before the door was opened, and
I had the feeling that someone had watched my approach and was ready
and waiting.  He was a very dignified gentleman and I placed him at
once as the Wilmot of whom I had heard.

"You are Miss dave ring he said before I could speak and somehow he
made the name sound very grand.

"Mr.  Henniker is expecting you."

I seemed to grow in stature.  I had caught a glimpse of the engraving
by the carved fireplace, and as your own name will appear to leap at
you from a number of others I was aware of dave ring there and I was
thrilled by the implication that I was a member of that family which
had once belonged to this house.

"If you will follow me.  Miss Clavering..."

I smiled.

"Certainly."

As he led me across the hall I was aware of the big refectory table and
the pewter dishes on it, the two suits of armour, one at each end of
the hall, the weapons that hung there, the dais at the end towards
which he was leading me and where there was also a staircase.

Did I imagine it or did I hear a faint murmur of voices, the slight
hiss of whispering and the scuffle of feet?  I saw Wilmot look up
sharply and I guessed we were being observed.

Wilmot, realizing that I had been aware of something, no doubt thought
it would be foolish to ignore it.  A faint smile touched his lips.

"You will understand.  Miss Clavering, that this is the first time we
have received a member of the Family, since ..."

"Since we were obliged to sell," I said bluntly.

Wilmot winced a little and bowed his head.  I realized later that in
anyone outside the family this coming to the point and calling a spade
a spade would have been considered bad taste.  I wondered then how Ben
Henniker and Wilmot got on together.  There was little time for such
thought for I was anxious to take in everything.  I was led along a
corridor and up another staircase.

"Mr.  Henniker will receive you in the withdrawing-room, Miss
Clavering."

He opened a heavy oak door panelled-with linenfold.

"Miss Clavering,"

"he announced, and I followed him in.

Ben Henniker was seated in his chair, which he wheeled towards me.  He
was laughing.

"Ha!"  he cried.

"So you're here!  Well, welcome to the old ancestral home."

I heard the door shut discreetly behind me as I went forward to greet
Ben.

He continued to laugh and I joined in.

"Well, it is funny, don't you think?"  he said at length.

"You, the visitor.  Miss Clavering-Miss Opa/ Jessica Clavering."

"It's certainly extraordinary that I should be named Opal and it was
opals that brought you all this."

"A little gold thrown in," he reminded me.

"Don't forget I did very well with that.  Come and sit down.  I'll show
you the place later."  His shoulders shook with secret merriment.

I shall begin to think you asked me just for the pleasure of showing a
Clavering the family mansion

"Not only that.  I enjoyed our meetings and I thought it was time we
had another.  We'll have some tea ... but later.  Now did you tell your
family you'd made my acquaintance?"

No.  "

He nodded.

"Wise girl.  Do you know what they'd have said ?  You're not to darken
his doors nor is he to darken ours.  Better for 'em not to know, eh
?"

"Far better."

"It saves a lot of argument."

"It also saves a lot of forbidding and disobeying."

"I can see you're a rebel.  Well, I like that, and as you've found out
I'm a wicked old man ... or if you haven't you soon will.  So I may as
well tell you in the early stages of our friendship."

I was laughing with that laughter of pleasure.  So this was the first
stage of our relationship, and I was going to enjoy more and more of
his stimulating company.

"So you would encourage me to come here even if my family forbade
it?"

"I certainly would.  It's good for you to learn something of the ways
of the world, and you'll never learn much if you're going to cut out
this one and that one because they're not nice to know.  You want to
know those that are nice and those that are not so nice.  That's why
it's good for you to know me.  I'm the wicked man who made his pile and
bought the house that wasn't meant for his kind.  Never mind.  I won
this with the sweat of my brow and the toil of my hands ... with my
driving pick and my sinking pick, with my shovel and my spider ... I
won this house and I reckon I've a right to it.  This house represents
to me the goal.  It's like the finest opal ever gouged out of rock.

It's the green flash of an opal.  "

"What's that?"  I asked.

"You mentioned it before."

He paused for a moment and his eyes were dreamy.

"I said that, did I?

The Green Hash.  Never mind.  I won all this just as I meant to when I
was a young shaver dressed up in livery at the back of the carriage a
flunky, you might say, who's getting his first peep at the kind of life
he's going to have one day.  Now you .  what are you?  You're one of
them, see?  We're on different sides of the fence.  But you're not one
of them, are you .  deep down inside?  You're not just shut in with
your cramped ideas that won't let you look outside your blinkers. 
You're free.  Miss Jessie.  You sent your blinkers flying long ago.  "
He winked at me. That's why we get along together .. like a bush fire
we get along.  I'm going to take you into my own special hideaway.  I
can tell you I don't let many see inside there since ... Well, I'm
going to show you something so beautiful you'll be glad you're named
after it."

"You're going to show me your opals ?"

That's one thing I wanted you to come for.  Now you follow me.  "

He wheeled his chair across the room, in the corner of which was a
crutch; he reached for this and hoisted himself out of the chair.  He
opened a door and I saw that there were two steps leading down into a
smaller room, which was beautiful with panelled walls and leaded
windows.  There was a cupboard, which he unlocked, and inside this was
a steel safe.  Twirling knobs, he opened the safe and took out several
flat boxes.

"Come and sit down at the table," he said, 'and I'll show you some of
the finest opals that have ever been gouged out of rock.  "

He sat down at a round table and I drew a chair to sit beside him.  He
opened one of the boxes inside which, lying in little velvet hollows,
were the opals.  I had never seen such beautiful gems.  The top row was
of great pale stones which flashed with blue and green fire; those on
the next row, also of remarkable size, were darker-blue, almost
purple-and in the last row the stones had a background which was almost
black and the more startling because they flashed fire with red and
green lights.

There," he said, 'your namesakes.  What do you think of them?  I see.

Speechless.  That's what I thought.  That's what I hoped.  Keep your
diamonds.  Keep your sapphires.  There's nothing anywhere in the world
to beat these gems.  You agree with me, don't you ?  "

"I have never seen a great many diamonds or sapphires," I said, 'so it
wouldn't be fair for me to be so sure, but I can't imagine anything
more lovely than these.  "

"Look at her!"  he commanded as, with a gnarled finger, he gently
touched one of the stones.  It was deep blue and there was a touch of
gold in it.

"She's known as the Star of the East.  They've got names, these opals.
The Star of the East!  Couldn't you see her, there in the sky just
before the sun rises and shuts off her light.  It must have been
something like her that the wise men saw on that Christmas night years
and years ago.  I tell you this: she's unique.  They're all unique,
these opals.  You'll find others that you think are just like them,
then you'll see your mistake.  They're like people, no

two alike.  That's one of the marvels of the universe .  all those
people .  all those opals .  and no two exactly alike.  And sometimes
you find something like the Star of the East and you think of all
you've suffered .  for believe me a gouger's life is no picnic .  and
you say it was all worth while.  Now, for him who owns the Star of the
East, it tells him the best is yet to come, for the Star is rising, you
see, and wasn't it there to announce the birth of the Christ child? 
"

"So your best is yet to come, Mr.  Henniker?"

You're to call me Ben.  Didn't I tell you ?  "

Tes, but it's hard to get used to when you've been brought up not to
call grown-up people by their Christian names.  "

"In here we don't care what was done because someone said it should be
without rhyme or reason.  Oh no.  We do what's right for us, and I'm
Ben to you as I am to all my friends and I trust you're one of them."

"I want to be... Ben."

That's the ticket, and that's the idea.  The best is yet to come for me
while I've got the Star of the East.  "

I put out a finger and touched it.

That's right," he said.  Touch it.  Look at the light on the stone. And
that's not the only one.  Here's Pride of the Camp.  A fine piece of
opal there.  Not quite up to the Star of the East, but a fine gem. She
came from White Cliffs in New South Wales.  A roaring camp, that was. 
Some prospector had been there and moved on; then some fossickers came
by and started to tap round as fossickers do.  And what happened? He
finds opal... not potch ... oh dear me, no.  Real precious opal. What a
find for a fossicker.  Before the month's out there's a camp there and
everyone's gouging like made.  I was caught up in it.  It was my luck
to hit on Pride of the Camp."

"Do you sell them?"  I asked.

He was thoughtful for a moment.

"Well, that would seem to be the object, but there sometimes comes a
stone that no matter what it can bring you, you just can't sell.  You
get a sort of feeling for it.  It belongs to you and you only.  You'd
rather have it than all the money in the world, and that's plain
straight."

"So all these you are showing me are stones which you felt like that
about?"

That's it.  Some are there for their beauty and some for Other
reasons.

Look at this one here .  See the green fire in it?  That cost me my
leg. " He shook his fist at it " You cost me dear, my beauty," he went
on, 'and for that reason I keep you.

She's got fire, that one.  Just look at her sitting there.  She cares
nothing for me.  She says, "Oh, if you want me, take me but don't start
counting the cost."  I call her Green Lady, for that was the name of a
cat I once had.  I'm rather fond of cats.  They've got a sort of
disdainful pride that I like.  Have you ever noticed the grace of a
cat? How it walks alone?  It's proud.  It never cringes.  I like
that.

This cat I had was called Lady.  It suited her, that name.  She was a
lady, and her eyes were as green as the green you see in her namesake
there.  So that's why I won't let her go, though she cost me my leg and
you might think I wouldn't like to be reminded.  There she was glinting
at me in the candlelight .  and I had to have her though the roof fell
in and crippled me.  "

I took up the Green Lady in my hands and studied her.  Then I laid her
gently back in her soft velvet case.

"And look here.  Miss Jessie.  Look at this heart-shaped cabochon.  See
the violet in it.  It's Royal Purple, this one.  Look at the colour.
Fit for a royal crown she is."

I was fasdnated, and he opened more boxes and I saw a variety of stones
from the milky kind flashing their reds and greens to the dark blue and
black variety with their stronger colours.

He talked about them all, pointing out their qualities, and I was
caught up in his enthusiasm.

One box he took out was empty.  It was smaller than the others, for it
was meant to "cushion one single stone, and in the centre of the black
velvet was a hollow somehow almost accusing in its emptiness.  He
stared at it in a melancholy way for some moments.

What was there?  " I asked.

He turned to me.  His eyes had narrowed, his mouth hardened and he
looked murderous.  I stared at him, astonished by this change of
mood.

"Once," he said, 'the Green Hash at Sunset was there.  "

I waited but said nothing.  His jaw protruded and his mouth was set and
angry.

"It was a specially beautiful opal?"  I ventured.

He turned to me, his eyes blazing.  There was never such a beauty," he
cried.

"No, never such an opal in the whole world.  It was worth a fortune,
but I would never' have parted with it.  You'd have to see it to
believe this, but you'd know it if you did.  The green flash ... it
wasn't there all the time.  You had to watch for it.  It was the way
the light caught it

. and the way you held it.  it was something about you as well as the
stone.  "

"What happened to it?8 " It was stolen," he said.

"Who stole it?"

He was silent.  Then he turned to look at me, his eyes narrowed.  I
could see how the loss of the stone upset him.

"When was it stolen ?"  I prompted.

"A long time ago."

"How long?"

"Before you were born."

"And all that time you never found it?"

He shook his head.  Then he snapped the box shut.  He put it back in
the safe with the others, and when he had locked the safe he turned to
me and laughed.  But there was a slightly different note in his
laughter than there had been before.

"Now," he said, 'we're going to have some tea.  I told them to bring it
precisely at four.  So let us go back there.  " He pointed to the
drawing-room.

"You can pour out and entertain me, which is somehow right and fitting
as you're the Clavering.  " The spirit lamp and silver teapot were
already there, with plates of sandwiches, scones and plum cake.  Beside
Wilmot stood a maid.

"Miss dave ring will pour out," said Ben.

"Very good, sir," replied Wilmot graciously; and I was glad when he and
the maid had retired.

"All very ceremonious," said Ben.

"I confess to you I've never quite got used to it.  Sometimes I say: "
Enough of that I" You can imagine how a man feels when he's boiled his
own billy-can and cooked his own damper round' a campfire.  Today's
special, though.  Today's the day when the first Clavering comes to be
my guest."

"But not a very important one, I'm afraid," I said with a laugh.

"The most important.  Never underestimate yourself.  Miss Jessie.
People are going to think you're not up to much if you think that way
yourself.  You've got to find a nice way between because it doesn't do
to be too big for your boots nor for your hat.  Then they won't fit."

I asked him how he liked his tea, poured out, and when I carried it to
him, he smiled at me appreciatively.  I set his cup and plate on a
table by his chair and felt very pleased with myself as I took my place
behind the silver teapot.

Tell me about this Green Hash at Sunset," I said.

He was silent for a second or so and then he asked: "Have you ever
heard of the green flash.  Miss Jessie?"

"Only this afternoon."

"I don't mean the opal ... that other green flash.  They say that
there's a precise moment when the sun goes down- just before it
disappears-that there is a green flash on the sea.  You can only see it
in tropical seas and then conditions have to be exactly right.  Ifs a
rare phenomenon.  It's beautiful and exciting to see.  People watch for
it; some never catch it at all.  If you as much as blink your eyes you
could miss it.  It's there and it's gone and you hardly know it's
been.

You've got to be in the right spot at the right moment, looking in the
right direction, and you've got to be quick to see it.  I saw it
once.

It was on the voyage back to England from Australia.  There I was on
deck, and it was sunset time.  I was watching that great ball of fire
drop into the ocean.  It's different in the tropics.  There's little
twilight like we have here.  And there was this peaceful scene .  no
cloud and the great sun so low that I could just bear to look at it.

Then it was gone and there was this green flash.

"I've seen it," I cried out loud.

"I've seen the green flash."  Then I went and looked at my opal.  It
was very valuable, the finest opal of all.  I remember on that journey
home I carried it about with me.  I'd look at it now and then just to
assure myself that it was there.  Now this opal reminds you of the
green flash at sea.  You'd look at it, you'd see its beauty, you'd see
the red and blue flashes.  There was a darkening of colour right across
it so that it looked like the meeting of land and sea, and there was
such red fire in it that it was like the sun, and if you were looking
at the right moment and you were holding it at a certain angle and the
light was right, suddenly the red would seem to disappear and then
you'd see the green flash.  First I believe it was called the Sunset
Opal and then when I had caught the green flash that was it.  She
couldn't be anything else but the Green Flash at Sunset.  "

"And you loved it best of all your stones ?"

There was never one like it.  I'd never known that green flash in a
stone before.  You had to watch for it.  It was something that was
rare, and you'd got to be ready for it.  It was like no other green and
if you missed it you might not get the opportunity again.  "

"Did you never find out who took it 1' I had my suspicions.  In fact
everything pointed to him, the

young devil.  By God, if I could lay my hands on him .  " He seemed to
be lost for words, which was rare with him, and he was for the moment
unaware of me.  I guessed he was back in that time when he had opened
the box and found the opal gone.

I went over to him, took his cup and brought it over to refill it; and
when I handed it back to him I said softly:

"How did it happen, Ben ?"

"It was here," he said, 'in this house.  " He pointed over his shoulder
to the room we had just left.

"I hadn't had the place long then.  I was anxious to show it off for I
had a great pride in it.  It was more than just a house.  Thafs how
you'd feel about a place like this.  I reckon your family felt it.
Well, their loss was my gain.  I used to have people to stay here
because I wanted to say: " Look what I've got.  This is what all these
years of toil and disappointments have got for me.

Success at last" Some of them had never seen a place like this.  It was
pride, pride going before a fall, as they say.  Look what I've got.

Look at my mansion.  Look at my opals.  We went in there .  " He
pointed to the study door.  There were four of us and on this occasion
I brought out my opals just as I have for you and that was the last I
saw of the Green Flash at Sunset.  I put her back in her box and put
that in the safe.  The next time I went there, the box was in its place
all the opals were there except one-the Green Flash at Sunset."

"Who had stolen it?"

"Someone who knew the combination of the safe.  It must have been."

"And didn't you know who it was ?  There was one young man.  He
disappeared.  I never saw him again, although I searched for him.  He
was dearly the one who had the Green Rash."

"What a wicked thing to do There are wicked people in the world.

Never forget it.  Funny thing was, I'd never have thought it of him. 
He had that dedication, that determination which almost always ends in
success.  But when he set eyes on the Green Flash, that was his
downfall.  You see, there'll never be another like her.  She's the
Queen of Opals.  The way you had to look for the flash and it never
came for some, you see what I mean.  And I'd lost her forever.  "

"Surely the police could find him."  - "He was far away in next to no
time.  Sometimes I tell myself that one of these days I'm going to
find him and the Hash."

"Do you think he sold it?"

"It wouldn't have been easy.  She'd have been recognized.  Every dealer
knew her and would have reported the sale.  He may have taken her with
him ... just to keep her to himself.  She had a terrible fascination
for everyone who saw her.  In spite of all the tales of bad luck,
everyone who laid eyes on her wanted her."

"What tales, Ben?8 " Well, you know how these things get round.  She
was unlucky, they said.  There'd been one or two people who'd owned her
and misfortune had come to them.  The Green Flash meant death they used
to say.  "

"So you didn't find it in the first place, then ?"

"Oh dear me no.  It had passed through other hands before mine.  You
might say I won it."

"How did you do that?"

"I was always a bit of a gambler.  Take a chance, that's me.  I'd
always keep a reserve though.  I've never gambled to my last coin, like
some.

I liked to be rich and then do my gambling from there, if you know what
I mean.  There was old Harry Wilkins who'd got this stone, and from the
moment he showed it to me I wanted it.  I'd fallen under its spell, you
might say, and I was bent on getting it.  Ill luck dogged Harry.  They
said it was the stone.  His son had never been much good and one night
he went out and never came back.  He was found with his neck broken.
He'd always drunk too much.  Old Harry went to pieces after that.  He
was a great gambler.  He'd take a bet on anything.  A couple of
raindrops falling down a window pane.

"I'll bet you a hundred quid the right one gets to the bottom first,"
he'd say.  He just couldn't help it.  Well, I wanted that stone and it
was about all he'd got because this son of his had robbed him right and
left before he died.  To cut a long story short he staked the Green
Flash for a fortune.  I took the gamble and won.  He shot himself a few
weeks later.

Disaster follows the Green Flash, they used to say.  "

"And what about you ?"

"I wouldn't believe in the curse."

"You lost the stone so perhaps you escaped it " One day she'll be back
where she belongs.  "

You talk about the Green Hash as though she were a woman.  "

That's how she was to me.  I loved her.  I used to take herj out and
look at her when I was downcast.  I'd watch for the' flash and I used
to say to myself: "Times will change.  You'll;

find happiness as well as stones, old Ben.  " Thafs what she's telling
you."

Suddenly it seemed as though he could no longer bear to talk of his
loss and he started telling me of the days when he had been a young man
and had done what he called 'a bit of fossicking' and how he had first
felt the lure of the opal.  Then he said he reckoned I'd like to see
the house, and as he was not able to get around as fast as he'd like,
he'd tell one of the servants to take me.

Much as I disliked leaving him, I did want to see the house, and as I
hesitated-which seemed to please him-he said:

"You'll come again.  We must make a point of these meetings, for
there's one thing that's certain sure.  You and I have quite taken a
fancy to each other.  I hope you agree with my feelings."

"Oh I do, and if I can come again and hear more, I'd love to see the
house now."

"Of course you would and so you shall.  Then you can think what it
would have been like if you'd lived your life here as you would have
done if one of these get-rich-quick johnnies hadn't come along and
grabbed the ancestral home."

"I shall always be glad of that now," I assured him, and he looked very
pleased.

He pulled a bell-rope and Wilmot appeared immediately.

"Miss dave ring would like to see the house," said Ben.

"One of you must show her round."

"Very good, sir," murmured Wilmot.

"Just a minute," cried Ben.

"Let Hannah do it.  Yes, Hannah's the one."

"As you say, sir."

I went to Ben's chair and took his hand.  Thank you.  I have enjoyed it
so much.  May I really come again?  4 Next Wednesday.  Same time.  "

Thank you.  "

His face looked strange for a second.  If he had been anyone else I
should have said he was about to cry.  Then he said:

"Off with you.  Hannah will show you round."

I wondered why he had selected Hannah.  She was the one who interested
me most She was a tall, spare woman with rather gaunt features and
large dark eyes which seemed to

bore right into me.  She was clearly gratified that she was the one
who had been chosen to show me round.

"I was with your family for five years," she told me.

"I came here when I was twelve years old.  Then I stayed on, and when
they went they couldn't afford to keep me."

That happened with so many, I'm afraid.  "

"Would you care to start at the top of the house.  Miss Clavering, and
work down?"

I said I thought that seemed an excellent idea, and together we climbed
the newel staircase to the roof.

"You can see the turrets best from up here.  And look what a fine view
of the countryside."  She looked at me intently.  There's a good view
of the Dower House.  "

I followed the direction in which she was looking and there it was
nestling among the trees and the greenery.  The house looked like a
doll's house from here.  The clean lines of its architecture were very
obvious and the smooth lawn looked like a neat square of green silk.  I
could see Poor jar man working on the flowerbeds.

"You have a better view of us than we have of you," I commented.

"In summer Oakland House is completely hidden."

"I often come up here and look round," said Hannah.

"You must have seen us in the garden now and then."

Oh, often.  "

I felt a little uneasy at having been watched by Hannah.

"Do you prefer it now to the days when my family were here?"

She hesitated, then she said: "In some ways.  Mr.  Henniker goes away a
lot and we have the place to ourselves.  It seems funny that ... at
least it did at first, but you get used to most things.  He's easy to
work for."  I could see that she was implying that my mother was not.

"Miss Miriam was only a girl when she lived here," she went on.

That was a long time ago.  Before I was born.  "

They won't be pleased to hear you've been here.  Miss, I reckon.  "No,
they won't," I agreed and added: "If they find out."

Mr.  Henniker is a very strange gentleman.  "

"Unlike anyone I've ever known," I agreed.

"Well, you just think of the way he came here.  Who'd have thought a
gentleman like that would take a place like this?"

We were silent for a while contemplating the view.  My eyes kept going
back to the Dower House.  Poor Jarman had

5i

straightened himself up as Maddy came out and started io| talk to
him.

I was amused that unbeknown to them I could I watch them.  I Shall we
go in now.  Miss dave ring suggested Hannah, 'y I nodded and we
descended the circular stairs and entered , a room- I admired the
moulded beams of the ceiling, the ;

panelled walls and the carved fireplace.

There are so many rooms like this that you lose count of them," said
Hannah.

"We don't use them all even when there's a house party."

"Is there often a house party?"

"Yes, gentlemen come to talk business with Mr.  Henniker.  At least
that's how it was.  I don't know if it will be the same since his
accident."

"I suppose they come about opals."

"All sorts of business Mr.  Henniker's engaged in.  He's a very rich
gentleman.  That's what we say is so good about being here ... in the
servants' hall, I mean.  There's never all this talk about economizing,
and wages come prompt, not ..."

"Not like it was when my family was here."

Most of the gentry have their money troubles, it seems.  I've talked to
others in houses like this.  But someone like Mr.  Henniker .  well,
he's got to have a lot of money to buy the place, hasn't he, so it
stands to reason he can afford to keep it up-not like someone
inheriting it and finding it's a drain.  "

"I see that it must be a great comfort to work for Mr.  Henniker after
my family."

"It's all so different.  Mr.  Wilmot's always saying it's not what he's
used to, and I reckon he sometimes hankers for a house with more
dignity.  But it's nice to know your wages are there ... on the dot
just when they're due, and there doesn't have to be all this pinching
and scraping.  He never locks up the tea or anything like that ...
never asks to see Mrs.  Bucket's accounts, but I reckon he'd know fast
enough if there was any fiddling."

We had come to a gallery.

"Once," she went on, 'there were pictures of the family all along here.
They were taken away, and Mr.  Henniker never put up pictures of his
own.  A gallery's not a gallery without pictures of the family, Mr.
Wilmot says, but we don't know much about Mr.  Henniker's.  "

The gallery was beautiful, with carved pillars and long i narrow
windows, the stained glass of which threw a lovely glow over the
place.  There were curtains of rich velvet at intervals round the
walls. They hid the part which wasn't panelled, Hannah explained.

They say this is haunted," she told me.  There always has to be one
haunted room in a house like this.  Well, this is it.  No one's seen or
heard anything since Mr.  Henniker's been here.  He'd frighten any
ghost away, I reckon.  They used to say that they could hear music here
coming from the spinet that was once there.  Mr.  Henniker had it
shipped out to Australia.  It meant something special to him, I heard.
Mrs.  Bucket says it's a lot of fancy.  Mr.  Wilmot believes it though,
but then he'd think that any family that didn't have a ghost wouldn't
be fit for him to work for."

"But he works for Mr.  Henniker now."

"It's something of a sore point."

We went on with our tour of exploration and, as Hannah had said, there
were so many rooms of the same kind that it would be easy to lose
oneself.  I hoped that if I visited Mr.  Henniker frequently I should
be able to see it all again and enjoy exploring at my leisure.  Hannah
was not the most comfortable of guides because whenever I looked at her
I would find her eyes fixed on me as though she were assessing me.  I
put this down to > the fact that I was a member of the family she had
once served.  However, I couldn't stop thinking of her looking down on
to the Dower House and watching me.

I admired the carved fireplaces which had been put in during
Elizabeth's reign; their theme was scenes from the Bible, and I picked
out Adam and Eve and Lot's wife being turned into a pillar of salt and
felt very ignorant when others had to be explained to me.

I thought the solarium delightful, with its windows facing south and
its walls covered in tapestry, which had no doubt been sold to Ben
Henniker by my family, and I pictured my mother pacing up and down here
in the gallery while they discussed how they could possibly go on
living here.

Finally we came down to the hall and passed through a vestibule to what
Hannah called the Parlour.

"In the very old days," she explained, 'this was where guests were
received.  " The walls were panelled, the windows leaded, and there was
a suit of armour in a corner.

"Right at the other end are the kitchens with the buttery and pantry
and that sort of thing.  That's the Screens end of the hall.  You'll
want

to see them.  Some of them go right back to the days when the house
was built and that was long enough ago, goodness knows.  "

She led me back across the hall to what she called the Screens a door
which shut off the servants' quarters from the hall and I was in a vast
kitchen.  An enormous fireplace took up almost the whole of one side. 
In this were bread ovens, roasting spits and great cauldrons.  There
was a big table with two benches, one on either side;

two armchairs-wide and ornate were placed at each end of the table, and
I later learned that one of these was occupied by Mrs.  Bucket and the
other by the butler, Mr.  Wilmot.

As I entered the kitchen I was aware of whispering voices.  I knew that
I was being watched from some vantage point.

A large woman came smiling into the kitchen followed by three maids.

Hannah said: This is Miss dave ring Mrs.  Bucket.  "

"How do you do.  Mis Bucket," I replied.

"I have heard of you."

"Is that so?"  she' asked pleased.

"Maddy who is with us often mentions you."

"Ah, Maddy, yes.  Well, Miss Qavering, this a great day for us to have
one of the Family here."

"It is wonderful for me to be here."

"Well," said Mrs.  Bucket, 'perhaps this is going to be a beginning. 
"

I felt a little embarrassed because they were all assessing me.  I
wondered whether they were thinking that a Clavermg who had been
brought up in a Dower House was not quite a true one.  After all, I had
never known the grandeurs of a house like this.

"I'll never forget the day the Family told us they were going.  Lined
up in the Hall we were ... even the stable boys."

Hannah was signalling to Mrs.  Bucket, but I blessed the plump cook for
I could see that she was one who could not stop herself talking and
that the sight of me in the kitchen -a dave ring-had brought back such
memories that she could not stop herself recalling them.

"Of course, we'd heard it before.  Money, money, money ... It was
affecting people all over the place.  There was talk of this income tax
and how it was ruining everybody.  They'd ;

already cut down in the stables.  The horses they had when;

I first came here!  And the gardeners!  That's where the cuts | always
have to come first .  the stables and the gardens.  I' said as much to
Mr.  Wilmot, which he will tell you is the truth if you will ask him. 
I said to him.  "

"It's a long time ago, Mrs.  Bucket," interrupted Hannah.

"It seems like yesterday.  Why at that time you wasn't born, Miss
Clavering.  When we heard that a gentleman coming from Australia had
bought the place, we couldn't believe it.  You ask Mr.  Wilmot.  But it
was so, and then it was all different and the dave rings went to the
Dower House and we wasn't on speaking terms.  And now..."

"Miss Clavering has become acquainted with Mr.  Henniker," said Hannah
firmly, 'so he asked her to tea with him.  "

Mrs.  Bucket nodded.

"And did you enjoy the scones.  Miss Clavering?  I always remember Miss
Jessica..."

Hannah was staring at Mrs.  Bucket as though she were Medusa herself. 
I could see that she was imploring her to be discreet.

But I was not going to allow that.  I said: "Miss Jessica?  Who was
she?"

"Mrs.  Bucket meant Miss Miriam.  She loved the scones.  Don't you
remember, Mrs.  Bucket, how she'd come down to the kitchen while you
were baking them?"

"She said Miss Jessica," I insisted.

"She gets muddled sometimes over names, don't you, Mrs.  Bucket?  This
is Miss Jessica.  It was Miss Miriam and Mr.  Xavier who used to love
your scones.  I reckon that Mrs.  Cobb's are not a patch on yours."

"Nobody's was a patch on mine," said Mrs.  Bucket emphatically.

"I thought they were delicious," I said, but I was asking myself why
she had said Miss Jessica.

Hannah asked quickly if I would like to see the stables.  I said I
thought I'd better not, for it had just occurred to me that though my
visits were supposed to be secret, some of the servants would certainly
talk, so the fewer I saw the better.  I could imagine my family's
consternation if it was discovered that I had become friends with Ben
Henniker.  I was seventeen years old, still a minor and I had to obey
orders to a certain extent, rebel that I was.  It was therefore better
for the time being to keep my visits as secret as possible and the
fewer people I saw the better.

I said it had been very interesting and I told Mrs.  Bucket that I was
glad to have made her acquaintance, and when I had thanked Hannah for
showing me the house I left.

I felt they were watching me as I walked down the drive

SS

and was glad when I reached the bend, although then I was exposed to
the road and wondered what would happen if Miriam, Xavier or my parents
came along at that moment.  They did not, however, and I reached the
Dower House unobserved.

I kept thinking of what Mrs.  Bucket had said about Jessica and the
scones and I went straight to the Waste Land and found the plaque which
I had stuck back into the ground with the name showing: jessica
glaveeung ju .  1880.

She must be the Jessica of whom Mrs.  Bucket had spoken.

All through the hot month of August I went to Oakland Hall.  It was not
only on Wednesdays because Ben said he disliked regularities.  He liked
unexpected things to happen, so he would say: "Come on Monday" or "Come
on Saturday."  And sometimes I would say: "Well, that's the church fete
day'-or some such engagement-'and they'd miss me."  Then we would make
another date.

He seemed to be showing progress and could walk about more easily with
the aid of his crutch.  He made jokes about his false leg and called
himself Ben Pegleg and said he reckoned he'd do as well with wood as
most people did with flesh and blood.  He used to hold my arm and we
would walk along the gallery together.

Once he said to me: There ought to be family pictures here.  That's
what a gallery's for, they say.  My ugly face wouldn't add much to it. 
"

"Ifs the most interesting face I have ever seen," I told him.

The face in question twitched at that.  Underneath his tough exterior
he was a very sentimental man.

He always talked a great deal and I had vivid pictures of what his life
had been.  He made me see the streets of London clearly and I could
picture him with his bright eyes darting everywhere, discovering the
best way of selling his wares and always being one step ahead of the
rest.  He spoke often of his mother and he was very tender then.

dearly he had loved her dearly.  Once I said to him: "Ben, you should
have had a wife."

"I wasn't the marrying sort," he replied.

"Funny thing, there was never one who was there at the right moment.
Timing plays a big part in life.  The opportunity has to be there;

when you're in a position to seize it I'm not going to tell' you there
weren't women.  That would be a falsehood and we want truth between us
two, don't we?  I'd be with Lucy for a year or so and then just when
I'd be thinking it was time I made it legal, something would happen to
change it all.  Then there was Betty.  A good woman, Betty, but I knew
it wouldn't have worked with her either.  "

"You Could have had some sons and daughters to fill the gallery."

"I've got the odd one or two," he said with a grin.

"At least they claim me as father ... or did when I began to grow
rich."

"Perhaps they would have claimed you if you were a poor man."

"Who's to say?"

And so we talked.

I was friendly with the servants too.  Mrs.  Bucket had taken me to her
heart.  She liked to discover how Mrs.  Cobb did certain things and
questioned me closely.  She would sit nodding in a superior way with a
smirk on her lips as I talked, and I was sure she was unfair to Mrs.
Cobb.

"Old Jarman would have done better to stay," she commented

"Look what he got.  A cottage and enough children to fill it to
overflowing, if you ask me.  He would have been better to stay and wait
for another five years.  He'd have had five less to feed then."

Wilmot after a while accepted my visits to the servants' hall.  I was
sure he worked it out that although I was a dave ring I was not really
an Oakland Hall dave ring for I had not been bora in the great vaulted
chamber where other Claverings had first viewed the world, but in a
foreign land.  It had lowered my status in some way, and although he
treated me with respect it was tempered with a certain condescension

I was amused and Ben and I used to laugh a great deal over it, and I
would wonder how I had endured the monotony of my life in pre-Ben
days.

It was as we were approaching the end of August that Ben made me
uneasy.  We were taking our stroll along the gallery and he was now
dearly able to walk quite easily with the aid of his crutch.

"If this goes on," he said, "I'll be off on my travels next year."  He
was aware of my consternation and hastened to reassure me.

"It won't be this side of Christmas.  I've got a lot more practice to
do yet."

"It will be so dull here without you," I stammered.

He patted my arm.

"Ifs a long way off.  Who can say what will happen by Christmas?"

"Where would you go?"  I asked.

"I'd go up to my place north of Sydney ... not far from the opal
country where I'm sure there are more finds to be made."

Tou mean you'd go mining again "Ifs in my blood."

"But after your accident..."

"Oh, I'm not sure that I'd go off with my pick.  I didn't mean that. My
partner and I have mines out there that we know are going to yield.

We've got men working for us.  "

"What's happening to all that now ?"

Oh, the Peacock's looking after it.  "

The Peacock?  "

Ben began to laugh.

"One day," he said, 'you'll have to meet the Peacock.  The name suits
him.  "

"He must be vain."

"Oh, he's got a good conceit of himself.  Mind you, I'm not saying it's
not warranted.  Ever seen a peacock's feather ... that blue ...
unmistakable.  He's got eyes that colour.  Rare, you know, deep,
darkish blue, and my goodness can he flash them when he's in a rage.
There's not a man in the Company who would dare cross the Peacock. That
can be very useful.  ~I know he'll take care of everything while I'm
away.

Why, if it wasn't for the Peacock I wouldn't be here now.  Dursn't
be.

I'd have to be back there.  You've no idea how wrong things can go. 
"

"So you can trust this Peacock?"

"Seeing the closeness of our relationship, I reckon I can."

Who is he then?  "

"Josslyn Madden.  Known as Joss or otherwise the Peacock.  His mother
was a very great friend of mine.  Oh yes, a very great friend.  She was
a beautiful woman, Julia Madden was.  There wasn't a man in the camp
who didn't fancy her.  Jock Madden was a poor fish who ought never to
have been out there.  Couldn't manage a job or hold a woman.  Julia and
I were very fond of each other.  And when young Joss came along there
wasn't a shadow of doubt.  Old Jock was incapable of getting children
anyway."

"You mean this Peacock is your son?"

That's about it.  " Ben began to laugh.

"I'll never forget the day.  All of seven he was.  I'd built Peacocks
at that time ... it might have been about five years before.  I'd got
the peacocks on the lawn and the house had its name.  Julia used to
come over to see me.  She was thinking of leaving Jock and coming for
good.  Then one day on the way over her horse fell; she was thrown and
the fall killed her.  Jock married again.  She was a tyrant, that one.
No one would have her, even though there was a shortage of women, so
she took Jock because he didn't know how to say no.  Caught proper, he
was.  Our young Peacock didn't like the household at all, so he
promptly packed a bag and one day there he was walking across the lawn,
frightening the peacocks, marching along like any swagman.  They
brought him to me, and he told me: " I'm going to live here now for
ever.  " Not, may I?  but I am!  That was Joss Madden aged seven and
that's Joss Madden today.  He makes up his mind what he wants and
that's how it's going to be."

"You're fond of him, Ben.  I can see you admire him."

"He's my son ... and Julia's.  I can see old Ben in him in lots of
ways.  There's nothing makes you admire people like seeing yourself in
them."

"So he stayed at Peacocks and he became so vain that people called him
the Peacock, and he's ruthless and he's your son."

Thafs about the ticket' "And is he one of those about whom you say he
claims you as his father when you grew rich?"

"At seven I don't know how knowledgeable he was about wealth.  I think
perhaps he just hated his home and liked the peacocks.  He paid more
attention to them than he did to me.  He used to strut round the lawns
with them.  Then he became fascinated by opals particularly those with
the peacock colourings.  He took an interest right from the start and
when Joss takes an interest it's a big one.  I know the place is safe
with him.  He could soon manage it all without my help.  But the urge
comes over me to be out there.  Sometimes I dream I'm there ... going
down the shaft... down, down into the underground chambers .. and there
I am with my candle and the roof a mass of gems ... lovely opal
flashing red, green and gold ... and right at the heart of it another
Green Flash."

"It's unlucky, Ben," I said.

"I don't want any harm to come to you.

You're rich.  You've got Oakland.  What does it matter about the Green
Flash ?  "

I'll tell you one of the nicest things I've found since I lost the
Flash," he answered.

"Well, that's you."

We didn't speak for some time.  We just stumped along

the gallery, but he had started misgivings in my mind and I knew the
day would come when he would go away.

Sometimes I used to feel that there wasn't much time.  If Ben went away
I should no longer have an excuse for visiting the Hall, and there was
so much I wanted to know before that happened.

I had learned a little about opals and how they were gouged from the
earth.  I had my own mental picture of the roaring camps he had talked
of and the lives of the people who lived in them; I could picture the
excitement when a brilliant gem was discovered; but I had learned more
than that.

There was nothing Mrs.  Bucket liked more than for me to go down to her
kitchen, and I always made a point of doing this.  I had discovered how
little I knew of my own family and I often thought that Miriam, Xavier
and my parents were like shadow figures moving about in a dimly lighted
room;

the lights had been dimmed when my father's gambling lost them Oakland
Hall.

Mrs.  Bucket's main delight was to cook little delicacies for me so
that I could compare them with the kind of fare Mrs.  Cobb put on our
table.

I think she had a kind of guilt complex because she had not gone with
us to the Dower House.  She liked to talk about the past, and from her
I learned that Mr.  Xavier had been a 'bright little fellow.

"Mind you, at the time of the trouble he was getting his education.  He
liked my cooking.  Used to call me Food Bucket."  She purred and shook
her head.

"Nothing disrespectful, mind.

"Of course you're Food Bucket," he used to say.  "because nobody can
make food taste like you do."  Eat.  He could eat.  Miss Miriam could
be a little tartar now and then.  When she was a little thing I caught
her more than once stealing the sugar.  Fifteen years old she was when
she came to me and she said:

"Mrs.  Bucket; we've got to leave Oakland."  And she was near to
crying, she was- and I don't mind telling j you I was too.  Now, Miss
Jessica"

What a deep silence there was before Hannah said: "Have you made those
currant buns for tea, Mrs.  Bucket?1 " Who was Jessica?  " I asked.

Mrs.  Bucket looked at Hannah and then she burst out:

"What's the good of all this pretending?  You can't keep that sort of
thing dark forever."

Tell me," I demanded rather imploringly, as though I were an
Oakland-bred dave ring 'who was Jessica ?"  ;

There was another daughter," said Mrs.  Bucket almost defiantly.

"She came between Miriam and Xavier."

"And she was called Jessica ?"  I went on.

Hannah bowed her head.  It was tantamount to agreement "Why is there
this secrecy?"

They were silent again, and I burst out: "It's all rather foolish."

Hannah said sharply; "You'll know in time.  Ifs not for us..."

I looked at Mrs.  Bucket appealingly.

"You know," I said.

"Why shouldn't I?  What happened to this Jessica?"

"She died," said Mrs.  Bucket.

"When she was very young ?"  I asked.

"It was after they left Oakland," Hannah told me, 'so we wouldn't know
much about it.  "

"She was older than Miriam, and Miriam was fifteen when they left," I
prompted.

"About seventeen," said Hannah, 'but it's not for us .  Mrs.  Bucket
shouldn't have.  "

"I'll do what I like in my own kitchen," said Mrs.  Bucket.

This is no kitchen matter, "protested Hannah.

"I'll thank you not to be impudent to me, Hannah Gooding."

I could see that they were making a quarrel of this to avoid telling
me.  But I was going to find out.  I was determined on that.

I left the Hall and went to the churchyard and looked at all the
graves.  There was only one Jessica Oavering among them, and she had
died about a hundred years before at the ripe age of seventy years.

Then I went to the Waste Land.  There it was-the grave and the plaque
engraved with her name and the date Ju .  1880.

So this is where they buried you, Jessica," I murmured.

3.

A LETTER FROM THB DEAD

The next day when I was sitting by the stream Hannah appeared on the
other side of it, carrying a package.

"I wanted to speak to you.  Miss Clavering," she said.

"All right, Hannah.  I'll come over."  As I crossed the bridge I
noticed how solemn she was looking.

6x "I've been thinking the time has come for me to give you this," she
said.

"What is it?"  ( "Ifs something that was given to me to be given to you
when the time came or on your twenty-first birthday-which ever came
first, and I reckon, after all that's been said, that the time is
now."

I took the packet which she thrust into my hands.

What is it?  " I repeated.

"It's writing.  It was written to you and given to me When ?  And who
gave it to you ?"

"It's all in there.  I hope I've done what was right She hesitated for
a moment, her brow puckered in consternation then she turned and
hurried across the bridge, leaving me standing there with the large
envelope in my hands.  I opened it and pulled out several sheets of
paper on which someone had written in dear neat writing.

I glanced at the first page.

"My darling child.  Opal," it began.

"It will be many years after I write this that you will read it, and I
hope when you do you will not think too badly of me.  Always remember
that I loved you, and that what I am going to do, I do because it is
the best way out for all of us.  I want you to know that my last
thoughts were of you ..."

I could not understand what this meant, so I decided to take the papers
to the Waste Land where few people ever came and there, close to the
grave of Jessica, I started to read.

"I shall start right at the beginning.  I want you to know me, because
if you do you will understand how everything happened I think in every
family there is one who is different, the one in the litter who doesn't
bear much resemblance to the rest They called it a win nick I believe.
Well, I was like that.  There was Xavier who was so clever and good at
lessons and ready to help everybody; and there was Miriam who could get
up to mischief but mostly when I led her into it.  Miriam was
malleable; she could be moulded any way and would at times be a model
child.  I was always a bit of a rebel.  I used to pretend I was a ghost
and play the spinet in the gallery and then go and hide when people
came to look so that the rumour started that the gallery was haunted
and the servants wouldn't go up there alone.  I used to flatter Mrs.
Bucket into making the special cakes which I liked and she would always
bake an extra one for me.  I was Papa's favourite, though not Mama's.
Papa taught me how to play poker.  I shall never forget Mama's face
when she came to his study and found us there with the cards in our
hands.  I think it must have been then that I first realized the uneasy
state of affairs in our household.  She stood there, so dramatic that I
wanted to burst out laughing.  She said: " Fiddling while Rome's
burning!  " I said: " This isn't fiddling.  Mama.  It's poker.  " She
cried: " I wonder you're not ashamed.  " And she picked up the cards
and threw them into the fire.

"Now ifs cards they are burning, not Rome," I said, for I could never
guard my tongue and words always slipped out before I could stop
them.

Mama lifted her hand and slapped me across the face.  I remember the
shock it gave me because it showed how distraught she was.  Usually she
was calm and her reproaches were verbal.  Papa was shocked too.  He
said sternly:

"Never lift your hand against the children again."  Then it came out:

"And who are you to tell me how to behave?  You are teaching our
daughter to be as dissolute as you are.  Cards, gambling ... and
gambling means debts, which is why we are in the position we are in
today.  Do you realize that the roof needs immediate repair?  There is
water seeping into the gallery.  There is dry rot under the floor
boards in the library.  The servants have not been paid for two
months.

And what is your answer?  To teach your daughter to play poke ri "I was
standing there, holding my face where she had slapped it.  Papa said
pleadingly: " Not in front of Jessica, please, Dorothy.  " And she
answered: " Why not?  She will know soon enough.  How long before
everyone knows that through your gambling your fortune away .  and
mine. we cannot afford to go on like this.  "

"I saw the Queen of Hearts writhe in the flames and then Mama had gone
and Papa and I were alone together.

"I don't know why I should tell you this.  Ifs irrelevant really.  But
I do want you to know something of me.  Opal, and what our lives were
like.  I don't want to be just a name to you.  I want you to try to
understand why things happened as they did, that's why I'm writing all
this down.  Perhaps I shall tear this up when I've finished.  Perhaps I
shall decide that there is no need for you to know it.  Perhaps ifs
just making excuses.  However, just at first I will write whatever
comes into my head, and that scene in Papa's study seems to me in a way
a beginning, because if it hadn't been for the fact that we had to sell
Oakland Hall it would never have happened the way it did.

"It wasn't long after that that there were scenes quite often.  It was
always money.  Money was wanted to pay for this and that, and it wasn't
there.  I knew Papa was wrong.  It was some devil's streak in the
family which had come down and was in him.  He used to talk to me about
it in the long gallery, where he would show me pictures of his
ancestors and explain what they were noted for.  There was Geoffrey,
born three hundred years before, who had nearly brought us to ruin.
Then there was James, who had gone to sea and was a sort of buccaneer.
He had filched treasure from Spanish galleons and we grew rich on them.
Then there was Charles, who gambled again.  This was at the time of
Charles I, and then came the war and we were naturally for the King yet
managed to live somehow through the Commonwealth until the Restoration
when we acquired more land and riches because we had been loyal to the
monarchy.  For a hundred years we lived in comfort and then came Henry
dave ring the greatest gambler of them all-friend of George, Prince of
Wales, a dandy and a spendthrift.  We never recovered from him,
although in the early part of this century we made an effort to.

Papa's father, however, inherited the family failing and then it was
passed on to Papa himself.  Two generations running of gamblers was
more than Oakland could take.  That was how it came about that there
was one course open to us.  We had to sell Oakland.

"I was sixteen at the time.  It was so depressing.  Papa was so
miserable that I feared he would take his life.  Mama was bitter.  She
kept saying it need never have happened.  We had to sell not only the
house but so much that was precious in it.  The lovely tapestries, some
of the silver and furniture.  Then we went to the Dower House.  It's a
beautiful house, Xavier kept saying, but Mama wouldn't hear of it and
grumbled continually.  Nothing was right, and I used to hate the way
she reproached Papa.  She would bring it into everything that
happened.

As if it wasn't bad enough!

"We all seemed to change.  Xavier was much quieter; he didn't reproach
Papa, but he was withdrawn.  We kept one farm and he managed that, but
it was different from the large estate we had had.  Miriam was fifteen
and our governess was dismissed, so Mama taught her.  I was considered
old enough to dispense with lessons, and Mama said we must help in the
kitchen, learning to bottle fruit and make preserves; we must try to be
useful, for the type of man who might be expected to marry us would be
very different from those who would have come our way had the
recklessness of our father not driven us from our home.  Miriam caught
my mother's bitterness.  I never did.  I understood the irresistible
urge, the compulsion which had beset Papa.  I had that myself not for
cards, but for life.  I was of a nature to follow my impulses, to act
first and consider the wisdom of that act afterwards.  I hope you will
not grow up to be of that nature, dear Opal, because it can bring you
trouble.

AA Mr.  Ben Henniker, who had made a fortune in Australia, had bought
Oakland.  He was a friendly sort of man and one day called on us at the
Dower House.  I shall never forget it Maddy brought him into the
drawing-room where we were having tea.

' "Well, M'am," he said to Mama, "I thought that as we are neighbours
we ought to be neighbourly and as I'm having a little bit of a
gathering next week, it struck me you might like to join us."  Mama
could freeze people with a look-it was a habit she employed with the
servants and it worked as well in the Dower House as it had at Oakland.
None of the servants was ever allowed to forget that we were
Claverings, however depleted our worldly goods.

' "A gathering, Mr.  Henniker?"  she said as though he were suggesting
a Roman orgy.

"I'm afraid that is quite out of the question.  My daughters have not
yet come out and we shall most certainly be engaged on the date you
mention."

"I said: " I could go.  Mama.  " Mama's look froze the words on my
lips.

' "You are not free to go, Jessica," she said coldly.

"Mr.  Ben Henniker's face was quite purple with rage.  He said: " I
understand, M'am, you are engaged next week and will be any week if I
were to have the impertinence to invite you.  Have no fear.  You are
safe . you and your family.  You'll never be asked to Oakland Hall
while I'm there.  " Then he walked out.

"I was so angry with Mama for her rudeness because after all he had
tried to be friendly and it seemed absurd to me to resent him merely
because he had bought Oakland.  We had put it up for sale.  We had
sought a buyer.  I slipped out and ran after him, but he was half way
up the Oakland drive before I caught up with him.

"I wanted to say how sorry I am," I panted.

"I'm so ashamed that my mother spoke to you like that.  I do hope you
won't think badly of us all."

"He had such fierce blue eyes which were then blazing with fury, but as
he looked at me, slowly -he began to smile.

"Well,

p. p. 65 c

fancy that," he said.

"And you're little Miss Clavering, I reckon."

' "I'm Jessica," I told him.

' "You don't take after your mother," he said.

"And that's the nicest compliment I can pay you."

' "She has some good points," I defended her, "but they are a little
hard to recognize."

"He started to laugh, and there was that about his laughter which made
it impossible not to join in.  Then he said: " I like you for running
after me like this.  You're a good girl, Miss Jessica, you are
indeed.

You must come and see me in your old home.  What about that?  " He
almost choked with laughter.

"After all, she was only speaking for herself.

You come and meet some of my friends.  They're good people, some of
them.  It'll be an eye-opener for you.  Miss Jessica.  I reckon you've
lived in a cage all your life.  How old are you?  " I told him I was
seventeen.

"It's a beautiful age," he said.

"It's an age when you ought to be setting out on your adventures.  I
reckon that's what you want, eh?  You come over and see me sometime ..
that's if you think it's right and proper.  Don't you find life pretty
dull, living as you must have done?"

I told him that I hadn't found it dull.  There was a lot to interest me
in the country.  I liked to visit people and we had done a good deal of
that at Oakland.  As the squire's family we had had to see to the
welfare of our tenants; our days had been divided into sections:

lessons in the mornings, working on village affairs, sewing, talking,
making some of our clotjhes, planning the dances we would have when we
came out.  Alas, we hadn't come out into society-only out of Oakland
and our old life.  But I had never found it dull, and it was only when
Mr. Henniker opened a new vista for | me that I discovered how
wonderful the old life had been.  | "What an escape those visits to
Oakland Hall were ..."  | I paused in my reading and stared at the
grave before me, | and I was beset by an uncanny notion that my life
was ^ repeating an old pattern.  What had happened to Jessica was
happening to me.  I wanted to read on quickly, and yet I had to savour
these events as I went.  I felt it was important for me to know this
Jessica, to see her life unfold before me;

and that was what she wanted and was why she was telling me in such
detail.

I went on reading:

"Of course I was deceiving the family, though I did confide a little
in Miriam.  I used to wish I could take her to Oakland with me.  But I
knew that if I were discovered there would be terrible trouble and I
didn't want her involved because she was younger than I and I felt
responsible for her.  Miriam was so easily led.  When she was with me
she would be ready for a certain amount of mischief; in the old days we
had had a governess, a rather forceful lady who was secretly a
Buddhist; Miriam'was for a while in danger of becoming one too.  When
she was with Mama she would become snobbish and scornful of Papa for
bringing us down in the world.  I used to call her the Chameleon, for
she took her colour from whatever rock she was resting on.  Therefore I
hesitated about taking Miriam with me.  Instead I would satisfy myself
by telling her of my adventures as we lay in bed at night.  She would
listen avidly and applaud what I did, but I knew that if Mama pointed
out the wickedness of my actions she would immediately agree with her.
She was not in the least devious-just incapable of having a view of her
own.  Malleable-that was the only way to describe her.  When I watched
Mrs.  Cobb kneading the dough into cottage, wheat sheaf and farmhouse
loaves I would say to myself: That is just like Miriam; she will go
into whatever shape she is put.  It was different with Xavier, but who
would confide in him?  He felt very deeply about our change in fortune
and saw it as a disgrace to the family.  He had loved Oakland and had
naturally been brought up to believe it would be his one day;

therefore he necessarily felt a sense of outrage since it had been
taken from him, though he never abused Papa as Mama did; he was just
sad and withdrawn.  I used to feel very sad about Xavier, but of course
I didn't know him as I did Miriam.

"I'm digressing because I'm putting off what happened.  I do want you
to understand.  Please don't blame me and don't blame Desmond.  I met
him at one of Mr.  Henniker's gatherings.  I was frequently going to
the house and it soon seemed to me more like home than the Dower House
ever could be.  Life was so miserable there, mainly because Mama could
not stop baiting Papa.  Sometimes I wondered whether he might do her an
injury.  He was so quiet and calm that I could imagine he was plotting
against her, for there were times when I caught him looking at her
oddly.  There was a brooding tension in the house.  I sid to Miriam one
night when we lay in bed: " Something's going to happen.  You can feel
it in the air.  It's as though Fate's waiting to strike.  " Miriam

67 /

used to get frightened and so did 1. 1 little realized from what
direction the blow would come.

"I was going more often to Oakland and getting really reckless.  Mr.
Henniker always welcomed me.  Once when we were in the gallery I told
him how I used to play the spinet and frighten the servants.  He was
very amused and thereafter asked me to play for him.  He loved to sit
there listening while I went through most of the Chopin waltzes.  I
used to think it would go on like this always, that Mr.  Henniker would
always be there and interesting people would come to the house.  Then I
learned that this was not so and Mr.  Henniker's stays at the house
were brief.  He had what he called " a property" in New South Wales.
Oakland Hall was just a fancy, " a bit of folly if you like", he said.
He'd seen it when he was a boy and had vowed to have it, and he was a
man who believed in sticking to his vows.  I wish I could tell you how
he interested me.  I had never known anyone like him."

She didn't have to try to make me understand that.  I knew well enough
having experienced the same thing myself.

"As I was older than Miriam there had been a lot of talk about my
coming out before we left Oakland.  We had had little Minnie jobber
making dresses for me and I had some lovely garments made.  In
particular there were two pretty ball dresses.  I remember Mama's
looking at them when we knew we were going to leave Oakland and saying:
" You'll never need them now.  " One was more beautiful than the other;
it was in cherry-coloured silk trimmed with Honiton lace; it fell off
the shoulders, and I had a pretty neck and shoulders.  It had been cut
in that style for the sole purpose of showing them.

"Poor neck, poor shoulders," I used to say, "you will never be shown
off now."

"One could talk to Mr.  Henniker about anything so I told him about the
dress.  It was strange that he-a miner really and I suppose a rough
one-could understand how I felt about almost anything I mentioned.  He
said: " You shall wear the cherry dress.  After all, why should the
world be deprived of a glimpse of your divine neck and shoulders just
because your father was a gambler?  We'll have a ball and you shall
bring cherry red to it.  " I said I would never dare and he answered:

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained.  Never be afraid to dare."  Then he
laughed and said he was a wicked man who was leading his neighbour's
daughter from the strait and narrow path.  He laughed a good deal over
that.

"Strait and narrow paths are so restricting.  Miss Jessica," he
said.

"The wide open spaces are much more stimulating."  2 "Well, I digress
again.  I didn't intend to.  At first I meant this to be a brief
letter, but as soon as I took up my pen I felt impelled to write like
this.  I had to make you see it all.  I didn't want you to think I was
just a wanton.  It wasn't like that at all.

There was a house party at Oakland.  Ben Henniker often had them.  His
guests were mostly people who were in his business.  They used to come
bringing special stones to him.  He bought them afld sometimes sold
them; there was a lot of talk about opals.  I began to learn something
of how they were mined and marketed and found it fascinating.

"He told me there was to be a ball and that I must come to it and be
one of his guests.  It was thrilling, but I knew I couldn't put on my
cherry red dress and walk out of the house in it, so Ben suggested that
I smuggle cherry red (as he called it) into Oakland and then on the
night of the ball slip over and change into it there.  He would get one
of the maids to help me dress.  So this was arranged.

"What a night that was, for during it I met Desmond for the first time.
I must make you see Desmond.  Everyone was wrong about what happened
afterwards.  That is what I want you to understand more than anything.
It couldn't have been the way it seemed.  It just wasn't possible.

The gallery at Oakland looked beautiful with the musicians at one end
and decorated with flowers from the greenhouses.  It made a beautiful
ballroom with the candles flickering in their sconces.  It was like my
coming out ball and that was what Mr.  Henniker intended it to be.  He
once said: "I didn't mind taking Oakland from your father-he took a
gamble and lost.  I'm glad I took it from your mother because she
deserves to lose it.  I sometimes feel a twinge when I see your brother
looking so mournful, but he's a young man and he should be seeing what
he can do about getting it back, or some place like it.  But for you.

Miss Jessica, I'm right down sorry.  So now we're going to have a ball.
" It was an enchanted evening.  There had never been such an evening in
the whole of my life and never will be again, for it was at the ball
that night that I met Desmond.

"He was young ... not much older than I, but twenty-one seemed a
responsible age to me.  It was not a crowded ballroom because Mr.
Henniker had asked none of the people from the neighbourhood.  He told
me that he couldn't ask them because they would know me and that might
cause trouble.

This was to be my ball-the ball of the cherry red gown and the divine
neck and shoulders, he told me.  So there were the house guests only
and Oakland must have been rather full at that time, for there were so
many rooms which could be used for guests.  Right from the first
Desmond found me.  He asked me to dance and we did.  I wish you could
see the gallery as it was that night.  It was so beautiful .  so
romantic.  I expect over the centuries there have been many balls
there, but I was sure there was never one like that one.  He was tall
and fair-though his hair was considerably bleached by the sun.  He had
what I call Australian eyes, which meant that they were half closed and
had thick lashes.

"Ifs the sun," he told me.

"It's brighter and hotter than here.  You half shut your eyes against
it and I expect nature provides the lashes as a protection."  He talked
rather like Ben Henniker about opals.  He was fanatical about them.  He
told me what he had found so far and what he intended to find.  "There
never has been anything so fine as the Green Flash at Sunset," he told
me.

"Ben's got it.  You ought to ask him to show it to you some time."  I
wasn't interested in the Green Flash at Sunset.  I wasn't interested in
anything that night but Desmond.  Most of the other guests were older
than we were.  We danced together and talked and talked.

"He told me he intended to go back to Australia in about two or three
weeks' time.  He had been longing to get back because he had discovered
land which he was sure was opal country, and he wanted to go out and
prospect it.  Ben and some others were interested in the project; it
was going to need a good deal of money to develop it.  He had a feeling
about it.  Some of the old miners laughed at him.  They called it
Desmond's Fancy.  But he believed in it.  He was going to make his
fortune out of Desmond's Fancy.

' "I can feel it, Jessie," he said.  (He always called me Jessie.  )
"It's Opal Country.  Dry bush land ... flat ... lots of saltbush and
not much timber except the mulga-that's a sort of acacia-and mulga
grass too.  Ifs low-lying, scorched, eroded, with dry watercourses.  I
said to myself.  That land speaks for itself.  There's something
there-gold or tin perhaps, wolfram or copper, but something tells me
it's opal ... precious opal."  He talked in an exdted way .  rather
like Ben Henniker and I couldn't help being exdted too.

"We talked ... how we talked, and I only realized how the time was
flying when I heard the clock in the courtyard chime midnight.  When
the ball was over, Hannah helped me to change into my day dress.  She
was one of the servants who had stayed on at Oakland when we left.  She
hadn't been there very long and was about my age, which I suppose made
her understanding.  Maddy helped too.  She crept down the Dower House
stairs and let me in.  Without those two it would have been very
difficult for me.  The next day Hannah was to bring my ball dress
across the stream and I would be able to choose my moment to take it
into the house unobserved.  So there was only Miriam to placate.  That
was easy.  All she wanted was to hear about the ball so I told her. She
was completely on my side then and thought with me that it was a
wonderful adventure.

"When I brought the dress back next day there was a note from Desmond,
delivered by Hannah at the stream.  He must see me that afternoon.  Of
course I was there.  We walked through Oakland Park and talked and
talked and that night I went once more to Oakland to dine.  I knew the
servants were very pleased to see me there.  Hannah told me that I had
always been a favourite with them and that they enjoyed working for Mr.
Henniker, so the fact that I had become friendly with him even though
the rest of the family hadn't -pleased them.  Hannah said they talked
of little else in the servants' hall.

"They talked about you and Mr.  Desmond Dereham," she said.

"They think it's beautiful."

"And beautiful it was.  You guess, of course, that we were in love.  We
were absolutely sure before the first week was out that there couldn't
be anyone else for either of us.  It was true."  You must believe
that.

Opal, in spite of what happened.  I know they were all wrong.  I know
how it appeared.  But it couldn't be true.  I never believed it for one
moment.  not even the very worst and most tragic moment.  I knew it was
untrue.

"He didn't go back at the end of two weeks.  He kept putting it off.

When he went, he said, he would take me with him.  We would marry and
go out together.

"How will you like being a miner's wife, Jessie?"  he used to ask.

"Ifs not an easy life, but never mind, we'll make our fortunes just as
Ben has, and then everything you wish for shall be yours."  Every night
I would slip out across the bridge into the park and there he would be
waiting for me.  I couldn't describe the bliss of those September
nights.  I couldn't have managed without Maddy and Hannah.  They were
wonderful.  I must have been very deceitful for Mama never guessed, and
how I managed that I cannot imagine.

7i

We had planned it all carefully.  We were going to be married in three
weeks' time.  Desmond would get a special licence and afterwards we
would go to Australia together.  We had told no one .  not even Ben.

I was sure Ben would help us, but Desmond was not so sure.  Ben seemed
to think I was a fragile little doll who must not be subjected to the
hardships of life, and life in a mining camp was very different from
that lived in a gracious Dower House.  I knew this and I was
prepared.

So we put off telling anyone .  even Ben .  and then we came to that
terrible night.

"Desmond told me that several of Ben's associates were coming to
Oakland and very soon Ben himself would be leaving for Australia.  Such
knowledge would have upset me some time ago but now that I was to go to
Australia too I was glad that Ben would be there.  They would decide
about this project of exploiting the land which Desmond was so sure of
and discuss prospecting and setting up shafts.  Desmond was very
excited.

"There'll be Ben, myself and one of the leading opal merchants there,"
he told me.

"When we get the funds we shall start at once."  Because of this
conference which was to be held that night he wouldn't be able to see
me until the following afternoon, he told me.

Then he would be waiting by the stream as usual.

"But he never came.  I never saw him again.  What happened on that
night nobody really knew, but many thought they did.  Desmond had gone.
He had disappeared without saying goodbye to anyone, and the Green
Flash at Sunset had disappeared at the same time.

"You can guess what people said, for they were both missing at once.

They said there was only one answer-but it wasn't the right one.  I
know it wasn't.  I will never believe it was.  How could he have gone
like that without telling me?  We were going to be married in a few
weeks.  He was going to get the licence and I was going to Australia
with him, but he had gone without telling me, although we were to have
met that afternoon.  He had gone .  and the Green Flash at Sunset was
gone too.

"I waited for him the next afternoon.  Hannah came to me there.  She
had been crying.

"He's gone.  Miss Jessica," she said.

"He went last night or early this morning.  No one saw him go but he's
gone."

"Gone, Hannah!"  I cried.

"Gone where?"  Hannah shook her head, then she said angrily: "As far as
he can get from here.  He'd better.  He's taken the Green Flash opal
with him."  I cried out: "It's not true.  It can't be true.  " I "I'm
afraid it is," said Hannah mournfully and looking at me with such pity
in her eyes that I wanted to weep.  She went on: "It wasn't until
mid-morning that we discovered his^ bed hadn't been slept in.  We
couldn't make it out.  He'd taken his things with him though, and his
room was quite empty.  Then just when everyone was wondering why he
went off like that, Mr.  Henniker went to his safe for something.  He
knew right away that someone had been there ... things weren't just in
their right places ... and when he opened the case where he kept this
Green Flash, it was empty.  Mr.  Henniker's raging mad.  He's going to
have that Desmond Dereham's blood, he reckons.  He's calling him a
thief, a scoundrel and a lying hound.  You should hear the names he
calls him.  Are you all right.  Miss Jessica ?"

' "I don't believe it, Hannah.  I just don't believe it."

' "You wouldn't, but everyone else does."

"I felt sick with fear, but I kept telling myself how absurd it was.  I
couldn't forget how Desmond had glowed when he talked of the opals he
would find.

"There'd never be one like the Green Flash," he had said.

Then he had added quickly;

"But why shouldn't there be?"

The days started to pass while I felt that I was living through a
nightmare.  I kept telling myself that it was a silly mistake and that
Ben would find he had put his opal in another case.  I went to see
Ben.

He was like a raging bull.

"He's got it," he shouted.

"He's gone off with the Green Hash.  By God, I'll have his blood.  I
showed it to them that night.  They were all there when I took it out
of the safe.  He was sitting on my right ... the young devil.  I'll
shoot him dead.  He's got my Green Flash."

' "He didn't do it, Ben," I cried.

"I know he didn't."

"He stopped raging and stared at me.

"He's deceived you," he said soberly.

"Such a good-looking boy ... such a pleasant young man.  But he wasn't
all he appeared to be."

There was nothing to be done, nothing to say.  I couldn't bear to talk
to Ben.  He was going away, he said.  He was going to lose no time.  He
was going to follow Master Desmond Dereham to Desmond's Fancy because
he reckoned that was where he had gone.  He would not be able to stay
away from that place.  Ben had seen the opal lust in his eyes and he
had thought it was for what awaited finding in the Fancy, but it was
for the Green Hash.  He hadn't realized this when he'd

opened his safe and disclosed what lay in the box.  He'd been blind,
and he ought to have known what the young devil was after.

"I couldn't bear to hear Ben talk like that so I stopped going to
Oakland.  I shut myself in with my grief, and they thought I was ill,
for I grew pale and listless.  For a time I simply didn't care what
happened to me.  Then Hannah told me that Ben was going back to
Australia.

"He's going after the Green Flash," she said.

"I saw him before he went, but our friendship had changed.  Desmond was
between us.  Ben was so sure he was guilty.  I was so certain that he
was not.

"I cannot describe the desolation which had come into my life.  Ben had
gone and I had lost Desmond.  I could not imagine greater tragedy.  I
still went to Oakland to see Mrs.  Bucket and the rest, and they used
to entertain me in the kitchen and talk about when Mr.  Henniker would
come back, for he would come back, they were sure.  He had to keep
coming back to Oakland; he had such a fancy for the place.  They didn't
mention Desmond to me, but I knew they talked about him when I was not
there.

"Miriam knew what had happened because it hadn't been possible to keep
her in the dark about my nocturnal ad ventures.  In the past she had
lain awake awaiting my return and then she would want to know all about
it.  Now she was aware that everything had gone wrong and was beginning
to veer round to the side of law and order.

"It was towards the end of November when my suspicions became
confirmed.  When the fear first came to me I tried not to consider
it.

It couldn't possibly be, I told myself.  Yet there had been those
meetings in the park when we had talked and dreamed and loved so
passionately.  Desmond had said: "We are married really.  I shall never
look at anyone else and at the earliest possible moment you are going
to be my wife."  I thought of myself as his wife.  I pictured our
arriving in Australia and what a help I should be to him, and when I
looked into the future I saw the children we would have.  Before
Christmas I knew I was going to have a child.  I did not know what to
do.  I told Hannah because I could trust her.  We talked and talked but
could find no solution.  If Mr.  Henniker had been there I was sure he
would have helped me, but he was far away and there was no one.

"I had to tell Miriam.  It was on Christmas night, I remember.  It had
scarcely been a happy time.  We went to the nudnight service on
Christmas Eve and in the morning of Christmas Day we went again to
church.  Such times as this brought back to my mother more vividly the
old ways at Oakland Hall.  During dinner-which took place at midday-she
talked continuously of other Christmases, how they had brought in the
yule log, and decorated the gallery with holly and mistletoe and how
the house had been full of guests.  I cried out suddenly: " You should
give Papa a Christmas present- silence about the glorious past.  " I
had been unable to restrain myself because I thought all this was so
trivial set against what had happened to me, and the fact that Desmond
had disappeared and was suspected of stealing the Green Flash.

"Everyone was horrified.  No one-simply no one-ever spoke to Mama like
that.  Papa said rather sadly: " You should show more respect to your
mother, Jessica.  " And I cried out:

"It's time she showed more consideration to us.  We've lost Oakland.

All right.  This is a comfortable home.  There are worse troubles in
the world than having to live with your family in a Dower House.  "
Then I burst into tears and ran from the room.  As I went I heard Mama
say:

"Jessica is getting impossible."

"I said I had a headache and spent the afternoon in the room I shared
with Miriam, but I had to go down in the evening.  It was a wretched
day and that night I told Miriam because I had to tell someone.  She
was horrified.  She didn't understand much, but she did know that one
of the servants had once " got into trouble" as it was called and she
had been dismissed and sent back to her family, disgraced forever.

"Disgraced forever," she kept repeating until I wanted to scream.  But
what was I going to do?  That was the question.  I had no answer to
that and, naturally, nor had Miriam.  When I tried to explain to her
she seemed to understand, but I knew that she would have to listen to
my mother and all her sympathy would vanish.

"I knew too that they would have to be told one day and I wanted to
tell them before they discovered.  I told Xaxier first, for although he
always seemed so remote I felt he would understand more than the
others.  I went to his room on a bleak January day when there were snow
clouds in the sky and when I told him he looked at me for some moments
as though he thought I bad gone mad.  He was kind though.  Xavier would
always be kind.  I told him everything-how I had become friendly with
Ben Henniker and met Desmond, how we had intended to many and how
Desmond had disappeared.

"Are you sure you are to have a child?"  he asked.  I told him I was.

"We must make certain," he said.

"You must see Dr.  Clinton."

"Not Dr.  Clinton," I cried out in horror.  He had attended us for
years and I knew he would be deeply shocked.  Xavier understood and
said he would take me to a doctor who did not know us, and he did. 
When it was confirmed that I was to have a child, there was nothing to
do, said Xavier, but tell my parents.  It could not be kept from them
for long and we really should make plans as to what must be done
without delay.

"It's strange but when a woman is going to have a child she seems to
acquire some special strength.  That was how it was with me.  I was
heartbroken because I had lost Desmond but there was some new kind of
hope in me.  It was due to the baby.  Even the scene with my parents
did not distress me as much as might have been imagined.  Xavier was
calm and strong; he was a very good brother to me.  He told Mama and
Papa that there was something they must know and the four of us went
into the drawing-room.  Xavier shut the door and said very quietly:

"Jessica is going to have a baby."  There was a moment's silence.  I
thought that that was how it must have been before the walls of Jericho
came tumbling down.  My father looked blank; my mother just stared at
us.

"Yes," said Xavier, "I fear it is so.  We have to decide what we must
do."

"My mother cried out: " A baby!  Jessica!  I don't believe it.  "

"It's true," I said.

"I am.  I was going to be married, but there's been a terrible
accident."

"Accident!"  cried my mother, having overcome her first surprise and
taking charge.

"What do you mean?  This is quite impossible."

"It has happened Mama," said Xavier, "so let us consider what action we
can best take."

"I want to know more about this," said my mother.

"I can't believe that a daughter of mine ..."

"It's true.  Mama," I said.

"A doctor has confirmed it."

"Dr.  Clin ton!"

cried my mother, aghast.

"No," Xavier reassured her, "a doctor who doesn't know us."

"My mother turned on me like an enraged tigress.  She said the most
bitter things to me.  I don't remember them; I deliberately shut my
ears to them.  I kept thinking of the baby.  I wanted that baby, and I
thought then, even in the thick of my trouble, that having it would
make up for a great deal.  My mother turned on my father.  It was his
fault, she said.  If he had not been so feckless we should still have
been at Oakland and no wicked miner would have come there bringing his
evil friends to seduce silly wicked girls.  That was what came from
having those sort of people living near one.  Now I was going to
produce a bastard.  There had never been such a disgrace in the
Clavering family.

"Oh yes.  Mama," I said, "there was.  There was Richard Clavering, who
shared a mistress with Charles II ..."

"As if this were the same sort thing!"  she said indignantly.

"That was Charles II and most of the aristocracy shared their
mistresses with him."

"But there was his bastard whose son married his legitimate cousin and
came back into the family."

"Be silent, you slut.  The family has never been so disgraced and it is
all due to the fact that your father ..."  She raved for some time and
I knew she would go on doing so as long as she lived.  I told myself
then: Desmond will come back.  Something went wrong and we shall
discover what and then it will all come right.  So I shut my ears to
her raving.

"It was Xavier who decided what should happen.  It was unthinkable that
anyone should know that I had produced an illegitimate child.  The fact
that I was pregnant could be disguised for a few months.  Perhaps as
long as six.  Skirts were voluminous and mine could be discreetly let
out.  The baby was due in June.  In April my parents and I would go to
Italy.  My mother's health could be said to be giving my father some
concern.  We should have to sell the silver salver and punch bowl which
had been given by George IV to one of our ancestors, because being very
valuable they would provide the money for a two months' trip for the
three of us and the expenses of the birth.  My child should be born
there, and when we returned we would say that my mother's ill health
had been due to a pregnancy, which she had not suspected, and because
of her time of life there had not been the usual symptoms.  This would
mean that we could return with a child and give no cause for scandal.

"How unhappy those months were!  We took a villa in Florence for a
while-Florence with its Medici Palace and its golden light!  How I
should have loved it in other circumstances.  I used to escape from my
misery by imagining myself strolling along the Amo with Desmond.  When
I saw opals in a shop window on the famous bridge I turned shuddering
away and could not bear to look at them.

"A few weeks before my confinement we went to Rome and there my baby
was born.  That was June 1880 and I called her

Opal.  Mama said it was a foolish name and that she should be given
another.  So the baby had my name too; she was Opal Jessica.

"We came home, and such was my mother's indefatigable energy that
although there might have been those who put a certain construction on
our departure and return with a newly born baby, no one dared mention
it.  You, my dear Opal, as you have guessed, were that child.  Never be
ashamed of your birth.  You were conceived in love.  Always remember
that, and no matter what people may tell you of your father do not
believe them.  I knew him well, and it could not be so.  He was not
capable of stealing that miserable opal.  How I wish it had never been
found.  But he knew nothing of it.  Someone else stole the Green Flash
at Sunset.  It was not your father.  One day the truth will be known.

I'm sure of it.

'now, my dearest child, I come to the end of my story.  After you were
born I was beset by such despair that I did not know where to turn for
comfort.  We had never been happy in the Dower House; now Mama made our
lives a misery-not only mine, but Papa's as well.  I watched him as he
grew more and more miserable every day.  I would look up suddenly and
see her eyes fixed on me with utter distaste.  Constantly she blamed
him.  It was his weakness which had come out in me, she said.  He was
to blame for everything.  Miriam took an interest in you, and I think
she loved you in her way, though she was afraid to show it too much
when Mama was around.  You liked her too.  You would always go to
Miriam; and Xavier was fond of you, so was Papa.

"I was so unhappy.  I used to go down to the stream which divides the
Dower House from Oakland and I'd stare at the cool shallow water.  I
thought a lot about my life then, and the belief came to me that I
should never see Desmond again, for since he would never have desertd
me, he must be dead.  The convicition was so strong that as I sat there
by the stream it was as though the waters beckoned to me.  It was as
though Desmond himself was asking me to come and join him.  The only
solution could be that he was dead, for if he was not, why had he
disappeared?  Of one thing I was , certain: he would never have gone
away and left me.  There ;

was one answer only, someone had stolen the opal and laid i the blame
on him.  They had killed him perhaps that he might ^ appear to be the
thief.  I knew no one else would believe this, I but my conviction was
strong.  He would never come back.  | That was why he called me to the
stream because he wanted ;

"Si me to be with him.

"My presence in the Dower House was bringing more and more unhappiness
there.  My mother was blaming my father more than she ever had
before.

I tried to think of what my life would be like because I was never
going to see Desmond again on this Earth.  The servants all loved the
baby .  everybody loved her .  except Mama, and I don't think she ever
loved anybody.  So I used to sit by the stream and think of all the
trouble I had brought the family and how much better they would be
without me.  Even the baby would be better off, because as she grew up
the reproaches would go on.  It would be better for her not to know
that her mother had brought disgrace on the family, and while I was
there Mama would always continue to regard me with contempt "I dreamed
then of lying face downwards in that cool water, and when I did I
experienced a perfect peace.  I couldn't talk about it to anyone but
Hannah.  She knew the whole story, but she was very discreet.  She told
me that they talked about it in the servants' hall at Oakland and
although they had considered the possibility of the baby's being mine
and not my mother's, they weren't sure about it.  Even Mrs.  Bucket was
of the opinion that Mama would never have lent herself to such a thing
and that it was a well-known fact that women getting on in years often
" got caught" when they least expected it, and her Aunt Polly had been
just like that ... feeling not up to the mark and the doctors not being
sure what was wrong ... and then all of a sudden she's pregnant and the
baby almost ready to be born.

"I didn't tell them different," said good, kind Hannah, "A few weeks
passed and I was still going to sit by the stream.  When I talked to
Hannah about what I felt she cried out: " It's wrong.  You mustn't
think like that.  " I said: " It might be for the best.  The baby would
be all right.  They'll care for her.  It's better for me not to be
there.  "

"Perhaps you could go away for a while," suggested Hannah.

"Time's not important," I said.

"It's now that counts.  Perhaps in twenty years I could look back at
all this and find it tolerable, but it's not twenty years from now.
It's now, and I've got to live through a lot before twenty years
passes."  Hannah said: "If you were to do away with yourself they
couldn't bury you in consecrated ground."

"Why not?"  I asked.

"I tell you they won't if you were to ... do that.  It's a law, I
think, a law of the Church.  They bury people at the cross-roads or
some other place ... never in consecrated ground in the churchyard."

*I thought about that quite a lot, but I continued to go down to the
stream, and one day I shall go down there and not come back.  I think
of you, my daughter, growing up, and I wonder what they will tell you
about me .  and your father .  and that is why I have decided to write
so that you can know the truth as I saw it.  And that is the real
truth, Opal.  So I sit by the stream and write and as I sit here the
past comes vividly back to me.  You see, you must know what happened
and how it happened.  I shall give this to Hannah, and she will give it
to you when the time comes.  It may be that the time will never come
and that I shall tell you the story myself.

Today I am giving this to Hannah so this will be the last I shall write
to you.

"Goodbye, little Opal.  May God bless you and one day you will discover
the truth about your father.  I promise you there will be nothing to
discredit him.  One last word, my dear little daughter, if I should not
be there when you grow up and if I am, you will not have read
this-never let anyone say a word against him.  Perhaps one day you will
be the one to discover the truth."

I stared ahead of me.  I was seeing it all so clearly.

Then I went and knelt by her grave and when I touched my cheeks I found
that they were wet, although I had not known that I was weeping.

I did not appear at dinner that evening because I could not face
them.

I was thinking of them as different people; I was seeing them all so
much more dearly than I ever had before.  I was angry with them.  They
drove her to it, I thought.  If they had been kinder to her, she would
have been alive today and I should have had a mother.  How miserable
she must have been!  I wanted to storm at them every one of them; ;

my poor ineffectual father my grandfather in fact; my proud unloving
grandmother (how glad I was that she was not after all my mother);

Miriam, who always had to have her mind ;

made up for her; and Xavier with his negative kindness, so remote that
he had not done anything to save her.  ;

I feigned a headache and when Miriam came to see me I Sl closed my eyes
and turned away.  y The next day I saw Hannah who, I think, had been
watching for me.  |j "So you read it.  Miss Jessica?"  she said.  | I
nodded.  Tell me what happened afterwards.  "

They found her in the stream.  She was lying face downwards.  The
water was quite shallow.  It just washed over her.  "

"And they buried her there," I said, pointing to the Waste Land.

"Reverend Grey was very strict about it.  They don't bury suicides in
consecrated ground."

"How cruel!"  I cried.

"I'll make it consecrated ground!  She was good and meant no harm to
anyone.  I shall clear her grave and grow plants on it and keep them
watered."

"Best not.  Miss."

"Why not ?  She was my mother."

"I knew you'd take it bad.  She wouldn't have Wanted that.  She
wouldn't have wanted you to know, if it was going to make trouble."

Tell me exactly what happened, Hannah.  "

They found her there and buried her quietly; That's all.  People didn't
speak of it .  much.  They said she'd always been different from the
rest of the family.  It was put about that she'd fallen in love and
that he had gone away.  Her heart was broken and she, being young, had
thought there was nothing left to live for.  I always put flowers on
her grave at Easter time.  "

Thank you, Hannah.  Did anyone suspect I was her child?  "

"If they did, it wasn't said.  It was accepted that you were an "
afterthought".  It happens that way sometimes, and Miss Jessica was
drowned some time after your birth.  It was a hot July day I
remember."

She turned away, her lips quivering.  They'd only been home a few weeks
so people said it was someone she'd met in Italy.  It was the last day
in July, and you were born on the first of June .  so that tells how^
old you were .  nothing but a baby, little knowing what your coming had
cost.  "

"How she must have suffered!  You must have known my father.  Tell me
about him."

"He seemed such a nice young gentleman.  Tall, with a pleasant face. He
was quite a favourite with Mr.  Henniker at one time.  Then of course
he couldn't say anything bad enough.  I shall never forget the
day..."

Tell me everything, Hannah, just everything.  "

"It began like an ordinary sort of day.  We took the hot water up to
the guests, and one of the maids came down and said, " Mr.  Dereham's
not in his room.  His bed's not been slept in and all his things have
gone.  " We said it couldn't be, but it was, of course.  And then Mr.
Henniker found his

precious opal was missing, and it seemed only natural that he'd taken
it with him.  "

"But it wasn't so, Hannah.  You know it wasn't."

That's how your mother used to talk, but he was gone and so was the
opal.  "

"She knew he hadn't taken it' She was in love with him."

She would never have fallen in love with a thief "Love don't take
account of such dungs."

"I know it wasn't true."

There again .  you're talking just like your mother.  I never thought
she'd do it.  I would have found some way of stopping her.  She told me
he'd come to her in a dream and said he loved her and he never would
have left her in this life.

"Come to me," he said in this dream.

"Come to me by the stream.  Only death could keep me from you."  It was
after that she made up her mind, I'm sure.  She was certain he was
dead. They would be together now.  forever.  "

"She should have lived to prove his innocence."

"But she had these strange fancies and she thought he was calling her
to come to him."

"I wish I could find out the truth, Hannah, and discover what really
happened to that opal."

"Bless you.  Miss, there has been them that's tried to find it these
many years.  I reckon Mr.  Henniker has never given up the search.  And
you think you're going to be the one!  You just don't know anything
about these things.  You've only just learned how you came into the
world!"

"But he's my father.  She's my mother.  Don't you see that makes all
the difference."

Hannah shook her head sadly.

Although I could not talk to my family about the tragedy, I could do so
to Ben, and at our next meeting I blurted out:

"I know about my mother and father and that you think he stole the
Green Flash opal."

We were in the drawing-room, he in his chair with his crutch propped up
beside him.  He did not speak for a few moments, and I saw that a great
sadness had come to him.

There's no one I can talk to about it but you," I went on.

Who told you ?  " he asked.

I explained about the papers she had left for me.

He nodded.

"You knew?"  I asked.

"I guessed.  You're so like her with your dark eyes and those thick
lashes and well-marked brows, with your turned-up nose and your mouth
which somehow says you're going to laugh at life even at its worst.  I
could believe she was sitting there at this moment.  You're about the
same age now as she was then, but she was more innocent of the world
than you are, less able to look after herself."

"Did you know about her and my father?"

"It was as clear as daylight."

"And you were pleased ... at first?  You didn't mind?"

It was the first time I had known him hesitate.

"It wasn't for me to mind," he said at length.

"I could see how it was with them from the moment they met.  I thought
he was a good honest young fellow... then."

"He didn't do it, you know, Ben."

"What do you mean-he didn't do it?  He broke her heart, didn't he?  I'd
kill hiri for that... yes, I would.  " You loved her, Ben," I said.

He was thoughtful.

"I reckon you could say that.  She was a pretty, dainty creature ...
and look at me-a rough old gouger."

"You would have liked to many her yourself, Ben."

That wouldn't have been right.  "

"If you had," I reminded him, "I should have been your daughter."

"That's not a bad idea."

"I'd have been different though.  I wouldn't have been a bit like
myself."

"Then it's a mercy the tragedy was averted."  He was becoming his old
self again, and I was finding comfort in talking to him.

"Yes," he went on, "I loved her.  She was like this house ... you know
what I mean.  A bit remote from me.  Something I could covet and want
to possess.  But it's different with a woman ... she's not a house.  I
blame myself for not being here.  If I had been, it wouldn't have
happened."

"What would you have done, Ben ?"

"I would have married her.  Perhaps she would have had me then."

I ran to him and, putting my arms about him, hugged him.

"Oh, Ben, wouldn't that have been wonderful ?  We should all have lived
here together and I should have escaped from the Dower House."

He stroked my hair and said: Tou'd have liked that, eh?  "

"It would have been wonderful."

"Well, it didn't work out that way, did it?  No, here we are and it's
no use looking back and saying " if".  That's what fools do.  Yesterday
has to be forgotten.  It's today that's important because of
tomorrow.

We got acquainted and we're good friends.  I'd say friendship's a fine
thing.  "

I went back to my chair and said: Tell me your version of what
happened.  "

Tour mother came to Oakland.  "Yes, I know, there was a party and she
wore a cherry red dress."

"That's right.  She met your father, it was love at first sight, and
they were going to be married and go out to opal country.  I didn't
think it was any place for such a dainty creature, but she was raring
to go.  As long as he'd be there, that was the place for her.  She was
fast catching opal fever; she swore she'd put up with anything as long
as they could be together.  And she would have too.  I used to envy
Desmond Dereham his happiness; he was a handsome boy, good family
too.

And honest .  so I thought.  He'd got adventure in his blood and that
was what sent him out to Australia.  He'd come for gold at first, like
we all do, and when he found his first opal he no longer cared for
gold. He had a feeling he'd stumbled on one of the richest opal mines
in New South Wales.  He talked constantly about this place.  He had a
feeling for it and we joked about it, calling it Desmond's Fancy.  Then
we started to think there might be something in it.  It was to discuss
this that we all gathered together at Oakland.  Then he met your mother
and they fell in love and planned to marry.  That was how it was up to
that night.  "

"What actually happened on that night?"

Ben appeared to consider carefully.  There was Joss, Desmond,
Croissant, and myself.  Joss was fourteen then, going to school over
here.  My goodness, he was a sharp one.  You'd never take him for so
young.  He already knew what he was going to do.  He was going to be
the biggest opal man in Australia .  oh no, not just Australia .  the
whole world! That was his way of looking at everything.  He was already
telling me what I ought to do.  That made me sit up, I can tell you.

But the crunch was that he was sometimes right.  He already towered
above us all and he hadn't finished growing Six feet five inches.

That's Joss now and in his stockinged feet.  "

"Yes, yes," I said a little impatiently, being eager to hear about the
fateful night and tired of hearing of the perfections of his son Joss
Madden.

"Well, Joss then, and David Croissant.  David had mer- chanted stones
all over Australia, America, England and the Continent of Europe.

Where opals were concerned he was a man who knew what he was talking
about.  Then there was Desmond Dereham.  Very enthusiastic, he was.  We
sat here in this room and Desmond laid out his plans for the Fancy and
we studied them.  He'd examined the land, done a bit of prospecting and
although so far he'd found only the smallest traces of opal, he had the
feeling that this could prove one of the richest fields in New South
Wales.  Of course we wanted proof and so far there was little to go on.
He'd found opal dirt there and he'd found round hard lumps of
silica-just fine grains of sand cemented together and in this are veins
of opal.  Anyway it's an indication that somewhere in land like this
there could be big fine opals.  We worked out where the best place to
sink the shafts would be.  We were going to keep it fairly small just
at first, and then if Desmond's hunch proved correct we'd go all out in
a big way.  David Croissant was coming to examine the first finds and
decide what would be the best way of marketing them.  Then we'd need
cutters and the latest equipment to get things in motion.

There we were discussing all this, feeling our way, as it were.  I
remember Desmond's enthusiasm.  He knew we were going to make a big
strike, he said.  Gougers are superstitious in a way.  Some of them
believe that there's a guiding hand that leads them to success, and
that's how we all felt about Desmond's hunch that night.  There was
something in him .  a sort of sheen of confidence.  I know it sounds
crazy, but I've seen it before.  It nearly always means success and I
think that every one of us sitting round the table that night believed
that Desmond's Fancy was going to yield the finest, opals yet come to
light.  We reckoned it would be black opal, and the market was growing
for that kind.  At one time it was all for the light milky ones, as
I've told you.  Pretty enough, but black was coming into fashion.  I
said I reckoned we'd never find anything as good as the Green Flash at
Sunset. Then we got talking of the Flash and they wanted to look at
it.

"I brought them all in here and opened the safe to show them.  There it
lay in its velvet nest.  What a sight!  You haven't seen opal till
you've seen the Green Flash.  Desmond Dereham stretched out his hands
to take the Flash.  He let her lie in his palm for a moment, and then
he called out: " I saw it.  I saw the Green Flash.  " I snatched it
from him and

stared at the opal.  I turned it round, but I couldn't catch the
flash.

You know I saw the real green flash once when I was coming home from
Australia, just as the sun dropped below the horizon I saw it as I had
seen it once in the opal.

"You really saw it, Desmond?"  I cried then.

"I'm sure of it," answered Desmond.  ]oss swore he saw it too.  He
always had to be there right in the centre of everything.  No one must
score over him.  The next morning your father had gone.  He had packed
his bags and taken his belongings with him and quietly slipped away.

And the Green Flash had disappeared.  "

"I can't believe that my father took it."

"four loyalty does you credit, but it's never wise to blink facts when
they're as plain as all the pike staffs in the world.  Desmond Dereham
came here, lived here for a while in this house, seduced your mother,
promised to marry her, and then the temptation of the Green Flash was
too strong for him ... so he took her and ran off with her instead."

"There must be another explanation."

Ben leaned forward and took my hand, *1 know what you're thinking.  He
was your father.  Well, I understand how you feel.  But what happened
to the Green Flash?  David Croissant wouldn't have taken it.  He'd
never have had the guts.  He was a salesman.  He saw opals ]ust as
money.  He knew their quality as few people did, but he didn't have the
sentimental feeling for any one stone.  He'd see its market value, and
what market value would the Green Flash have had when it was offered?
It would be recognized at once, and he'd be exposed as a thief, joss? 
" Ben chuckled.

"Granted ]oss would be capable of anything.  I knew how he felt about
the Green Rash, but he could see it when he wanted to.  Unless of
course the urge came over him to own it..  t " You said it was that
sort of stone.  It had a peculiar fascination.  "

"Now you are trying to put this on to joss, are you ... to I exonerate
your father?  There were a lot of people who were II afraid of the
Green Flash.  As I told you, it was sometimes n known as the Unlucky
One.  There were legends attaching to fl it.  It was said to bring
misfortune.  I never believed it.  But tt look at me now."

"But you'd lost it.  I just don't believe my father would have deserted
my mother."

"He didn't know you were on the way then.  Perhaps that would have made
a difference ... or perhaps not.  You've ..._- --~" -">- vjiccii nasn.
it you had you might understand what effect it can have on people.
There's a lot you've got to learn about men and the world and this
thing called fascination, obsession ... never mind what you call it,
it's what it is that counts."

"What happened to my father's Fancy?2 " It's now one of the finest opal
fields in Australia.  "So he was right about that."

"Oh yes, he was right."

"Do you think he would never have come back to look at it?"

"How could he when he had the Green Hash?"

"Do you believe he would have given up his dream ... his Fancy .. and
my mother ... for the sake of one opal which be would never be
able-openly-to call his own?"

"I can only repeat.  Miss Jessie, that you have never seen the Green
Flash."  He reached for his crutch.

"You watch me walk across the room.

I'm getting used to old peg leg I'll soon be moving around as though I
had two sound limbs.  Then.  "

I looked at him searchingly, but he just shook his head.  I knew what
he meant and that he didn't want to tell me now.  If he could get about
more easily he would be thinking of (leaving Oakland Hall.  I did not
want to contemplate how I wretched I should be without him.  '

When I left Ben that day and was coming down the Oakland Irive, my
grandmother, who had been taking some hemmed busters to the 'poor', saw
me.  She stood very still and stared kt me as though she thought she
were dreaming.  I felt efiant.  There was not going to be any more
pretence.

"Jessica," she cried incredulously, 'where have you been?  "

11 answered almost flippantly: "Visiting Mr.  Ben Henniker!"  Bd waited
for the storm to burst.  It didn't immediately, of use.  Her sense of
decorum would always govern her anger, as we went into the Dower House,
Xavier and Miriam 'e just coming and she cried to them: "Come into the
wing-room and, Miriam, ask your father if he can tear is elf away from
his cards and spare us a moment' when we were all gathered together in
the drawing-room, I grandmother shut the door so that the servants
couldn't pw, Jessica, I should like an explanation," she said. 
simple," I retorted.

"I was visiting my friend Mr.  Ben

 Your friend!  "

"Yes, and a better friend than anyone in this house has ever been to
me."

"Have you taken leave of your senses ?"  "No.  I am in full possession
of them and that is why I seek friendship outside this house of
pretence and shame."

"Pray be silent.  You had better explain at once how you came to be at
Oakland Hall."

"First I should like you to explain why you have pretended to be my
mother all these years and why you made her life so miserable that she
drowned herself..."

They were all staring at me.  I was sure it was the first time in her
life that my grandmother had ever felt at a disadvantage.

"Jessica!"  cried Miriam, looking from her mother to Xavier, seeking a
clue as to what she should think, I supposed, while my grandfather
looked about him as though searching for The Times to cower behind;

only Xavier was calm.

"I suspect someone has told you the story of your birth," he said.

"It's true, isn't it?"  I answered.

"It depends on what you've heard."

"I know that my mother is dead and how she died and that she's buried
in the Waste Land and you tried to forget her."

"It was a tragic time for us all," said Xavier.

"And mostly for her," I cried.

Then my grandmother spoke.

"We had done nothing to deserve it."

"You deserved everything that came to you," I retorted scornfully.

This," said my grandmother, 'is what comes of friendship with
miners."

"Please do not speak slightingly of Mr.  Henniker.  He's a good man. If
he had been here he would have helped her as none of you did."

"On the contrary," went on my grandmother, 'we inconvenienced ourselves
greatly to help her.  We sold the silver salver and the George IV punch
bowl to get her abroad, and I accepted you as my daughter.  "

Tou didn't give her kindness, and that was what she wanted.  You made
her life miserable .  you and your silly conventions.  You didn't love
her and help her.  Don't you realize she had lost the one she loved ?

The one she loved!  " cried my grandmother.

"A thief ... a seducer... the stupid girl!"

"Oh, I can see how wretched you made her.  You ... who always do the
right thing-or think you do.  The right thing is to be cruel then, is
it?  Why didn't you comfort her?  Why didn't you make life easier for
her?  You could have helped her.  But you didn't.  You let her die, you
my grandmother pretending to be my mother.  I might have known you were
not, for you were never a mother to me.  And you-' I turned to my
grandfather, 'you haven't the guts' (I was talking like Ben Henniker
and even at such a dramatic moment I saw my grandmother wince)-'not you
nor Miriam nor Xavier ... not one of you helped her.  You're
despicable.  Miriam can't face life with her curate because he's too
poor.  Xavier can't marry Lady Clara because she's too rich.  It makes
me laugh.  What are you made of ... all of you?  Straw!"  I turned on
my grandmother.

"Except you.  You're made of the granite of unkindness and carelessness
towards others put together with so much pride that there's little else
beside it' ..."  And coming to the end of my tirade I turned to the
door and ran up to my room.

I was shaking with emotion.  I had told them what I thought, of them,
and for once they had no answer for me.

Miriam came up soon afterwards.  She looked bewildered and what she
said was: "We shall no longer have to hide the Family Bible."  This
struck me as so funny that I burst out laughing, which did something to
relieve my feelings.  Then she went on as though talking to herself:

"I suppose it's better to be poor than let everything pass you by."

Later I saw the Family Bible, which had hitherto been locked away in
the drawing-room cabinet.  There was my mother's name inscribed in
beautiful copperplate and mine too.  I turned the pages and looked at
the names of long-dead Claverings and wondered what trials and secrets
they had had to suffer.

When I went down to dinner that night nothing was said about my
outburst.  It was as though it had never happened, and I couldn't help
marvelling at the conversation, which was all about the weather and
village affairs as usual.  No one would have believed that in the
afternoon there had been such a storm.  In a way I had to admire
them.

But of one thing I was certain.  No one was going to stop my friendship
with Ben Henniker.  Strangely enough, no one tried to, and after that I
walked boldly up the drive to Oakland Hall and made no secret of my
visits.

4.

THE PEACOCK

Change was in the air.  Even my grandmother was slightly different.  I
often caught her watching me furtively; Miriam had grown a little
bolder; Xavier was even more withdrawn;

and I believed that the way in which I had stood up to my grandmother
had impressed them all.  It was clear that I had scored a victory, and
they were less overawed by her than they had been before.  Miriam grew
mildly pretty.  She was always going to church on some pretext or
other, and I believed she was seeing more of the curate.  The really
alarming change, however, came from Oakland Hall.

Ben was gleefully hobbling round on his crutch.  This old wooden stump
will soon be as good as a leg," he kept telling me.

Then you won't be content to stay here," I suggested fearfully.

Time never stands still," was his comment.

"Shall you go back to the opal fields ?"

"I reckon I will at the end of the summer, perhaps.  That would be the
best time to sail.  The seas would be kinder and I'd be sailing from
summer to summer."

There was a twinkle in his eye, which suggested he was making some
plans, and I believed that I might be included in them.

There was certainly something unreal about that summer.  The weather
was hotter than it had been for many years and people were talking
about records.  There was not a cloud in the sky for days on end and
the conversation at meals was concentrated on the weather and the
possibilities of a drought, but I knew no one was thinking seriously
about it.  Even my grandfather had changed and was less subservient to
my grandmother.

Ben was both elated and disturbed by my clear indication of what his
departure would mean to me and encouraged me tp go to Oakland more
frequently.  Not that I needed much encouragement.

I was there every day.  The servants were now accustomed to seeing me
and welcomed me.  Hannah told me that Mr.  Wilmot had said it was like
the Family's coming back again.

One of my favourite places was the gallery.  This was some hundred feet
long and about twenty wide.  The Family had used it as a ballroom and
it was where my mother and Desmond Dereham had first met.  There were
window seats at either end and sitting there I could imagine how grand
it had looked when the Claverings danced through the ages while their
family portraits lined the walls.  The place where the spinet had stood
was conspicuously empty, and the Persian rugs on the floor were those
which Ben had purchased from the Claverings when he had bought the
house.

I liked to sit in the window seat and picture my mother in her cherry
red dress and Desmond setting eyes on her for the first time.  Once she
had thought her coming out dance would be held here.  I remembered her
saying that when she was a child she had crept up here to play the
spinet, and when the servants came to see who was playing she would
hide, so that the rumour started that a ghostly hand touched the
keys.

Ben must have felt sentimental about her to have had the spinet removed
to Australia.

One day he said: "You'd miss me if I went away, Jessie."

"Please don't talk of it," I begged.

"But I want to talk about it^Tve got something very important to say
about it.  You don't think I'd go away and leave you here, do you ?  If
I went I'd want you to come with me."

"Ben!"

"Well, that's what I thought.  We'd go off together.  How's that?"

I immediately thought of myself going into the drawing- room at the
Dower House and announcing my departure.  They'd never let me go," I
said.

"Oh yes, they would... when I got at them."

"I don't think you know them very well."

"Don't I just!  They hate me, don't they?  I took their fine mansion
away from them.  For hundreds of years there had been Claverings at
Oakland and then along comes Ben Henniker- an old gouger- and swipes
the lot.  Well, of course, they hate me.  There's a bit more to it than
that, though.  I met your grandfather before I came here.  I've got to
tell you.  I don't want any secrets between us ... well, not more than
we can help.  Your family's got a special reason for hating me."

9i

"Please tell me," I begged.

"I told you some of it.  There's truth and there's half truth, and it's
funny what picture you can build up by telling just what you want to
tell and holding back the rest.  You can make a fine picture of it and
it all looks so natural ... but then out comes the truth and that puts
a very different complexion on it.  I told you I came down here and saw
the house and made up my mind I was going to have it, and I told you I
made a fortune and put myself in a position to buy it.  All true. Well,
there was I with my fortune and there was Grandfather Clavering finding
it hard to make ends meet but stumbling along somehow like his
ancestors had before him.  I'm a wicked old man, Jessie.  That's what
you've got to learn.  I'm rich.  I've got money to play with.  The
world's my stage and I like to shift the players around a bit to make
them dance to my tune.  I'm also a bit of a gambler, as I've told you
before.  Not so much as the Claverings, though.  I wonder if you're a
gambler, Jessie.  I reckon you are.  You're a Clavering, you know.

"Your grandfather belonged to one of those London clubs.  I knew it
well , .. from the outside.  I used to pass it with my tray of ginger
breads when I was first starting out.  Fine, imposing sort of place
with some lions guarding the door to keep out poor gingerbread-sellers
like me.  One of these days, I promised myself, I'll strut up those
steps with the best of 'em, and one day I did.  I joined this club and
there I met your grandfather.  We discovered a love of a game called
poker.  It's one where you can lose a fortune in an afternoon and I saw
that he did.  Well, it took two or three afternoons actually.  I made
up my mind I was going to sit at that table till the day came when he'd
have to give up Oakland.  It was easier than I thought."

"You ... deliberately did that!"

'now don't look at me like that, Jessie.  It was all fair and above
board.  He had as much chance of winning as I had.  I wasn't staking
all I'd got, though.  He was the more ruthless.  Gamblers both-I was
staking a fortune; he was staking his house, and he lost.  He had to
sell, and I got Oakland Hall.  They never forgave me for that . 
particularly your grand mother.  It was no use trying to be neighbourly
after that.

Now I've told you.  " j " Ben," I said earnestly, 'you didn't cheat?
That's what I i want to know.  I couldn't bear it if you had."

He looked straight at me.

"Cross my heart ... as we used to say when I was a little 'un."  He
put his forefinger to his lips and chanted :

"See my finger's wet See my finger's dry [he wiped it on his coat]
Cross my heart [waving his hand across his chest] And never tell a
lie."

He grinned at me.

"No.  It was a gamble ... nothing more.  I just won."

"And my grandmother knew this?"

"Yes, she knew, and she's hated me ever since.  Not that I care for
that, but I shouldn't like it if you took against me because of it."

"No, I don't, Ben.  It was a fair game and he lost."

"Goodo.  Now we understand each other.  I reckon I could arrange for
you to come to Australia with me."

"It sounds so exciting I can't believe it."

"Well, we'll start hatching plots, shall we?"

They'd be horrified, I know.  "

That makes it all the more exciting, doesn't it?  " he retorted
mischievously.

He would sit there laughing to himself and I wondered what was in his
mind.  He talked a great deal about the Company, the town which had
grown up and was known by the name of- the Fancy or Fancy Town.  He
often mentioned Joss; in fact he seemed to be obsessed by Joss, which I
supposed was natural since he was his son, but the more I heard of that
arrogant gentleman the less I was able to share Ben's enthusiasm for
him.

It was always: "When you're in Australia ..."  but nothing was said
about how I was going to escape from my family.  I had been eighteen
that June so I was still not my own mistress.

I did enjoy our talks, though.  I loved hearing about his home out
there and I felt I knew the ostentatious house already .  for I was
sure it was ostentatious with a name like Peacocks.  I could never
picture it without peacocks on the lawn and the human Peacock strutting
with them. There was a housekeeper, a Mrs.  Laud, to whom Ben referred
now and then and who seemed to be a most efficient woman for whom he
felt some affection.  She had a son and daughter-Jimson working with
the Company and Ulias who helped her mother in the house; there were
also a number of servants, and among them were several what he called
"Abos', the term for aborigines.

I would listen avidly and again and again I asked: "Yes, Ben, but how
am I going to get there?8 Then he would give his sly laugh.

"You leave that to me," he would say.

I saw Hannah now and then and was still on good terms with the servants
at the Hall, for I always found time to visit them.

"Mr.  Henniker's told me he'll be leaving soon," said Mrs' Bucket.

"He's told Mr.  Wilmot too.  So then we'll arrange to shut up again and
it'll be as it was before he came back without his leg.  I don't think
it's right for a house like this.  The servants don't like it.  That's
what comes of people who don't belong.  You'll miss them, I reckon."

I almost blurted out that he had plans, but I realized then how wild
those plans were, and it occurred to me then that he talked of them to
placate me and that he knew as well as I did that I should never be
able to leave.

There was a knock on the door of my room and Miriam came in.  She
looked quite pretty.

"I want to talk to you, Jessica," she said.

"What do you think?  Ernest and I are going to get married."

I put my arms round her and kissed her because I was so pleased that
she had at last come to her senses.  I didn't remember when I had last
done that, but I knew it pleased her because she went pink to the tips
of her ears and nose.

"I'm very happy," she went on.

"We decided that no matter what Mama said we would wait no longer."

"I'm so glad, Miriam," I cried.

"You should have done it years ago.

Never mind.  You have at last.  So when shall you be married?  "

"Ernest says there is no sense in waiting.  We have waited long
enough.

We were waiting, you know, for him to get St.  Clissold's because the
vicar there is very, very old, but he just goes on living and could
live for another ten years.  "

"No use waiting for dead men's shoes or dead vicars' vestments.  I
think it's wonderful, and I'm glad you've come to your senses.  It's
lovely and I hope you'll be very happy."

"We shall be very poor.  Papa can give me nothing, and I still have to
tell Mama."

"Don't let her stop you."

"Nothing could stop me now.  Ifs rather a blessing that we have been so
poor lately-though not as poor as Ernest and I shall be.  It means that
I have learned how to make everything go a long way..."

"I'm sure you're right, Miriam.  When is the wedding to be?"

Miriam looked really frightened.

"At the end of August.  Ernest says we'd better put up the banns right
away and then no one can stop us.

There's the little curate's cottage in the vicarage grounds where
Ernest lives alone.  But there'll be room for two of us.  "

"You'll manage very well, Miriam."

I was glad she had made the decision and the change in her was
miraculous.  My grandmother was naturally angry and sceptical.  She
referred slightingly to 'our lovesick girl' and how some people seemed
to think they could live like church mice on the crumbs which fell from
the rich man's table.  I bubbled over with mirth at that and pointed
out that she did not know her Bible as it certainly was not the mice
who had devoured those very special crumbs.

"You have become impossible, Jessica," she told me.

"I don't know what this household is coming to.  How different things
might have been if some people had taken their responsibilities more
seriously.  Perhaps then we shouldn't have foolish old maids making
laughing-stocks of themselves in the mad rush to marry anybody-just
anybody before it is too late."

Miriam was wounded and wavered, but only slightly.  She was Ernest's
future wife now, not merely my grandmother's daughter, and she quoted
him whenever possible.  I was de lighted.  I talked to her often and we
grew more friendly than we ever had been.  I told her she was doing the
right thing in escaping from my grandmother's tyranny, that she was
fortunate to be able to and that she was going to be very happy.

"I wonder what will happen here when I have left," she said on one
occasion.

"Jessica, what of you?"

"What do you mean ?"

"You're going a great deal to Oakland Hall.  Sometimes that frightens
me.  It's what your mother did."

"I enjoy going there.  Why shouldn't I go?  You must admit life is not
exactly hilarious at the Dower House."

"Her trouble began there."

"It's going to be quite different with me.  Stop worrying, Miriam.

Think of the future.  I know you're going to be happy.  "

"I'm determined to be," she said defiantly, as though she were thinking
of her mother.

Miriam was married, as she had said she would be, at the 95 end of
August.  My grandmother went to the wedding because it would look
unsuitable if she did not, and this seemed to be her sole reason for
going.  My grandfather performed the giving away ceremony and I was a
bridesmaid.  It was a quiet wedding-necessarily so, my grandmother
pointed out about a hundred times after the banns had been called, in
our reduced circumstances.

There was no wedding feast.

"What is there to celebrate?"  demanded my grandmother.

"Just an old maid's folly."

She was cruel, but Miriam seemed impervious to her insults; she was so
happy to be married at last and to have made the decision which had
hung over her for so many years.  There was a permanent sneer about my
grandmother's lips when she referred to the married pair, and she took
to calling them 'the church mice', gloating over their future poverty
and making it out to be so much worse than it was.

There was no honeymoon.

"Honeymoon," sneered my grand mother.

"You know what their honeymoon will be-a piece of bread and cheese
eaten from that cottage wooden table which my daughter will have to
learn to scrub.  Then she will discover her folly.  A honeymoon in that
miserable little hut ... for it is no more!  I wish them joy for it."

My grandfather spoke up: "Sometimes there can be more joy in a humble
cottage than in a mansion.  It says some thing like that in the Bible,
and it seems to me that Miriam can only congratulate herself that she
has escaped from this place."

My grandmother stared at him and he picked up The Times and walked out
of the room.

Change indeed when my grandfather stood his ground with his wife.

It was a week after Miriam's wedding when the accident happened.  Ben
was walking in the grounds one morning when his crutch apparently slid
on some damp leaves and he fell.  He was in the grounds for an hour
before he was discovered.  He was carried in by Banker and Mr.  Wilmot,
who called the doctor.  It seemed that his injuries were by no means
slight as the wound on his leg had burst open and he would have to
remain in bed until it was healed.

He was looking not only disgruntled but ill when I called.

"Look what the old fool's done, Jessie," he grumbled.  There was I
sprinting along, you might say, one minute and the next my crutch has
gone flying and I'm rolling on the grass and there's that old leg
letting me know it was once there and mad because they}l lopped it off
and its there no longer.  Why weren't you there to save me this time ? 
2 "How I wish I had been."

Well, you'll have to come and see me now and then.  "

"As often as you like, Ben."

"You'll get tired of this sick old man.  But I'll be up and about soon,
you'll see.2 " Of course.  "

"It means postponing our going to Australia.  Why, that doesn't seem to
upset you."

"I couldn't bear to think of your going."

"Not when you were coming with me ?"

"I don't think I ever really believed I would."

That's not like you, Jess.  You wanted to come, didn't you ?  You
didn't want to stay in that house.  You'd be stifled there.  What's
going to happen to you if you stay there?  It's no place for a bold
spirit like yours.  You want to live, see the world, spread your wings
You're a gambler, Jessie.  Oh yes, you are.  It's in your blood, the
same as ifs in mine.  Look at it like this.  Ifs a postponement One day
you're going off to Australia.  I promise you.  "

"Are you going to gamble with them for me this time?"  I laughed.

That's not a bad idea, I'd take your grandfather on any day.  " He
grimaced.

"But suppose I lost, eh, Jessie?  What then?"

"You're a gambler.  You'd take a risk."

There are some things too important to take a chance on.  " He gripped
my hand firmly.

"You're going to Australia.  That's something I've made up my mind
about."

"Well, Ben, all you have to do is get well."

"Leave it to me.  Next week I'll be on the hobble again."

But he wasn't.

September passed and October was with us, and still the wound did not
heal.  Until it had, the doctor insisted, he must stay in bed.

He raged a good deal, cursed doctors, declared they didn't know what
they were talking about, but he was uneasy.  Why wouldn't the miserable
wound heal?  He was not going to stay in bed.  He had plans.  He tried
to get up, but the effort of attempting to walk was too much for him
and he had to admit defeat.

I went in every day to see him and I knew that he watched the door at
half past two every afternoon so I made a point of never being late,
and it made me happy when I left him p. p. 97'd more cheerful than I
found him.

Then one day-it must have been towards the end of October-the doctor
arrived with another member of his profession whom he had called in,
and there were grave faces at Oakland Hall.  There was something
wrong-something more than a wound which obstinately refused to heal.

This was indeed a symptom of something else.

Ben at first insisted that it was all a lot of nonsense and wanted to
get up to prove it; that was where he was proved wrong.  He simply
could not get up and in time he had to admit that the doctors were
right Being Ben, he insisted on knowing the truth and when I called he
told me what he had got out of them.

"I'm going to talk to you very seriously, Jessie," he said.

"I made them tell me the troth.  They didn't want to but they soon saw
the sort of man I was.

"Ifs my body," I told them.

"Now don't you go treating me as though I'm a child or a weak old
woman.  If it's the end of Ben Henniker, then that's Ben Henniker's
business.  I want to leave everything in order!"  Well, they told me
I've got some blood disease.

That's why the old leg won't heal.  If I hadn't had the fall it would
have shown itself sooner or later.  That just gave them the clue they
wanted.  They reckon I've got a year at the most and that I'm not going
to get up from this bed.  You might think that there go all Ben
Henniker's fine plans .  but if you think that you don't know Ben
Henniker.  It means an adjustment and I made them tell me the truth
because I wanted time to make this adjustment.  You follow me, Jess? 
"Of course," I said.

"All right then.  I've not got long.  I've got to be prepared.  So I'll
make preparations.  Don't'look so sad.  I'm an old man.  I've had my
day and a pretty good day it's been.  The point is, I don't want to be
snuffed out like a candle.  You know, there was a light there and then
suddenly there's no light ... and that was Ben Henniker, that was.

No.  It's not going to be like that.  It's always been a dream of mine
to see my grand children pea cocking on my lawn.  "

You mean Joss's children.  "

That's right.  I used to picture them .  sturdy little 'uns .  looking
just like him.  Not just one of them .  I wanted lots of 'em.

Little boys and little girls.  He'd have pretty girls if they inherited
his eyes.  I'm glad he's shown no signs of marrying yet and there's a
reason for it' What reason ?  He's not so very young, is he?  "

"He's the other side of thirty.  To think ifs all that time since he
came strutting across that lawn with his suitcase.

"I've come here.  I like it here.  I like the peacocks ..."  What a
boy! I reckon he's liked it there ever since.  I want him to marry the
right woman.  Thafs important.  So I'm glad he hasn't married yet.  "

"You were going to tell me the reason."

"Oh, he's been involved here and there.  He's a man who likes women and
they like him."  Ben chuckled in that fond way which I always found
irritating in this connection.

"Everything Joss does is done with more energy than ordinary people
use.  So ifs like that with women.  He's got the roving eye all right,
but he never seemed anxious to settle."

"He gets more attractive than ever," I said sarcastically.

"He's now added promiscuity to his arrogance."

"Joss is a man, remember.  He's strong, proud, sure of himself.  He's
all that a man should be.  He's myself made tall and handsome and got
the right education too, which was what I missed.  I sent him to school
over here when he was eleven years old and he stayed here until he was
sixteen.  I was a bit worried about that.  Afraid it might change him
too much.  Not a bit of it.  An English education just gave him
something more.  When he was sixteen he refused to stay at school any
longer.  He was raring to get to work.  He was mad about opals and
mining and all that went with it.  When I showed him the Flash that
night I remember the look in his eyes ... But that's past.  What I want
to talk about is now.  A year at the most, they say.  Well, perhaps old
Ben can make it a bit longer.  But before I go everything will have to
be in order.  Now you can do all sorts of things for me.  You can write
letters and such like."

"I'll do everything I can.  You know that, Ben.8 " Well, the first
letter I want you to write is to my solicitors.  Now they're in London
and in Sydney.  I want you to write to the London address right away
and tell them that their Mr.  Venning is to come and see me down here
without delay.  Will you do that?  "

"Of course.  Immediately.  You must give me all particulars."

"Ifs Mr.  Venning of Venning and Caves, and they're in Hanover Square
and you'll find the complete address in a book in that drawer over
there.  That's the first thing."

I wrote the letter and said I would post it.

I sat by his bed, and he said: "I'm glad there's some time left to us,
Jessie."

The doctors could be wrong," I insisted.  They have been known to
be."

That's so.  I wonder if it is the curse of the Green Flash after all. 
I told you that misfortune dogged those who owned it, didn't I?  "

"But you don't own it.  You lost it... nearly twenty years ago."

"Yes.  Yes, of course.  But there was my accident in the mine ... and
there's the suggestion that I might have caught this infection of the
blood, or whatever it is, in those mines.  Perhaps that's the price you
have to pay for gouging those beauties out of the rock, taking them
from where they belong a sort of revenge they have."

"Surely something beautiful shouldn't be hidden in rock.  It should be
brought out for people to enjoy."

"Who knows?  But it could be the curse of the Green Flash getting
me."

"You don't believe that, Ben.  How can you?  You were well enough when
you owned it."

He didn't answer.  He merely took my hand and held it.

"Later on," he said, "I shall send for joss."

"You mean bring him here?"

His shrewd eyes were on me.

"I can feel your pulse quicken.  He excites you, doesn't he ... I mean
the thought of seeing him does?"

"Why should it?"  I asked.

"I know you think a great deal of him, Ben, but what I have heard
doesn't make me admire him very much."

He started to laugh so hard that I thought it might be bad for him.

"Stop it, Ben," I said severely.

"It's not a bit funny."

"It is because I know you're going to change your opinion when you meet
him."

"So you really are going to ask him to come here?"

"Not yet.  I've got some time left to me.  When he comes it will be to
see me out.  He's got work to do out there.  He can't dilly-dally
shilly-shally for a year.  But when the end is near-and I'll know
it-there's no doubt of that, I'll send for Joss.  I'll have to tell him
what I want him to do before I go."

I was unhappy, for I could see the change in him every day.  Being Ben,
he would cling to life tenaciously, but in the end he would have to
give way.

This time next year .  I thought; and I was filled with melancholy.

The weeks passed, and I continued to visit Ben every day.

My grandmother could not be kept in ignorance of my visits, and while
she expressed disapproval she did not attempt to stop them.  I was sure
she knew that if she did I should blatantly disobey her.

"Your friend, the miner, seems to be getting his just deserts," she
commented sourly.

"People of his station clambering about in mines so that they can ape
their betters are bound to come to grief."

I couldn't respond with my usual flippancy.  I felt too deeply about
Ben.

He used to talk incessantly about the days in Australia and I would
encourage him to do so because it comforted him.  He often mentioned
the Green Rash opal and once or twice he seemed to be wandering in his
mind because he talked as though he still had it.

"People get fancies about opals," he said, 'and the Green Hash was no
ordinary gem.  Diamonds can be of greater value, but they don't seem to
have the same effect on people.  I've seen men going for gold .  it's a
sort of fever, but the lust is not for the gold in itself.  It's what
gold can bring them.  Perhaps it's because opals are different One
nugget looks very like another, but opals are varying.  There are such
legends about that stone.  People read messages in the colours.  In the
past they were omens of good fortune.  People say they can bring bad
luck, though.  I always used to say this was because some of them could
be so easily chipped, and a stone a man has regarded as his fortune can
thus lose much of its value.  I've known men desperately in need of
money and yet refusing to part with a stone that could save them.

That's how it was with the Green Rash.  "

"Yet you say it was called the Unlucky Stone.8 There's bound to be
legends about a stone like that.  It was one of the first black opals
to be found.  It's odd that there should never have been anything like
it since.  There never will be in my opinion."

Who found it?  "

"It was an old miner ... fifty years ago.  He'd had bad luck all along
the sort of fellow who'd give up just as he was almost on a find and
then someone else would come along and reap the reward of his labour.
He was called Unlucky

Jim.  Then .  he found her.  It was rather like what happened to me
with Green Lady.  The rock collapsed on him, and he was found dead
clutching the Green Flash in his hand.  Perhaps that's what started it
all.  I think bad luck's sometimes wished on you .  if you follow.

Unlucky Jim finds the Flash and, taking her, loses his life.  His son
found him and the stone and he knew right away that^ she was a
winner.

One look at her was enough .  though she was in the raw state then.

He wanted to get her into Sydney right away, but he'd showed her round
a bit.  He couldn't help it, he was proud of her.  He was warned by an
old gypsy' woman that it wouldn't be wise for him to carry that stone
through the Bush because already people were talking of it .  how it
was the finest opal in the world and worth a fortune.  So he had a
plan.  He gave it to his younger brother to take .  and none knew he
had it.  A bushranger shot him on the way determined to get the opal,
but of course he couldn't find it because the brother had it.  So that
was two deaths already.  "

"And what happened to it then?"

"It was cut and polished and, by heavens, what emerged dazzled just
everyone who saw it.  The size ... the colour ... it had never been
expected that such a stone existed.  This younger brother had it
then.

I only half-remember what happened to him.  His daughter eloped and he
tried to stop her and in the scuffle with the would-be husband, the
owner of the Green Flash was thrown downstairs.  He spent two years in
acute pain before he died but he wouldn't give up the Green Flash.  I
heard he used to carry it with him so that he could look at it every
day and he thought it was worthwhile .  everything that had happened
just to possess it.  His daughter, though, was afraid of it and she put
it in the hands of a dealer and from him it passed to some Eastern
ruler.  That'll give you an idea.  It was worthy to fit into some
jewel-studded crown.  He was assassinated a year or so after, and it
passed to his eldest son who was sold in slavery but not before the
Flash was taken from him by his captors.  One of them stole it and ran
off with it and when misfortune started to hit him he blamed the stone.
He died of a fever, but not before he'd told his son to take it back
where it be longed.  That was how it was brought back to Australia. 
Old Harry I told you about gambled for it.  It was one of those
occasions when Harry won.  "

"Did he believe the legend?"

"All I know is that when people get that stone they want to keep it at
all cost, " And you weren't afraid when you had it?  "

"No.  But look what happened to me.  Look at me now."

"You can't blame that on the ill luck the stone has brought you because
you no longer have it.  I wonder what happened to whoever took it?"

He held my hand firmly and began: "Jessie ..."  I waited for I thought
he was going to tell me something but he seemed to change his mind.

He looked very tired and I said: "I'm going to leave you to sleep now,
Ben."

Oddly enough, he made no protest so I quietly left him and went back to
the Dower House.

The next year was with us.  Every now and then Ben rallied so that I
thought he was going to defy the doctors and get well, but there would
be days when he would appear to be exhausted in spite of his efforts to
hide it.

It was in the middle of February, a cold day with a north wind blowing
and flurries of snow in the air, that I went to see him.

There was a fire in the grate and Hannah looked sad.  She whispered:

"He's failing, I think.  Lord help us.  What's going to become of us
all?"

"I dare say he will have made some provision," I assured her.

"That Banker is really cut up, and Mr.  Wilmot hasn't mentioned Mr.
Henniker's not the right sort of master of Oakland for the last six
weeks.  I reckon he'd give a good deal to have things go on as they
were."

"We all would, Hannah," I said.

So I was prepared when I went to his room.  It may have been the cold
white light of the snowy weather which gave his face that bluish tinge,
but I didn't think so.  He smiled when he saw me and tried to appear
jaunty.

"What I call roast chestnut and hot spud weather," he said.

"I once did very well with them ... chestnuts and roast potatoes cooked
on a little brazier at the corner of the street.

Lovely to warm your hands on.  It's a cold day today, Jessie.  "

I went to the bed and took his hands.  They were indeed very cold.

"I can't seem to keep myself warm these days," he said.  We talked of
Australia and the mines and men he had known; and I made tea on the
spirit lamp, which he liked to see me do.

"I picture you boiling the billy-can out in the Bush.  That's what I
used to think we'd be doing one day.  They say Man proposes and God
disposes.  He's disposing a bit today, I'm afraid, Jess."

I gave him the tea and watched him drink it.

"Good strong stuff," he said.

"But, you know, tea never tastes as good as it does out in the Bush.
I'd like to have been out there with you, Jessie.  I'd have liked to
see you-a damper in one hand and a cup of good brew in the other, and
I'd like to have heard you say you'd never tasted anything so good.
Never mind, you'll know it all one day."  I must have looked very sad
because he went on: "Cheer up, my girl.  Qh yes, you're going out
there.  I'm certain of that I won't have it otherwise."

I didn't answer.  I let him go on with his fancies, and I wondered what
I was going to do when he was gone and I should no longer come to
Oakland Hall.

"I've been thinking of something," he said.

"I reckon the time has come.  Joss should be told.  He ought to start
thinking about coming over now.  It'll take him time.  You can't expect
him to catch the first ship.  He'll have things to arrange.  With out
Joss the Company will be in need of a bit of organizing."

You want to write to him?  " I said.  I took paper and pen and sat down
by the bed.

"What do you want me to say?"

"I'd like you to write it in your own way.  I want it to be a letter
from you to him."  - "But..."

"Go on.  It's what I want."  So I wrote:

Dear Mr.  Madden, Mr.  Ben Henniker has asked me to write to you to
tell you he is very ill.  He wants you to come to England.  It is very
important that you should leave as soon as possible.  Yours truly,
Jessica Clavering.

Read it to me," said Ben, and I did.

"It does sound a bit unfriendly," he commented.

"How could it be friendly when I haven't met him?"

"I've told you something about him."

"I suppose it doesn't make me feel particularly friendly."

Then I haven't told you the right things and I'm to blame.

When you meet him, you'll feel like all women do .  you'll see.  "

I'm not a silly little peahen to goggle at the magnificent peacock,
you know, Ben.  "

That set him laughing so much that once again I was af it might be bad
for him.

When he was quiet he lay back smiling happily, as through I thought, he
had discovered a rich vein of opal.

"Anyone would think you'd found the Green Rash," I told him, and a
strange expression crossed his face.  I could not guess what he was
thinking.

He rallied a little after that and in due course I received a reply
from Josslyn Madden.  It was addressed to Miss Jessica Clavering at
Oakland Hall, and Mr.  Wilmot handed it to me on a silver salver when I
arrived.

I saw the Australian postmark and the bold handwriting, and I guessed
from whom it came, so I took it up to Ben and told him that Joss Madden
had answered my letter.

I opened it and read aloud:

Dear Miss Clavering, Thank you for your letter.  By the time you
receive this I shall be on my way.  I shall come immediately to Oakland
Hall when I arrive in England.

Yours truly, J. Madden.

"Is that all he says ?"  cried Ben querulously.

"It's enough," I replied.

"All he has to tell us is that he is on his way."

April had come.  I should be nineteen in June.

"You're growing up," said my grandmother.

"How different it might have been.  We should have done our duty by you
and you would have come out with dignity.  Here ... in this place ...
what can we hope for?  There isn't even a curate for you.  Mind you,
your fondness for low company might exclude you from such as Miriam has
turned to."

"Miriam is very happy, I think."

"I'm sure she is ... wondering where her next meal is coming from."

"It's not as bad as that.  They have enough to eat.  She enjoys
managing and I know she is much happier than she was here."

"Oh, she was glad enough to get someone to marry her ... anyone ... it
didn't matter who.  I hope you're not going to get into that desperate
state."

'you need have no anxieties on that score," I retorted.

I was feeling very sad because I knew that Ben's health 'it V. for the
worse; he was visibly deteriorating ^^of /^ what would happen when he
died and I pro' v sited Oakland.  The future stretched out drearily
afr^ / I was still doing what my grandmother called des expected of
people in our position, even though Are in such reduced circumstances. 
That meant taking /(e poor dusters and the preserves which had not
turned ^ as well as my grandmother had expected them to, taking /harge
of a stall at the church fete, attending the sewing class held at the
vicarage, putting flowers on the graves, helping decorate the church
and such activities, I could see myself growing old and sour as Miriam
had been before she married her curate-but even she had had him in the
background, I was no longer very young.  I was now a woman and the
older I grew the more quickly would the years slip by The days began
ordinarily enough with prayers in the drawing-room where the family
assembled with the servants while my grandmother, as I once
irreverently observed to Miriam, gave the Almighty His instructions for
the day.

"Do this ..."  and "Don't do that..."  By force of habit I counted up
the injunctions.

That April Mrs.  Jarman had been delivered of another child and Jarman
was more melancholy than ever.  Nature, he told me, showed no signs of
curbing her generosity.  My grandmother sharply retorted that he was
not so simple that he did not know that a little restraint might ease
the situation.  He was indeed Poor Jarman; he looked at my grandmother
with such reproach that he made me want to laugh.

"Talk of Poor Jarman," she said to me sharply.

"I think it's a case of Poor Mrs.  Jarman."

In an outburst of generosity she packed a basket for the fertile lady
and even put in a pot of raspberry jam which had not started to go
mouldy, a small chicken, and a flask of broth.

You can take this over to Mrs.  Jarman, Jessica," she said.

"After all, her husband does work for us.  Take it while he is working,
for I am sure he seizes the best of everything for himself and she
needs nourishment, poor woman."

That was how on a breezy afternoon in late April I came to be walking
over to the cottage where the Jarmans lived, a basket on my arm,
thinking as I went of Ben and wondering how soon the day would come
when I went over to Oakland Hall and found that he had left it.

Outside the Jarman cottage was a muddy pond and a scrap , of garden
overgrown with weeds.  It was strange that Poor Jannan, who spent his
days making other people's gardens beautiful should so neglect his own.
I contemplated that they could have grown some flowers there, or
perhaps some vegetables, but instead of daffodils and flowering shrubs
there were little Jarmans playing games which seemed to involve the
maximum of noise, confusion, and an abundance of litter.

One of the young ones who must have been about three years old had a
small flowerpot into- which he was shovelling dirt and turning it out
into neat little mounds which he patted with hands understandably
grimy, after which operation he rubbed them over his face and down his
pinafore.  Two others were tugging at a rope and another was throwing a
ball into the pond so that when it bounced a spray of dirty water rose,
splashing him and anyone near to the immense delight of those who were
thus anointed.

There was a brief silence as I approached, all eyes on the basket, but
as I went into the cottage the noise broke out again.

I called out: "Good afternoon, Mrs.  Jannan."

One stepped straight into the living-room, and I knocked on a door
which I knew from previous visits to be that of the connubial
bedchamber.  There was a spiral staircase leading from the room to two
rooms upstairs which were occupied as sleeping quarters by the
ever-increasing tribe.

Mrs.  Jannan was in bed, the new baby in a cradle beside her.  She was
very large.  Like a queen bee, I had once remarked to Miriam, and
indeed Nature had clearly furnished her for a similar destiny.

"Another little girl, Mrs.  Jarman," I said.  , "Yes, Miss Jessica,"
said Mrs.  Jarman, rolling her eyes reproachfully up to the ceiling as
though Providence had whisked this one into the cradle when she wasn't
looking, for she shared Poor Jarman's complaint that it was Nature at
her tricks again.

The little girl was going to be called Daisy, she told me, and she
hoped God would see fit to bless her.

"Well, Mrs.  Jarman," I said, 'you have your quiverful and that's
supposed to be a blessed state.  "

"It'll mean getting another bed up there in time," she said.

"I only hope the Lord sees fit to stop with Daisy."

I talked for a while and then came out of the house to where the noise
seemed to have increased.  The maker of dirt mounds had had enough of
them and was cheerfully kicking them

down to the pond.  The ball went into the pond and the Jarman who had
thrown it shrugged his shoulders and walked away.

I was about to cross the road when the mound-maker having seen the ball
go into the pond decided to retrieve it.  He walked in, reached for the
ball and fell flat on his face.

The other children were all watching with interest, but none of them
thought of getting the child out.  There was only one thing for me to
do because he was in imminent danger.  I waded into the pond, picked up
the little Jarman and angrily strode with him on to dry land.

As I stood there with the child in my arms I was aware of a man on
horseback watching the scene.  The horse looked enormous, so did the
man; it was like a centaur or some legendary creature.

An imperious voice said: "Can you tell me the way to Oakland Hall?"

The eldest Jarman present, who must have been about six, shouted: "Up
the road there..."

The man on horseback was looking straight at me expecting the only
adult to give the answer.

I said: "You go straight up the road, turn to the right and you will
see the gates a little way along the road."

"Thank you."

He put his hand into his pocket and brought out some coins which he
threw at us.

I was furious.  I hastily put down the little Jarman and stopped to
pick up the coins with the intention of throwing them back at him, but
before I could reach them two Jarmans had swooped on them and had run
off as fast as they could with their prize.

I looked angrily at the back of the horseman and turned on the small
Jarman whose mud-spattered face was lifted to mine, one finger in his
mouth while he regarded me with curiosity.

"You dirty little creature," I stammered.  Then I was sorry because it
wasn't his fault.

"All right," I said.

"Go in and get one of your brothers and sisters to dry you.  And don't
dare walk into the pond again."

I strode off to the Dower House.  As soon as I reached my room I looked
at myself in a mirror, i There was a smudge of dirt on my cheek; my
blouse was | muddy, my skirt wet at the hem and my shoes saturated.  "|
What a sight I looked.  And the man on horseback had| taken me for a
cottage girl!  I guessed who he was.  Hadn't'j he asked for Oakland
Hall?  Hadn't he behaved in a per fe airogant manner?  Hadn't he the
conceited looks of a peacock?

To think that my first meeting with him should have been like that!

"I knew I'd hate him," I said aloud.

I could not bring myself to go to Oakland Hall the following afternoon.
I thought: He'll be there, and I don't want to see him.  Ben will be
all right, I thought jealously.  He's got his precious Peacock.

He won't want me.

I was wrong.

Maddy came knocking at my door.

"Hannah gave me a message for you.

It's from Mr.  Henniker.  He's asking you to go over there.  He wants
you particular I had to go then, so I dressed with care.  I wore my
blue alpaca, which if it was not my most becoming gown gave me an air
of dignity.

As soon as I arrived at the Hall I was aware of the change.  There was
tense excitement in the atmosphere.  Wilmot greeted me in the hall,
urbane and dignified.

"Mr.  Henniker wishes you to go straight up to his room, Miss
Clavering."

Thank you, Wilmot," I said.

I knew it was no use asking the questions which came into my mind.

Wilmot would be too correct to discuss one visitor with another.  But I
did see Hannah at the top of the staircase where she was lurking,
obviously hoping to catch me.

"Oh, Miss Jessica," she said in an awe struck voice, 'he's come.  the
gentleman from Australia.  "

"Oh?"  I said, waiting.

"My word!"  The expression on her face irritated me.  Usually sensible,
Hannah looked quite foolish.

"He seems to have had an extraordinary effect on you," I said
sharply.

"Mr.  Henniker's that pleased.  I reckon ifs given him a new lease of
life.  He came into the hall yesterday it was ... You'd have thought he
owned the place.  Wilmot says it looks like the place could belong to
him.  I don't know when I've seen such a big gentleman, and he's got a
way of talking too.  You can hear him all over the place... one of them
carrying voices.  My word!  I reckon he knows what he's about.

Wilmot seems to think he's some sort of relation.  A son, Wilmot's
heard.  Though we didn't know Mr.  Henniker had been married, and he's
a Mr.  Madden.  "

"I suppose I'm to meet him," I said, cutting her short, 'so I

must go and see this-' I was going to say 'peacock' but I changed it
to 'paragon'- "of yours whose huge body and booming voice seem to have
bewitched you."

I went past her, knowing she was thinking I was very touchy today.

I knocked at Ben's bedroom door and heard him say: This will be
Jessica.  " Then loudly: " Come in, my dear.  "I went in.  Ben was
sitting in the chair by the bed in a dressing-gown and with a rug about
his knees.  A tall figure rose and came towards me.  I was annoyed
because I had to look up so far.

/ Of course it was the man I had met on horseback outside the Jarman
cottage.

He took my hand and kept it too long for me.

"So," he said, 'we meet again.  "

"Hey?  What's this?"  cried Ben.

"Come over here, the two of you.  I want to make a proper introduction.
This is a very important occasion.  I want you two to know each other,
and when you do you're going to like each other a good deal.  I've
never had any doubt of that.  You're two of a kind."

I couldn't help showing the resentment which flared up with ini me at
the thought of being compared with this man.  I noticed his eyes
then-those deep blue eyes the colour of a peacock's feather; I noticed
the rather large nose, slightly aquiline, which suggested the arrogance
I was convinced I would find, and the long, rather thin lips, which
could have been cynical or sensuous or both.  It was not so much a
handsome face as a distinguished one-the sort that would never be
passed in a crowd and once seen remembered.  The brown velvet jacket
and the very white cravat suggested fastidiousness, but the brown
riding boots and corded breeches were essentially masculine.

What I disliked most was the mocking expression in his face which told
me that he was remembering the sight of me ^ emerging from a muddy pond
with a grubby Jarman in my '| arms.  That was his first impression and
it was something he | was not going to forget.

"We have met before, Ben," he said.

"Come and tell me about it."

I said quickly: "I went to the Jannans.  Mrs.  Jarman produced again
and my grandmother sent me over with son things.  As I was coming out
of the house one of the childr< fell into the pond.  I got him out and
Mr.  er ..."  I nod de towards him.

'you must call him Joss, my dear," said Ben.

"We don't want any formality.  We're all too friendly for that."

"But I don't know him," I protested.

"We have met before," said Joss Madden, and I sensed the mockery.

I said firmly: "Mr.  Madden came by, asked the way-and paid for the
information."  I turned to him.

"I can assure you the fee was unnecessary and would have been returned
to you had not the children seized whatever it was and run off with
it."

Ben laughed.

"Well, fancy that!  And you didn't know each other?"

"Having heard that Mr.  Madden was due, I guessed it was he.  His
actions fitted what I had heard of him."

joss Madden laughed.  It was a quick bellow of a laugh.  It exploded
and was over.

"I trust that was meant as a compliment," he said, 'because I'm going
to take it as such.  "

"I will leave you to judge," I replied.

Ben Was smiling as though-I found I was using this simile often in
connection with him-he had found the Green Flash.

"It does me good to see you here getting along so well with Jessica,"
said Ben.

"It's the best thing that's happened since my fall.  Now, let's all sit
down and get comfortable, shall we?  We've got a lot to talk about, and
I don't know how much time there is left to us."

"Don't say that, Ben," I cried.

"You're going to be so much better now that er... Mr.  Madden has
come."

"Let's look the truth straight between the eyes," said Ben.

"It's always the best way.  That's so, eh.  Joss ?"

"I believe it to be," he answered.

'now come on .  bring the chairs up .  one of you on either side of me.
There.  Thafs what I've been wanting for a long time.  Now I'm going to
be sentimental.  It's allowed for a poor old man who hasn't got much
time left to him.  There's two people who mean more to me than anything
eke in the world, and I've set my heart on one thing and that is that I
want them to be together .  work together .  "

I could feel Joss Madden's eyes on me, assessing me in a way I felt
offensive.  No man had ever looked at me like that before.  It made me
strangely aware of myself.  I had expected him to be arrogant and
offensive, but I had not guessed he would arouse such hitherto
unexperienced feelings in me.  I found myself remembering that there
was a strongish breeze which had made my hair untidy and that my alpaca
was not in

very becoming.  I must have looked quite terrible yesterday when I had
emerged from the pond.

I heard myself say shrilly: "Work together ... I Whatever do you mean,
Ben?"

"Well, that's something I'm coming to.  I can see Joss here thinking
it's a bit soon.  I reckon he's thinking you and he ought to get better
acquainted first.  Is that it.  Joss?"

"It may be that Miss dave ring would find the shock too great.  Give
her a day or two to get used to me."

This is all rather mysterious.  "

"Ifs really very straightforward and practical," said Joss Madden.

"Are you practical.  Miss Clavering?"

"Now what did I say," interrupted Ben.

"No formality."

"Are you practical, Jessica?"  asked Joss Madden.

"I think I am," I answered.

"Yes.  You have that air.  I would say you take a pride in being a
sensible young woman."

"It seems a sensible thing to take a pride in," I retorted.

"Brisk," he said.

"No nonsense.  That's going to be very helpful, I can see."

"Look here," said Ben.

"I'm rushing things.  I begin to see that.  I'll tell you what we'll
do.  Tomorrow we'll have a good talk.  The three of us together, eh?"

That seems a good idea," said Joss Madden.

All right, then," said Ben.  That's settled.  We'll just chat now,
eh?

Tell me how things are back home.  "

"I've told you the essentials already," said Joss with a laugh.

Things-are running as smoothly as they can be expected to.  There are
no dire problems.  We struck a rich vein near Deny Creek.  "

"Good black opal, eh?  And not too much potch.  That's what I like to
hear.  Jimson Laud coming along all right?"

"He's all right."

"You sound lukewarm.8 ;

"Jimson's the one who's lukewarm."

"Can't expect everyone to blow hot like you.  Joss.  Jimson's a figure
man.  They don't get exdted-but accounts arc important to the
business.

And Ulias?  "

The same as ever.  "

"And Emmeline?"

The entire family has changed little since you last sa' them.  "

Ben looked into space, murmuring: "Oh, I'd like to Peacocks once more
before I went.  Mind you, I've got a clear picture in my mind's eye.
I've loved every brick of that place .  every blade of grass on those
lawns.  Not the same as here ... of course ... that sun, that burning
sun ... all those months of drought.  What was it like when you
left?"

"Dry as a bone.  There were some forest fires a few miles away."

"It's a perpetual danger, Jessica," said Ben to me.

"You'll find it very different from here.  Won't she.  Joss?2 " If she
decides to accept your terms.  "

Terms?  " I demanded.

"What terms?"

"I thought you said it was too soon to talk," said Ben.

"So it is," replied Joss Madden.

"If we did, I reckon we'd get a blank refusal.  You've got to give Miss
Clavering time ... er, I mean Jessica.  You're not the puppet master,
Ben, simply because neither Jessica nor I are of the stuff which
puppets are made of.  Don't you agree ... Jessica ?  You wouldn't want
to be jerked round on the stage.  Go this way ... go that way ...
because that's the way the master's twitching the strings."

"I can assure you that I would not and that you are talking of
something of which I know nothing.  I think you ought to let me into
the secret without delay."

Ben looked at Joss, who shook his head.  Then Ben said:

"There's something I have to tell you first, Jessica.  Joss knows it
already.  I'll tell you when we're alone and then you'll understand."

I looked at Joss meaningly, because their mysterious talk was giving me
a burning desire to discover what it was all about.

"I see," said Joss, 'that that's a sort of hint.  I'm going to have
another look at your stables, Ben.  I want to see if there's anything
good enough to ride here.  "

"Impertinence," laughed Ben.

"We breed good horses here, I might tell you.  You'll find several
there as good as that one you hired to travel on."

"I hope so.  I had to take him because he was all they had.  Then shall
I leave you?  You can have your talk.  You and I will meet again
soon... Jessica."

He went out, and Ben turned to me at once.

"What do you think of him?"

be asked eagerly.

"He's exactly what I expected."

"So I gave you a good description of him, did I ?"

"I based my judgement on the little anecdotes you told me."

"And you like him, Jess ?"

I hesitated.  I didn't want to hurt Ben by telling him that ii3

the more I saw of Joss Madden the less I liked him.

I said cautiously.

"I don't fed I know him."

Ben shook his head.

"You'll soon get to know him.  I wish I'd asked him to come earlier."

"Ben," I said, 'you were going to tell me what you and he have been
hinting at.  What is it?  "

He hesitated.

"I hardly know where to begin.  I've been very wrong, and I'm sorry for
it.  But it's a good thing really.  You'll see that and understand, I'm
sure.  It's to do with the Green Hash at Sunset."

That seems to be at the centre of our lives," I commented dryly.

That was all true .  what I told you about how I won it.  I'd got the
stone and it made a difference to my life.  Funny how the possession of
that opal changed everything.  It was true that those who had owned it
had been dogged by bad luck.  I knew that everyone was watching me .
waiting for the ill luck to hit me.  There were those who wished me
well.  There were others who had seen it, felt its fascination and
wanted it.  Men are strange creatures, Jess.  A girl like you .  a
sensible girl.  Joss called you .  wouldn't know about this.  And
you've never seen the Green Flash either.  Perhaps it you had seen it
you'd understand more.  That flashing blue and the red of the sun .  it
just bewitches you.  So where was I?  There were those who watched me
and others who sought to steal it.  I reckoned my life wasn't worth
what it was before I had the stone.  There were some who would have cut
my throat or put a bullet through my heart for the sake of it.  I'd got
a red hot property on my hands and I was going to bum myself pretty
badly one way or another.

Then there came the day when they were all here and I showed them the
stone.  This is going to hurt a bit, Jessie.  I didn't want to tell
you.

I know you have a beautiful picture of your father and his love for
your mother, and it's right for young ladies to have these feelings tor
their parents.  But it wasn't quite like that.  Your mother was a sweet
pretty creature.  She was like you .  oh, very much .  but different.
You've got your feet more on the ground, that sensible quality, eh? 
She could be gay, a bit wilful; she was a bit of a gambler too.  It's
in the family.  You can't escape it.  I bet you'll be ready to take a
gamble when the time comes.  I hope you will be, and I'll tell you
you're going to come out a winner.  I was more than a bit in love with
your mother. "

"Yes; I said.

"I know that."

"I thought it would be a nice rounding off if I married her and
brought her back to her old home.  I thought we'd have children and my
name would be on that family tree in the hall.  I couldn't see her in
Australia, though ... not like I can you.  She was more delicate,
fragile-like.  Well, then Desmond came aong.  A handsome young fellow
he was, with what I call the gift of the gab.  A bit of a rogue too. Oh
yes, I've got to tell you the truth.  He'd roamed the world a bit and
learned a few tricks.  He was dead serious about his Fancy, though, and
he'd got opal fever as bad as the rest of us.  He was always one for
the ladies and when he came down here to stay for a while to persuade
me to invest in the Fancy and we waited for David Croissant to join us,
he took up with your mother and in his way he was in love with her. 
She was innocent and believed all he told her.  He might have married
her.  I reckon he would have, but he couldn't, the way it turned out.

"I was mad with him ... mad for his being young and handsome and having
his way with women.  Joss was here ... home from school, agitating
about not going back there, and he was learning a lot about opals. That
brings me to the night when I showed them the Green Flash.

I saw the way it had got Desmond.  He couldn't take his eyes from it.

He picked it up, and I remember now how his fingers curled round it.

Desire!  There's no other word for it.  Mad, demanding desire .  like
thirst in the desert, like food to the starving.  You look sceptical,
Jessie.  That's because you haven't experienced it.  But I saw it and I
knew what the result would be, so I was ready.  When I went to bed that
night I left my door open and I sat fully dressed listening.  Then I
heard the sound of creeping footsteps so I came down to the study.

"He was there at the safe.  He had the Flash in his hands.  I said:

"What are you doing, Desmond Dereham?"  He Just stared at me .  white
as these sheets.  I said: "You've seduced little Jessica Clavering and
now you're trying to steal the Green Bash.  And when you've got it what
would you do?  There's only one thing you could do.  Get out of here ..
sharp ... and leave her, eh.  You'd desert her, wouldn't you, for the
sake of the Green Flash?  Do you know, I. reckon you're not fit to
live."

"Oh Ben," I cried, 'you killed my father!  "

He shook his head.  TNo .  no .  not that.  Though I had a gun in my
hand and would have done it too.  But I thought, No.  I don't want this
man's life on my hands.  It's not worth

"5

lais was even m<^ ^

it.  So I said: "I've caught you red-handed.  You'll put that opal back
in the safe where it belongs and you're going to get out of here
fast.

You'll never show your face here or at the Fancy, for if you do I'll
expose you for the thief you are.  Get out.  Leave my house .  now.

I'll swear you've got your bags packed and are ready to leave.  " Oh, I
was mad with him.  I can't tell you what restraint I had to put on
myself to prevent my pulling the trigger.  That would have been silly .
messy ... and wouldn't have done me any good.  So he put the opal back
in the safe and I marched him back to his room.  Sure enough, there
were his bags ... already packed.  He planned to get the opal and clear
out ... like a thief in the night... which was what he was."

"So you sent him away ... away from my mother."

"He would have been no good to her.  He knew he'd have to keep out of
the way if he'd got the Flash.  He'd planned it all.  He was going to
take the opal and get out."

"My poor mother!"

There'd been women in his life.  Nothing had lasted.  I knew this.  I
wanted him out of the way .  for her sake.  1 didn't know you were on
the way then.  That could have been different.  "

"You said he had stolen the Green Bash."

Thafs what I want to tell you.  It was a pretence on my part.  He'd
gone . disappeared in the night.  He wasn't coming back.  He wouldn't
dare face me for I'd let it be known that he was a would-be thief.

We're very rigid in Australia.  We have to be.  There's a rough and
ready justice.  We don't tolerate thieves and we don't tolerate
murderers.  We can't.  There's too much to take care of.  He was
finished for the Fancy when I found him at the safe.  He knew that and
he had been ready to risk everything for the Green Flash.  That was the
effect it had on people.  I thought then:

I'll make people believe he's got the Green Flash, then no one would
seek to rob me of it.  No one would ill-wish me with that certainty
that misfortune was going to overtake me.  I left soon after for
Australia . taking the Green Flash with me.  "

"Does ]oss know this?"

"He does now because I've told him as I've told you.  Believe me,
Jessie, I'd have acted different if I'd known you were on the way ...
You don't speak."

"I fed so shocked."  "It's in the past.  Your life is about to open
out.  You're going to be happy.  You're going to have all your mother
didn't have.  I promise you you're going to find life a great
adventure."

I can't think of the future.  I can't stop dunking of my mother.  "

"You've got to forget all that."  - "I wonder where my father is."

He'd fall on his feet.  he always did.  "

"All those years you have allowed him to be suspected, and my poor
mother..."

She should never have done what she did.  "

"She was driven to it."

No, Jess, we're none of us driven.  We act on our own free will, and if
we find life too much to be borne, then dearly there's no one to blame
but ourselves.  "

I turned my face away.  I was going over it all, my father caught at
the safe, Ben forcing him to get out.  His belongings already packed,
so he had meant to go with the Green Hash and leaving my poor little
mother to bear me and then destroy herself.

Ben was caressing my hand.

"Don't think badly of me, Jessie," he said.

"I'll not be here much longer, you know.  I couldn't bear there to be
bitterness at the end.

I'm a violent man.  I've lived dangerously.  I don't belong in a
historic manor like this.  I've had to fight throughout my life and
it's made me hard and strong and ruthless.  Perhaps I don't set so much
store on morals as I should.  In the Outback there were men who were
ready to kill me for the Green Flash.  Do you understand?  Tell me you
do understand.  "

"Yes, I do understand, Ben."

"And we've loved each other, haven't we?  Didn't your life change when
we met and wasn't it for the better?"

"It did, and I love you, Ben."

Then you'll have learned something.  When you love it's not for rhyme
nor reason.  And whatever the loved one's done makes no difference . 
not to true love.  I don't love you any less because I'm a wicked man
on some days.  I'm still the same old Ben, sentimental and loving where
he gives his love, and when he gives it he gives it for good.  "

"It's true, Ben.  I could never do anything but love you.  I can't bear
to think of your not being here..."

"Never mind, never mind, because I'm not leaving your life empty.

There's better coming into it than was ever there

before.  That's what I'm going to promise you if you'll listen to me,
if you'll take my advice.  There's a lot I know about human nature and
that means I know you perhaps even better than you know yourself.  I'm
going to talk to you tomorrow.  You've had enough for one day.  You're
a gambler as I am, and you're going to have to gamble a bit with life. 
I always have.  You wouldn't want to turn your face away from life. 
You wouldn't want to live out your days in that dismal old Dower House,
would you?  "

"Oh, Ben," I said, "I wish it hadn't been like that... about my father,
I mean.  And the Green Flash is still in your possession ... with its
ill luck.  Is that why you had your accident?  Is that why this is
happening to you now?"

That's what people would say, but I've never regretted having it.  Ifs
meant a lot to me.  I used to go down in the dead of night and take it
out and look at it .  and I felt it was telling me, "Go on ... enjoy
your life.  Never mind if you live dangerously.  I'm yours and if you
have to pay for having me, pay cheerfully."

"Does Joss know all this ... about my father and mother?"

"He knows it all."

"And the Green Flash will be his when..."

"When I die.  Oh, I've plans and that's something the three of us are
going to talk about tomorrow."

Tell me now, Ben.  "

"Oh no.  You've had enough to digest for one day, I reckon.  You've got
to be in the picture to see it all clearly.  Don't fret, Jessie.  I
want my last weeks to be cheerful.  There aren't many left to me."

Please, Ben, don't.  "

"All right, I won't.  Go home now and come back tomorrow afternoon.

Then I'll tell you my plans and don't worry, my dearest girl.  "

I left him then and went to the Dower House.  I was very disturbed; the
revelations coming immediately after my meeting with Joss Madden had
completely bewildered me.

As I went into the house my grandmother was in the hall arranging a
bowl of flowers.

"Oh dear," she said, 'ifs so difficult here.  How I miss the flower
room we had at Oakland!  By the way, I see your friend has a visitor
staying there.  He looked slightly superior to the mining type . 
almost a gentleman.  He sits his horse like one.  "

I did not answer.  I was too full of emotion to think of one of my
retorts so I merely went quietly to my room.

I spent a sleepless night and fancied I looked a little haggard next
day.  Why this unaccustomed attention to my appearance?  I asked
myself;

but I knew of course that it was due to that man.  He had a way of
assessing me and there was something in his expression which I felt was
shaming.  I began to wonder about him, and remembered Ben's saying
something about his being fond of women.  I thought: I know the
type-wondering whether every woman he meets is going to find him
irresistible.  He really is an odious character.  But I was still too
upset by Ben's confession to think very much about Joss Madden.  I
wished that he would not keep intruding into my thoughts when my desire
was to keep him out.

When I arrived that afternoon it was to find them awaiting me and I
sensed an impatience in them both.

"Oh, here you are at last," said Ben.

"Now come and sit down."

He was in bed.  I supposed the excitement of yesterday had exhausted
him.  He certainly looked less well, and I noticed the bluish tinge
about his mouth.

"One on either side of me," he commanded and as we sat there I saw
those peacock blue eyes on me and again I sensed that uncomfortable
feeling Joss Madden's too close scrutiny aroused in me.

Now, I'll start," said Ben.

"I'm going to die very soon and I don't want to.  There's so much I
wanted to see before I went.  One of my dearest dreams was to watch my
grandchildren playing here on these lawns or those of Peacocks.  You
see, I never had any little ones around me.  I was always too busy
making a fortune, and then because it was not orthodox my children were
never with me.  Not until Joss came marching across the lawn with his
suitcase ... and he was never a little 'un.  You were a giant for your
age even then.  Joss, and you talked like a man and acted like -a man.
So I was cheated out of babies.  Joss, you never married and I used to
fret about that... until I came here and met Miss Jessica Clavering.
I've always had a feeling for the Claverings.  I can't tell you how
much I've wished I was one when I look at that family tree in the hall.
Ifs grand to belong to a family like that.  So what I want more than
anything is to bring the families together.  I want our blood mingled
that of the boy who sold gingerbread fancies in the Ratdiffe Highway
and those who served kings in their historic battles

. those who have been born to riches and it hose who had to fight
their way to the top.  I reckon there couldn't be a better combination
for future generations.  "

I lifted my eyes and met that dark blue stare.  What is he hinting?  I
asked myself.  Oh no, Ben, even you could not be so audacious as
that.

I tried to read what was in Joss Madden's eyes.  He must be as
horrified as I was.

"So that's why I want you two to be friends ... more than friends.  The
plain fact is that more than anything I want to see you two marry.

Don't fly into a rage, Jess.  I know it's a shock.  But you haven't
heard it all.  Joss will be a good husband .  if you go along with his
ways. And Jessica will be a good wife.  Joss, if you're careful how you
handle her.  "

I said hotly: "Please, Ben, let us have an end of this.  I'm sure I
could never go along with Mr.  Madden's ways, nor would I agree to
place myself in his careful handling."

Tou see.  Joss, our Jessie can fly into a temper pretty quick," said
Ben.

"But you won't mind that.  You wouldn't want a mild and meek gentle
little dove, would you 1" Joss did not reply.  I imagined he was
regarding me with the same horror I felt for him.

'now I should have had time to condition you," went on Ben, 'but time
is running out for me.  Who knows when the powers that be will come for
me?  Could be tomorrow.  Could be the next day ... or six months
hence.

All we can be sure of'is that they're coming.  Now I'd like the wedding
to take place soon because I want to know it's done.  Then I'll rest
happy.  "

Tou don't know what you're suggesting, Ben," I cried.

"Oh yes I do, my dear.  I've been thinking of it for a very long
time.

As soon as I got to know you I said to myself:

That's the one for Joss.  That's the girl I want to bear my
grandsons.

I've thought of nothing else for weeks.  "

'now, Ben," said Joss, " you see from Miss Clavering's horror that your
little scheme will have to be abandoned.  "

For the first time I gave him a look of approval.

"Marriage is a bit of a gamble," said Ben.

"Well.  you've both got gamblers' blood in you.  When you've considered
everything involved, Jess, you'll fall in with my schemes.  Joss is
already half way there."

"Not," he replied, 'now that I have seen Miss Clavering's repugnance.
"

"Oh proud ... proud as a peacock I You always wanted others to do the
running.  You thought it was your, right' He turned to me.  Thafs Joss
for you.  Now why are you both being so stubborn ?  Jessica's an
attractive girl.  Don't you think so.  Joss ?

Now, Jessie, you've got to admit Joss in a fine figure of a man.  You
could search through England and Australia and where would you find a
better mate?  Be sensible, both of you.  I tell you this is my dying
request.  You can't refuse me that, can you?  "

"We can," said Joss.

"Ben, you're outrageous."

"I know," he replied with a hoarse chuckle.

"But I never wanted anything in my life so much as I want this.  I can
only die happy if I see you two married first.  I just know it's right.
I can see into the future."

I thought: He's mad.  Surely the old Ben would never have talked like
this.

"Now listen to me," he went on.

"I've made all the arrangements.  I'm leaving everything to you ...
except for a few minor legacies ... that's if you're married."

"And if we don't?"  said Joss.

"My dear Joss, you get nothing... nothing."

"Now look here..."

"You can't argue about a man's estate when he's on his deathbed," said
Ben, and there were lights of mischief in his eyes.

"You don't get a thing ... either of you ... unless you marry.  That's
plain fact.

Joss, do you want to see the Company pass out of your hands ?  "

You couldn't do that.  "

"You'll see.  Jessica, do you want to spend your days in the Dower
House with that virago of a grandmother ... looking after her when she
gets more fractious ... or do you want a life of excitement and
adventure?  It's for you to choose.  You're right, both of you, when
you say I can't force you.  I can't.  But I can make it very
uncomfortable for you if you don't do what I want."

We looked at each other across the bed.

This is absurd," I began, but Joss Madden did not answer.  I was aware
that he was contemplating the loss of the Company.  Ben had conjured up
a picture for me too.  I saw myself ten ... twenty years hence, growing
pinched about the lips as Miriam had begun to look ... decorating the
church, taking baskets to the poor, growing old, growing sour because
life had passed me by.

Ben knew what I was thinking.

"It's a gamble," he said.

"Don't forget that.  What are you going to do?"

He lay back on his pillows and closed his eyes.  I stood up

and said I thought he was tired.

He nodded.  Tve given you something to think about, haven't I ?  " He
seemed full of secret amusement.

Joss Madden came with me to the door.

I said: "I'll go by the back way across the bridge and the stream."

"I'm afraid this has been a shock to you," he said.

Tou are right," I answered.

"How could it be otherwise?"

"I should have thought young ladies in your position often had husbands
chosen for them."

That does not make the position any more acceptable.  2 "I'm sorry I'm
so repulsive to you.  You have made that very clear."

"I don't think you showed any enthusiasm for the proposed marriage."

"I suppose we are both the sort of people who would want to choose for
themselves."

"I think Ben must be losing his senses."

"He believes he's in full possession of them.  You Claverings have cast
a spell on him.  Ifs those grand antecedents of yours with your
ancestral home and so on.  He wants your blue blood to be brought into
his family."

"He will have to think of another way."

"I hardly think he can if you refuse to comply."

'you surely don't mean that you would ?  "

I had stopped short in my amazement and looked at him searchingly.  His
lips twisted into a wry smile.  There's a great deal at stake for me,"
he said.

I said shortly: "I'll leave you here.  Goodbye."

"Au revoir," he called after me as I sped across the grass.

I went back to the Dower House in a kind of daze.  As I came into the
hall the familiar smell of lemon wax struck me forcibly, although I
should have become accustomed to it after all these years because it
was always there.  My grandmother used to say that even though we had
come down in the world we must show people that we had not given up our
standards and there was no excuse for even the most humble dwelling not
to be spotlessly clean.  There was a bowl of flowers in the hall-lilacs
and tulips arranged by my grandmother neatly and without artistry.  I
could hear voices in the drawing-room-those of my grandmother and
Xavier, and I wondered whether my grandfather was there in his usual
role of penitent.  I paused for a moment and contemplated the

confusion which would result if I opened the door and announced that I
had had a proposal of marriage and would in due course be leaving for
Australia.  That would scarcely be true, for I could hardly call it a
proposal since the intended bridegroom was more reluctant than
prospective.  It then occurred to me how deeply I should have enjoyed
confronting them with such news.

I went to my room-a pleasant little one with a picture of one of our
ancestors on the wall.  She had once graced the gallery at Oakland.  My
grandmother had been hard put to it to find suitable spots in which to
accommodate all the pictures in the Dower House.  With a characteristic
desire to improve us all she had distributed ancestors with considered
judgement.  I had Margaret Clavering, circa x669, a handsome young
woman with a hint of mischief in her eyes.  I had never heard exactly
what she did, but I knew that it was something shocking, but in such a
manner as to make even my grandmother's lips twitch with amusement.

Her misdemeanour must therefore have been committed in high places-I
suspected the King himself was involved as indeed he was with so
many.

Even so, poor Margaret did come to an untimely end when she was thrown
from her horse while escaping with a lover from one of her husbands-she
had apparently had many of the former and three of the latter.

In my grandfather's room gamblers looked down from the walls.  I always
thought they were a jolly-looking crowd, all those wastrel Claverings,
and might prove an inducement rather than a deterrent; and they
certainly looked nicer to know than the virtuous saviour of our fortune
from the eighteenth century who looked down primly, and I am sure
approvingly, on my grandmother.

The four-poster bed was a little overpowering for my small room; and
there was one chair with the tapestry seat and back worked by another
ancestress, and the fellows of this were distributed round the house.

There was also a beautiful Bokhara rug-another relic of Oakland.  I saw
all these articles with greater clarity it seemed than before.  I
suppose because Ben had suggested that if I were wise I should soon be
leaving them and if I were not I might be with them for the rest of my
life.

I couldn't stay long in my room.  There was one to whom I could talk,
though the idea of doing so a few months ago would have been out of the
question.  Miriam 1 I ran out of the house and went along to Church
Cottage

-the name of the tiny house at one end of the vicarage grounds.  It
looked quite pretty, I thought, with the shrubs on either side of the
crazy paving path which led to the front door.

Miriam was at home.  How she had changed!  She looked several years
younger, and there was a new dignity about her.  I did not need to ask
if she was happy.

I stepped straight into the living-room; there was only a kitchen and
this room on the lower floor and from the livingroom a staircase
twisted up into two bedrooms above.  Every thing was highly polished
and a bowl of azaleas and green leaves stood on the red table doth
there were chintz curtains at the window and another bowl of flowers on
the hearth, on either side of which were two chimney seats.  One or two
of Miriam's possessions-brass candlesticks and silver ornaments-looked
rather incongruous, but charming, in this humble room.

Miriam's hair was dressed in a less severe style than she had worn it
before and she looked very domesticated in her starched print gown as
she carried a duster in her hand.

oh Miriam," I cried.

"I had to see you.  I wanted to talk."

That she was pleased, there was no doubt.

"I'll make some tea," she said.

"Ernest is out.  The vicar works him too hard."

I put my head on one side and studied her.

"You're a joy to behold," I said.

"A walking advertisement for the married state."  It was true.

How she had changed!  She was indulgent, in love with her curate and
with life; and the fact that she had turned her back on this blissful
state for so long only made her appreciate it more now that she had
achieved it.

"I've had a proposal," I blurted out.

"Well, a sort of proposal."

Little lights of fear showed in her eyes.

"Not... someone at Oakland?"

"Yes.  " Oh, Jessica!  " Now she looked like the old Miriam, for my
words had transported her back in time to that other occasion when
another Jessica had had a proposal from a visitor to Oakland.

"Are you sure..  " No," I said.

"I'm not."

She looked relieved.

"I should be very, very careful."

"I intend to be.  Miriam, suppose you hadn't married Ernest ... suppose
you had gone on as you were..."

I saw the look of horror in her face.

"I couldn't bear to think of that," she said firmly.

"Yet you hesitated so long."

"I think if was a matter of plucking up courage."

"And even if it hadn't worked out so well with Ernest would you still
be glad you left?"

"How could it possibly not have turned out well with Ernest?"

"You didn't always think that, did you, or you would have done it
before."

"I was afraid " Afraid of your mother's sneers and prophecies.  They
don't worry you now.  "

"I don't care how poor we are ... and we can manage.  I've discovered
I'm a good manager.  Ernest says so.  And even if things hadn't turned
out so well, to tell the truth, Jessica, I should have been glad to get
away from the Dower House."

"Who wouldn't?"  I thought of living there for years and years without
the compensation of going to Oakland to see Ben, and I knew I couldn't
face it.  Rather .  Oh no .  not marriage with that man .  and yet I
wanted to contemplate it.  What would it be like?  It would be a
marriage of convenience if ever there was one.  Perhaps we could come
to terms. Perhaps we could do it for Ben's sake and lead our own
lives.

I began to tingle with excitement.  I knew I could not face dreary
years at the Dower House.

"But lets talk about you," said Miriam.

"What about this man?"

"He's Ben Henniker's son and he's come over from Australia."

"You can't have known him very long."

"One does not have to know people all one's life ... just because you
and Ernest did."

"But then you can be so much more sure.5 " Perhaps ifs more exciting
not to be.  "

"Whatever do you mean?  Oh, Jessica, you are headstrong.  You're like
your mother, but she had a more gentle nature."

"Miriam, I can't stay forever in that miserable Dower House listening
to Grandmother's saying the litany ten times a day:

"We've seen better days, 0 Lord, don't You forget it.  Look down on
this miserable husband of mine who brought us to^ this and never let
him forget it because I'm not going to."

"You can be very irreverent, Jessica."

"Perhaps, but what I say is true.  I don't, want to be a prisoner all
my life as you were for so much of yours.  This proposal is a secret as
yet, so don't mention it."

"I shall have to tell Ernest.  We never have any secrets.  He

might consider it his duty "Let him remember how Grandmother kept you
apart all those years.  This is my secret and I expect it to be kept.
I've only told you because I wanted to talk about marriage and I've not
made up my mind yet.  I thought you'd understand."

"Oh, I do, and I think that if you really love each other you shouldn't
hesitate.  I do wonder what Mother will say."

"She is my least concern.  You were scared of her all those years.  I
wouldn't be.  But you took the plunge eventually.  You snapped your
fingers at your mother who had been keeping you and Ernest apart all
those years and now you're glad."

"Yes, I'm glad," said Miriam fervently.

She was thoughtful for a while, swaying in her opinions.  The same old
Miriam!  Much would depend on what Ernest thought, for he was the rock
on which she rested now, and she would change her colour--chameleon
that she was- according to his views.

She went to a cupboard and brought out a bottle of wine-her own make,
which she had -brought from the Dower House.  She had always been proud
of the wines which she had made in the still room My grandmother had
said: Tou'd better learn to be useful about the house for soon we shall
have no servants.  " Miriam had busied herself and how glad she was of
that now 1 " We'll drink to the future," she said.  This is more
suitable than tea."

So as we sat at the table and drank to my future and hers, I was
wondering why I had talked to Miriam as though I were actually
contemplating marriage.

I scarcely slept that night.  Next morning at prayers I did not listen
to my grandmother's voice but said my own personal prayer, which was a
call for help, and I thought ironically that I had never prayed so
fervently before and that it was only when I wanted something that I
really prayed at all.

After breakfast I performed the tasks my grandmother had set for me
since she insisted that I too learn to manage a house.  So I helped
Maddy get the vegetables from the kitchen garden and prepare them.

Her sharp eyes detected that something had happened.

You're up to something," she said.

"You're not here ... no, you're not.  You're miles away.  What's
brewing.  Miss?"

"I'm no longer a child," I retorted.

"I think you sometimes forget that.  I have a perfect right to be
preoccupied with matters outside the trivial preparation of garden
vegetables " Hoity toity," she replied.

"You've not been the same since you've been on visiting terms at
Oakland.  And I'm sure I wonder why it's allowed."

"As long as you keep your opinions to yourself, Maddy, it is of no
consequence."

Talk about giving yourself airs That will be all for this morning," I
said with dignity.

Immediately after luncheon I went to the stream.  The world seemed to
have turned upside down.  Ben, whom I so dearly loved, had lied about
my father.  How could I reconcile myself to that .  and yet how could I
stop myself loving Ben and feeling miserable because I feared he would
not be with us much longer?  And now he had come along with a
proposition which he knew was repugnant to me and to Joss whom he so
dearly loved adored might be a more apt word.  I just could not
understand him.  The alarming fact was that I did not understand
myself, because, somewhere at the back of my mind, I was assessing the
situation.  I was actually considering the possibility of making this
marriage.

As I sat there I saw Joss Madden emerge from the copse and come towards
me.

"I saw you from the turret," he said.

"I thought it would be a good idea to have a talk.  Come over."

It seemed to me that it would be more convenient to be on the Oakland
side of the stream than on that of the Dower House where I could be
seen by someone from the house, so I obeyed.

As we walked across the grass and into the copse he said:

"Have you decided?"

"It's an impossible situation," I cried.

"It exists and therefore can't be impossible.  On the other hand it's a
straightforward proposition."

"Have you made up your mind ?"  I asked.

"Yes, I'm ready to go ahead."

'you mean.  you would marry me?  "

That was the proposition, I thought.  Oh come, don't look so
mournful.

You won't be going to your execution, you know.  "

"It feels rather like that."

He gave that loud explosive laugh.  Then he was serious.

"I'm afraid Ben won't live much longer.  He was very weak this morning.
And he wants the ceremony to take place before he dies."

That could be.  soon.  "

"Once you've agreed there'll be no reason for delay."

We came to a tree trunk, and he took my hand and pulled me down to sit
beside him.  He dropped my hand immediately but I was very much aware
of him.  I felt an excitement which I could not suppress.

"I gather," he said, 'that you had no one else in mind?  8 "In mind?"

"Let's talk plain English.  You haven't a lover ... you weren't
contemplating marriage with someone else?"

No.  "

Then it's fairly straightforward, I could get a special licence;

I think .  in view of Ben's illness.  We could be married very shortly.
"

I replied: "What of you?  Were you contemplating marrying someone
else?"

"I was not," he said.

Tou seem to take all this in your stride.  "

How else could I take it?  I see what Ben feels.  He had a fixation on
your mother.  It was not only herself .  it was all this .  the stately
mansion, the family tracing itself back to the Conqueror .  and he
wants the families linked.  He has the house, but he hasn't got the
blood.  If you and I married, our offspring would have a modicum of the
blue-blood variety through you, and with the generations to come the
family could be rather proud of itself.  " He laughed cynically.

I was scarcely listening because I had been caught up in what he had
said about offspring.  That was too much.

I said sharply: "I'm afraid I never could."

He looked straight at me, and it was as though he were probing my
innermost thoughts.  I felt very uncomfortable because I knew that he
understood what had alarmed me.

There's a great deal at stake," he said.

"Ben means what he says.  I know him well.  He's set on this and he
knows that the only way he could get us married at such short notice is
to threaten what will happen to us if we don't.  He can be ruth less,
our Ben."

"I know that.8 " He's told me a great deal about you.  That family of
yours .  your life here .  how stultifying it is.  He's sentencing you
for life to the Dower House unless you marry me.  The devil or the deep
blue sea.

That's your choice.  And for me: The loss of command of the Company
which I have helped to a build up as surely as Ben has.  I have some
shares in it, but Ben Has the major noiamg ana ne's tnreaienmg 10 pass
them to someone else.  It would mean if I stayed with the Company I'd
be there in a minor capacity.  He knows very well I never would.  So he
has netted me.

He knows I'd accept anything rather.  "

"Even me?"

"Even marriage.  Which for thirty-two years I have successfully
eluded."

"So there have been those who have angled for you?8 " Countless
numbers.  "

"Perhaps they came in time to regard their lack of success as good
fortune."

They wouldn't realize that.  The lost prize is always more desirable
than that which is won.  Did you know that?  "

"I don't believe it's true-but that's beside the point."

"You're quite right.  We don't want to be side-tracked into frivolous
discussion when there is something so much more important to occupy us.
We are both faced with a dilemma.  If we marry we benefit considerably.
We both have a great deal to lose if we don't.  I know what it will
mean to me.  You must have realized that too."

I was contemplating going back to the old life before I had known Ben
older now, knowing a little more of how exciting life could be, and I
knew I should hate it.

"So," he went on, "I've made up my mind.  I'll marry you immediately,
so all you have to do is say you'll marry me."

He put an arm about my shoulders, and I drew back in dismay.  Again he
gave that brief laugh.

"All right," he said.

"I'll make it easy for you.  We'll marry and it'll be, as they say, a
Marriage In Name Only.  That's until both parties want it otherwise.
What about that?"

I was silent, and he went on: "I sense your relief."

I said: "Ben may not agree to those terms."

"They would be a matter for us to decide, surely.8 " I'm not sure. 
It's grandchildren he wants.  "

"He can't have it all his own way.  Listen to me.  We'll marry and go
our own ways.  You will escape from the Dower House, and I shall have
the full command of the Company.  Now you must admit that does seem a
way out."

I stood up suddenly.  He did the same, towering above me.  There was an
amused twitch to his lips as he laid his hands on my shoulders.

"Negotiations seem to be progressing favourably," he said.

"Shall we go and tell Ben ?"

p.  p. 129 e Not yet.  I'm undecided.  "

"All right.  But don't delay too long.  At least it's just a matter of
indecision and not a blank refusal."

I turned and left him, going back over the stream to the Dower House.

I went to see Ben.  I was glad that he was alone.  He looked a little
better and I commented on this.

"Yes, I'm determined to live until I see you two married.  Tell me,
Jess, have you thought any more about it?"

"I have thought a great deal."

"Of course you have.  You're going to wake up and live now.  You'll
have to keep your eyes on Joss.  He's a favourite with the women."

"It's too much to ask, Ben.* Now then, are you going back to the Dower
House life?  I'd rather go to the penitentiary, that I would.  That
grandmother of yours ... she's like vinegar now.  What'll she be like
in ten years' time ... gall, bitter aloes ... She's not like a wine
that'll improve with age.

You'll love the excitement of it.  The Company .  Fancy Town .  It's in
your blood.  You'll come back here to Oakland now and then .  It'll be
a wonderful life.  "

I was silent, and he went on: "Look, Jess, you've got to grow up ... if
you're going out there.  Lite's lived in the raw there.  But it's life.
That's the great thing.  I can see you at Peacocks.  Has Joss talked to
you of Peacocks?"  I shook my head.

"He will.  He loves the place.  This will be yours, too.  Just think of
that.  When you come to England you'll be the lady of the manor.  I
wonder what the old lady of the Dower House is going to say to that!
I'd like to see her face .. that I would.  Just think of your little
'uns ... playing on these lawns, in the copse, just as you would have
done if you'd had your right There's one thing I have to tell you, Ben.
If I did marry him, I couldn't ... I couldn't live with him as his
wife, and that means that your idea of the little ones on the lawn
would simply not be possible.

I'm sure that in these circumstances the whole thing falls through. 
"

I had expected dismay, but there was nothing of the sort.  Ben laughed
so much that I feared he would exhaust himself.

"fou^cnow, Jessie," he said when be had recovered from his laughter,
'you're enlivening my last days, you are.  You never fail to please
me.

So you've made up your mind to marry him, have you?  "

"I didn't say that.  I've just told you why it's impossible."

"Listen.  I want you two married.  I knew Joss would agree.  There was
too much to lose.  I could only rely on the pride of my Peacock.  As to
the other little matter, well, I'm ready to leave that to Joss."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Ah, danger signals!  I'll leave it like this.  I'll see you married,
and I'll die hoping that one day you two are going to see what's
staring you in the face and that is that you were meant for each other.
It's the looker-on that sees the best of the game, and I'm a very
observant looker-on.  I've lived every minute of the days God gave me.
I'm like a cat that's had nine lives.  I'm coming to the end of my
ninth now, but I've picked up a lot in those lives and I know what I am
talking about.  So it's settled, is it?  I accept your terms and you'll
accept mine.  I want a nice wedding in the church ... so that everyone
knows."

That will take a little time.  8 "I reckon I've got that little time
left to me.  I just won't go until I've seen you and my boy Joss joined
together in holy matrimony."

"Ben," I said, 'if you love us, how can you ask so much of us?  "

"It's just because I do love you both that I'm making this bargain.

Years ahead when you and the family are visiting England and you're
sitting on those lawns, the like of which you don't see outside this
green land, there'll be the shade of old Ben looking on with
contentment because it's all come about as he meant it to.  I'll be
here . and I'll be at Peacocks .  a happy ghost who saw what should be
and did his little bit to make it come about.  "

"You're tired, Ben," I said.

"Happy tired.  A good sort of tired to be.  And don't forget, in years
to come, remember me."

"I'm never going to forget you."

"And you'll be grateful to old Ben, I promise you."

I kissed him gently and slipped away.

I knew as I went out of Oakland Hall that I was about to bum my
boats.

"I had accepted this incongruous situation.  I was going to many Joss
Madden.

I don't know what Joss said to my grandmother.  He was in the
drawing-room with her, my grandfather, and Xavier for

an hour.  From my bedroom window I saw him stride across the lawn to
the bridge.  He walked as though the place already belonged to him.

Maddy was knocking at my door.  They wanted to see me in the
drawing-room, she said.

As I entered I was aware of the change in their attitude towards me.  I
had become important, but my grandmother was not going to show me her
gratification too readily.

"So," she began, 'you have clandestinely been meeting this man from the
wilds.  "

"If you mean Mr.  Josslyn Madden, it is true I have been meeting
him."

"And become engaged to him!  He did not ask our consent before asking
you, which would have been the proper thing to do.  But I suppose we
cannot expect good manners from people brought up as he must have
been."

"He has been educated in England."

She grudgingly admitted that she realized this saving grace.

"Of course, after all we have done for you we might have expected a
little gratitude.  When our terrible tragedy was brought upon us-' She
sent a venomous look towards my grandfather, who nodded in a rather
jaunty way, I fancied' we had to prepare ourselves for our great
sacrifice.  Our daughter disgraced us and now Miriam has committed
herself to a life of penury " I always thought she endured that here.
"

"Compared with what she was accustomed to before our fortune was
wantonly thrown away, Miriam once lived in grace and dignity with her
family."  She laughed.  " TMow this cottage.  I believe she scrubs the
floors."  She shivered.

"No matter.  Don't let us distress ourselves by even mentioning
Miriam's folly.  The fact is that you should have kept me informed.
After all we did for you, giving you a home ..."

"And selling the silver salver and the George IV punch bowl."

She smiled-very rare with her and this was an indication of her true
feelings.

"At least you have spared us the humiliation of seeing you scrub floors
and living in abject poverty.  I only hope this offer is genuine.  You
will not, I hope, in convenience us as your mother did.

If it is genuine, all may not turn out too badly.  But I must let you
know that I am displeased that you should associate with people who
have been no friends to your grandfather.  However, I can see the hand
of fate in this.  We have suffered great misfortune.  We lost Oakland .
and if this man is telling the truth, he will Ill >AUI- 1-UUtBC
U1UC1lL UlC lltlll, .  lylm.  -- ------- /-- __ ___--will live there. 
"

I thought she was like an eagle about to pounce on its prey.  Oakland
Hall coming back to the family .  and through me!

I couldn't help being thrilled that I was doing this.  I knew then that
if a way out was offered me, if Ben said he had been joking after all,
I wouldn't want to take it.  The extraordinary fact was borne home that
I wanted the excitement of marrying Joss Madden-providing of course
that we kept to that all important clause which he had laughingly
acknowledged he would respect and which Ben had thrust aside as though
he did not believe it was important.

Xavier spoke then.

"Mr.  Madden has told us that he has asked you to marry him and that
you have accepted.  We understand he is Mr.  Henniker's heir and that
Oakland as well as property in Australia will pass to him.  They ask
for no dowry for you, but Mr.  Henniker will make a settlement on you
of Blueberry Farm, which as you know went to him with the Oakland
estate.  The management of this will be left to me, so it is in a
measure as though that land has been returned to us.  It seems to be a
very satisfactory arrangement."

My grandfather's eyes looked watery.

"It's almost like Oakland coming back to us through you, Jessica," he
said.

My grandmother would not be left out of the conversation.

"In spite of your deception, this seems to have turned out better than
we could have expected," she said.

"I hope your children will be born here.  Perhaps we could get Mr.
Madden to change his name to Clavering.

That has been done before in the family.  "

"I know that would be quite impossible."

My grandmother waved the matter aside as though that was something she
would deal with later.

"We must be practical," she went on.

"It must be a wedding worthy of the old days before we were reduced to
this.  I think we should sell the silver candlesticks so that we can do
everything as it should be done.  As you know the candlesticks were
given by William IV to Jeremy Clavering in 1832, and they are worth a
great deal."

Then please don't sell them on my account.  "

"It is not on your account but for the good name of the family.  Oh
dear, how I wish you could be married from Oakland itself."

"Never mind.  Mother," said Xavier, "perhaps Jessica's daughter will
be."

"Pray let us get her married first before we mention such things,"
said my grandmother, forgetting that a moment before she had done so.

I had never seen her look so pleased, and the knowledge that it was due
to me seemed very ironical.

The next Sunday, Ernest, officiating for the Reverend Jasper Grey, read
out the banns.

Ben seemed to recover quite a bit.  It was obvious that he was
delighted, and his pleasure seemed to give him a new energy.

"So they read the banns," he cried.

"So there was no opposition from the family.  I should think not.  See
what this means to them."

My grandmother had engaged a dressmaker and I was to have a white satin
wedding gown-the best possible satin from Liberty.  My grandmother made
a journey up to London to buy that and other materials on the proceeds
from the silver candlesticks.

"I hope William IV won't haunt you in his displeasure," I commented.

"You are much too flippant," was her retort.

"You always were.  You will have to be more sober when you marry."

"I can't change my nature.  Grandmother," I said.

She sighed, but even she could not criticize me too much, considering
the change I had brought about in the family fortunes.

I stood for hours while the seamstress, her mouth full of pins, fitted
my dresses, for I had to have a trousseau besides the wedding dress.

"We don't want people in Australia to think we're savages," said my
grandmother.  She was determined that I should go not only adequately
but elegantly clothed.

The banns had been called twice and the excitement at the prospect was
beginning to be replaced by apprehension.  Joss Madden had to spend a
week in London negotiating some business and I felt easier in my mind
when he was not there.

When he returned, however, he seemed determined to spend a good deal of
time with me.

"Doing his courting," as Ben described it to my chagrin.

Joss said: "We'd better get to know each other as this wedding is
imminent.  How good are you on a horse?  You'll have to ride a great
deal in Australia."

I said that I had been taught to ride but had little opportunity of
doing so.  There had been a pony, but when that died it had not been
replaced.  We only had one horse now which Xavier used.

There's a small stanie ai- v-'o^wm, ^-riding.  I want to see what you
can do.  " 1 immediately felt resentful, objecting to his patronizing
manner.  He chose my mount, a brown horse with a frisky look in his
eyes which made me somewhat apprehensive.  Our pony had been of about
thirteen hands, and I had never ridden a better steed.  I was about to
protest when I caught his eyes on me amused a little triumphant, so
superior and arrogant-every inch the peacock.  I mounted uneasily.  He
said: These horses need exercise.

They're too fat.  Riding here is different from riding in Australia.

You'll have to get used to the difference because you're lost without a
horse in the Bush.  "

"Is this house Peacocks in the Bush, then?  " It in its own grounds and
Fancy Town is about two miles away.

Surrounding all this is some pretty wild country.  You'll need to feel
as much at home in the saddle as you do on your own two feet.  " My
equestrian knowledge was not great, but it was obvious even to me that
he chose the finest horse in the stable for himself.

As we walked our horses side by side I could feel his eyes on me
appraisingly my posture, my hands, my heels, everything .  and that
smile which I hated played about his lips.

"In other words," he was saying, 'you could loosely say that we live in
the saddle.  "

"Have you a good stable at Peacocks?"

"It would be hard to find a better in Australia."

"Naturally," I commented.

"Oh yes, naturally.1 " So you ride everywhere?  "

Tes, everywhere.  There are Cobb's coaches which ply between the big
dties.  I rarely use them.  You'll find the country different out
there, I can tell you.  "

"I expected to."  This .  why, it's like a garden.  You don't go far
without some sort of habitation.  And these little fields and roads .

oh, it's very different.  "

"So you have said more than once Then I must apologize for repeating
myself."

"A common fault," I said lightly, to remind him that he was not without
them, which I was sure he imagined himself to be.

"Pray let us get her married first before we mention such things,"
said my grandmother, forgetting that a moment before she had done so.

I had never seen her look so pleased, and the knowledge that it was due
to me seemed very ironical.

The next Sunday, Ernest, officiating for the Reverend jasper Grey, read
out the banns.

Ben seemed to recover quite a bit.  It was obvious that he was
delighted, and his pleasure seemed to give him a new energy.

"So they read the banns," he cried.

"So there was no opposition from the family.  I should think not.  See
what this means to them."

My grandmother had engaged a dressmaker and I was to have a white satin
wedding gown the best possible satin from Liberty.  My grandmother made
a journey up to London to buy that and other materials on the proceeds
from the silver candlesticks.

"I hope William IV won't haunt you in his displeasure," I commented.

"You are much too flippant," was her retort, "fou always were.  You
will have to be more sober when you marry."

"I can't change my nature.  Grandmother," I said.

She sighed, but even she could not criticize me too much, considering
the change I had brought about in the family fortunes.

I stood for hours while the seamstress, her mouth full of pins, fitted
my dresses, for I had to have a trousseau besides the wedding dress.

"We don't want people in Australia to think we're savages," said my
grandmother.  She was determined that I should go not only adequately
but elegantiy clothed.

The banns had been called twice and the excitement at the prospect was
beginning to be replaced by apprehension.  Joss Madden had to spend a
week in London negotiating some business and I felt easier in my mind
when he was not there.

When he returned, however, he seemed determined to spend a good deal of
time with me.

"Doing his courting," as Ben described it to my chagrin.

]oss said: "We'd better get to know each other as this wedding is
imminent.  How good are you on a horse?  You'll have to ride a great
deal in Australia."

I said that I had been taught to ride but had little opportunity of
doing so.  There had been a pony, but when that died it had not been
replaced.  We only had one horse now which Xavier used.

at Oakland' I 'iA.  ^^^rate "" "^ , lAy ?  .^' Mw y^lookin "
SsSLS^f:

As--^-3'-"^

S^.

"^" ^^Ai^511'*" l" '!  ; o. iib words; teA'^^

ASS^-st^"

' "" ,;rt rf teblBtil"1fe s^As^ ^^^ASS^^^^^^ %n I ^ff^ Ugbtly.
AS^bimsdf that be was toreinina^^Abe.

J.

S^^1^'

He oroKe mio a canter, and I tried to follow him but my horse
refused.

Instead he lowered his head suddenly and gripped a bush by the
roadside.

"Come on," I whispered urgently.

"He'll laugh at us."

But the horse seemed determined to mock me too.

Joss Madden turned and I heard that quick gust of laughter, "Come on.

Joker," he said, and the response was immediate.  The sly Joker
immediately relinquished the bush and went on with an injured air as
though to say: What can you expect me to do with this amateur on my
back ?

"You have to control your horse, you know," said Joss, smiling, well
pleased with Joker's cooperation.

"I'm very well aware of that," I retorted.

"He knows who's the master.  You see, I only had to call his name and
he obeyed."

"I've never seen this horse before," I protested.

"He's a little mischievous when he thinks he can get away with it.

It's understandable.  Now, Joker, no more nonsense.  You'll do what the
lady tells you.  Come on.  "

I hated that morning because I sensed that he was trying to show me how
inferior I was.  He proved that to me more than once.  There was one
occasion when he galloped across a meadow and called Joker to follow.

I thought he was hoping I'd fall and break my neck.  It was maddening
that he should be commanding my horse, and when it sped after him I
knew that I couldn't control it and the thought came into my mind:

He's trying to kill me so that he won't have to marry me.  If I'm dead
Ben won't cut him out.  He'll get the precious Company without having
to pay the price-marriage -for it.  Oh, he is so arrogant He's nothing
more than a peacock .  flaunting his superiority as a peacock flaunts
his tail.

He was beside me suddenly.  He had seized my bridle and for a few
moments we galloped side by side.  When we stopped he was laughing at
me.

"I'll have to teach you to ride," he said, 'and I'll do so before we
leave.  You can't go out to Australia like this.  "

"Don't you think it would be a good idea if we abandoned the whole
thing?"  I asked.

"What!  With the dress being made, the banns being called .. / He was
serious suddenly.

"Besides, what of Ben?"

"I hate it all," I said vehemently.

"You mean you hate me?"

"You can look at it that way if you like."

"A firm basis on which to build a marriage," he mocked.  Feelings
often change, they say, afterwards, so at least yours can't change for
the worse since they are as bad as they can possibly be before.  "

"Isn't the whole thing rather farcical?"

"Life often is rather farcical."

"Rarely as much as this ridiculous wedding."

"Don't you think it makes it rather piquant?  You and I will go to
church and take our vows and everything we vow to do we shall be
promising ourselves not to do.  Marriage is for the procreation of
children.  That comes in the service.  But for us ... marriage in name
only.2 " Your expression," I said.

"It's a good one.  It conveys the meaning as well as anything could. To
love and to cherish, we shall say, and here are you telling me you hate
me."

"You're giving very adequate reasons why the whole thing should be
called off."

"But we're not going to, are we?  We're two sensible people don't you
agree?  There's too much to gain and too much to lose.  We're better
off making the best of it.  Who knows, I might succeed in making a
tolerable horsewoman of you and you might succeed in keeping me at a
distance."  His eyes glittered suddenly, and I saw the pride there
which I was beginning to think was his main characteristic.  He was put
out because I was not attracted by his virility .  or masculinity . 
whatever it was.

"Let me say," he said with a hint of anger in his voice, "I think the
latter will be easier to achieve than the former."

We walked our horses back to Oakland-a pace, he commented dryly, more
suited to my accomplishments.

I certainly hated him, and he appeared to despise me.  Well, there was
no need to fret about that for I should not have to worry about his
forcing his attentions on me; and because he had made this so obvious I
began, perversely, to hope that he might-solely that I could have the
pleasure of rebuffing him.

The servants were excited about the wedding.  Miriam was making the
wedding cake; even my grandmother became slightly benign towards me and
my grandfather regarded me as the saviour of the family fortunes.

Ben would lie in his bed or sit in his chair chuckling to himself.  It
was certainly a popular wedding-with everyone except the bride and
groom t

Twice a day Joss insisted that I ride with him.

"It's a necessity," he said.

"You must know how to master a horse before we go to Australia."

I saw the wisdom of this and decided to put up with his patronizing
attitude.  I worked hard, and I was sure that I was an apt pupil.  Not
that he would admit when I showed improvement.  He seemed to enjoy
humiliating me.

Once skilled, I promised myself, I should be independent of him, and I
was really beginning to enjoy riding as I never had before.  He never
complimented me; and I inwardly accused him of showing off.  To myself
I always referred to him as Peacock.

At last my wedding day arrived.  It was like a dream standing there at
the altar while the Reverend jasper Grey married us.  I felt a shiver
of emotion as Joss slipped the ring on my finger and I couldn't quite
define it.  Apprehension was certainly there, but if I was honest with
myself I would tiave to admit that if I could have cancelled it I
shouldn't have wanted to.

Ben was in the church.  Banker had wheeled him there.  I could imagine
his contentment.  His will had been done.

Miriam at the organ played the Wedding March and as I came down the
aisle on the arm of Joss Madden aware of those watching us-Xavier, my
grandfather and grandmother -gleams of contentment in their eyes, I
remembered my grandmother's saying that God had brought Oakland Hall
back to the family because of all they had done for me.  It ; was His
reward for their virtue.

We went to the Dower House where the reception was held, and when it
was over joss and I walked across the bridge to Oakland Hall.  i Ben
was in his bedroom but he had left word that he wanted to see us as
soon as we came in.  He was sitting up in bed i and his eyes were
shining.

; "You two have made Ben Henniker a very happy man to day," he said.

"Come and sit on either side of me.  There, that's ^ good.  Give me
your hands.  You're going to bless me for this i day.  Before it's over
there's something I want to say to you , 1 and I've been saving it up
till now."  I ^ "You're exhausted, Ben," I said.

"You should rest."

;

, "Not till I've told you this.  You know the story of the i Green
Flash.  You know how I took it to Australia with me | , all the time,
pretending it was lost.  I had to have a hiding place for it.  You're
the only two who'll know where that hiding place is.  It belongs to you
both now.  Now this hiding place ... I made it myself ... so that no
one else should be in the picture.  Ha, that's a joke.  You know The
Tride of the Peacock in the drawing-room.  Joss.  It was always a
favourite of yours.  It's a picture, Jessie, of our lawn, and there's a
magnificent peacock on it, looking as a peacock does.

Look-at-me attitude.  Don't you think I'm the most wonderful creature
in the world?  This picture is set in a beautiful frame .  carved wood
and gilt.  It's a (hick frame .  a very thick frame.  At the right-hand
corner of the frame, there's a spring catch.  No one would know it was
there. It's so cunningly placed.  You touch the spring and the back
opens like a door.  There's a cavity there and wrapped up in cotton
wool is the Green Flash.  I've locked myself in that room many a time
and I've taken it out and gloated over it.  Well, that stone is yours
when I die . yours jointly.  It'll be up to you to do what you like
with it.  "

He was getting too excited.  I felt alarmed for him so I said
soothingly: Thank you, Ben.  Now you must please rest.  Everything is
settled now.  "

He nodded.  Joss pressed his hand and for a moment or two they looked
steadily at each other.  Then I bent over and kissed him.

"Bless you both," he said; and we went out.

The bridal suite had been prepared for us.  Apparently Oakland brides
had used it through the ages.

I was apprehensive when I entered it.  Joss shut the door behind him.

He stood leaning against it looking at me mockingly.

They tell me that all the future mistresses of Oakland Hall spend their
first night of marriage in this room," he said.

I glanced quickly at the four-poster bed.  He followed my gaze and I
knew he was amused.

This is a rather different case," I said.

"One's own case always is," he replied.  He walked across the room.

"Here's the dressing-room.  Shall I occupy it or will you?"

"Since you say it is a tradition of Oakland brides to occupy this bed I
will do so.  The dressing-room can be yours.  It will be quite
comfortable, I dare say."

"A nice wifely concern for her husband's comfort is always to be
admired," he said.

"So... good night."

He took my hand and kissed it and when ne aid not immediately
relinquish it I felt afraid.

"I trust you are a man of your word," I said.

He shook his head slightly.

"It would be unwise to trust me too far."

I snatched my hand away.

"But," he went on.  'have no fear.  I would never force myself where I
am so dearly not wanted.  "

Then I will repeat Good night.  1 "Good night," he said.

He walked to the communicating door.

When it shut behind him I ran to it and to my dismay saw that there was
no key.  As I stood there the door opened.  He was there with the key
in his hand.  He gave it to me with a bow.

"You will want to feel safe," he said.

I took the key and locked the door.  I was safe.

Six weeks after the wedding Ben took a decided turn for the worse.  It
was as though he had made up his mind that as his mission was
accomplished he was ready to go.

We were with him constantly.  He talked a good deal about Peacocks and
how he would be there with us in spirit.

"Remember me, Jessie," he said, 'and particularly remember that
everything I wanted was for your happiness .  yours and Joss's.

You're goin" to see that one day.  I always knew it.  You don't like
plans being made for you.  Sometimes, though, you can't see the wood
for the trees and that's how it is with you two just now.  It'll
change.  I'd like to see you together; I'd like to hear you sparring.

You were meant for each other.  And now you're man and wife.  God bless
you both.  "

Joss and I rode together each day.  I both dreaded and enjoyed the
lessons.  I knew I had improved and Joker would not now dare refuse to
come when I ordered him to.

They were long days of waiting, and with the passing of each one it
became clear that Ben could not be long with us.

He died in his sleep.  Hannah called me and I went to his bed and was
struck by the utter peace of his face.  It was almost as though he were
smiling at me.  I kissed his cold bflbw and went away.

We buried him in the churchyard not tar from the Clavering section.  It
was what he would have wanted.  Joss and I stood , side by side at the
graveside and as I listened to the clods of earth falling on his
coffin I knew that was the end of a phase.  My new life was about to
begin.

There were solicitors to be seen.  I had begun to wonder whether Ben
had played a trick on us and had not changed his will at all with the
new conditions.  I was wrong.  It was precisely what he had done.

Joss and I were joint owners of Oakland and the house in Australia
known as Peacocks.  I was given a good share of Ben's holding in the
Opal Mining Company and Joss was given another to match mine.  There
were other legades to people including the Laud family, his housekeepr
and her children, and the opal known as the Green Flash at Sunset was
left to Joss and me jointly.

It seemed as though Ben was determined that we Should be together.

This bequest depended on our marriage and if it had not taken place at
the time of his death it must do so immediately afterwards and on its
taking place the properties would be ours.  We were to be given a year,
and if we had not married at the end of that time the shares and the
houses and the Green Flash opal would be in trust for the Laud
family.

There is no need for us to consider this," said Mr.  Yenning, 'for the
marriage has already taken place before his death, so I may
congratulate you both."

During the next weeks preparations were made for our, departure.

Miriam was frankly delighted that it had all gone so smoothly.  Ernest
thought I was doing the right thing and therefore she did.  She was an
expert at tatting and gave me some exquisite mats for a wedding
present.

Xavier wished me happiness.

"Weddings are infectious," he said; and I wondered whether that meant
that he and Lady Clara might at last come to an understanding.

My grandmother tried to hide her gratification by faintly amused
scepticism right until the wedding was over; now and then she would
shoot the occasional barb and refer to life in the wilds and comment
that some people had strange tastes and like fools rushed in where
angels feared to tread.  When people had perfectly good homes in
civilized surroundings she could not understand why they must go
dashing off to the other side of the globe.  How much more satisfactory
it would have been if I had stayed at Oakland and entertained in a
manner to which the old house was accustomed.  I knew

that she sometimes mentioned me at prayer's, commanding God to look
after me and not to punish me too severely for my thoughtlessness in
leaving Oakland, when it would have been so much more pleasant for the
family if I stayed, in a manner which in fact admonished Him not to be
too slow in bringing me to my senses.  I could laugh more than ever.  I
was free of her.  Joss went to London on business and I was alone for
some time.  It was strange sleeping in the big four-poster bed in
Oakland Hall, the mistress of it all, Wilmot was delighted.  So were
the other servants.  It was right and proper, Wilmot told her,
according to Hannah.

"Now Claverings would be back at Oakland Hall."

I rode every day, determined to improve; and when Joss returned he said
we would be leaving England very soon.

Banker went back soon after the funeral.  He was going to settle in
Melbourne, he said.  It was October before Joss and I sailed for
Sydney.

5.

OUTWARD BOUND

It was a golden autumn day when we embarked on the Hermes, which was to
take us to the other side of the world.  I quickly realized that Joss
was a person of some importance and was known, as Ben had been, to the
Captain and a number of the crew.  He told me that when the ship docked
in Sydney they were often entertained there by some members of the
Company and this meant that innumerable little concessions were granted
to us.

"One of these," said Joss, 'is being provided with single cabins which
they think is rather unorthodox in a newly married pair, but I am sure
you will feel exceedingly grateful for that.  "

"I do.2 It was quite adequate, that cabin; and Joss's was next to it. I
was thankful for the partition which divided us.

The weather was rough at first, but I was delighted to find that I was
a good sailor.  He was, of course!  I should have hated to have given
him an advantage over me in that respect.

There was little to do on board except sleep, eat, talk and study our
fellow passengers.  Naturally Joss and I must spend a good deal of
time together.  He talked then about the Company and life in Australia
and I had to admit that I found it enthralling.

We breakfasted at nine and dined at twelve.  On one particular occasion
the ship was rolling and pitching badly, and as the atmosphere below
was stuffy I decided it would be more pleasant on deck in spite of the
high seas.  I staggered up there to find it was almost impossible to
stand upright.  The waves were pounding the side of the ship, which was
so much at the mercy of the sea that as the prow rose up towards the
sky it seemed as though it would never come down again;

then after a while it would plunge down so deep that I feared we were
going to turn over.  The wind tore at my cape, threw back my hood and
my hair streamed all over my face so that I could scarcely see.  I
found it exhilarating.

I tried to walk the deck, but I had reckoned without the wind.  It tore
at me and lifted me off my feet.  I was caught suddenly and held.  It
was Joss and he was laughing at me.  There was spray on his eyebrows
and his hair stuck up round his head.  His ears looked more pointed
than usual.

"What are you trying to do?"  he demanded.

"Commit suicide?  Don't you know it's dangerous to walk the decks in
weather like this?"

What of you?  "

"I saw you come up and followed you, guessing you'd be foolhardy enough
to defy the wind."

He was still holding me and I made an effort to free myself.

"I'll be all right now," I said.

"I beg to contradict."  The ship rolled and we fell against the rail.

"You see?"  he taunted, his face close to mine.

Tet another occasion when I have to admit you're right, I suppose.  "

There'll be so many.  I wouldn't bother to count.  "

"Perhaps I might turn the tables one day."

"Who knows?  Miracles have happened.  Look.  There's a bench over there
set against the bulkhead in the shelter of those hanging lifeboats.

We'd get the freshness without the buffeting there.  "

He put his arm through mine and held it close against him.  He gave the
impression that he enjoyed such contacts not because they pleased him
physically but because he knew they disturbed me.

We sat down and he put an arm about me.

"Safer," he said

wiin a grimace.  i ne omy reason, i assure you.  "

"Had I in my folly been washed overboard everything yo now share with
me would have been yours, wouldn't it?"

That's true.  "

"A consummation devoutly to be wished, surely?"

"Perhaps there are other consummations which would beH more devoutly
so."  I drew away from him.

"Be prepared^ Jessica," he went on.

"One of these days you're going to growM up."

"It seems that you never speak to me without attempting to denigrate me
in some way.  So of what interest will it be to you when I reach this
adult stage?"

That's what I can't wait to discover.  "

"You seem to think you should instruct me in this art of growing up?"

"A husbandly duty, perhaps.8 " And when I do.  "

"Ah, then we shall see.  I am impatient to discover."

Tell me about the Company and the life I'm going out to.  "j " It's
something you'll have to experience for yourself.  Benj has told you a
great deal.  You'll be right in the midst of opalj company.  We're all
opal men in Fancy Town.  You know| the town got its name because
Desmond Dereham had a| hunch about it.  " | " Yes, I do know.  He was
my father. " | " I know that too.  Ben told me the story.  Tell me how
you;| felt about Ben.  You were fond of him, I know.  He fascinatedJ
you, didn't he? He was a great man.  But he sent your fathers away,
branded him a thief and deceived us all about thes;^ Green Flash.  You
don't brood on that, do you?  One of the things you'll have to learn is
to accept our code of behaviour!  out there.  It's something you'll
have to adjust to.  Ben felt r~" compunction for having behaved as he
did towards yo father.

He was going to steal the Green Hash and desert yo mother.  Ben was
fond of your mother and when he got fom of people, he was really
devoted to them.  He was a gamble at heart.  We all are.  We wouldn't
be there if we weren't That's how it is with men who go after gold .

sapphires diamonds, opals, whatever it is.  Nature plays tricks and yoi
compare it with playing a card game.  You don't know wha card is given
to you till you turn it up.  It might be the ac of spades; it might be
the ace of hearts; that's death and lov< they say.  But it might be the
deuce of clubs and that won'j mean much either way.  There's a lot of
luck in life, and I'VJ always uiougni you we got to oeueve m hick 10
gci'll.

He told me about some finds which had come to light in the Fancy.  He
explained to me how there were pieces attached to fossilized wood which
itself was impregnated with opal, but only fragments of it-nothing that
could be used.

"Sometimes," he said, 'it's like a sandwich.  What a sandwich I There's
the precious bit in the middle and on top you get the sandstone and
underneath the opal dirt.  Ifs in between that there's the meat.  But
these are not the lumps I've been telling you about.  They consist of a
lot of fine grains of sand stuck together .  and m the cracks there'll
be this hint of opal.  There are times when you can gouge out enough to
make a small stone but the effort is hardly worth it.  But I tell you
this-when you find these, you can wager that not far off you're going
to come across the precious stuff.  It might be opal matrix, opal dirt
or just plain potch, but where it is there's always hope that
somewhere, nearby, if you can only find the spot, is the precious
stuff, and every miner believes that what he is going to find is going
to be better than anything that ever came to light before.  "

It was fascinating listening to his talk.  He seemed then as though he
forgot the need to score over me, which I believed had its roots in my
repugnance to him and the terms I had insisted on before marrying
him.

When I saw him as the director of the Company, the man who understood
opals and loved them-for this came out whenever he talked of them -I
saw a different side to his nature from that of the conceited male
whose dignity had been affronted because the woman he had been forced
to marry for the sake of a fortune had insisted on the marriage's
being, as he called it mockingly, 'in name only'.

So we sat there while the storm raged round us and as'll listened to
his talk of the life to which I was going, my feelings towards him
changed a little.  I had realized that there were many sides to his
nature and I must not allow my dislike of one to blind me to the
existence of the rest.

Our first port of call was Teneriffe and when we called there Joss took
me for a tour round the island.  We went to Santa Cruz in a gay little
carriage drawn by two donkeys and Joss, who was very knowledgeable
about the place, enlightened me a good deal.  The weather was gently
warm and I felt so exhilarated that I did not want the day to end.  I
admired the wonderfully coloured flowering shrubs and the lushness

or everyuung.  joss snowed me banana plantations and we lunched in a
small restaurant overlooking the sea on potage de berros - a sort of
watercress soup and fish which we had been told had been caught that
morning and was served with a delicious sauce with the name of mo-j'o
pi con It was very exotic and exciting.  As we sat overlooking the sea
Joss told me that when the Romans had come there they had found this
group of islands to have a larger population of dogs than any other
country they knew, so they called them Canaria, the Islands of Dogs.

The natives were the Guanches - a savage people-who were in due course
subdued by the Spaniards.

As we ate young men and women came to dance the local dances and there
were singers too.  We enjoyed the isa and the tolia which, said Joss,
were characteristically Spanish.  He was dearly gratified by my wonder
and delight in everything and even his pleasure in his superior
knowledge failed to dampen my pleasure.

I was sorry when we had to go back to the ship, and as we sailed off he
and I leaned over the rail and watched the dominating peak of Pico de
Tiede fade out of sight.

When we reached Cape Town, Joss had some business to do and he
suggested that I go with him to the house of a man whom he had to
see.

It would be good for me, he said, now that I was a shareholder in the
Company, to learn everything I could about it.

Cape Town must surely be one of the most beautifully situated cities in
the world.  I was overwhelmed by the magnificence of Table Bay with
flat-topped Table Mountain clear in the sunshine and the Twelve
Apostles Mountains looming up beside it.

We had a horse-drawn carriage to take us up the slope to Joss's
business associate.  The house was delightful in the Dutch Colonial
style, and to step inside those beautifully cool rooms was like walking
into a Dutch painting.  There were stone steps leading to a terrace and
on this was a table with chairs ranged round it.

As we came up the steps Kurt van der Stel and his wife came to greet
us.  They were clearly very pleased to see Joss, who introduced me as
the wife he had recently married in England.

Grete van der Stel was a rosy plump woman, rather severely dressed, and
she bustled around serving us with wine, which she explained came from
a nearby vineyard, and with cakes which she had made herself.

When Joss told them of Ben's death they were deeply distressed.

"It's sad to think we shall never see him again," said Grete.

"He had never been completely well since his accident,8 replied Joss.

That is one of the hazards of mining," Kurt reminded him.

"And one of the reasons why people like you must pay high prices for
that which the miners have risked their lives for," answered Joss.

The van der Stels talked for a long time about Ben, his exuberance, his
unpredictability.  They agreed that the opal world would not be the
same without him.

Then Grete asked me if I would like to see the house and I told her
that I should.

How beautiful that house was with that ambience of peace and order
which I had experienced before through the intriguing interiors of the
Dutch school of painting.  Everything was highly polished and treated
with loving care.

Grete told me that her family had been in Cape Town for two hundred and
fifty years.

"It is beautiful and it is home," she said.

"Life is full of chance.

Nearly two hundred and fifty years ago, two Dutchmen were shipwrecked
here.  They were enchanted by the place, as all must be-the climate,
the fruit, the flowers and the possibility of making a great colony
occurred to them, so they went back to the Dutch East India Company and
reported what they had found, and as a result they sent out three ships
under the command of Jan van Riebeck.  Here they settled and then more
Dutch came out to join them and so we built a city, and it has been
home to us through the generations.  "

I stood at the window and looked out at the sparkling sea with the
Mountain-indeed resembling a table-rising proudly out of the waters.

Grete took me into the garden where exquisite shrubs flowered in
abundance about the one-storey dwelling where her servants were housed,
and then went back to the terrace on which the two men were sitting,
before them the rolled-up cases which I had so often seen in Ben's
possession.  They were discussing the opals which lay in the cases.

Grete said that luncheon would be served in a few moments so Joss
rolled up the cases.  As he did so we heard the sound of horses' hoofs
on the road below.

^7

"He's here," said Kurt van der Stel.

"I'll be interested to see him," said Joss.

"Perhaps he'll be able to give me some news about what's going on at
the Fancy."

A man mounted the steps to the terrace and Joss rose and shook hands
with him.

"It's good to see you, David," he said.

"You too.  Joss."  The newcomer shook hands with Kurt and as he did so
Joss drew me forward.

"I want you to meet my wife," he said.

The man 'found it difficult to hide his astonishment.

"Jessica, this is David Croissant," said Joss.

I had heard that name before.  David Croissant, the merchant who knew
more about the quality of opals than any other.  He was not tall, and
his dark hair grew low on his forehead, meeting in the centre in what
we called a 'widow's peak'.  He had light eyes which because of his
general darkness gave him an unusual appearance, and those eyes, I
noticed, were too closely set together.

"You've not heard about Ben," said Joss.  David Croissant looked
startled and Joss told him.

"Good God!"  said David Croissant.

"I had no idea.  Ben ... old Ben!"

"We shall, all miss him sadly," said Kurt.

"What bad luck," murmured David Croissant.

"If he'd still got the Flash you'd think it was that.  I wonder what
happened to Desmond Dereham.  He disappeared off the face of the earth.
He went to some outlandish place, I don't doubt.  Perhaps he'll escape
the bad luck."

"Why should he?"  asked Grete.

"Some say there's evil in that stone and if that were so it might
favour someone who stole it."

"What a crazy idea," said Joss.

"I'm surprised at you, David, an opal man, talking such nonsense.  Ill
luck!  For heaven's sake let's put a stop to all that talk.  It's not
good for business."

He flashed me a warning look, which told me that he did not want me to
mention the fact that the Green Rash had not been stolen.  I wondered
why and felt resentful that my father should go on being accused of
stealing something which at the very most he had only attempted to.

However, I was unsure of myself and remained silent.

"It's true," said Kurt.

"Who's going to buy opals if they're considered unlucky?"

"Lucky!  Unlucky!"  said Joss vehemently.

"It's a lot of non sense.  Long ago opals were the good luck stones and
then it was discovered that tney coma somenmes dc Dnme ana uus talk of
bad luck started."

"What have you brought to show us, David?"  asked Kurt.

"Ah," replied David, 'some stones that will make you dance with joy.

There's one in particular.  "

let's see it," said Joss.

"Mind you," answered David, 'it's not cheap.  "

"If it's what you're implying who'd expect it to be?"  retorted Joss.

When I saw the Harlequin Opal I had my first real understanding of the
fascination a stone could convey.  It was aptly named.  There seemed so
many colours which changed as one watched.  There was a gaiety about
that stone.  It definitely had a quality which even I could
recognize.

"You're right," said Joss.

"It's a beauty."

"I only know of one stone I'd compare it with."

Ttow we're back to the Green Flash," retorted Joss.

"You can't expect anything to compare with that' " Of course not.  But
this is superb.  "

"I wonder you're not afraid to travel around with it," "I only show it
to people I know.  I keep it apart from the rest.  I'm not going to
tell you my secret hiding place.  How do I know you might not turn
bushranger?"

That's wise of you," said Joss.  He held out the stone to me.  Take a
look at that, Jessica."

I held it in the palm of my hand and I felt a reluctance to let it
go.

"You see the beauty of it?"  said Joss eagerly.

"Not a flaw in it.  Look at those colours and the size..."

"Don't praise it too much.  joss," begged Kurt.

"You're putting the price up.  Not that I'm going to bid for it.  I
know I can't afford it."

"I've others you'll like, Kurt," said David Croissant.  Til put
Harlequin away or she'll outshine everything else.  "

I was still staring at the stone I held.

"You see," said David, 'your wife doesn't want to lose it" " She's
beginning to understand something about opals.  That's true, eh,
Jessica?  "

"I'm very ignorant," I said, handing the stone back to David, 'but at
least I'm aware that I know nothing about them.  "

"Which is the first lesson," answered Joss.

"So you've mastered that."

We looked at the other opals as David Croissant unrolled case after
case and Joss explained the properties of each to me.

men suddenly ne looKea ai ms waicn.  we must go, unless we are going
to miss the ship.  I'll see you in Australia, David.  I dare say you'll
be coming back soon.  "

"As soon as I can.  One or two calls to make and then it's the next
ship back."

So we said goodbye and our horse-drawn carriage which had been waiting
for us took us back to the ship.

There were long days in calm waters when the ship seemed to move hardly
at all.  I would sit on deck with Joss and we would talk desultorily
while we sipped cool drinks.  There was a quality about these days
which suggested erroneously that they would go on like this for ever. 
Now and then we would see a school of porpoises or dolphins sporting in
the water and the flying-fishes rising from the deep blue depths to
flutter on its surface.  Once an albatross followed the ship for three
days, and we would lie back in our chairs watching the infinite grace
and calculate the immense strength of that twelve-foot span of wing as
it circled above us.

Even my desire to discover the truth of my father's disappearance
receded.  This was peace, and I wondered whether Joss felt it too.

We would sit on deck until sunset, which was about seven o'clock, and
it was fascinating to experience the quick descent of twilight.  How
different from home where the subdued light lingers for a long time
after the sun has set.  Here it was bright day with that great ball of
fire shedding its heat upon us until it sank into the sea, followed by
almost immediate darkness.

The sunsets were superb and one night Joss said: "In waters such as
this we could see the green flash."

So each night we sat there and we were all hoping for a glimpse of
it.

Anxiously we would scan the sky for the signs.

"Everything has to be perfect for it."  Joss explained.

"No clouds, the sea calm, every little detail has to be just right."

Each evening when we sat there I would say: "Will it be tonight?"

"Who shall say?"  answered Joss.

"One sits and waits as for an important visitor.  If it comes and you
are not watching for it with your complete attention, you'll miss it.
Don't forget it's there in a flash and gone again.  If you blink an eye
you'd miss it."

It had become a fetish with us.  Joss had seen it of course but, he
admitted, only once.

"And I've been where it could be many a time," he told us.

"And only once was 1 honoured."  So each evening at sunset we
watched-but we waited in vain.  The natural phenomenon was as elusive
as its namesake.

We were on deck as we sailed into Bombay and before us lay a wonderful
panorama of mountainous islands and away to the east the gently swaying
palm trees and high peaks of the Western Ghat Mountains.  Here was the
gateway to India.

Joss and I spent an exhilarating morning in exotic surroundings, the
like of which I had never seen before.  How beautiful the women were in
their brilliantly coloured saris, but the contrast between them and the
multitudes of beggars who surrounded us appalled us, touching our
pleasure with a depression created by such horror.  We gave to the
beggars, but the more we gave the more seemed to gather around us, and
we had in the end to turn away from those big pleading eyes and little
up stretched brown hands.

We had stopped to watch a group of women washing then- clothes in the
river, but because of the beggars we returned to our gaily coloured
mule-drawn carriage and left the river.  But I could not get them out
of my mind.

We were taken to a market where there were stalls of the most exciting
merchandise and voluble salesmen, eager to sell their wares.  There
were beautiful carpets, all kinds of objects in carved wood, ivory and
brass; and we were fascinated.

The bright black eyes of one of the salesmen were on us.

"You give a little present, eh?"  he suggested.

"To show love ... to bring good luck."

I hesitated and Joss whispered: "He's going to be very disappointed if
we don't."

This lady, very lucky," said the salesman.

"It was ivory charm.  The goddess of good fortune ... talisman against
evil.  " I'm going to buy that for you," I said.  The Green Flash is
yours now... you may need it.  " It's partly yours too and to show that
I don't believe in bad luck I'm going to buy you that cherry-coloured
silk to make a gown.  "

So we made our purchases with the minimum of bargaining for, said Joss,
the salesman would be disappointed if we did not haggle a little.

I felt as we walked away that that incident seemed to imply that our
relationship was changing.

We had a light luncheon and during it I asked him why he had allowed
David Croissant to believe that the Green Flash was snii missing ana
main naa oeen sioien ay my lamer.

There's always a great deal of speculation about that stone," said
Joss.

"And David's a talker.  I don't want people talking about it until I
have it secure.  I think that's the wise thing to do."

And I did not feel I could argue with him on that score.  After
luncheon we drove in the carriage to the, impressive Rajabai Tower
built in the fourteenth century and went up Malabar Hill to Malabar
Point.  We paused by the Tower of Silence where, so our driver told us,
the Parsees disposed of their dead according to their religious
tradition, which was to leave the bodies to the sun, the weather, and
the birds.

"No woman is allowed in," we were told.

"Why not?"  I asked.

"Why should they be excluded?"  The driver could not understand us, for
his English was limited, but Joss replied: The inferior sex, you know.
" That's quite absurd," I retorted hotly.  I could see he was pleased
to have arouse^ my indignation, and the change in our relationship
which I had fancied I detected had evaporated.  We were back to where
we had started.

As we were approaching the end of our journey, a restraint had grown up
between us.  Joss was often thoughtful, and once or twice I caught him
regarding me intently.

We continued to sit on deck together in the evenings at sunset.  We
would sit in silence watching the great ball of fire slipping down to
the horizon.

When we did.  " talk we often mentioned Ben.  Joss quoted him
frequently.

It was clear that he had been greatly influenced by him throughout his
life.

"Do you think we'll see the real green flash one day?"  I asked.

"Perhaps.  Though there's not much time left.  You have to wait for
it.

I believe some people imagine they've seen it.  "

"Are you one of those?  " Not I. I'm much too practical.  I don't have
day dreams.  "

"Perhaps it might be better if you did."

"Why should one want to indulge in fancy when there's :::

reality all around one?  " " It shows imagination.  "

He laughed at me.  I knew he enjoyed laughing at me, proving to me that
I was young, inexperienced of life and somewhat foolish.  ;

Once he said: "Ben used to say love comes quickly in a flash
sometimes, but you have to recognize it for the real thing.  Lots of
people think they've found it because they want to.  That's how it is
with the green flash.  They want to have seen it so they delude
themselves into thinking they have."

"I can assure you that I never delude myself."

He went on: "Look at the sun.  There are opal lights in the sky
today.

Look at that touch of yellow over there .  with the blue.  I found an
opal just like that once.  We called it The Primrose because someone
fancied he saw the shape of the flower there.  In half an hour the sun
will be going down.  Who knows?  Tonight we could see it It's a night
for the green flash.  "

We sat there watching.

"Any minute now," said Joss.

"How bright it is!  It's as though it wants to blind you so that you'll
miss it.  Be careful.  Be sure you don't blink."

The great red ball low on the horizon was dipping into the water-now
only half of it was visible, now less and then just that red rim.

"Now!"  whispered Joss; and there was a quick intake of breath to
indicate disappointment, for the sun had completely disappeared below
the horizon, and neither of us had seen the green flash.

6.

THE BURNED-OUT INN

There was great exdtement on board when we approached the land, and I
don't think there was one passenger who was not on deck looking out
with eager, fascinated eyes.  And it was a sight worth looking at, for
I suppose there is no harbour in the world to compare with Sydney's.

The Captain had given me a book in which I had read of the arrival of
the first fleet there.  I wondered what the convicts had felt when they
stepped ashore after months of confinement in the noisome hold of a
ship to find themselves surrounded by so much that was beautiful.  In
those days the scene would have been made more colourful by the
brilliantly plum aged birds-parakeets, love birds, and those delicately
coloured galahs with the exquisite mingling grey and pink of their
feathers, all of

wnicn i was to see later.  'll was uuicicin uuw.  uuiiuiuga ucn. 
sprung up where beautiful wild flowers had grown and th birds had
retreated inland.  They had named the place afta Lord Sydney, the
Secretary of State for the Home Department Captain Arthur Philip, the
first governor of the new colony who had had a port named after him,
had declared that hen was 'the finest harbour in the world in which a
thousand sail of the line might ride in the most perfect security'.

Perhaps because what I had read had given me such a sense of the past
or perhaps merely because this was one of the most beautiful places I
had ever seen, I was filled with exhilaration which completely
eliminated the mild depression I had begun to feel at the prospect of
leaving the ship which had been my home for so long.

I stood leaning on the rail as we went through the Heads- past numerous
cove-like indentations and sandy beaches fringed with lush foliage.
Then the buildings began to appear and it was obvious that we were
coming to a considerable city.

"What a beautiful place 1' I cried.

Joss looked pleased.

"We shan't be so far away up at Fancy Town," he said.

"You'll be able to take the odd trip into Sydney and do your shopping.
There are some fine shops there -and hotels too.  Of course you'll have
to camp out for a night or two very likely on the way.

Though there are home steads where you might stay,"

"It sounds exciting."

"It will be.  You'll see.  I wonder if anyone's come to meet us.  We're
staying at the Metropole.  It will take us a couple of days to get out
to Peacocks."  i "How shall we go?"

There's Cobb's coach but it doesn't go our way, so I reckon to ride
would be the best.  You'll be glad of those riding lessons I gave you.
"

Everyone seemed to know Joss and that made disembarkation easy.

Our baggage would in due course be unloaded and sent to the hotel where
it would arrive later in the day.  i "We'll spend a week at the
Metropole," Joss told me.

"I have business to do in Sydney, and I reckon you'd like to see, a bit
of it before we go to Fancy Town.  Get into the buggy;

and it'll take us to the hotel.  We'll just take a few personal things
with us.  " ,;

The hotel was situated in the heart of the town and the| reception area
was crowded with people who talked loudly to each other, but Joss
forced his way through to the desk and emerged with two keys.

I saw the ironical grin on his face as he handed one to me.

"All according to contract," he said.

I flushed with irritation.  He had completely lost that tenderness
which I had fancied I glimpsed during the voyage.

Our rooms adjoined and there was a communicating door between them.

Maliciously he watched my anxious glance towards this, and he went to
it at once and taking the key from the lock handed it to me as he had
on the first night of our marriage.

The room was pleasant with french windows on to a small balcony.  I
went out on to this and looked down on the streets teeming with people
and horse-drawn vehicles.  We had indeed come to town.

I washed and when I was ready sat down on my bed to wait.  It was not
long before there was a knock on my door and Joss came to conduct me to
dinner.  We went down the wide staircase to the lounge which was full
of men talking earnestly.

"Graziers from all over New South Wales," Joss told me.

"Some from the other side of the Blue Mountains.  There are some gold
men here too.

There's something about a gold man.  It's the look in his eyes.  It's
as though he's searching for something.  Hope deferred, I suppose.  And
that makes the heart sick.  That's how so many of them are .  sick at
heart because their dreams have been grander than reality.  Then you
pick out those who have struck their bit of gold.  They're not often
happy men because they've found that there are things gold can't buy
and they're the things they want most.  Then there are those who have
made their little pile and are going to spend it.  They're all here.

Now the grazier .  he's a different species .  though God knows he has
his troubles .  droughts, floods, swarms of pests that can destroy his
land and animals.  I can tell you there are more plagues here than
there ever were in the land of Egypt.  "

We went into the dining-room and he said: "We'll have a steak.  It'll
be a treat to eat fresh meat."

And although I felt vaguely resentful of his taking command and telling
me what I should eat I nodded agreement.

The steak was certainly good and after we had eaten it we took coffee
in the lounge, but it was so noisy that we could scarcely hear
ourselves speak.

Joss said it had been a tiring day for me and I should

reure, ana i man i Know wnemer to De pleased by his concern for me or
to reseat his giving orders.

It was true I was tired, so I said good night and went to my room,
assured myself that the communicating door was locked and enjoyed a
good night's sleep.

We met at breakfast-a hearty one for Joss consisting of lamb chops and
kidneys.

"We're good trenchermen here," he said.

"It's the outdoor life.  I'm going to spend the day taking you round
and then I shall have business to attend to.  I want you to meet some
of the people who buy and sell opals and though it will be just sod al
here, you'll pick up quite a lot.  Then you'll probably find it a good
idea to shop.  First, though, I'll show you something and you'll get
your bearings.2 I said it was an excellent idea and after breakfast we
set off.

He drove the buggy himself and first he wanted to show me the
harbour.

I had seen it from the ship of course, but this was different.  We
could drive in and out of the coves and from the heights we could look
down on those wonderful bays.  The sea was the colour of sapphires.

"It looks beautiful," he said, 'but I can tell you that there are
sharks lurking beneath that innocent blue.  If you ventured in you
might easily end up by providing a shark with his dinner.  "

"What a horrible thought."

Things are not always what they seem," he said with a grin.

"It's certainly true of the water and it looks so calm and peaceful."

That's the time to be wary.  If sharks frighten you how are you going
to like it out at Fancy Town ?  "

Thafs something I shan't know till I've experienced it.  "

"You'll find it very different from England."  He had brought the buggy
to a standstill and was looking intently at me.

"Some people come out here and get so homesick they can't endure it.
They just pack up and go home."

"Ifs hard to leave your native land."

"My ancestors came out here seventy years ago."

"Were they homesick?"

"It wouldn't have mattered if they were.  They had to stay.  My
mother's father came out on a convict ship.  He was no criminal, but he
was a man of certain opinions that didn't fit in with what was thought
right and proper.  He offended some people and a charge was trumped up
against him and out he came.

Fourteen years was his sentence.  Her husband's mother was a lady's
maid accused of stealing her employer's valuable brooch.  She was
innocent, says the family, but all convicts were innocent according to
their families.  Most people have a yearning to go back to England. 
"

"And do you?"

Sometimes.  It's a second home to me and I get torn between the two.

When I'm here I want to be in England and when I'm in England I'm
longing for Australia.  Perverse of me, but then I'm a perverse sort of
person.  "

I did not disagree which amused him.  He made me uncomfortable often
because he liked to read my thoughts.

'like Ben," he went on, " I was taken with Oakland.  Part of me would
like to stay there and become a sort of squire and now I'm married to a
Qavering perhaps I qualify.  On the other hand, opals are here and
opals are my life.  You see the dilemma I'm in.  "

"An embarras de ricbesses, I believe."

"Yes, but I shall not allow it to embarrass me.  I'm the sort who's
determined to get the best out of both worlds."

"So you will return to Oakland for visits?"

"Yes.  Ifs a pity it's on the other side of the world, but what are a
few thousand miles ?"

"Nothing to you," I replied blithely.

"I am sure," he said, 'that you would like to visit the old place now
and then.  "

"Indeed I would."

Now we have one matter on which we agree.  I think we are progressing.
"

"It's natural for me to want to visit my home, so it hardly seems like
progress."

He just laughed at me.

We rode back through the dty where he showed me how the streets wound
round in an inconsequential manner because in the beginning when the
settlement was founded the tracks round the hills were made by carts
and riders and in time became streets.

"Sydney grew rather than was planned," he said.

"Which is what a city should do," I replied.

"How much more interesting that something should be in a certain place
for a reason other than because someone drew it on a plan.1 " I can see
you're romantic.  "

"If's not a bad thing to be."

i57 mars too proiouna ror me to consider when I'm driving a | buggy
through the streets of Sydney.  "

" " I should have thought nothing was beyond your powers.  "

"So that's your opinion of me.  I must say I'm happy to have made such
a good impression."

"Ben used to say that people are taken at their own valuation."

"And that's what you are doing in my case?"

"I have yet to discover what other people's opinions of you are.2 Joss
was at least an informative companion.  He talked quite lyrically of
Captain Cook who had arrived in 1770 and taken possession of New South
Wales for the British Crown, and how it had been named New South Wales
because those who first saw it thought it bore a resemblance to that
coast at home; and then seventeen years later when it had been decided
to use this beautiful land as a convict settlement the first shipload
had come out in 1787.

They were little better than slaves," said Joss, 'and flogged for the
slightest offence.  Those were cruel times, and although some of those
who came out were hardened criminals, many were political prisoners and
men of intellect."

"Uke your grandfather.2 " Exactly.  Then later others came out to make
a new life for themselves.  Land could be bought for the sum of ten
pounds a block and a block was five miles square, so it wasn't
necessary to have a great deal of capital to start with.  Convict
labour was available and all that was needed was hard work.  And how
they worked! You've seen the graziers in the Metropole.  Rugged men
most of them-hard-headed, shrewd men who knew the meaning of disaster. 
You've heard about the plagues, the floods and the droughts.  There's
another evil, the forest fire.  It can do terrible things in our Bush. 
You see, there's plenty to contend with out here.  You have to forget
the easy, cosy life.  "

You're warning me again.  "

"If you feel in need of warning, take it."

"I believe you have a poor opinion of me.  I'm surprised because I have
quite a fair opinion of myself and if Ben was right..."

He laughed and for a time I felt he was no longer laughing at me but
with me.

As we drove back to the hotel he said: "Everyone who comes out here is
in a sense a gambler.  The miners, of course, are all lavishly endowed
with the gambling mentality.  Every day they start out to work they say
to themselves: " This will be the day.  " At sundown they know it is
not, but there's always hope.  Those who go after gold are the same ...
and after opal.  They always think they'll find another Green Flash at
Sunset."

"You've seen the real thing, of course."

"fes, as I told you, I saw it once as the sun was setting."

"You would succeed where others failed."

I enjoyed those days in Sydney.  In the evenings I met some of Joss's
business associates, and with one of them was his wife so she and I did
some shopping excursions together.

In bustling George Street I bought material to be made into practical
garments for my new life, and we roamed through Pitt and Elizabeth
Streets marvelling at the merchandise.  I acquired two large straw hats
which my companion advised me to buy, for I should need them against
the fierce Australian sun which was far more brilliant than that which
was experienced in England.  I was pleased with them because they were
quite becoming and served two purposes-use and decoration.  In King
Street I bought ribbons and hairpins.

In due course the time came for us to leave.  Joss spent a long time
choosing the horses we should hire.  Most of our baggage would come by
coach to Fancy Town where we should pick it up.  We took one pack horse
with a few belongings and provisions.  Our journey from England had
taken a little over se weeks and we were at the end of November, which
was the equivalent of our May.  The wild flowers were so colourful that
I kept exclaiming at then- beauty, which I saw was very gratifying to
Joss; but most impressive of all.  were the tall eucalypts-aloof,
indifferent, towering over the tree ferns and native beech and ash as
they reached for the sky.  Joss was as knowledgeable about the
countryside as he had been about Sydney and I found a new excitement in
having such a good mentor beside me.

"Look at those eucalypts," he said.

"We call them stringy- barks.

That's because of then- tough fibrous barks.  The term is bush slang
for bad whisky too.  You'U find the language colourful and you'll have
to learn some of it' "I shall be interested to," I told him.

Glad to hear it.  It'll help you along a bit.  Look over there.  That's
what we call a spotted gum.  See the markings on the bark?  "

i9 pounds me country was flat, and the dryness of the land was
particularly noticeable after -the green fields at home.  Having no
other as contrast, I had never before realized how green they were. 
The roads were rough and full of holes, and our horses raised a cloud
of dust.

We climbed small hills and crossed more flat country; we went over
dried-up creeks and at length came to a homestead -a one-storeyed
building surrounded by grazing land.  Joss said he thought we should
stay the night here, for the pull from where we were to Fancy Town
would be too long to do in one day.  The next night he planned to stay
at Trant's Homestead and reach the Fancy the day after that.

He rode into the yard and dismounted, by which time a woman in a
voluminous black dress over which she wore a white apron had come
out.

' Joss talked to her and then he came back to me.

They've only one room," he said.  This is not a London hotel, you
know.

What about it?  Shall we take it or spend the night out of doors?  8
The woman had come forward.

"You're welcome, my dear," she said.

"It's a nice room.  Are you man and wife?"

"Yes, we are," answered Joss.

Then I'll bustle to and get the bed made up.  It's a very good bed .
lovely soft feathers brought out from England.  Jack here will see to
the horses.  Jack.  Set to, lad.  And Mary.  Where's Mary?  "

Joss helped me to alight.  I could see that he was enjoying the
situation.

"Cheer up," he whispered.  The unnatural embargo is bound to put us
into some awkward situations, but I'm very resourceful

The room was pleasant-very clean-and dominated by the big double bed.

Joss regarded it ruefully.  That's a comfortable chair," he said.

"It would serve me well or I might lie at the foot of the bed like a
knight of old."  He placed his hands on my shoulders and looked at me
earnestly.  There is one thing you must never forget," he said.

"I have never yet forced my attentions on a woman who didn't want me,
and I feel no temptation to do so now.  I'm proud, you know ..."

"I do know it.  I believe the Peacock is a nickname of yours."

"I believe it is, but no one dare call me by it to my face.  Remember
what I said.  It might save you considerable un easiness.  " I We
washed the grime of the road from ourselves in tepid water and went
downstairs.  Steaks were cooking on a gridiron on a fire out of doors
and close by was a long table with benches.  We were told to sit down
and were given kangaroo soup in thick earthenware mugs while the steaks
sizzled over the grid.  Our hostess made dampers-pieces of unleavened
bread-which were ready at the same time as the steaks.

Afterwards cheese was served with Johnny cakes-dampers the size of
scones-and there was a beverage which tasted like ale to accompany the
food.

It was not dark when we had finished and we strolled round and watched
the sheep being rounded up by kelpie dogs who answered the farmer's
whistle and got the bewildered animals into their pens, keeping them
dose together by running nimbly right over their backs.

FOr all Joss's protestations, I was disturbed at the thought of sharing
a room with him.  He said he would take the chair, which seemed to
offer greater comfort than the floor, and I removed only my skirt and
bodice. I slept fitfully, which perhaps was to be expected in the
circumstances; and I supposed the same applied to joss.

We set off on our journey in the pure morning air and it was about
eleven o'clock when we came to a river which Joss thought would be a
good place to stop.  The horses were in need of a rest and they could
drink.  He told me to gather some sticks of bracken, which I did, and
with an expert touch, which I could not but admire, he quickly made a
fire and brewed what he called quart pot tea.  We found a tree under
which we could sit comfortably.  Our landlady of the previous night had
supplied us with sandwiches and we had some cheese.  Strangely enough,
I felt I had never drunk tea or tasted sandwiches so good.

The sun grew hotter and both of us were feeling drowsy, for neither of
us had had a good night's sleep.  I quickly dozed and dreamed that I
was on the ship.  There was a storm and I was walking on deck being
buffeted from one side to the other.  I was caught suddenly in a
vicdike grip and there was Joss.

"Are you trying to commit suicide?"

he asked and I was stung into saying: "It would be a good way out for
you, wouldn't it?  Everything would be yours then.  You wouldn't have
the encumberance of a wife who doesn't want you any more than you want
her.  Everything would be yours ... the houses, the shares, the Green
Flash at Sunset..."  As I mentioned the opal his expression changed
and his grip on pj>.  161 f me tightened.  That's a good idea," he
said, and there were murderous lights in his eyes.

"I'd be better off without you.  Suicide ... well, it could look like
that, couldn't it?"  I cried out: "No ... No!

You're not going to murder me.  "

I awoke with a start and my heart leaped in terror, for there he was,
his face close to mine, watching me intently.  For a moment I thought
the dream was real.

"What was that about?"  he asked.

1 was dreaming.  "

"It seemed like a nightmare."  , "It must have been."

"A nightmare in broad daylight!  You must have something on your
mind... something that frightens you."

"I think I'm able to take care of myself so I'm not afraid

What was the dream ?  "

"Oh, nothing.  It was all confused as dreams are."

"It's a big undertaking to leave your native land and come out to a
strange one.  Are you disturbed about that?"

"I sometimes wonder how I shall fit in."

"And marriage ... with a stranger ... a meaningless sort of marriage.
Let's hope that in due course we shall come to some compromise about
that."

I wondered what he meant by compromise.

There are lawless elements out here," he went on.

There are in all countries.  "

"Have you ever heard of bush rangers ?"

"Of course.  " But you do not know what they are really like. 
Desperate men .  perhaps they've failed in the gold-fields or the opal
and sapphire mines.  They're desperadoes who live by robbery.  This is
the ideal background for them.  They can hide in the Bush and ply their
trade with comparative ease.  They're deter mined not to be caught,
which would mean hanging from a tree as a warning to their kind.  They
don't hesitate to kill if the occasion arises.  "

"I believe you'd like me to go straight home."

He laughed.

"I'd like to see if you're the sort of person who would go straight
home because of a few discomforts."

Til tell you one thing.  I'm the sort of person who would put up with a
great deal to prove you wrong.  "

That made him laugh and I stared straight ahead because I did not care
to meet his eyes, which I thought over bold.

Looking for bush rangers he asked.

"Don't fret You've got a protector You?"

"And this."  He took out a small pistol from a belt at his hip.

"A

beauty," he said.

"I never travel without her.  Neat, insignificant in appearance and
deadly in action.  They wouldn't stand much chance, I can tell you,
with us around."

We rode side by side through the Bush.

The Trant Homestead is about fifteen miles on," he said.  The horses
will be in need of a rest when we get there and so will we."

I looked about me at the scenery which was wild and interesting.

"What are those pale-looking trees over there?"  I asked.

"Ghost gums.  Some people believe that when people die violently in the
Bush they take up their habitation inside the trees and that where
there is a ghost gum there will in time be others to join it.  You
should see them in moonlight; then you would believe the legend.  There
are some who won't pass a dump of ghost gums after dusk.  They think
the branches will turn into arms and that in the morning there will be
another ghost gum to stand beside those who were there the day
before."

"Every country has its legends."

"And we're a down-to^arth people here."

There was a sudden cackle of laughter above us which startled me so
violently that I moved sideways in the saddle.  Joss noticed and
laughed.

"It's only a kookaburra," he said, 'the laughing jackass or a
kingfisher.  Ah, there's his mate.  They are often in pairs.  They seem
to find life very amusing.  You'll hear them often round Peacock House.
 "

We rode over dried-up creeks and gullies.

The wild flowers would have been a picture," said Joss, 'if it hadn't
been for the drought."

It must have been about seven in the evening when Joss pulled up on a
slight hillock and looked about him at the Bush spread out around us.

"We should be able to see Trant's from here," he said.

"It's built in a hollow.8 " It'll be dark soon.  "

"Yes, I want to get there before sundown.  The Bush can be
treacherous.

I know it well, of course, but even old stagers have been known to be
lost.  You have to be careful, and not wander out alone.  You see how
the same kind of landscape goes on and on.  I've known people to be
lost in the Bush;

they walk miles and often end up literally going round in circles.

They can't make a landmark because the scenery repeats itself again and
again.  So take care.  I think I can see Trant's.  Look.  Over there in
that hollow.  "

We rode on.  The sun had sunk below the horizon.  The first stars had
started to appear and there was a thin crescent of moon.

He galloped on and I followed.  Suddenly he pulled up short and I came
up beside him.

"Good God!"  he cried.

"Just look at that!"

It was an eerie sight in the pale light of the moon and stars- a shell
of a house.  Joss rode on and I followed him, picking my way carefully
over the sparse, scorched grass.  Fire had ravaged one side of the
two-storey building; the rest had been severely licked by the flames.

"We'll look round," said Joss, 'and see what there is.  "

We dismounted and he tethered the horses to a piece of iron fence.

"Careful how you go," he called over his shoulder.  Then he turned and
took my hand and together we stepped over the blackened threshold.

They must have lost everything," he said.

"I wonder where they went."

"I hope their lives were saved."

"Who can say?"

"How far are we from Fancy Town?"

Thirty miles or so.  Trant's!  People used to stay here.  It was like
an oasis in the desert .  there's nothing else for miles round.  " He
turned and looked at me.

"We'll have to stay here for the night.  The horses can't go on.
There's a river close by.  Let's hope it's not dried up.  The horses
could drink and there might be some grass that's not been scorched by
the fire.  Wait here.  I'll go and look."

As I stood in that burned-out shell I felt a sudden horror of the
place.  There was an atmosphere of doom about it.  Tragedy had happened
here, and death and disaster seemed to have dung to the air.  I
shivered and a sudden coldness came over me.  I felt that I was alone
with the dead.  I touched the blackened walls.  This had once been a
parlour, I imagined, where people had sat and talked and laughed
together; within these four walls they had lived their lives.  I
imagined their coming from England, settlers who had sought a new life
and had hit on the idea of making an inn where travellers through the
Bush could stay for a night or so.  They would farm the land as well,
for not enough people would pass this way to give them a living as
innkeepers; they would go for walks without seeing anyone .  nothing
but wild bush.  I wondered if they had lived in fear of bush rangers
Those blackened walls filled me with foreboding and I don't think I
fully realized the loneliness of the Bush until that moment.

I noticed that there were some remains of habitation-a half-burned
table, pieces of metal which could have been part of some fitting, two
battered candlesticks which had once been shining brass, and there was
a tin box such as the one Maddy had at home.  She always referred to it
as 'my box and it carried her possessions in it.  It had come to
Oakland Hall when she had and it would be with her all her life.

A figure loomed up beside me and I gasped in horror.

Sorry I scared you," said Joss.

"Why.  what's the matter?"

"It's this place.  There's something haunted about it."

Why, there's little left but the walls.  I found the stream and
mercifully there's grass there.  We'll take the horses down.  "

"Are we going to stay here?"  asked.

"It's shelter and we're not equipped for camping."

"Couldn't we go on?2 Tor thirty miles?  The horses need rest.  We'll
stay here till dawn and then we'll get going.  Let's see if there's
anything we can use.  We'll explore.  But be careful."

I said: There's a tin box over there.  There might be something in
that. 8 As we moved across the floor my foot struck something.  I
stooped and picked up a half-burned candle.  Joss took it from me and
said:

"Someone's been here recently and must have had the same idea as we
have of using it for the night."  He examined the stump and then took
matches from his pocket and lighted it.  He held the candle high and
the place looked more forbidding than ever in the dim light.  His face
looked different too.  His eyes were darker and the bronze of his skin
less obvious.  There was something half amused and enigmatic in his
expression as he regarded me; I noticed his ears were large and faintly
pointed at the tips which gave him the appearance of a satyr.

I caught a glint in his eyes which suggested to me that he was not
altogether displeased with our situation.  This gave me more than a
twinge of uneasiness.  "

"It was lucky to find the candle," I said.

"I wonder who left it.  Some bushranger, perhaps Why shouldn't it be
travellers like ourselves Y

x65 ii uugui uc, oi course.  " He patted his belt.

"Now you see why it's well to be prepared.  Don't be alarmed.  You're
not alone, you know."

He kept his eyes on my face, and I had an idea that he was trying to
frighten me.

There could be something in the tin box," I said.

He went over to it and touched it with his foot.

"It seems to have stood up to the fire pretty well."  He stooped down
and opened it and holding the candle high, peered in.

"Why, look.  A blanket.  It must have escaped the fire.  The .tin box
has protected it.  What a find!  We can spread it on the floor."  He
took it out and sniffed at it.

"You can smell the smoke."

I came over to him and took the blanket.

"Do you think whoever used the candle used it too?"

"Who knows?  We can't afford to be fastidious.  We'll have need of
it."

As I lifted it out I saw a book.  It was a kind of ledger.  I picked it
up and opened it.  Inside was written Trant Home stead, 1875.  This
book is the property of James and Ethel Trant who left England in the
year 1873 and settled here in this house which they called Trant's
Homestead.  "

I pictured James and Ethel leaving home full of hope and settling in
this isolated spot; as I turned over the pages of the book I saw that
it had been used as a kind of register.  There was one column for the
date, a centre one for names and another for comments.  There were
remarks like Thanks, James and Ethel.  It was good," and another " Just
like Home';

another said "My third visit.  Speaks for itself."

The discovery of the book had made real people of Ethel and James, and
I deeply hoped they had survived the destruction of their property.

Joss was looking over my shoulder.

"Oh, I see, a hotel register.  Look and see when the last guest was
here.  That should give us some idea of the date of the fire."  I
looked.  A Tom Best and Harry Wakers had stayed three months before.

"As recent as that," commented Joss.

"I wonder what happened to James and Ethel Trant."

"Who can say?  Now we've got to rest.  Don't forget we must be up at
the crack of dawn."

"Somehow I don't like the idea of staying here."

He laughed aloud.

"It's a shelter.  Not much but a bit.  There's water close by for the
horses and a bit of grass too.

We're in luck.  Oh, I know you were thinking 01 a coimonauic bed, but
things don't always work out that way in the Bush.  Here, hold the
candle.  "

I did so while he spread the blanket on the rough charred floor.  He
took the candle from me and, tilting it, let some of its grease drip on
to the floor and in this he stuck the candle so that it was held
upright.

How long do you think that will last?  "I asked.

"A few hours, with luck.  It's amazing good fortune to have found it.

You appreciate your luck out here.  "

"I should think one should anywhere."

I sat down on the spread-out blanket, still holding the register in my
hand.  I turned the pages glandng idly at the names and comments.  Then
one name leaped out at me.

"Desmond Dereham, June 1879' and his comment: " I shall surely come
again.  "

"What's the matter?"  asked Joss.

My father stayed here.  His name's in the book.  I think people ought
to know the truth, that he did not succeed in stealing the Green Flash
and that Ben had it all the time.  It'll have to be known that we have
it. "

"We'll see.  It's not a thing I want to decide quickly about.  There's
so much depending on it."

Perhaps he was right, I thought, and it was better that no one should
know that we had the famous stone.

I glanced down at the book and saw David Croissant's name.

There's someone else we know," I said.

Joss looked.

"I dare say I could find many people I know in that book.

This place was used by everyone.  We might try and make a fire and boil
some tea.  I thought you and I would be sitting at mine host's table
and perhaps sharing a room as we did last night.  Rooms are scarce in
these homesteads, you know.  They don't cater for people with
fastidious notions.  That chair was damned uncomfortable.  I was Idling
myself I didn't fancy repeating the experience and here am I doomed to
spend the night on a smoke-ridden blanket in a burned-out homestead. 
"

He had stretched himself out full length and was staring upwards at
what was left of the roof, which in candlelight looked like some
prehistoric insect.  I could see stars through the gaps in the
rafters.

He said: This is a good introduction to your life here.  At least after
this you'll be prepared for anything.  Are you sleepy 7

i6y

. _-- - - .  ^. 7 6"" " uigui idsi mgnt, was it?  A pity ... and they
said it was such a comfortable feather bed."

He put out a hand and pulled me down beside him.

"Such a small blanket," he said quietly.

I shrank to the edge of it.

"You disappoint me, Jessica," he said.

"I didn't think you'd be so easily frightened.  Why don't you be bold?
Why don't you prepare yourself for new experiences?"

"What experiences?"

^1 didn't want to marry you any more than you wanted to marry me.  We
were two sensible people with eyes open to the main chance.  This
marriage suited us both.  We stood to lose a lot if we didn't go along
with Ben.  Well, now it's done, why don't we try to make something of
it ? "

"I intend to learn all I can about the Company.  I want to play a part
in that."

That's not what I meant.  You're frightened.  What a dilemma!  Here you
are alone in the burned-out inn with your husband.  Don't be such a
child, Jessica.  You're a woman now.  "

Tou promised," I cried.  Tou said you were too proud ...* 'you are the
most maddening woman I ever knew."

"Because I'm not panting for you ?"

"Yes," he cried.

"I wish to God..."

That you had refused Ben.  You wouldn't have done that, though, would
you?  You wanted Oakland, Peacocks and the Green Flash.  It was
unfortunate that you had to take me too, but that was part of the
bargain.  If you could be rid of me you'd be contented.  You've shown
me that.  I'm not such a child that I can't see it.  I expect there's
someone else you'd like to many.  That would be just like you .  to
take the main chance.  Do you think I don't understand you?  I'm doing
that more and more every day, and I don't like what I discover.  I
wish.  l I seemed to see Ben's face rising before me, admonishing me,
'now tell the troth, Jessie.  Did you want to stay behind in the Dower
House for the rest of your days ?  "

Joss had risen.  Tm going to see that the horses are safe," he said,
and he strode out leaving me alone.

As I looked about that burned-out inn a feeling of foreboding came to
me.  He didn't want me.  He resented me.  It must have occurred to him
how much more convenient it would be if I were not here.  He wanted to
be free and lose nothing by his freedom.

I could hear his voice echoing through my mind: "This is a country
where life is cheap."  Bushrangers roamed the land.  How easy it would
be for him to kill me.  He could find a hundred excuses for it.

"I went down to the horses ..."  I could hear his explanations.

"When I came back she was lying there dead ... strangled ... or shot.

There were bush rangers in the neighbourhood .  Some jewels she was
wearing were missing .  so was some money she had .  " Or: " She was
not accustomed to riding in rough country.  I'd given her lessons in
England but this was different.  She took a toss.  I saw that her neck
was broken . so I buried her close to the burned-out inn.  "

Had he wanted to make love to me?  Perhaps.  Ben had implied that he
was something of a rake.  To make love and then to kill.  There were
people like that.

0 God, help me, I whispered and I thought: again I am asking Him when
I'm in trouble.  It's the only time I pray, so what help can I expect
?

There was something about this place.  Was it the dark, the pungent
smell, was it the eeriness?  My father had stayed here.  Where was he
now?  Perhaps he was dead and his spirit haunted the place and he was
warning me now.  After all, I was his daughter.

Had Joss really gone to see the horses or would he come creeping up
behind me.  Nonsense, I told myself, this man is your husband.

My husband who was forced to marry me because he would gain a good deal
if he did and lose it if he didn't.  He stood to keep everything and my
share too if he disposed of me.  I started.  Footsteps, slow, stealthy,
creeping up to the inn- and not from the direction of the river.

I was on my feet.  I was at the door, crouching there.  What was left
of the door creaked as it was pushed open.

A man stepped into the inn.  I heard his quick intake of breath, then
he said: "Good God."

I cried out and he spun round.  I thought I was dreaming for it was
David Croissant.

Mr.  Croissant.  " I stammered.  He stared at me.

"What... in God's name..."  I said: The inn was burned out.  Joss and I
had planned to stay here.  "

Why, it's Mrs.  Madden.  It gets stranger than ever.  So you're here.

Where's Joss?  We heard Joss coming then and David Croissant called
out to him.

There were explanations.  He had caught a ship in Cape Town about a
week after he had seen us.  He was on his way to the Fancy and had
planned to stay at Trant's.

"I was hoping for a plate of Ethel's stew," he said.

"My horses have had just about enough for today."

"Strange you should turn up," said Joss.

"We saw your name in an old register we found here."

"Not surprising.  I often stayed here.  The most comfortable homestead
for miles round.  I wonder what became of poor James and Ethel."

"I'll show you where I've put our horses," said Joss.

"Ifs a good spot.  What have you got in your saddlebags?"

"We'll see," said David Croissant, and he went down to the water with
Joss leading the way.

My feeling was one of immense relief because I was no longer alone with
my husband.

It was not long before the two men were back from the horses and Joss
made a fire and boiled a billy-can of tea.  David produced cold chicken
and Johnny cakes and we all ate, ravenously.

David talked as we ate about the many times he had stayed at the Trant
Homestead.

"Used to make a regular thing of it.  I stayed here once with Desmond
Dereham.  I wonder what happened to him and where he went with the
Green Flash.  His name will never be forgotten."

"Not while people remember that Fancy Town was really named for him."

"Ah, Desmond's Fancy.  That was what it was called, Mrs.  Madden,
before they got to work on it.  That was before he'd stolen the Plash
and disgraced himself.  I'd like to know what happened to him and the
stone.  An opal like that shouldn't be allowed to fall into oblivion in
my opinion.  I wonder if we shall ever see it again."

"I wonder," said Joss, and it was all I could do to keep quiet and not
cry out that my father had not stolen the stone.  It was only the fact
that, according to Ben, he had intended to, which kept me quiet.

David Croissant had several blankets with him, so we were able to sleep
more comfortably in the shelter of the burned- out inn.

We set out at dawn and I rode between the two men into the sunrise;
and later that day we amvea ai me town wim-ii was so named because of
my father's certainty that he had found a prosperous opal field.  And
that day, for the first time, I saw my new home:

Peacocks.

7.

PEACOCKS

Fancy Town had sprung up on the banks of a creek which Nature, by great
good fortune, had set near the opal field.  Some of the workers lived
in calico tents, but there were a few huts made of logs or mud bricks
with rough chimneys of clay or bark; and the shops were like sheds,
open on one side that their goods might be displayed.  After the wide
open spaces it was rather a depressing sight.

It was late afternoon when we arrived and the excitement our coming
aroused indicated that visits were rare occurrences.  Children came
running out to stare at us-rather unkempt, most of them, which wasn't
surprising since the only homes they had were those huts and tents.

A man called to Joss: "Glad to see you back, sir."

Thanks, Mac," answered Joss.

"Sorry about Mr.  Henniker, sir."

Joss said that it was indeed sad news.

Peacocks was about a mile from the town, and what a contrast to that
poor place.  We tamed into a gate and before us lay a drive of about a
quarter of a mile to the house, which was built in the old Colonial
style-gradous and shining white in the clean air.  The porch and
terrace were supported by rather ornate pillars which had a Grecian
touch, but the house itself was period less-it had something Gothic,
Queen Anne and Tudor about it-and the intermingling was not without
charm.

A peacock appropriately appeared on the lawn followed by his meek
little peahen; he strutted along beside the terrace as though asking
for our admiration.  The lawns were so immaculately kept that one would
have thought they had been there for hundreds of years.  In fact the
immediate impression was that the house was posing as an ancient
mansion, which it obviously could not have been, but was not quite sure
which age it was meant to represent.

Take the horses, Tom," said Joss.

"Who's at home?"

 Mrs.  Laud, sir, Mr.  Jimson and Miss Lilias.  "

"Well, let someone tell them we've arrived."

We dismounted and Joss took my arm as we went up the steps to the
porch, David Croissant following.  The door was open so we stepped into
the hall.  It was cool inside the house for the thin wooden Venetian
blinds were slatted to shut out the fierce sunlight.  The hall was
large and lofty with a floor of mosaic paving all in peacock blue.  In
the centre was one large flagstone in which was depicted a magnificent
peacock.

The motif of the house," said Joss, following my gaze.

"Ben decided to call the house Peacocks and to have plenty of the
aforementioned strutting around.  I'd like to tell you that Peacocks
will always belong to this family as long as there are peacocks here,
but it wouldn't be any use, for we don't have those legends and old
traditions here.  We're too young a country.  One thing Ben was
determined on, and that was that everyone who set foot in the house
would know it was Peacocks.  There's something to remind you
everywhere."

There was a wide staircase winding up from the hall, and I saw a woman
standing there watching us.  She must have been standing there for some
seconds listening to Joss's ex planation.

He saw her as soon as I did.

"Ah, Mrs.  Laud," he said.

She came down the stairs a tall, slender woman with fine greying hair
which she wore parted in the centre and brought down to a knob in the
nape of her neck.  Her gown was of grey-high-necked with a very clean
white collar and cuffs.  The utmost simplicity of her dress gave her
the appearance of a Quaker.

"Mrs.  Laud!"  cried Joss.

"I've got a surprise for you.  This is my wife."  She turned a shade
paler and clutched at the banisters as though to support herself.  She
looked bewildered and then a faint smile touched her lips.

"It's one of your jokes, Mr.  Madden," she said.

Joss slipped his arm through mine and drew me forward.

"No joke at all, is it, Jessica?  We were married in England.  Ben came
to our wedding' She came down the stairs rather slowly.  Her face had
puckered a little, and for a moment I thought she was going to burst
into tears.

She said shakily: The sad news of Mr.  Henniker's death reached us only
a week ago.  You didn't mention .  your marriage "No.  That was to be
a surprise."

She came forward and I held out my hand which she took.

"What will you think of me?  I had no idea ... We have all been so
sad.

We have lost a good friend and master.  "

"I share your sadness," I told her.

"I felt he was my very good friend."

"Mr.  Croissant is with us, as you see."  said Joss.

"We picked him up on the journey from Sydney.  Are Jimson and Ulias at
home?"

They're somewhere in the house.  I've sent one of the servants to look
for them.  I am sure they will be here shortly.  "

"Mrs.  Laud will be able to tell you all you want to know about the
house, Jessica," said Joss.

"I shall be very interested to learn," I answered.

Mrs.  Laud smiled at me almost ingratiatingly.  I remembered what Ben
had told me about her and was expecting someone of a more dominating
nature.  She appeared gentle and her voice was soft and soothing.

"I think we'd better have some refreshment," said Joss.

"What am I thinking of," said Mrs.  Laud, fluttering her hands
helplessly.

"I'm so shaken ... by all this.  First Mr.  Henniker's death..."

"And then this marriage," said Joss.

"I know.  But you'll get used to it.  We'U all get used to it."

"I'll get them to make some tea," said Mrs.  Laud.

"Dinner will be served in an hour or so unless you would like me to put
it forward."

"We had chicken and Johnny cakes on the road," said Joss, 'so tea will
do and then we'll wait for dinner.  "

Mrs.  Laud opened a door and we were in a drawing-room.  This had long
windows which reached from floor to a ceiling, which was beautifully
moulded; the room was lofty and the curtains were of the same tinge as
a peacock's feathers, but the daylight was shut out as the blinds were
drawn.  Mrs.  Laud went to them at once and opened the slats so that
the room was brighter.

My eyes immediately went to the picture of the peacock hanging on the
wall.  Joss's did the same; our eyes met, and a tremendous wave of
excitement passed between us.  The Green Flash at Sunset was hidden in
that picture and we were going to take the first opportunity of seeing
it.

There was a cabinet in this room in which were black- velvet-covered
shelves and on this were not polished stones but different types of
rock with streaks of opal in them.

joss saw me loojamg at tnem and said: That was Ben's idea.  Everything
in there meant something to him.  They have all come from different
mines which were important to him.  Ah, here's Jimson.  "

jim son Laud was a man who I reckoned to be about Joss's age; he had
the same gentle manner as his mother.

"Jimson, this is my wife," said Joss.

He was startled as well he might be, I thought.  Joss grinned at me,
obviously enjoying their surprise.

"We seem to have delivered a bombshell," he said.

"Jessica and I were married before we left England."

"Con ... congratulations."

"Thank you," I said.

"I am so pleased to meet you," he said, recovering a little from his
surprise.  He then said he had been deeply shocked by Ben's death.

"We have all been shocked," answered Joss.

"I'm afraid there was no hope of saving him.  That was why he wanted me
to go to England."

"And there you met your bride," said Mrs.  Laud softly.

"Jimson works for the Company," Joss explained to me.

"He and his sister Ulias live here in their mother's apartments."

"It's a large house," I commented.

"Mr.  Henniker was always determined that there should be plenty of
rooms for guests," said Mrs.  Laud.

"We often had a houseful.  Well, here is my daughter, Ulias."

How alike the family were!  Lilias was a younger edition of her
mother-meek, unassuming.

"Lilias, this is Mrs.  Madden ... our future mistress," said Mis
Laud.

lilias's surprise was as evident as that of her mother and brother.  I
caught her expression as her eyes rested on Joss and I was not quite
sure what it meant.  She was certainly overwhelmed by the fact that we
were married.  The expression was fleeting; it had gone scarcely before
it was there and she was the meek girl of a few moments before.

Tou'll be staying for a while, Mr.  Croissant, I dare say?  " said Mrs.
Laud.

"For a couple of nights, I hope.  Then I have to get on to
Melbourne."

"Has everything been going well while I've been away, Mrs.  Laud?"
asked Joss.

"Everything has been well in the house, Mr.  Madden, which is an 1 can
spceiis.  lui.

joss was looking at Jimson Laud, who said: There have been one or two
spots of trouble in the Company but nothing serious.  I expect you will
be down there tomorrow.  "

"You can be sure of that," replied Joss.  Tomorrow you must show my
wife the house, Mrs.  Laud.  "

Mrs.  Laud bowed her head.

"I shall be most interested to see it," I told her.

Then the tea arrived.

"Shall I pour?"  asked Mrs.  Laud.

"I believe my wife would like to do that," said Joss, which was
dismissing her, I realized.

"Lilias will see that they prepare the rooms," said Mrs.  Laud.

"I'll talk with you later, Jimson," said Joss, 'and then you can give
me an idea of what's been happening.  "

We were alone with David Croissant.  I could feel that joss was a
little impatient by the manner in which his eyes kept straying to that
picture.

I felt as impatient as he was.  yery soon I was going to see the
wonderful Green Hash.

David Croissant talked about some of the stones he had brought with
him, a few of which he had shown us in Cape Town.  He was most eager,
he said, to see what the Fancy had thrown up lately.

"Not more eager than I," Joss reminded him.

In due course we had finished tea and Joss said he would take me up.

As we mounted the stairs he said: "I noticed how your eyes kept
straying to the picture.  Were you thinking what I was?"

"I expect so."

"At the very first opportunity we'll look.  I shall lock the door
because I don't want us to be disturbed.  I hardly like to do it while
David Croissant's in the house.  He's got a nose for opals.  I felt he
was going to sense it in that room.  We'll choose our moment.  Well,
what do you think of your home?"

"I have seen very little of it yet."

"It can't compare with that of your ancestors, of course, but it comes
pretty near it.  I believe Ben had Oakland in mind when he planned
this.  You'll discover several similar features.  Imitation is the
greatest form of flattery, it's said.  Well, this place is a piece of
flattery to Oakland Hall.  So you should like it."

"I like very much what I have seen."

i75

inspection.  By rights, you know, I should have carried you over the
threshold.  "

I ignored that.

"What do you think of the Lauds?"  he asked.

"I thought that they were very unassuming ... eager to please."

They're a sort of institution.  Mrs.  Laud came to work here .  oh, it
must have been quite twenty-seven years ago.  She was a widow with two
children.  Her husband had come out after gold.  He'd had some bad
luck;

he died and left them penniless.  Ben took them in.  Lilias was only a
year or so old then and Jimson was about five.  She's been more than a
housekeeper.  "

"I gathered that8 " She and Ben were very friendly at one time.  "

Tou mean.  ?  "

He looked at me maliciously.

"You wouldn't understand," he said.

"I think I understand ... perfectly," I contradicted.

"It gives them a certain standing in the household.  Jimson was taken
into the Company.  He's good at figures ... quite a good worker but
uninspired.  " And Ulias?  "

"A pleasant girl... more talented than you'd think."

"How do you know what I think?"

"My dear wife, I read you like a book.  I saw your eyes on her
contemplatively."

"She seemed eager to please you.  Is that why you consider her
talented?"

"Of course.  It shows her wisdom.  Ah, they have prepared the bridal
suite for us."

He opened the door and, turning to me swiftly, swept me off my feet and
carried me into the room.  I did not protest because that was what I
realized he was hoping I would do.  I remained passive until he sat me
down.

"Oh dear, oh dear," he said, clucking his tongue.  They've made the
same mistake.  " He was regarding the big four-poster bed with feigned
dismay.  There is a dressing-room."  He slipped his arm through mine
and took me to it.

"Designed for those occasions when all is not harmony between the
married lovers.  The bed looks uncomfortable.  Moreover, its proximity
would be distasteful to you."  He went to a bell- rope and pulled it.

been far off.

"Ulias," said Joss, 'will you have my old room made ready for me?  I
shall need it.  "

She looked startled but I saw the speculative gleam in her eyes.  I was
again wondering what the relationship had been between her and Joss.

"I will see to it immediately," she said.  As she went out joss turned
to me.

"You see what consternation you arouse in us all."

I did not answer.  My cheeks were burning.

A maid came in with hot water.

"I'll leave you," said Joss, 'and I'll come for you in just under an
hour's time for dinner.  "

He went out and I looked round the room.  The curtains were a light
shade of yellow, the carpet a darker one; and there was a
primrose-coloured counterpane on the bed and touches of varying shades
of yellow, all blending beautifully with each other throughout the
room.

It was indeed pleasant.  I washed, changed into a green silk dress and
wondered when the rest of my baggage would arrive.

Then I went to the window and pulled up the blind.  The sun immediately
blazed in.  Looking out, I could just see beyond the grounds to the
calico tents of Fancy Town.  I imagined Ben in this house revelling- in
the similarities to Oakland and looking out on the town which had begun
with my father's dream.

"Ben, are you satisfied now 7' I whispered, and I thought of the sudden
fear which had come to me in the burned-out inn.  I knew those fears
were still there in the back of my mind waiting to emerge.

I longed for Ben then.  I wanted to explain to him that when he had
arranged our lives he had.  not been aware of what danger he was
putting me in.

I seemed to hear his laughter.

"It was a free choice, wasn't it?  You didn't have to, did' you You
wanted everything the marriage brought you ... both of you.  You took
what you wanted, well, now you must pay for it' Oh Ben, I thought, you
were a ruthless man and your son is the same.

You lived hard; you brushed aside those who stood in your way.  Did you
ever think, Ben, that I might be in Joss's way?

What was this idea which had been creeping into my mind since I had had
my nightmare in the Bush?  It was almost as though it had been a
warning.

and waiting for him.

He said: The Lauds dine with us.  They always have.  You'll have to get
to like them.  They'll go out of their way to please you.  Mrs.  Laud
is a wonderful manager.  You can leave everything to her.  We often
have people in and out.  for meals, I mean.  She manages that sort of
thing very well.  "

The dining-room was panelled like the one at Oakland and had long
windows reaching from floor to ceiling at which there were blue
draperies bordered with silver.  A candelabrum stood in the centre of
the table and at either end was a decoration of variegated leaves which
was very effective.  Mrs.  Laud had arranged everything very
tastefully.

I saw her sharp eyes take in the details as though doubly to assure
herself that they were as they should be.  We were served with soup
followed by roast chicken and these were excellently served.

I felt ill at ease because I was aware of a certain tension at the
table.  I had a feeling that there was a great deal I had to discover
about my new home.  I believed that beneath the surface was something
which would change the entire atmosphere if it came to light.  It was
an odd feeling.  When I looked in her direction I would find Lilias's
eyes on me; she smiled or looked hastily away and I asked myself
whether I had been right in assuming she had some deep feeling for Joss
and that our marriage was a great blow to her.

Mi's Laud gave a kind of silent direction to the servants and I had the
idea that she missed nothing.

I was mostly a listener at the dinner table that night, for the
conversation was all about the Company and of this, of course, I had
everything to learn.

Mrs.  Laud said: Tom Paling was badly hurt when the wheel came off the
buggy he was driving.  He'd been up to the house to see Jimson and on
the way back to the town the wheel came off and he was nearly killed.
"

"Paling!"  cried Joss.

"Good God!  He's all right now, I hope."

"He'll never walk again.  Jimson took over his work ... and I believe
the department is running better than it ever did before.  But you tell
Mr.  Madden, Jimson."

"Well, you see," said Jimson, 'this happened and we thought it was the
end of poor Tom.  He injured his back and he's partly paralysed.  I
took over his work at once.  "

Joss was clearly disturbed.

"Paling was one of our best men.  What about his family,?8 They've
been looKea aner, said jmisuu.  morrow that nothing has suffered in the
department."

"Jimson was working day and night," said Mrs.  Laud, That's a shock,"
murmured Joss.

"What else happened?"

The Trants' homestead was burned to the ground," said Lilias.

"We know that," replied David Croissant "We called there on the way
here."

"What happened to the Trants?"  asked Joss.  They escaped, I hope.  "

"By great good fortune, yes.  And they've set up a sort of cook-house
in the town.  It's quite useful."

"It must have been a terrible blow to them.8 " It was.  James was quite
broken but Ethel rallied him and they got this idea and now they're
doing fairly well.  It's useful for those who are working in the
offices.  They can slip out and get a meal--and a lot of people buy
cooked food to take away.  "

"Some good has come out of it, then," said Joss.

"I think you will find that some good has come out of Tom Paling's
accident," said Mrs.  Laud.

"I've heard that the department has never been run so well as it has
since Jimson took over."

Thafs just Mother's talk," said Jimson modestly.

"We'll see; replied Joss.

"I thought," went r Mrs.  Laud, "that you would want the Bannocks to
come up to dine.  You'll see Ezra tomorrow in the town.  of course, but
perhaps you would like me to ask them for dinner tomorrow."

"Isa will want to see what I've brought with me," said David.

"Yes.  I think it's a good idea," Joss said.  There'll be a lot of
detail to discuss.  " He turned to me: " Ezra Bannock is our
manager-in-chief.  He lives not far from here-about five miles,
actually, but that's close out here.  They have a homestead .  he and
his wife Isabel Isa.  "

"So it will be for tomorrow then," said Mrs.  Laud.

That will do very well," Joss told her.

"Oh," cried Ulias, 'we haven't told Mr.  Madden about Desmond Dereham.
"

What?  "

Everyone seemed to be leaning forward in their seats .  I with the
rest.

"It came from the Trants," said Mrs.  Laud.

"Yes," went on Jimson, 'someone came to stay there just

oerore me place was burned down.  He had recently arrived from America
and he said he had been with Desmond Dere- ham out there and' that
Desmond had died.  They'd become friends and gone into business
together, which was buying and selling precious stones, mainly opals.

Desmond was ill for some time, he was dying of some disease of the
lungs and he told this man an extraordinary story about: the Green
Bash.  "

"What story?"  demanded Joss.

"He swore he'd never stolen it.  He said he had been tempted to and had
been caught in the act of trying to take it by Ben himself.  Ben had
forced him either to face exposure or leave immediately, leaving no
trace of his whereabouts.  If he didn't, Ben had said, he'd have him
arrested for theft because he'd caught him red-handed.  Ben told him
that there'd be no future for him in Australia, he'd see to that.  So
he went to America."

"And of course," said Joss, 'this story is being repeated all over the
town.  "

"People are talking of nothing else," agreed Jimson.

"Apparently Desmond Dereham had said he had had nothing but bad luck
since the night he had tried to steal the opal.  He said that for a few
minutes he had actually owned it because he held it in his hand and if
Ben hadn't come in and caught him, the stone would have been his ...
and that was why he had been unlucky ever since."

"In that case," said David, 'where is the Green Flash?  "

"According to Desmond Dereham it never left Ben's possession," said
Jimson.

"In which case ifs either in England or here ..."  He was looking at
Joss, "Unless you know ..."

"I haven't seen the Green Flash since the night it was sup posed to
have been stolen," said Joss.

"I hope people are not making too much of this story about opals being
unlucky.  It's bad for business.  Stop it when you can' The Green Flash
has had rather a history," said David Croissant.

Well, don't let's dwell on it, "retorted Joss, " I wonder if that
fellow was telling the truth," went on David.

"If so, it'll be a matter of finding where Ben has hidden the Green
Flash."

"Would you like a little more of this apple pie, Mr.  Madden?"  asked
Mrs.  Laud.

"I made it especially, knowing it was one of your favourites."  , Joss
said he would and began to talk about our journey out from England.  It
was clear that he was dismissing the subject of the Green Flash.

Coffee was served in a small parlour close to the dining room.

Tomorrow," said Joss to me, " Mrs.  Laud will show you round Peacocks
while I go into the town to see what's been happening during my
absence.  Later on I'll take you in and explain a few things to you. 
"

"That will be very interesting," I said.

The bedroom looked very different by candlelight.  He had called it the
bridal chamber and the four-poster bed was overpowering.  Of course it
had never been a bridal chamber.  The house had been built by Ben, and
he had never married.

I sat down at the dressing-table and took the pins out of my hair
letting it fall about my shoulders.  Images passed in and out of my
mind-scraps of conversation came back tq me.  The Lauds, so meek and
unassuming, interested me.  There was something I didn't understand
about them .  secretive, was it?  I thought of Ulias who seemed to
watch me so intently.  Was she emotionally involved with Joss?  Jimson
was meek enough but when they had talked about how he was conducting
the department since Tom Paling's accident, had I detected something. 
?  I wasn't sure what.

It was clear that I myself was a little strung up emotionally.  It had
been such a strange day.  Too much had happened and my imagination was
running amok.

I took off my dress and put on a dressing-gown part of the trousseau
which my grandmother had insisted that I have.  It was made of red
velvet and was I thought becoming.

I sat down at the mirror and started to brush my hair.  My reflection
looked back at me-wid&eyed, a little apprehensive, watchful, waiting.

I could see the room reflected behind me .  the posts of the bed, the
curtained window, the shadowy furniture and I thought of my room at the
Dower House where my naughty ancestress Margaret Clavering looking down
at me was supposed to provide a lesson.  I thought how safe it was.
Safe!  That was the word which occurred to me.

Then suddenly I was so startled that I caught my breath and listened.

It was a footstep in the corridor.  Someone was out there stealthily
coming towards my room.  Whoever it was had paused outside my door.

I half rose and as I did so there was a quiet knock.

"Who's there?"  I cried.

The door was opened and Joss stood there holding a candle

in a silver candlestick.

"What do you want?"  I cried in alarm.

To talk to you about the Flash.  I think we ought to find it' Now?  "

The household is asleep.  I was going to wait until Croissant had gone,
but I've changed my mind.  I can't wait to see it.  Can you?  "

"No," I answered.

Then there's no time like the present We'll go down now and see it. 
"

"And when we've found it?"

"We'll leave it where Ben put it until we decide what to do about it.

Come on.  "

I wrapped my dressing-gown more closely round me and he led the way to
the drawing-room.  He locked the door and lighted more candles.  Then
he went to The Pride of the Teacock, took it down and laid it face down
on a table.

The spring Ben talked of would be somewhere here," he said.

"Not easy to find, of course.  That would have defeated the object if
it had been.  Hold the candle higher."

I obeyed.  Some minutes passed before he cried: "I have it.  The back
comes right off."

He took it off and there in the right-hand corner of the picture was
the cavity large enough to hold a big opal.  Eagerly he explored the
cavity.

"Jessica," he whispered with a note of excitement in his voice, 'you're
going to see the most magnificent thing you ever saw in your life .  "
He stopped and stared at me.

"It can't be ... There's nothing here.  Look.  Feel it.1 I put my
fingers into the cavity.  It was empty.

"Someone has been here before us," he said briefly.

It was then, as we stood there looking at each other that I was sure I
saw a shadow pass the window.  I turned sharply but there was no one
there.

"What's wrong?"  asked Joss quickly.

"I thought there was someone at the window."

He took the candle from me and looked out.  Then he said:

Wait a minute.  " He unlocked the door and hurried through the hall and
out of the house.  I saw him pass the window.  I looked furtively over
my shoulder, expecting, I did not know what.

In a short tune he was back.

There's no one about.  You must have imagined it I suppose mats
possible," 1 admitted.

"But 1 was almost sure..."

"Who could have known ... ?"  he murmured.  Then he became brisk.  The
point is, what are we going to do?  It looks as if someone discovered
the hiding place before we did.  We've got to find out who.  and where
the opal is.  "

"How?"

That's what I'm not sure of.  There's nothing to be done now but put
the picture back and go to bed.  I'll decide tomorrow how we'll tackle
this. "

"It must have been someone who's in the house or who came to it...
someone who knows the house ..."

"Ben was full of tricks.  I wonder if he didn't leave it in the picture
at all."

"But why should he tell us that he had Y'I don't know.  Ifs a mystery
to me.  The most likely solution is that it's been stolen.  But there's
nothing to be done tonight."

He put the back of the picture in place and hung it on the wall.  The
proud peacock again faced the room as before, looking as though he had
nothing in his thoughts but his own glory.

"I'll conduct you to your room," said Joss.

I followed him up the stairs and he left me at my door.

Understandably I passed a restless night.

When I arose next morning Joss had already gone into Fancy Town
accompanied by Jimson Laud and David Croissant.  I felt bewildered by
all that had happened on the previous day culminating with the scene in
the drawing-room where we had made the discovery that the opal was
missing.

Mrs.  Laud was waiting for me when I went down.

TMr.  Henniker liked things done as they are in England," she said, 'so
we serve an English breakfast.  There are bacon, eggs and kidneys.

Would you like to help yourself from the sideboard.  "

I did so.

"I trust you slept well."

"Oh yes, thanks, as well as one can in a strange place " And this is a
new country to you.  "

"I shall soon become accustomed to it."

"Mr.  Madden was very anxious that I should show you everything and if
there is anything you want to change please say so.  I have been
running this household for twenty-seven

years.  Mr.  HenniKer was very land to us.  My daugnter Unas helps me
in the house.  It's a large place to run and so many people come
here.

Merchants and such people when they come on business invariably stay
here, though they are some times at the Bannock homestead.  Managers
from the Company dine here often when there is special business to
discuss.  Then there are certain gatherings .  parties, you'd call
them. Mr.  Henniker was all for getting people together.  The Bannocks
are here a great deal.  "

"I believe I am meeting them tonight."

oh yes.  " Her lips tightened almost imperceptibly.  I wondered whether
there was something about the Bannocks which she did not like.

"I understand Mr.  Bannock is the manager-in-chief."

"Yes.  He's said to be very knowledgeable about opals.  They all are,
of course, but some are supposed to have this special gift.  His wife
is quite a collector."

"I shall look forward to meeting them.  Of what age are they?"

"He would be about forty-five.  She's much younger ... ten years I'd
say ... though not admitting to it."  Again that slight tightening of
the lips.  I guessed she was not as calm as she would like to imply,
but she was a woman, I guessed, who was determined to keep her feelings
to herself.

When I had eaten we started on a tour of the house.  I could not help
feeling half amused, half sad because it brought Ben so vividly to
mind.  He had tried to make an Oakland Hall of this house and had of
course failed to do so.  The rooms were lofty; there was the
drawing-room-and I couldn't help glancing at the peacock on the wall as
I went in-with the study leading from it as at Oakland, but that was
really where the similarity ended.  At all the windows were the
essential bimds to shut out the fierce sunlight, so different from that
benign and often elusive English version.

Through the different rooms she took me and it was true that there were
a great many of them, and finally we came to the gallery which was a
replica of that at Oakland.

"Mr.  Henniker was very fond of this," Mrs.  Laud told me.

"He was anxious that it should be exactly like the one in his English
home."

"It is," I said.

"Oh... there's a spinet."

"He had that brought out from England.  Someone he was fond of used to
play it.  She died.  So he brought it here."

1 felt emotional.  That was the very spinet my mother had mentioned,
the one she used to play and then hide when anyone came in so that the
servants thought the gallery was haunted.

Ben had been very sentimental.

She took me to the kitchens and introduced me to some of the
servants.

Several of them were aborigines.

They are quite good workers," she told me as we came out into the
gardens, " but every now and then the urge comes over them to "go walk
about" as they call it.  Then they drop everything and go off.  It
makes them very unreliable.  Mr.  Henniker swore he wouldn't have them
back when they returned .  but he often relented.  "

She took me to the English garden which was walled in the Tudor manner
such as Ben had had at Oakland.

"He used to say this is like a bit of England," said Mrs.  Laud.

"It was difficult, he always said, with the droughts over here, but he
always liked it to look as much as possible like home.  Over that
trellis we grow passion vines, but he put the convolvulus there to
mingle with them and make it homely, he said.  You must see the
orchard."

There grew oranges, lemons, figs and guavas with vine bananas:

"Mr.  Henniker grew a lot of apple trees too, but he always said they
weren't as good as those grown at home."

"It seems as though he had an obsession for home.1 " Oh, he was a man
who could be drawn many ways at once.  He wanted to live several lives
all at one time and enjoy them all.  "

"I think he succeeded," I said.

"He was a wonderful man," she replied.

"It was a pity he ever saw the Green Flash."

I looked at her sharply and she lowered her eyes.

"It brings bad luck," she went on passionately.

"Everyone knows it brings bad luck.

Why do they want it?  Why don't they let it alone?  8 "It seems to
fascinate everyone."

"When I heard it had been stolen by Desmond Dereham I was glad ... yes,
glad.  I said it's taken its bad luck with it.  Then there was Mr.
Henniker's accident.  He was never right after that.  Then he died.  I
thought that was because he had had the Green Flash and had to pay for
having it ... but if Mr.  Henniker had it all the time that would
account for it.  And where is it now ?"

She looked at me steadily and I shook my head.

"It could be in the house.  Oh, I don't like that.  I'm afraid

of it.  It will bring bad luck to the house.  It already has, and we
don't want any more.  "

I was surprised, for though she endeavoured to keep her emotions under
control she was agitated.  Before this she had seemed so serene.

"You can't believe all these stories about bad luck, Mrs.  Laud," I
said.  There's no real foundation for them.  They just grow out of
gossip and rumour.  "

She laid a hand on my arm.

"I'm afraid of that stone, Mrs.  Madden.  I hope to God ifs never
found."

I could see that she was distracted and so was I when I thought of our
discovery last night, so I suggested that I should go to my room and
unpack some of my things which had arrived, and this I did.

8.

HARLEQUIN

I did not see Joss until dinner time but Lilias came to my room in the
afternoon to ask if she could help me unpack.

I thanked her and said I could manage very well, but she sat down and
watched me, admiring my clothes as I took them out.  She thought them
very elegant, she said, and they would surely make Isa Bannock
jealous.

She thinks she is a temme fatale," Lilias added.

"Is she?"

She's reckoned to be so.  There's no one like her in Fancy Town or
hereabouts.  "

"It will be interesting to meet her."

"I hope you'll find it so.  My mother has shown you the house, hasn't
she?"

Yes, ifs fascinating.  "

"So like the one in England?"

"Ifs not really like it."

"It just tried to be, I suppose.8 I smiled.  'mt Henniker set out with
the idea in the first place, I expect, and then found it didn't
work."

"We're very anxious that you should put us right about anything you
don't like.  I hope you don't think we're too presumptuous."

"Certainly not."

"You see, when my mother came here Mr.  Henniker was so good to us and
I was only two ... slightly less than that... so it's always been my
home."

"And must continue so... until you marry."

She cast down her eyes again.  It was a habit which she shared with her
mother.

"We were rather anxious.  We had no idea Mr.  Madden would marry...
over there."  "I know it was a shock to you all.  You should have been
warned."

"Ifs not for us to say what should and should not be done."

"Well, I'm sorry you weren't told before.  I am sure we shall all get
along well together."

"My brother, Jimson, is doing well at the works, especially now that he
has Tom Paling's job.  We're sure Mr.  Madden will be pleased."

"It was a good thing that he was able to take over after Mr.  Paling's
accident."

"Oh yes, they would have been in difficulties without Jimson.  We're
proud of him.  You may think it's a strange name ... Jimson.  Our
father was Jim so they called him Jimson."

"Very neat," I commented.

"Oh, we're a very close family.  Jimson and I never forget what we owe
to our mother.  But I'm boring you, Mrs.  Madden.  I only wanted you to
know that I'll be ready to help.  Have you got plenty of room for your
things?  Mr.  Madden's seem to be all in the other room."

She had lowered her eyes again.  Was it a certain triumph she was
hiding?

"I have plenty of room," I said coolly.

"Dinner will be at half past seven," she said.  The Bannocks will be
here by then.  Will you come down when you're ready?  "

I said I would and she left me.

I had a suspicion that she might be pleased that Joss and I did not
share a room.  Her remarks about Isa Bannock had seemed rather pointed
too.

I was becoming imaginative.  Was I looking for mysteries and secret
tensions?  Too much had happened to me in too short a time and the
discovery last night had really startled me and made me wonder what was
going on in this house.  Then there was the niggling thought that
someone had watched us from the window, and if I had been right about
that it must have been someone in the house.

I dressed with care and I thought it appropriate to choose

a dress of peacock blue silk.  This," my grandmother had said, 'will
serve for a dignified occasion."  And so I went down to meet the
Bannocks.

They were in the parlour drinking aperitifs when I arrived.  joss came
forward and took my arm.

"Come along, Jessica," he said, 'and meet Isa and Ezra.  "

I did not see her immediately, for Ezra, a powerfully built man, had
taken my hand and was nearly crushing it in an over-sincere
handshake.

"Well, this is a surprise," he cried in a booming voice.

"Congratulations Joss.  You've got yourself a beaut."

I was not quite sure how to respond to this fulsome greeting so I
smiled and said how pleasant it was to meet him for I had heard a good
deal about him.

"Nothing bad, I hope," he cried.

"On the contrary," I answered.

"And here's Isa," said Joss.

She was obviously several years younger than her husband, I thought, as
she turned her lovely topaz<:oloured eyes upon me and scrutinized me
with probing interest.  She reminded me of a tigress; her nose was
tiny, her upper lip rather long and there were tawny lights in her hair
to match her eyes;

there was something about her which reminded me of the jungle, for she
moved like a cat with immense grace.  There was one word to describe
her and that was feline.

"So you're Joss's wife," she said.

"We never thought he'd marry.  What a sly thing to do ... to spring it
on us like this.  I hope you'll like it here.  Ifs good to have women
around.  There's a shortage of them here, you'll soon discover.  It
makes us all so much more predous than we should other wise be.  Don't
you agree, David?"  She was smiling at David Croissant, who seemed
overwhelmed by her charms.

"I think it would depend on the woman," said David.

"What nonsense!"  retorted Isa.

"When there's a shortage the value automatically rises.  You as a
merchant should know that."

David grinned at her.  It seemed as though his shrewd com mon sense
deserted him in the presence of this siren.

"Let me get you something to drink, Mrs.  Madden," said Mrs.  Laud.

When it was brought to me Isa was saying: "What have you brought in
your pedlar's pack, David?  I can't wait to see."

Joss said: "After dinner, he'll show us I dare say."

The market's pretty good for black opals now," said Ezra.

"I only hope they're not going to flood it."

You've had some good finds hereabouts, I gather," put in David.

"You can be sure of that," added Ezra.

Isa smiled at me.

"Aren't you longing to see them?"  she asked.

"Yes, I am.  I did see some in Cape Town when Mr.  Croissant was
there.

Joss and I were at the home of the van der Stels.  "

Isa's eyes were dreamy.

"That must have been a wonderful experience for you!  A honeymoon at
sea.  And coming to a new home.  How romantic!

And then David arrived and showed you some of his precious opals.  "

"Yes.  There was one I remember specially.  The Harlequin Opal.  I
don't think I ever saw anything so beautiful."

The Harlequin!  " cried Isa.

"What a marvelous name!  I long to see it.

Have you got it with you, David?  "

"You shall see it after dinner," he promised her.

"And ifs a real beauty?"

"It'll fetch a big price," said David.

"Opals mean business to David," Isa told me.

"He doesn't see the beauty of the stones, only their market value.  I'm
not like that.  I love beautiful stones ... particularly opals.  That
flash of fire exdtes me.  What was the finest opal you experts ever
saw?  I know what you're going to say: The Green Rash at Sunset."

Mrs.  Laud said: "I think we should go in to dinner now."

Joss sat at one end of the table and I at the other.  Isa was on his
right hand, Ezra on mine.  It was soon clear to me that the attention
of the men was focused on Isa, and that this was what she expected as a
right.  I felt at a disadvantage and irritated by her manner,
particularly as I guessed she was aware of this and was revelling in
it, perhaps more than she usually did and this was on account of me.

Thick juicy steaks were served with fresh vegetables followed by
passion fruit jelly, but I scarcely noticed what I ate.  My
attention-like that of the men-was on Isa, and in particular on Isa and
Joss.  I noticed how once or twice she placed her hand over his and the
manner in which he smiled at her.  And it seemed to me that Mrs.  Laud
and Lilias were watching me in order to gauge my reactions.

Ezra seemed to be pleased by the effect his wife had and it was dear
that he was one of her greatest admirers.  I tried to tell myself that
she was an empty-headed and frivolous woman, but I knew there was more
to her than that.  She was

secret, subtle and cunning, and while she scolded Joss tor marrying so
hastily without letting them know and pretended it was all something of
a joke, I was sure she was exceedingly piqued about it.

She returned to the subject of the Green Rash and repeated the story of
Desmond Dereham's death in America and his confession.

"It seems that Ben had the opal all the time," she said.

"In that case what on earth happened to it?"

There was a brief silence and then Joss lifted his eyes and looking
straight at me said: "Before Ben died he told my wife and me where he
had hidden the Green Rash.  He left it to us jointly."

Isa clasped her hands.

"I want to see it.  I can't wait."

"I'm afraid I can't show it to you," said Joss, 'because when we looked
in the place where Ben said he had hidden it, it was no longer there.
"

Mrs.  Laud had turned very pale.

"Do you mean, Mr.  Madden, that it was in this house... ?"

"When Ben put it there.  Since then it seems someone has stolen it."

"It's no longer in this house then," said Mrs.  Laud quietly.  Thank
God for that.  "

"You've been Listening to those tales, Mrs.  Laud," said Ezra.  There
always are tales about a fine stone.  It's a sop to people's vanity.

They don't want anyone to enjoy what they can't so they say it's
unlucky and these tales get around.  But, I say, what a thing to happen
1 What'U you do.  Joss ?  "

"I'm going to find it, but where to start looking ?"

"Who could have known where Ben had hidden it?"  said Ezra.

"Would he have told anyone?"

"I am sure he didn't.  He didn't tell me until he was dying.  Then he
told us both... Jessica and me."

"Where was it?"  demanded Isa.

"He had had a cavity made in a picture frame."

"How exciting and mysterious!"  cried Isa.

"I do wonder who has stolen it?"

"I don't envy them," murmured Mrs.  Laud.

"Oh, Mother, you take the rumours too seriously," said Jimson.

There's one thing I want to say," said Joss.

"I've said it before.  I don't doubt I'll have to say it again.  I
don't want a lot of talk about unlucky stones.  People could stop
buying opals because of such talk."  , "Joss," whispered Isa, 'how can
you start looking for the Green Flash?  "

"It's no use putting up a bill saying " Will the thief return priceless
opal he stole from Peacocks sometime during the last two years", is
it?"

Hardly.  So how will you begin?  "

I shall have to work that out, but I'm determined to find it.  "

"And what Joss determines he always does, doesn't he, Mrs.  Madden?"
The tawny eyes mocked me.

"You will know that as well as any of us."

"I'm sure he's very determined."

"I don't want talk in the town about this," said Joss.

They're already talking about Desmond Dereham's not having stolen it
and Ben's having it all the time," said Ezra.

"I know, but let that die down."  He addressed Ezra, and I noticed
afresh how when he wanted a subject changed he made it clear.

"Have you added any good horses to your stables lately?"

"One or two.  You'll be interested, joss.  I've got a little beauty ...
a grey mare.  She's called Wattle.  I've never known any horse with
such feeling.  She's really fond of me."

"All horses are fond of you," put in Jimson.  Tou have a way with them.
"

"Horses and women," said Isa, looking archly at her husband.

"Horses anyway," replied Ezra.

"Have you got a good horse for Mrs.  Madden ?"  he asked Joss.

"I've been thinking what there is in the stables.  I'll probably have a
look round."

"I'd like to give her my Wattle.  She's just the ticket.  She's strong,
will of her own and malleable.  If I drop a word in her ear she'll be
just the mount for the lady."

I said: This is too generous.  "

Ezra waved his hand.

"Oh, it's all in the Company.  You're' one of us now, you know."

"I'm most grateful..."

"You'll love her.  She's a real beaut... and such a good girl too.

Treat her right and she'll treat you right and if I just give her the
word.  all will be well.  "

"It's true," Jimson told me.

"I've never known anyone talk to horses as Ezra does."

"It's very kind of you," I said.  Thank you.  "

Well, that's settled," said Isa.

"David, I can't wait to see your treasures."

"Perhaps after coffee," suggested Mrs.  Laud.

Isa was obviously impatient for coffee to be over and this was soon
taken in the parlour.  Then we went into the drawing- room and before
the eyes of the haughty peacock on the wall, who, could he have spoken,
might have told us who had stolen the Green Flash, David sat at a table
and opened the rolled-up cases.  The blinds had been raised to let the
light in with sun down and as there was no gaslight at Peacocks several
candles were lighted to shed their soft glow over the room.

We were all seated at a round table-Joss and Isa on either side of
David Croissant, myself next to Joss and Ezra, on the other side of his
wife.  The three Lauds sat together.  I was beginning to think their
position embarrassed them; they were of the family and yet not quite of
it, something to which they themselves by their very manner called
attention, and which existed for that reason.

In the centre of the table was a candelabrum and as David unrolled the
cases the gems glowed in their wonderful colours and I was fascinated
by the flashes of fire.

"You've got some fine specimens there, David," said Ezra.

Mostly from South Australia, this lot," replied David.  They're hard
come by.  You're lucky here.  Conditions are not so good in the gibber
country.  It's dry as a bone and gougers |j;' there suffer great
hardship-hardly any firewood, and water scarce as gold in a worked-out
mine."

"He's trying to put the prices up," said Ezra with a wink.

Joss turned to me.

"Gibber country is flat plains strewn with stones.

Hard to live with, you can imagine.  " And I was irrationally pleased
because he had remembered me.

"But David," said Isa imperiously, 'where is this Harlequin we've heard
so much about?  "

"All in good time," replied David.

"If you saw it first you wouldn't want to look at the others."

"What a tease you are!8 He unrolled another case and the men examined
the opals, commenting on their size, colour, cut and other
technicalities.

Please, David," wailed Isa, " J want to see the Harlequin.  "

So he opened a case and there it was in all its glory-even more
beautiful' than it had seemed on the previous occasion, but perhaps I
was a little more knowledgeable and able to recognize its superior
qualities.

David lifted the stone and let the light fall on it.  He touched it
cares singly I wondered whether he was thinking of its beauty or its
worth.

Isa reached for it impatiently.  She cupped it in her hands.

"It's magnificent," she crooned.

"I love it.  Look at those colours.

Harlequin, yes.  No wonder Columbine loved him.  Light fantastic
colours . " She lifted her glowing face.

"I think it's one of the loveliest stones I ever saw."

"I reckon it's worth a tidy sum," said Ezra.

"You're reckoning right," said David.

"I'd give a good deal to add that one to my collection," sighed Isa. 
"I can see I'll have to start saving up," commented Ezra.

Joss turned to me again.

"Isa has one of the finest collections of opals.  She doesn't
necessarily want to deck herself out in them.  She takes them out and
gloats over them."

Isa laughed, her tigress face animated by an expression I could not
fathom.  There was triumph in it and a certain greed.

They're my inheritance," she told me.

"If Ezra ever decides to discard me I might have to realize my
fortune."

"You think there is a possibility of his doing so?"  I couldn't stop
myself asking coolly.  I was a little tired of her thrusting her
superior attractions under my nose.

"As if I ever could!"  said Ezra fondly.

"Isa's a jackdaw," he went on, again to me as though, since I had come
here to learn about opals and the country, I must also learn about the
delectable Isa.

"When she hears of the best stone of the year she wants it for her
collection " Oh, how I should love to add this beautiful stone to it,"
said Isa.

"If I had it I would stop these commercially minded men treating this
beautiful object as though it represents nothing but a certain amount
of money.  You do understand that, don't you, Mrs.  Madden?"

"Of course," I answered.

"A stone like that will eventually go into a private collection, I
imagine," said Joss.

"And you want to add it to yours, I suppose?"  Isa asked Joss pertly.

A look I did not understand passed between them and he said quietly:

"I'm considering."

Isa turned to me.

"Ifs true that over the years I have got together some really fine
stones.  I should so much enjoy showing them to you some time."

"I should very much like to see them.1 " Please come over to us.  We're
only five miles from here.  Wattle will bring you over.  She'll be
delighted to come and visit Ezra while you come and see me and my
collection.  "

p. p. 193 g

Thank you.  "

Isa reluctantly laid the Harlequin on its velvet background and David
rolled up the case.

After that everything else seemed an anticlimax.

The Bannocks left soon afterwards and Joss went out to see them off.

I went up to my room and brooded on the evening.  I kept thinking of
Isa leaning forward holding the Harlequin Opal in her hands.  I felt
there was something significant about the scene .  all those people
sitting round a table, their attention concentrated on that stone, the
intenseness of their gaze, the manner in which they handled the opals
and the way in which they spoke of them; it was as though they admitted
to a certain supernatural power which flashed in those colours.  It was
like a Greek play, I thought, with the Lauds as the Chorus and I could
not rid myself of the conviction that everything was not as it
outwardly seemed.  There was some thing uncanny hanging about the
atmosphere of my new home.

Dominating my thoughts was the memory of Isa's attitude towards Joss
and his towards her.  She was flirtatious by nature, but she betrayed
something deeper in her manner towards him.  There had not been one of
the men present who had not been attracted by her .  even Jimson Laud
in a retiring sort of way.

"A femme fatale."  Lilias had said.

I felt angry.  How dared she behave in that way towards my husband in
my very presence!

It was the first time that I had referred to him to myself as 'my
husband'.

I shrugged that aside.  Women like Isa irritated me and what ever her
relationship with Joss might be, I did not care.

I was ready for bed when I heard a sound in the corridor which startled
me.  I went to the door and listened.  The foot steps were slow and
stealthy.  At my door they paused.  I found myself trembling.

Someone was standing close to my door listening.  Cautiously I lowered
my hand and found the key; I turned it quickly in the lock.  The sound
it made would be heard from outside.

For some seconds there was silence, then I heard the sound of
retreating footsteps.

The incident had shaken me considerably.

When I went down to breakfast next morning Ezra Bannock 194 was mere.
i was surprised to see mm so soon aner last nigm.  He and Joss were at
the breakfast table and Ezra laughed heartily when he saw me.

"Ah, you're surprised," he said.

"Well, I thought you and Wattle ought to get together right away.  I've
told her all about it and she's agreeable.  A bit put out at first
about leaving me, but she knows ifs what I want so she'll play.  As
soon as you've had a bite to eat we'll go to the stables and I'll make
a formal han dover I'd like to be there just to see how you get
along."

Then we'll go into the town together," said Joss, 'and I'll show
Jessica round."

I took to Wattle immediately as she did to me.  I was rather amused by
the way Ezra patted her 'and talked to her.

"Now, old girl, we'll see each other often.  I'll be over there and
you'll be over here.  I want you to look after this young lady.  It's a
bit rough going out here for her, so you'll look after her, now won't
you ?"

Wattle nuzzled against him.

That's the idea.  She's just come out here, you see, and we want to
give her a good impression.  There!  That's my girl.  " From his pocket
he took a lump of sugar and gave it to Wattle.  She took it and
crunched gratefully.

When I mounted her she seemed docile enough but I sensed the fire in
her.  I leaned forward and chatted to her, trying to give a good
account of myself for she seemed to be assessing me.

As we rode out, Ezra on one side of me.  Joss on the other, I felt
confident and grateful to the big, rather clumsy man and I wondered why
Isa had married him and what he thought of her behaviour.

Very soon the town came into sight.  It was not beautiful by any
stretch of imagination.  There in the heart of the arid land was a
crudely constructed town bordered by a fringe of calico tents.  Outside
these were trestle-tables and benches and on the tables were rather
primitive cooking utensils.

"You'll have a few surprises," said Joss.

"Remember this is a town which sprang up overnight.  The people living
in the tents haven't been here long enough to acquire a more solid
dwelling so they temporarily pitch their tents.  Some have wives and
families which is easier for them in a way.  The wives cook and mend
and there are jobs the children can do."

Some of the children came out of the tents to stare at us as we passed
into the centre of the town and the dwellings i95

on either side were like little cottages.  There was a store where all
kinds of goods were sold.  I noticed how respectful everyone was to
Joss and what curiosity was directed towards me.

We passed a blacksmith busy at his anvil shoeing a chestnut horse.

Joss called out: "Good morning, Joe."

"Good morning, master."

This is Mrs.  Madden, my wife.  You'll be seeing a good deal of her in
the future, Joe.  "

The blacksmith came forward rubbing his hands together.

"Welcome to the Fancy, M'am," he said.

Thank you, Joe.  "

"And happy congratulations if you'll accept 'em.1 " I will, and thanks
again.  "

"Tis good to see the master wed at last," commented Joe.

Joss gave his sudden burst of laughter.

"So that's your opinion, is it?"

"Tis well for gentlemen to settle down, master, when they'm no longer
boys."

E!

1,; "Yes.  You see Joe doesn't mince his words.  He's a wizard :, with
horses, though.  In fact he believes they're more im- j^ port ant than
anyone else.  That's so, eh, Joe ?"

"Well, master, we'd be hard put to it to do without 'em True.  Tether
the horses here, Joe," said Joss.  Ezra alighted and I noticed how he
spoke to his horse and didn't forget Wattle, asking her how she was and
if she didn't think me light as a fairy on her back.

"A bit different from old Ezra, eh?"

I noticed Wattle nuzzling against him lovingly and being rewarded by
yet another piece of sugar.  He left, us and said he would go on to the
office and see us later, and Joss'took |^ my arm and we sauntered along
what he called The Street.

He stopped and introduced me to several people.  It was hot ;, and the
flies were beginning to pester.  Joss grinned as I tried 3 to brush
them aside.

"It's nothing to what it will be later on in the day," he said with a
certain satisfaction.

"You'll have to be careful of the |S sandflies.

They can give you sandy blight which, believe me, is not very pleasant.
And they're particularly partial to fresh English blood-especially when
it's of the blue variety.  You see they're used to coarser stuff.  So
watch out.  "

"I think you're trying to make me dislike the place."

"I just want you to see it in its true colours.  I think you had rather
a romantic idea in the first instance.  You thought we walked round in
beautiful sunshine all the time and now and then stopped to pick up a
valuable opal."

"What nonsense!  I did nothing of the sort.  Ben had told me so much. I
know what hazards miners face.  Ben's accident was enough to tell me
that."

"Don't look so angry.  People will think we're quarrelling."

"Aren't we?"

"Just a little friendly banter.  But we have to create a good
impression.  It wouldn't look good for the newly-weds to be quarrelling
already."

"Good for what?"

"Business," he replied promptly.

"Friction is not good for the Company."

Do you think of nothing but the Company?  "

Now and then I think of other things.  "

"I believe it would be better if you allowed me to form my own
impressions."

"Very well.  Form them."

Men wearing cabbage-tree hats to keep off the sun and others in straws
on the brims of which were attached corks which danced as they
walked-again a precaution against the flies -were going to and from the
field which lay stretched out beyond the township.  I looked at the
dried-up land and the shafts and piles of mullock which had been dug up
that the land might be explored.

"There are two thousand people here," Joss said rather proudly, 'so
there have to be traders to supply them.  The Trants' cook shop has
been a great success already, I've gathered.  "

"I'd like to meet the Trants," I said.

"I'll have a word with them now.  They'll expect it.8 We went on and
there in one of the wooden dwellings I met James and Ethel Trant. James
was seated on a stool at the door peeling potatoes and he scrambled to
his feet when he saw Joss.

They shook hands.

"I was sorry to hear what happened," said Joss.

James Trant nodded.

"We're getting on all right now, though.  We're making quite a success
of this."

"And it's a good thing for the town, they tell me."

We like to think so, sir.  We were lucky to find a place.  Mr.  Bannock
suggested it and it works.  "

"Good.  This is my wife.  I'm taking her round to have a look at the
place.2 James Trant shook hands with me and said: " Welcome to Fancy
Town.  " He added that he would go and tell Ethel.

Ethel, wrapped in a large apron, came out wiping floury hands on a
cloth.  I was introduced to her and Joss and I repeated how sorry we
were to hear of their misfortune and how we had discovered it when we
had spent a night at the burned-out inn.

"Don't do to look on the black side," said Ethel.  There's not much
hope of saving a wooden house when you're in the Bush, and it had been
so dry .  the grass was ready to flare up if you so much as looked at
it. When I saw that the fire was getting a hold I knew we hadn't a
hope. Well, we've been lucky.  As soon as Mr.  Bannock said why
shouldn't we have the corner place and turn it into a cook shop we got
going.

It's the very thing they wanted at the Fancy.  Things are not so bad
now, are they, James?  I used to take such a pride in feeding them.

They could eat like horses, those cattle men and miners.  They'd come
to me tired out with a day's riding and longing for a taste of the sort
of food they'd had at home.  Stews they loved and there was always
roast beef.  A lovely bit of sirloin .  that was the favourite .  red
and juicy; and they loved my potatoes done in their jackets.  Done in
the coals, they couldn't be beaten.  And a good beef stew swimming with
onions and dumplings, and damper to go with |i it.  and of course tea
and everything.  "

James interrupted by saying that as long as the field continued to
yield good opal they were sure of a living.

May it be for a good many years to come," said Ethel Ip^!  fervently. |
i " It will," Joss assured her.  |i|t The funny thing was," said Ethd,
'that it was only a few days before the fire that this man came along. 
"

"What man ?"  said Joss sharply.

"Him who'd been with Desmond Dereham in America.  He said Desmond had
never stolen the Green Flash and that all the time it had been here in
Australia.  I wondered if that had brought us bad luck."

"What utter nonsense," said Joss sharply.

That's what I tell Ethel," agreed James.

"Well, it seemed funny to me.  Whenever that Flash is about there's bad
luck.  Look at Mr.  Henniker.  Who'd have thought that accident would
have happened to him?"

"Accidents happen to anyone at any time," retorted Joss tersely.

"But you see he had the Flash all the time it this man was right ..

and then he had the accident and now he's dead.  "

Joss said angrily: "If that sort of talk goes on you'll have no cook
shop All this nonsense about ill luck has got to be stopped and I'll
put an end to it."

James and Ethel looked crestfallen, and I felt sorry for them and angry
with Joss.

I said gently: "I'm sure nobody takes that sort of thing seriously."

But they do," snapped Joss, 'and it's got to stop."

I smiled apologetically at James and Ethel and Joss said:

"We must be going."

When we were out of earshot I said: "Need you have been so curt?"

"There is every need Those poor people have suffered a dreadful tragedy
and you can't even be civil to them."

"I'm being kind to them.  Talk like that could make the price of opals
slump and cook shops with them.  It's something we have to fight
against."

"I see.  Being cruel to be kind."

"Exactly, and you object to it?"

"It's a mode of self-righteousness which I particularly dislike."

"I've discovered something.1 " What?  "

That there's a great deal about me that you particularly dislike.  "

I was silent and he went on maliciously: "You've burned your boats, I'm
afraid.  You've accepted the conditions of Ben's will.  Just think all
this ... and me too ... You've accepted us.  You've made your bed and
now you must lie on it ..."  Again that mocking laugh.

Though I have to admit that's a rather unfortunate analogy in the
circumstances.  "

I said angrily; "I came out this morning determined to like everything.
It's you who are spoiling things."

"Isn't that how it's always been?  Now had Ben produced a pleasant
gentleman for you instead of me, all might have been as merry as a
marriage bell as you see I'm in a quoting mood today."

I said: "I think we should at least try to behave in a gracious manner,
whatever resentments we feel for having been pressed into a situation
distasteful to us both."

"I believe that's a good old English custom."

"It's not a bad one."

"You set me an example.  Pretend that all is well.  It's a great
help.

Who knows, in time you may enjoy being here among the shafts and the
gougers.  And one day this is going to be a real town with a town hall,
a church and a steeple.  We'll get rid of shacks and build proper
houses and the calico tents will be gone.  It'll be more to your taste
then. "Perhaps," I said.

"Here are the Company's offices," he told me as we came to quite the
most impressive building in the township.

"You'll want to know what goes on in here as you are now part of it.
It's no use despising what you have a share in, is it?  You'll
gradually find out what goes on, but this morning I'll content myself
with introductions."

"I hope they won't feel resentful towards me."

"Resentful towards my wife!  They wouldn't dare!"

We entered the building.  It was good to get out of the sun and enjoy a
little respite from the flies.

There were several rooms in which people were working.  Again I was
aware immediately of the effect Joss had.  There was no doubt that they
were all in great awe of him.  Ezra had gathered some of the heads of
departments into the board room and there they were introduced to me.

Mrs.  Madden is one of our new directors," Joss explained.

There were six men present, including Ezra and Jimson Laud whom I
already knew.  Of the others I felt particularly drawn to Jeremy
Dickson, blond, fresh-faced and not long out from England.  Perhaps it
was for that reason that we seemed to have something in common.

Joss explained to me that mining was only the beginning of the
industry; there was expert sorting into categories and snipping and
putting the stones on facing wheels; all these tasks had to be
performed by experts.  One mistake could mean the loss of a great deal
of money.

These gentlemen," 'he explained, 'are all experts in their various
fields."

As we sat round the table he told them the terms of Ben's will and that
Ben's shares in the Company had been divided equally between himself
and me, which made me of course an important figure.

He turned to me.

"You will no doubt want to acquaint yourself with all that goes on here
that's if you decide to take an active part.

It's a decision you won't want to make Ul 3 IlUJiy.  1 VU Vail Us.  v.
uuli7 CU&WT'll1^ k}J t^AAV^ ^,uj vs.

Aw.  ^ thing for you.  "

"I feel I want to be able to take my place here with the rest of you,"
I said.

My decision was applauded.

"In that case," Joss went on, 'we'll have a run through of what has
been happening during my absence.  That should teach you something. 
"

I sat there while they talked.  Secretly I found a great deal of it
beyond my comprehension, but I was determined not to allow Joss to
score over me.  I had already made up my mind that I was going to take
my place in the Company and show these men, who I was sure had made up
their minds that I would soon tire of it, that I could grapple with
problems as well as they could.

When they had talked for about an hour and I was very little wiser at
the end of it.  Joss asked if I would like to see some of the
departments or would prefer to return to Peacocks.  If the latter was
my choice he would send someone back with me.

I said I would see the departments.  Jeremy Dickson was told to take me
round.  When he had done so he could ride back with me to Peacocks, for
Joss would be engaged at the township for the rest of the day.

With Jeremy Dickson I saw how opals were sorted in one room and in
another put under the facing wheels.  I watched the men at work and
Jeremy Dickson pointed out how quality was recognized.  I learned to
distinguish pieces likely to contain first-, second- or third-class
opal from what was merely what they called 'potch'.  This was Jeremy's
particular forte.

I was fascinated by the snippers who were able to cut away worthless
stone and, by means of whirring wheels which had to be used with the
utmost care while the worthless layers were removed, reveal the
beautiful colours beneath.  One false move, it was explained to me, and
a precious opal could be lost.

Later I was to see opal revealed in all its flashing beauty when the
worthless stuff was whittled away and men almost weep with frustration
when a stone on which they had been working was proved to be
sand-pitted through and through, making valueless the beautiful stone
which otherwise could have brought a big price on the markets.

It was a most interesting day, but one thing I knew Joss

was ngm about: it wouia nave oeen a nusiaKe lor me to try to absorb
too much at once.  After the heat and my experiences I was ready to go
back to Peacocks.

Wattle was submissive as I mounted her, and although I had the
impression that she was trying me out I didn't think 0 I had offended
her so far.

I enjoyed talking to Jeremy Dickson, who told me about , his home in
Northamptonshire.  He was the son of a curate, ^ which immediately made
me sympathetic1 suppose reminding me of Miriam and her Ernest.  He had
come out to Australia eight years previously and had thought he might
make a fortune out of gold as so many people had before him.  ,
However, he had not done very well at this and suffered , many
disappointments.

Then he had discovered opal and these stones had begun to exert their
perennial fascination over .  him.  He met Ben Henniker in Sydney and
in characteristic manner Ben had taken a liking to him and offered him
a place in the Company.  He had worked hard and soon found he had
special skills which impressed Ben.  Three years ago he had been put in
charge of the department.

"And you enjoy the life out here ?"  I asked.

"I love opals," he replied.  They do something to me.  I can't express
how I feel when I see the colours emerging.  I could never find
anything to do which would give me the same pleasure.  "

^ "Don't you miss Northamptonshire?"

"One always dreams of home.  There is, of course, a lot one , misses,
when the day's work is over mostly.  But Ben was always aware of that
and he did his best to keep us happy.  We often had invitations to
Peacocks.  Ben used to ask us to dinner to discuss business and there
were occasions when we'd all gather together there and have parties. We
missed him very much when he went to England, but your husband carried
on in the old tradition and when he went Home I was invited to call by
the Lauds, which I found very enjoyable."

w ai We had reached Peacocks and I said: "You'll come in now, won't
you?"

w're "J " For half an hour, please.  Then I must get back to work.  But
I shouldn't like to call and not say Hello to Mrs.  and Miss w Laud' ^
I took him into the drawing-room and sent one of the _ servants to tell
Lilias and her mother that we had a visitor.  It was Lilias who came. 
I was amazed at the change in her.

i^ltc auuicu auu wi-.  m. i. wavyoau, UKjimii^ uu^ uum.  aava uux^u,
which Jeremy Dickson took.

"I brought Mrs.  Madden back," he explained.

"You must be hot and tired," said Ulias.

"Shall I send for something refreshing?"

"Please do," I told her.

She pulled the bell-rope and asked for lemonade.

She had made it herself early that morning, she told us, and had stood
it in ice so that it would be delightfully cooling.

We sipped and talked and I thought how pleasant it was.  Jeremy Dickson
was so English that I felt completely at home with him.  As for Ulias,
she seemed like a different person.  I wondered whether she was fond of
the young man since he seemed to have such an effect on her.

We talked of the township and what I had seen that morning and he told
us about a piece of opal which had just come in and which could be
wonderful if there was no flaw in it, and how breathtakingly exdting it
was to watch the layers of useless stuff being removed to reveal the
gem beneath.

Then Mrs.  Laud came in.

She stood at the door looking 'at us, her expression enigmatical and
her eyes not on me but on Lilias.

"So Mr.  Dickson has called," she said.

"Yes, Mother.  He brought Mrs.  Madden back.  The lemonade I made this
morning has come in useful."

"How nice," said Mrs.  Laud, her eyes downcast as though she did not
want to look at any of us.  She seemed nervous.

"I found it most refreshing," I said, feeling the need to say'
something while I asked myself: Why are we talking about lemonade when
something dramatic seems to be happening?

My eyes went to the proud peacock looking down on us with his
disdainful stare, and he reminded me of Joss.  Again I had the
impression that I had stepped into a dream with a plot which was a
puzzle to me but in this scene it was not I who was playing the
principal part.

Each morning for the next three days I rode into the town with joss.

The first event on arrival was the meeting with the heads of department
when the business of the day was discussed, with Joss presiding.  If
any finds of special interest had been brought in by the gougers on the
previous day these were closely examined.  Joss would always hand the
rock to me with what I thought of as a superior smile and, as I

cxaimucu n, i aeiennmea to ieam quicKiy just to confound him.  But
that was not really my only reason.  Each day I 3 became more and more
genuinely fascinated.  L I made a point of getting to know, as soon as
possible, many of the people who worked in the building .  the few 0
clerks and those who did their job at the benches.  I talked to the
miners when they came in and although at first I was ^ aware that they
thought my presence something of a joke, v when they discovered that I
wasn't quite as ignorant as they 8 expected me to be they began to have
a little respect.  I was finding it all a tremendous challenge-not only
to confute ^ Joss but to show these people that a woman was not only
fit to manage a house and bear children, which I knew was " what they
were thinking.  ^ I was most interested in the sorting and snipping and
the work that went on at the facing wheels.  As this was Jeremy J'
Dickson's concern, I was seeing more of him than other members of the
Company.  There was little that was practical 0 about his approach to
opals; he was a romantic.

On my fourth morning he boiled water on a spirit lamp in his tiny
office and made tea in a billy-can.  As we sat drinking v it he talked
of opals and told me marvelous stories about them.

The ancient Turks," he said, " had a theory that a great fire stone was
thrown out of Paradise in a flash of lightning.  It ^ was shattered and
fell in a great shower which was scattered over certain areas of the
world.  That is now opal country.  "

His eyes glowed.

"Do you know, it used to be called the Fire Stone.

You can understand it, can't you?  That glow!  Does w it thrill you,
Mrs. Madden, hi a rather unaccountable way?  Do you have to keep gazing
and feel you could lose yourself in it?  " y " I'm beginning to "You'll
get more so.  I've often thought these stones have w some odd power
because of the hold they get on people.  It 31 seems to be universally
felt that they have Some uncanny influence."

w As we talked the door opened and Joss looked in.  n "Am I
interrupting a tea-party ?"  he asked.  t( "It's a working tea-party,"
I replied.

"Mr.  Dickson is teaching w me a great deal."

w "I hope you are finding my wife an apt pupil."  He stressed rt the
words 'my wife' as though he were reminding Jeremy w Dickson who I was.
Quite unnecessary, I thought, and as he n shut the door and went off I
felt annoyed because he had spoiled our tete-a-tete.  I could see that
Jeremy Dickson was thinking he should be back at work.

The day after that when I went down to breakfast.  Joss said: "It's
time I showed you something of the countryside.  I thought we'd take a
ride this morning.  You'd better get some idea of the lay-out of the
land. It wouldn't be wise for you to go riding alone until you had."

"I dare say I could find someone to go with me for a while."

"That's what I'm offering to do now.  You'd surely find others too.  I
dare say young Dickson would be ready to oblige."

"He's very knowledgeable about opals."

"He wouldn't hold the job he does if he weren't," replied Joss
curtly.

We walked our horses away from Peacocks in the opposite direction of
Fancy Town.

I said: "Are you doing nothing about the theft of the Green Hash?"

"Can you suggest what should be done?"

"Surely when something so valuable has been stolen some effort should
be made to retrieve it."

This is rather an unusual theft.  In the first place no one knows when
it took place.  "

"It must have been some time after Ben left for England.  I wonder why
he didn't bring the stone with him."

"It must have been risky travelling with such a valuable piece and he
thought it was safe where he had put it."

"But someone found the hiding place.  Surely we should make some effort
l " I am," he said.

"Don't forget it's partly my stone."

I don't.  "

A thought entered my head then that he had been in Peacocks after Ben
had left.  Suppose he had been the one who had found the stone in the
picture!

Surely he would not have stolen the opal from Ben!  Yet that stone had
a strange effect on people.  My own father had been so bewitched by it
that he had contemplated leaving my mother for it.  Who could say .

And it would explain why he was doing nothing about finding it.

"Leave this to me," he said.

"I'll think of something.  We're going to find the stone, but in due
course.  You want everything done so dramatically.  Life's not a
melodrama, you know.

Things can't be tied up into neat little parcels and labelled.  ; The
thing I'm most anxious about at the moment is to stop t all this talk
about the Green Flash because with it comes the idea that opals are
unlucky.  I can't tell you how hard Ben c and I used to fight to quash
that.  We want to keep the old legends going when they were said to be
talismans against I evil.  So remember, not too much talk about the
Green Flash.  " v " You make it sound like an order.  "

g That's not a bad way of looking at it.  For everyone's comfort,
forget it.  " ^ He turned from me and made his way towards a range of
low hills.  The ground was dry and sandy so that a cloud of h dust was
displaced by his horse's hoofs, and as he galloped b straight through a
gap in the hills, I lost sight of him for a few moments.  How I should
have liked to turn back, but Ji already I was aware of the fact that
one part of the Bush looked very much like another and there were so
few diso tinguishing landmarks.  I knew I should not be able to find my
way back to Peacocks without his guidance.

I came through the gap and there he was waiting for me.  v This is
known as Graver's Gully," he told me.  There was a very flourishing
mine here at one time.  Now it's duffered out as we say out here, which
means it's no longer productive.

Yet it was once one of the biggest yielding opal mines in New a, South
Wales.  It's full of underground chambers.  There's a rumour that it's
haunted.  "

"I thought you were too down to earth to believe in such I things out
here."  v> He grinned at me.

"Not all of us.  In fact some of us are very superstitious.  Men who
work in dangerous operations are.  Fishermen, miners ... they are some
of the most super- y stitious people on Earth.  There are so many
occasions in their lives when they tempt fate.  The story is that a man
named w Grover made his fortune here and then went to Sydney to ai
settle down.  He found a woman, married her and together they gambled
his fortune away.  Then he found out she was w only interested in his
money when she left him, and he was n bitter.  He turned into a
bushranger and some said he used t( to hide in the underground chambers
of his old mine which w had made him rich.  He was always masked, and
he was w actually known as the Masked Ranger of Graver's Gully.  Of it
course when he was operating nobody knew he was Graver.  w It was only
when he was shot dead by the driver of a small n carriage he was
holding up that they took off his mask and

discovered who he was.  Alter that people said ne naunicu the place,
and they don't like passing it at night.  Some have sworn they've seen
a masked man.  I reckon it was mulga bush and imagination did the
rest.

Well, that's the legend of Grover's Gully, so make sure you don't pass
this way after sundown.  If you do you might see the masked ghost or
hear Grover crying for his woman and his fortune.  "

There's certainly something desolate about the place.  "

We walked our horses until we were close to the old mine.  A deep shaft
had been sunk and I saw an old iron ladder, which had been used for the
descent, still in position.  In spite of the fact that I knew he was
watching me closely I could not repress a shudder.

He came closer to me.

"You will sense it," he said.  The eene atmosphere, the presence of the
dead.  " He spoke in a low mocking voice.

"I'm just wondering what I should have thought if you hadn't told me
the story.  I should have said it was just another ... what did you
say?  ... duffered-out mine."

"Good.  You're learning.  Come on.  That's enough of Grover's Gully."

He moved off and I followed.  He was a little way ahead of me when he
pulled up once more, and pointed away to the horizon.

"Can you see a building there?"

"I can just make it out.  Is it a house?"

"A homestead."

"Whose?"

You'll see," he called over his shoulder and rode on.

A white house lay ahead of us gleaming in the brilliant sunshine.

This is the Bannock homestead," said Joss, and my spirits fell.  The
last person I wished to see was Isa Bannock.

As we approached the dogs started to bark and Ezra Bannock came out.

He cried out in his hearty way when he saw us: "Well, look who's here."
He opened the gate and took us into a grass enclosure.  Wattle gave a
whinny of delight as he stroked and patted her and asked how she was
getting along and told her how glad he was to see her.

"Come along in," he said.

"Isa will be pleased.  Come to the stables first and I'll show you the
new little filly I've got.  I reckon that's what you came out to see,
eh.  Joss?"

Joss answered: "I knew Jessica would like to come."  And he looked at
me quizzically as though he was amused and

i>.  ucw ii.  was me lasi piacc u wnicn i wanied 10 come Decause of
the antagonism between me and Isa.  3 We went into the stables, which
were as big as those at t Peacocks.  Wattle was clearly in good spirits
to be where she considered was home.  She had been an easy mount for me
and c I wondered whether this really was because Ezra had told her to
be. That seemed rather fanciful but to see Ezra with horses ^ made one
feel that he had a special magic for transforming v them into human
beings while he talked to them.  8 We went into the house.  An
artistically arranged bowl of flowers stood on an ornately carved oak
chest.  The hall was'll tiled, which gave a gratifying coolness to the
place.

"Isa," shouted Ezra.

"Visitors."

^ Then I saw her.  She was wearing a kind of morning gown ^ in a soft
voile-like material with a frilly skirt and flowing sleeves.  She
looked fresh and I had to admit beautiful; the I' dress of a
light-brown colour brought out the tawny lights in her hair and eyes. 
0 "But this is fun," she said coming towards me.

"Mrs.  Madden and her husband."

Joss took her hand and kissed it.  I was shocked and sur- v prised that
he should do that for it seemed out of character.

But apparently he could be different with Isa than with any one else.

"My dear Joss," she murmured tenderly, 'it is good of you a to come to
our little homestead.  "

"I hope we havn't come at an inconvenient time," I said to draw her
attention to the fact that I was also present 'my dear Mrs.  Madden .
but don't you think we should v call each other by our Christian names?
After all, we are going to see each other frequently, and Joss has
always been Joss to me, so it seems only right and proper that I should
y call his wife by her Christian name.  Jessica, then .  it suits you .
" The manner in which she said my name suggested v a rather prim
woman, tight-lipped, stem-faced, inclined to take a life very
seriously.  She laughed.

"Jessica, there can never be a wrong moment for calling.  We get so few
visitors out here v that they are always welcome."

" " Its a short time ago that we met.  " t( Too long," she cooed.

"You will stay for luncheon," she went v on eagerly.

"Ezra was working at home this morning so it will v be good to have you
join us.  You can talk business to your " hearts' contentment, but over
my table instead of in that v gruesome boardroom of yours.  " n 2o8
lliai UUC5 BUUllU cUI CA.>_CUCUt U1C<1, 3<uu JIA * uau.^... fact I was
hoping to be asked.  Then we can go back in the cool of the
afternoon."

I was deeply conscious of the change in his voice when he addressed her
and it filled me with resentment.

"First cool drinks in my parlour," said Isa.

"Now Ezra, my darling, please summon Emily."

Her parlour was essentially hers.  Indeed, I wondered what part Ezra
played in this menage.  I had thought of her as a jungle cat, now I saw
her as a female spider who devours her mate-but only of course when he
has ceased to be useful to her.  It was a frilly feminine room with
muslin curtains and the inevitable sun-blinds.  Pots of
brightly-coloured plants gave the room an air of gaiety and the
chintz-covered chairs and curtains augmented that impression.  Tall,
cool drinks were brought in and we were very grateful for these.

"We're very neighbourly out here, Jessica," said Isa.

"You must never think that we shouldn't be pleased to see you.  We like
all visitors .  especially those who are friends."  She threw a
coquettish glance at joss, who was smiling at her in a way which was
beginning to madden me.  At least, I thought, he might not show his
besotted admiration so blatantly in front of his wife .  for even
though our relationship is not the usual one, there are conventions to
be observed.

They chatted about people of whom I had never heard.  Isa made sure of
that because I guessed she was determined to shut me out until they
mentioned the yearly treasure hunt which was held at Peacocks.

"Oh, haven't you heard about it, Jessica?  Oh Joss, you are very
slack.

Fancy not telling Jessica about the treasure hunt.

Joss turned to me.

"It's a little entertainment we do once a year.

It's due in a few weeks' time.  I must tell you all about it.  "

"It's the greatest fun said Isa.

"We all go ... how many, Joss?  ... about fifty, sixty, seventy of us
to Peacocks and there we're given dues and we search and search. Ifs
one of the events of the year.  Ben thought of it to keep the people
happy.  He was always trying to keep his workers from being bored.  He
used to say trouble starts with boredom."

"It sounds interesting," I said.  I looked at Joss coldly.

"I should like to hear about it."

There's been such a lot to show you," he said.

"I forgot to explain about it.  It's a little childish perhaps...8 "
But it's fun," cried Isa.

j uau y^vys.  v fw^tt* .  u ^Aljl/y it.  " auucu JUA5, Isa changed the
subject as abruptly as she had introduced it 3 " I did promise to show
you my collection, Jessica, didn't I?  b Perhaps I will.  What do you
think.  Joss ?  "

She and Joss exchanged a glance which I was aware of o: without
understanding then.

He said: "By all means show her, Isa.  Jessica's getting really I
inertested in opals.  It'll be part of the education she's rapidly 'v>
acquiring."  8 Then after lunch," promised Isa.

"And we'll have that now.  " We went into the dining-room for luncheon,
which consisted of cold chicken and salad and there was fruit which she
told me her servants bottled and preserved when there h was a glut.  b
'you will probably do your own bottling and preserving, Jessica.  I am
sure you do it beautifully.  I'm afraid my talents Ji stop short of
housekeeping.  Still, I have other uses, I believe.  "

Ezra laughed loudly and Joss smiled as though she had said o:

something very witty.

My irritation was growing and my great desire was to get away from this
woman, for among those talents she mentioned w there was certainly one
for maiding me feel unattractive.  It was all the more galling because
I felt that Joss was aiding and abetting her in this.

After lunch we settled down to see her collection.  We went a, back
into the shady parlour with its frills and femininity Isa's room.  We
sat at a table and from a safe she took out the now familiar rolled-up
cases. She had some magnificent I stones and she was clearly
knowledgeable about them.  They v were of all varieties and all
exquisite.

"I only want the very best," she told me.

That's what you have," replied Joss.  y " Coming from such a
connoisseur that's gratifying," she said, smiling at him.

v "Yes," said Ezra, "Isa always wanted her collection to be the a best
in Australia."

"In the world," she corrected him.  'now .  " She had taken ^ a small
case and opened it.  She laid it on the table, and there rl on the
black velvet in all its glory was the Harlequin Opal.  t) I stared at
it.  It couldn't be.  It must be something similar v and I was not
experienced enough to see the difference.  It v couldn't possibly be
the Harlequin, for how could it have II come so soon into her
possession 1

Isa chuckled.

"She recognizes it," she said.

I looked up and caught joss's eyes on me.  He was watching me
intently.

I stammered: "I thought it had a look of the Harlequin."

"It is the Harlequin."

"Oh... It's certainly very beautiful."

"Pick it up," commanded Isa.

"Hold it in the palm of your hand.  I know you love it.  I saw by the
way you looked at it before.  Ifs a beauty.  I reckon it's one of the
finest I have."

"You are very fortunate to have such a stone," I said.

"I have to thank my very good friend ..."  She was smiling at Joss, and
I felt such cold anger in my heart that I was astonished at myself.

"Your... very good friend ?"  I said.

"Dear joss!  He knew how I coveted it.  He gave it to me, didn't he,
Ezra?"

"It was a generous gift," said Ezra complacently.

"How... interesting," I said.

I put it back on the black velvet and hoped my fingers were not
trembling with the rage which consumed me.  I was shocked and angrier
than I have ever been.

I glanced at Ezra.  He did not seem in the least perturbed.  How should
a man feel when his wife accepted expensive gifts from another man?

The same as a woman would feel when her husband bestowed those gifts on
another woman?

I heard myself say coolly: "So you acquired it after all.  I know you
wanted it badly."

"I always get what I want, don't I, Ezra ?"

"It seems so, my dear."

"You certainly have a most interesting collection.  Has it taken you
many years to amass it?"

"Not really.  Only since I came out here and married Ezra.  Fifteen
years or thereabouts, isn't it, Ezra ?"

"Such a short time?"  I said, pointedly implying that I thought it
might have been longer, which was a feeble barb compared with the blow
she had just delivered.  I could see that Joss was amused by the
asperity in my voice.  I hated him.

The collection was put away and I thought: The object of the visit is
over.  We sat awhile and as I listened to their talk and now and then
managed to join in, I kept seeing Isa's tiger eyes and the smouldering
response I fanced I detected in those of Joss.

It was a great relief to go down to the stables where Ezra took a fond
farewell of Wattle, and then we rode back to ^ Peacocks.

I was deep in thought and tried to keep aloof from Joss, but he rode
beside me and insisted on walking our horses.  01 "You're silent," he
said.

Tou should have warned me that we were going there.  1 "I thought it
would be a pleasant surprise.  Isa made us very w welcome, didn't
she?"

"Especially you."

Well, she has known me for a long time.  "

"And very well, I imagine."

"Oh, we're very old friends."

~ "And she must be grateful to you.  You give her such wonderful
presents."

"It's rather a beauty, isn't it?8 J< " I can agree with that.  "

"Something has occurred to me.  Is that rather pleasant little
retrousse nose somewhat out of joint ?"

"What do you mean ?"

"You show such stem disapproval."

"I thought it was an odd thing to do."

w .  "

"Did you want it?  You did rather fancy it, I know, and now you are
beginning to learn something through the good offices of Jeremy
Dickson, you can recognize opal when you see it.  ^ You should have
asked me for it.  Who knows, I might have been persuaded to give it to
you."

, "Unlike that woman, I have no wish to take expensive gifts from
you."

"Yet you seem rather angry because I gave it to her."

"And what of that ... so-called husband of hers?"

"He doesn't really mind any more than my so-called wife does... or so I
thought.  I may be wrong."

"I think it was a very foolish thing to do."

"Why?  She wanted it.  She appreciated it.  What's wrong with giving
people things they want ?"

"It seems to me very ... unusual ... to give someone's wife such a
present and then ask your own wife ... who knew nothing about it ... to
applaud your action."

"I didn't ask you to applaud my action.  What action of mine have you
ever applauded?"

"It's most unconventional."

"We can't always observe the conventions out here."

'you are that woman's lover.  "

He was sUent.

"Are you?"  i demanded.

"We have to be conventional, don't we?  Now it is considered right not
to divulge the secrets of others.  That's the only reason why I don't
answer your question."

"You have answered my question."

"And you have shown me clearly that you disapprove of my actions.  But
have you any right?  You don't want me.  You have rejected me.  Can you
take me to task if I look for affection elsewhere?"

I turned to look at him.  His eyes were lowered in an expression of
resignation.  He was mocking me.  When had he ever ceased to mock me?

I could endure no more.  I started to gallop.

"Steady," he called.

"Where do you think you're going?  You'll be lost in the Bush if you go
that way.  Just follow me.2 So I followed him back to Peacocks.

I went straight to my room.  I felt wretched and angry at the same
time, and I tried to feed my anger because it was the only way to
soothe my wretchedness.

He's in love with Isa Bannock, I thought.  Of course he would be. 
She's feminine and attractive.  She's everything that I am not and
she's his mistress.

I lay on my bed and stared up at the ceiling.

I dislike him, I told myself.  He's arrogant and conceited, heartless
and ruthless.  He's everything that I hate.

"Peacock," I muttered.

"Nothing but a peacock flaunting your glory."

But the flashing light of the Harlequin Opal had revealed something to
me.  I wouldn't face it.  At least I was trying not to, but how stupid
that was.  Why should I be so angry?  Why should I care so much? 
Because I must face it because I knew it was true.  I was either in
love with him or fast getting into that terrifying state.  It had taken
his devotion to another woman to make me face up to what had been
slowly revealed to me.  I had so far refused to see the signs when I
had looked for him, felt that certain exhilaration in his company which
I could not find elsewhere.  Why hadn't I been wise enough to
understand the true nature of this excessive hatred?

At least now I faced the truth.  I was in love with Joss Madden, my own
husband, and it made no difference to me what fresh revelations I
discovered.  He was everything that I should have thought I would most
dislike in a man and yet I had to fall in love with him 1

2is

* * *u*u*.  iv.  muu, & ocuu by ui^adl.  Oil^llAjr* I was.  Perhaps
one sometimes is in love.  3 b I had been in my room for more than an
hour considering this extraordinary situation which had burst upon me
when o there was a knock on my door.  I called: "Come in," and Mrs. 
Laud entered.

I "Oh," she said, 'you are resting.  "

w "No.  I had not changed.  It was so hot out today and we gi had
ridden quite a distance."

"Mr.  Madden mentioned that you had taken luncheon with ^ the
Bannocks."

"Yes."

h "I believe their cook is very good."  b Tm sure she is.  The food was
delicious.  "

"I had come to speak to you about the treasure hunt."  J< "I heard of
it for the first time today."

"I had thought Mr.  Madden must have mentioned it.  It's an o: event
which takes place every year.  Mr.  Henniker started it because he felt
they were getting restive.  He used to talk to me a great deal."  w "Do
tell me more about the treasure hunt, Mrs.  Laud."

"Well, clues are made up and we make believe that the house is a desert
island.  The treasure is two opals of some value which have been found
during the year.  The servants ^ make up the clues and place them.
They're very simple.  Mr.  Henniker used to think that it was good for
the servants to have a part in it.  They think about it for the whole
year.  It t keeps their minds busy."  w "It's interesting."

"I help them, of course, because I don't take an active part, though
Mr.  Henniker used to insist that I did sometimes."  She y smiled
reminiscently.

"So that part of it will be taken care of, but I wanted to discuss
other arrangements with you.  There's w always been a buffet supper and
the guests have to be asked.  ffi Formal invitations are sent out.  We
like it done some time in advance because it gives people time to
anticipate."  w "Who comes to the treasure hunt ?"  n "All the heads of
departments and people in the higher u positions.  There would be about
sixty or seventy of them.  w Then a few days later there's a different
sort of celebration w for the other workers.  There are contests and
prizes.  Mr.  II Henniker used to say: " Bread and circuses are
necessary to ^ keep the people happy.  " He was full of sayings."

"I dare say you could arrange all this witfloul any neip from me,
Mrs.

Laud.  "

"Oh, I thought it only right and proper that you should know how we had
conducted it in the past in case you wished to make new
arrangements."

"I'm sure I shan't want to do that.  I'm such a newcomer.  I'd like to
see how this one works and then for the next one if I have any
suggestions to make that would be different."

"I usually send to Sydney for what we need for the buffet.  Then we do
a good deal of the cooking here in the kitchens of course.1 " You must
please carry on as before.  "

"I thought you would know how these things should be conducted ...
coming from such a good family ..."

I looked at her in surprise and she lowered her eyes in the way to
which I had become accustomed.

"Mr.  Henniker confided in me a good deal.  I heard Mr.  Madden refer
to Oakland Hall and your being one of the Claverings.  I knew Mr.
Henniker bought the house from them."

"It's true I was a Miss Clavering, but I never lived in Oakland Hall.

My family became impoverished.  That was why they sold Oakland.  "

"Oh, I know, but being one of the family I felt you would know how
things should be done."

"I'm not at all sure of that," I replied.

"I think it would be better to leave this treasure hunt in your capable
hands."

"I'm glad you have no objections to us, Mrs.  Madden."

"Objections I How could I have?  You're so efficient."

"I mean the whole family of us ... living here and enjoying so many
privileges."

"I believe it is what Mr.  Henniker would have wished."

"Oh yes, he remembered us in his will.  He was always fond of Jimson
and Lilias.  They were only children when we came here ... Ulias
nothing more than a baby.  I will always be grateful to him.  I was at
my wits' end.  Jim-that was my husband-had been so close to me.  I had
thought it was a mistake to come out to Australia but Jim wanted to.

Then he died and there was I. homeless, penniless and Mr.  Henniker
came along.  "

"It worked out very well, then."

Tes, it did for all those years.  Then he died and I thought there'd be
changes and when Mr.  Madden came back with a wife.  "

Tou were all amazed, I know.  But don't worry.  I'm veiy

u^yyj uu4fe AVA uuuu&u Ubu^ AU Au^b uuub AJIWV WA1C1L w G should do
without you.  "

3 She seemed overcome with emotion and said in a practical b voice:

"Perhaps I could show you the draft of the invitations I'm sending to
Sydney to get done.  They're the same every o year."

"Don't bother to show me.  just go ahead as you always have.  I I'm
sure that's best."

f She looked at me so anxiously that I went on: "I'm really gi more
interested in learning the affairs of the Company than running a house,
Mrs.  Laud."

"^ " You're a very unusual lady.  I realize that.  I think you are the
kind who will master what you set out to do.  " h " I hope so, Mrs.
Laud," I said.  b Then she went and left me with my thoughts.

J< I could not sleep that night.  I kept thinking about that moment
when Isa had unrolled the case and revealed the o: Harlequin Opal.  He
had known that she was going to show it to me.  He had given her
permission to do so.  It occurred to me that he had taken me there for
that purpose.  It was tan tv amount to an act of defiance.

It meant: I don't care for you any more than you care for me.  And yet
I fancied he did not like my growing friendship with jeremy Dickson. 
How dared he resent something so a, innocent when his relations with
Isa were far from innocent!  And what did Ezra think?  Was he prepared
to stand aside for Joss because of the power Joss held with the
Company?  I What sort of husband was he?  He seemed equally besotted^
ready to grant her every wish.  What was the power she had over them? 
Hers was an evil sort of beauty.  She was what was known as a siren,
the sort who would lure men to de.  y structfon when all the time they
knew that would be their end but they couldn't resist it.  v I was more
upset than I would have believed possible, but ^ the revelation was
clear.  In spite of everything I had allowed myself to be caught up in
some sort of fascination.  While I ^ hated him, I wanted him to be near
me, to take my hands, ri to laugh at me, to thrust aside my resistance.
 t" What had happened to me?

v If it had not been for Isa .  But what was the use of y saying that?
Isa was there.  She existed.  It had taken my i* jealousy to reveal the
true state of my feelings.

v I dozed fitfully and dreamed we were all sitting round the table and
Isa unrolled the case and showed us the Harlequin Opal.

"Look at it," she said, and I looked into the fire that extended all
across the table and in it I could see pictures.  I saw myself and Joss
and Joss was saying: "Of what use are you to me?  You are no wife.  I
don't want you.  I want Isa.  You are in the way.  If you weren't here
the Green Flash would be mine.  You're in the way ... in the way ..."

I felt his hands about my throat and I awoke calling out.

I lay in the darkness trembling.

It was only a dream, I assured myself.  But as I lay in the darkness
the thought came to me that the dream was a warning.  There was
something strange about Peacocks.  If Ben had been here it would have
been different He would have blown draughts of fresh air through the
place, blowing away .  I knew' not what.

How I longed for Ben.  I could have explained to him how I felt.  The
Lauds with their meek un obtrusiveness were pale shadows of people, and
it seemed to me that all of them were living two lives-the real one
which I didn't see and the shadow one which I did.  Both Jimson and
Lilias seemed afraid of their mother .  not exactly afraid . 
protective, was it?  I suppose that was natural, and yet.  And then as
I lay there I heard the sound of footsteps outside my door as I had
heard them before.  Someone was prowling out there .  right outside my
door now.  I got out of bed and sat on it, watching the door.  I had
locked it as I always did.

In the faint moonlight I saw the handle slowly turning.

There was a brief silence and then the sound of retreating footsteps.

I lay still, trembling, wondering what would have happened if the door
had not been locked.

9.

TREASURE HUNT

For several days the bustle of preparation went on at Peacocks.  The
servants were absent-minded, giggling together.

"It's always like this when the treasure hunt approaches," Lilias told
me.

She asked how I was getting on with the Company and I

told her that I was growing more fascinated every day.  I was
tremendously interested in the processes and was thrilled when 3 I saw
colours emerging.

"I dare say you see a great deal of Jeremy Dickson," she said.

"He happens to be in charge of the side which interests me , most."

She looked a little mournful and like her mother, as though she were
afraid of betraying something.  I wondered whether their attitude had
something to do with their living with the ^ family and yet not quite
being of it.  Rather like poor relations, I thought; but in this case
there was never any attempt to ^ treat them as such.  Joss was the same
in his manner towards i them as he was to me.  In fact, I thought
ruefully, perhaps a little more considerate.

t I was trying not to think of him, but I couldn't help it.  Every time
I heard his voice I felt exdted, eager to hear what he had to say.

When he rode out I wondered whether he was going to Isa, how they were
together.  I wondered about Ezra and whether he was afraid of Joss in
some way.  Everyone was afraid of Joss.  Once when I had remarked that
everyone seemed to hold him in great respect he had retorted:

They'd better, hadn't they?  They depend on me for the jobs.  "

"On me too, perhaps," I suggested.

"You're going to be someone to reckon with," he replied.  Don't mock.
"

"Mock," he cried.

"I'm in deadly earnest ^ I remembered the things he said so vividly.

Ezra was a skilled man but he was not a big shareholder in the
enterprise.  If he displeased Joss he could be asked to go.  Did
pleasing Joss extend as far as turning a blind eye on y his affairs
with his wife?

I couldn't believe that.  I thought of his affection for Wattle y and
hers for him.  A man who was so beloved by his horses a and dogs too I
had discovered-could not so degrade him self.  But who could say? 
There were so many facets to all vi our characters.

p And there was something overpowering about Joss.  Perhaps 0 people
behaved differently with him.  I wished I could stop y thinking of
him.

y I had learned that he did not like my being in the company H of
Jeremy Dickson.  He did not say so and I longed for him y to, but he
somehow implied it.

; On some mornings I rode into the town with Jimson Laud as my
companion, for I would arrive down to find that Joss had already left.
I would pretend to be quite pleased at the prospect although I found
Jimson like his mother and sister -strangely indeterminate.

He would talk to me about book-keeping, which he had taken over from
Tom Paling who had apparently run everything in a most primitive way.

I supposed I should have to learn something about bookkeeping some
time, but I was too fascinated by the active side to feel any great
interest.

Sometimes I would be overcome with amazement to think that Ben had
given me a major share in this thriving Company and I used to fancy
that he was beside me, urging me on.  I could hear his voice coming
back to me often, his racy conversation was something I would never
forget. He had loved opals and he had wanted me to do the same.  He had
loved my mother and thought of me as his daughter, I believed, so he
had loved me too.  He had admired Joss .  the son who had been all he
wanted his son to be.  That was adventurous, hard, ruthless, not too
scrupulous-a man of this land and his times.  And he had forced us into
this marriage.  Why?  He was a wise man and he had loved me dearly.  He
had wanted to rescue me from the Dower House.  Had he known me so well
that he had had a premonition that before the year was out I should be
in love with Joss?

Had he known of Joss's infatuation for Isa?  I did not think Ben would
have liked Isa very much.  Perhaps he had wanted to break that
connection by giving Joss a young wife.

Ben had loved me and perhaps he thought that because he did, others
must too.  How wrong he had been!  No one had ever really loved me
except Ben.  My mind went back to the days in church when I had asked
Miriam about the she-bear.  How could my mother's love cease when it
had never existed?  I had asked.  A tragic question on the lips of a
child.  But then the woman whom I had thought was my mother was not
after all.  My real mother had loved me, but not enough to live for
me.

I longed to be loved as Isa was loved; and I knew then how happy I
should have been if my marriage had turned out differently, if we had
grown to know each other and Joss had in due course fallen in love with
me as I had with him.

It was the night of the treasure hunt.  Thousands of candles blazed
throughout the house, for the party started at sundown.

I thought how romantic it looked and how excited I should have been to
have shared such a house with a husband who i' loved me.

Lilias came to my room while I was dressing to see, she said, if I
needed any help.

"Why, your dress is beautiful," she cried.  i It was another of the
shade of peacock blue which strangely enough I had always loved.  I had
been allowed to choose my own materials which I had thought a great
concession at the time, but now when I considered all I had brought my
family, ^ I understood why I had been shown this clemency.  I had not
adhered closely to fashion because the mode of the day was _ not, I
considered, very becoming.  I had been wise in this for ^ fashions
meant little out here.  So I had gone back to an earlier and more
charming age, and my skirt resembled, ^ though not quite, a crinoline. 
It billowed out in tiers of chiffon and my bodice was dose fitting,
falling off the shoulders in an elegant austerity which made a contrast
to the skirt.

Lilias herself looked pretty in a modest gown of pale grey silk
embroidered with pink moss roses which she had admitted she had worked
herself.

"I wondered if you needed any help with your hair."  she said.  a I had
piled my thick dark hair high on my head-again defying fashion and
going back to an even earlier age than the style of the dress.  j "I've
always done it myself."  ^ "I'm sure you'll be much admired.  I've
never seen such beautiful clothes as yours except Isa Bannock's."

"Of course," I answered.  y "She has her materials sent out from
England.  I wonder what she'll look like tonight.  You know we choose
our partners for the treasure hunt.  Ifs a tradition.  Mr.  Henniker
used to say;

^ "This is the night the ladies choose."

The prospect excited me.  I would choose him, I promised n myself.
Perhaps it would be a start.  To be fair, I had to p admit that the
unsatisfactory state of our relationship was t, to a large extent due
to me, so perhaps it was for me to set the pace.  I remembered the
first days of our marriage.  It was not he who had then suggested
separate rooms.  But I was ^ glad that I had for I did not want a
makeshift marriage.  I y wanted to be the one in his life.

He would have to abandon Isa and his philanderings.

Ijlias was saying timidly: "I thought I'd ask Mr.  Dickson, unless of
course..."

I looked surprised and she went on quietly: "Unless you wanted to ask
him."

"I hadn't thought of it," I replied and she looked relieved.

The door opened and Joss came in.  He looked magnificent.  He, too,
wore the shade of peacock blue almost identical with mine.  It was a
velvet dinner jacket and he wore white ruffles at his neck and the edge
of his cuffs.  He looked even taller than usual and the blue jacket
brought out vividly the blue of his eyes.

Lilias said: "Excuse me," and scuttled out.

"She's like a frightened rabbit," he said.

"You look rather formidable."

He regarded himself in the mirror, approvingly, I thought.  His eyes
met mine and he smiled.

"I know what you're thinking," he said.

"Peacock!"

"It's the right colour.  Do you know, I've never heard any but Ben call
you by that name."

They do it behind my back.  They wouldn't think of using it before my
loving wife.  They would think she might find it offensive.  I
collected the name when I was a boy.  I used to strut round with the
peacocks and I was rather fond of myself.  "

"An endearing quality which you haven't lost."  Why did I have to
continue in this strain?  I asked myself.  I suppose the fact was that
I was afraid of betraying my true feelings.

He smiled at me ironically.

"So you admire my pride, my arrogance, my conceit.  It makes me so
happy to please you in some way."

It was hard to meet his eyes for I feared to reveal the true state of
my feelings.  The time was not ripe.  His complacency would be
intolerable.  I had a horror of his going to Isa and telling her that I
had at last succumbed to his attractions and that I was going to be a
good and docile wife in future.

He had caught me by the shoulders and turned me round so that we were
standing side by side looking at our reflections in the mirror.

"We're a good match, you must agree.  A handsome pair.  You're not
exactly displeased with your appearance, are you?  Is there a bit of
the peacock in you?"

"I hope that people will share my good opinion," I retorted.  The
difference is that you don't care whether they like yours or not.

That's the peacock element.  "

"How clever of you to discover that.  I believe you're be221

ginning to learn sometlung about me at last.  "

"I think I know a little."

"A little knowledge, they say, can be a dangerous thing."

"I'll keep out of danger."

"Don't be too sure of that' This is a very cryptic conversation."

"Ours is a very cryptic relationship."

Terhaps it won't remain so," I said.  and I wondered if he noticed the
little catch in my voice.

"Nothing remains static, I've heard.8 A great impulse came to me then
to tell him that I wanted to change everything.  I wanted us to see
more of each other.  I wanted him to tell me everything about his true
relationship with Isa and how deep it went.  I wanted to say: " Let us
give ourselves a chance to make something of our lives.  " One little
sign from him and I should have done so.

I said on impulse: "I understand it's the lady's privilege to choose
her partner for the treasure hunt.  I suppose I should choose you."

It sounded ungracious-as though I didn't want to, as though I regarded
it as a duty when all the time I wanted to say: I want to be with
you.

I want us to walk through this house hand in hand, searching for the
treasure which will be symbolic in a way .  searching for that
happiness which we can only find together.

A few seconds passed when everything seemed to be silent .  watching .
an important moment.  I had taken the first step and this could be a
beginning.  I saw a fierce light in those dark blue eyes as they came
to rest on my bare shoulders fleetingly, almost cares singly and my
heart beat fast.

Then he said: "My dear, there is no need to choose me.  In fact it
would hardly be right.  Suppose we found the treasure?  They would
think it was collusion."

I felt deflated.  I knew of course that he had already allowed Isa to
choose him.

"It's time we went down to greet the guests," he said.

We stood side by side in the hall and received them as they arrived.

People whom I had not met before shook my hand warmly, congratulated me
on my marriage and welcomed me to Fancy Town.  They were noisy,
friendly people all out for an evening's enjoyment-the high spot of the
year, the greatest of Ben Henniker's drcuses.

The prize, as usual, was two opals which had been found in the Fancy
field, cut, polished and recognized to be of fan- value.

"It's not the opals themselves which are so important," one of the
wives told me.

"It's the fact of winning.  Everyone wants the honour of having solved
the clues first."

There was one fair-haired young woman who came to talk to me and told
me that she was glad her baby had arrived in time to let her come to
the treasure hunt.  The baby, with his young brother, was in the charge
of her elder sister who herself was too heavily pregnant to come.

"It's the luck," she told me.  Treasure hunt opals are always lucky.

That's what people say.  They must be to the ones who find them,
because that's luck, isn't it?  That's one reason why people want
them.

They really are lucky.  "

The buffet was attacked with gusto and after people had eaten their
fill the hunt began.

"All ladies must take their partners," announced joss.

I felt sick with misery for I saw Isa with her arm through that of
Joss.  She looked beautiful, of course, in one of her tawny brown and
yellow gowns touched with green-a mass of silk, ribbons and lace.  She
wore a band of topaz in her hair which was like a tiara and it brought
out the strange colour of her eyes.  Predatory, prowling, very much the
jungle cat that night.

"I've taken your husband," she cried with a hint of malice in her
voice.

"I hope you won't mind."

"I'm sure he doesn't," I answered.

Joss was watching me closely, an unfathomable expression in his eyes.

Ezra stood by sheepishly.

"He made no objection," retorted Isa.

Then perhaps I'd better retaliate by taking yours.  "

Ezra beamed on me.

"Why, that's wonderful," he said.  There was I wondering who would ever
choose me and the beautiful hostess herself comes along.  "

Tm sure you'll be very good at solving the clues," I said.

"I'm going to do my best to win with you, Jessica."

We'll work together," I told him.

I heard Isa's laughter and saw her white hands with their long
claw-like fingers on Joss's arms as I turned away with Ezra.

Mrs.  Laud handed out the first clue.  Uke her daughter, she was
dressed in grey but instead of moss roses she wore touches of white. 
Jimson was at her side.  I think he had been hoping I would ask him to
partner me. I noticed UUas looking almost

gay with Jeremy Dickson.

The game was the old English one which most people had ^ played before.
I was one of those who had not.  We did not indulge in such frivolities
in the Dower House, but I imagined o the rest of the family must have
had similar occasions in the Oakland days.  Players were given a due to
start with which j led them to the next; they kept their clues which
were ^ written on small pieces of paper and the first to collect the g
entire set was the winner.

The first was traditionally easy to give everyone a start and ^
interest in the game.

It was something like:

g "You have come to pay a call ^ Take a drink beside the wall."

This meant, of course, that it was the hall where callers j, would come
on their arrival and there was a large pewter punch bowl on a table
close to the wall.  The second clues o were in this.

Then the real hunt began.

We found the second in the drawing-room and the next led us upstairs
and it occurred to me that on occasions like this when there were so
many people in the house, it could have been possible for one of them
to have come upon the hidden Green Hash.  How ironical it it had been
lost through a aA treasure hunt.  I thought of the remark that any opal
found in this hunt must be lucky for the one who found it because he or
she had been led to it by luck.

I "How are you getting on with Wattle?"  asked Ezra.  v "Very well."

She's happy, I think.  There's something very special about that little
filly, Jessica.  8 y "I know it."

"Bright as a button.  All there, as they say.  That's our Wattle."  y
"She still remembers you."  - a She'U remember me till the day she
dies. Faithful creatures, horses.  That's more than you can say for
some human beings, v, eh?  "

n I looked at him sharply, wondering whether he was refert ring to Isa.
"" You have a way with animals.  That's perfectly dear.  Even v the
peacocks on the lawn seem to be aware of you.  In a mild it way, of
course, because they can't think very much about w anything but
themselves.  " n He laughed.

"I always have had this.  Was born with it.

Funny.  1 was never much to look at.  I could never make out why Isa
fancied me in the first place.  Mind you, when I came out here I had
big dreams .  everyone has.  I was going to find the crock of gold. 
"

"Well, you've done very well, haven't you?"

"I know my job, and there's nothing I'd rather work with than opals."

Then you're fortunate.  It's not everyone who finds satis faction in
his work.  Where are we going?  "

"Into the gallery.  There's bound to be something in the gallery."

"I suppose so, but I expect others will think the same."

We opened the door.  There was no one there.  Six candles flickered in
their sconces.  It looked eerie and remarkably like the gallery at
Oakland Hall.  My eyes went to the spinet at one end and I thought of
how my mother used to pretend to be a ghost and play the spinet and
then hide when the servants came.

"It looks as if it ought to be haunted," said Ezra.

"But I don't suppose it's old enough for that.  Why are those drapes
placed at intervals around the room?"

That's how they are at Oakland.  There the walls are partially panelled
and the drapes hang where there is no panelling.  It's quite effective.
"

"Can you play the spinet, Jessica ?"

"A little.  I had lessons when I was a child.  My aunt Miriam taught
me.

I was not very good.  "

"Play something now."

I sat down and played a Chopin waltz as well as I could remember it.

"Hello!  This place is haunted then."  It was Joss's voice.  I swung
round sharply for he and Isa had come into the gallery.

"Why," he went on, 'the ghost is Jessica.  "

"Why did you think I was a ghost?"  I demanded.

"I didn't.  I don't believe in them.  But Ben used to say in his
sentimental moments that he used to fancy he could hear the spinet
being played and he'd like someone who used to play it at Oakland to
come back and play for him here.  He had strange fancies sometimes for
such a practical man."

"He always said he had an open mind about everything," said Ezra.

"Yes."  went on Joss, "Ben was prepared to believe anything if it could
be proved to him, so he believed that if he built a gallery just like
the one at Oakland and put a spinet in it, his ghost might come."

^ "How are you getting on with my husband?"  asked Isa with j: a hint
of mischief in her voice.

Tolerably well," I replied.

"We've solved three so far.  How are you getting on with mine?"

"More than tolerably well," she replied.

"Come along, joss.  t I want that opal."

y "It won't be worthy of your collection," he told her.  p Then I shall
ask you to swop it for one that is.  "

I said to Ezra: "We should be going.  I don't think there's , anything
here."

We went out.  Joss and Isa had disappeared and shortly j] afterwards we
found ourselves at the top of the house in a j) section which was
unfamiliar to me.  The rooms here were smaller and there was one which
was furnished as a sitting- j, room.  A lighted oil lamp stood on the
table on which stood a pot of dried leaves and a wooden workbox with
the lid q open.  A piece of needlework lay on the table with a needle
case cottons and scissors.  A door leading from this room was half open
and I looked out on to a narrow terrace v bounded by a low wall.  We
were at the very top of the house.

"I believe these are the Lauds' quarters," I said.

"Sounds rather holy," answered Ezra with a chuckle.  a "LAUD," I spelt
out.

"I don't know whether we're supposed to be here."

"Isn't where you're not supposed to be the very spot where I you're
most likely to find the vital clue ?"  v "I shouldn't think so.  The
Lauds are so unobtrusive.  I doubt whether Mrs.  Laud would have
allowed any dues to be placed in their apartments."  y "Nevertheless
we'll look round."

"I'm interested in this little terrace," I said.

"I had no idea v it existed."  a I stepped out on it and looked up at
the sky where the Southern Cross shone down reminding me that I was far
from v Home, where no one would be missing me very much-and n I
thought, with a trace of bitterness, no one here cared either.  ti I
looked over the side of the terrace wall to the sheer drop v below.  We
were indeed very high.  v Then I heard voices.  Mrs.  Laud was speaking
and I stepped il back into, the room.  Ezra was standing at the table
and Mrs.  v Laud was at the door.  D She was saying: "I had no idea
anyone was here.

There's nothing up here, you know.  I wouldn't have dreamed of letting
them put clues here.  Oh, there's Mrs.  Madden.  "

"I'm sorry we intruded," I said.

"Oh no, it's not that.  But there simply isn't anything here."

Then we'd better get on," I said.

"We've wasted our time, it seems."

Mrs.  Laud laughed apologetically.

"It's of no importance.  I was just startled when I opened my door and
saw a man in the room."

Ezra apologized in his hearty way and we went downstairs.

"You've got a treasure in that woman," he said.

"I remember old Ben's saying what a manager she was.  Mind you, he's
done a lot for her children ... brought them up, you might say.  She's
very grateful, is Mrs.  Laud.  I've heard her say it again and
again."

"I don't know what we'd do without her."

"And Jimson's good.  The way he can juggle with figures just takes your
breath away.  It's rare to find people out here who can do that.  Most
of them want to do the exciting things ... but to find someone who
really likes figures ... that's a godsend.  We thought we were lucky to
get Paling but Jimson beats him ... as we discovered after the buggy
accident."

"Do you know the daughter?"

"Ulias.  Why, yes.  Sweet on Jeremy Dickson if you ask me.  I reckon
they might well make a match of it I don't know.  Ulias seems to blow
hot and cold."

"Does she?  I thought she liked him."

"Well, I reckon it's just a bit of coyness or something.  It would be
nice to see them wed.  Married'men are much better in the town.  They
get more settled and stable."

"I can hear sounds from below," I put in.

"I believe they've got a winner."

I was right and delighted that it was the little fair-haired woman and
her partner-the one who had left her new baby in the charge of her
pregnant sister.

Joss made me stand with him to present the prizes.

"Don't forget," he whispered to me.

"You own half of this now and everyone must be made to realize it."

The fair-haired woman came up with her partner, the opals were
presented and everyone crowded round to examine them.

Joss said to me: Tactful of you not to win.  "

"You too," I answered.

"But did this please your acquisitive friend ?

"My acquisitive friend was forced to accept the inevitable."

"I wonder if she will demand another Harlequin as compensation

His eyes met mine-a little stormy, a little mocking and veiled.

"I

wonder," he murmured.

10.

SATURDAY NIGHT

^ , The next morning when I went down to breakfast Joss was i, alone in
the dining-room.  He asked how I had slept after last night's
revelries. I told him very well and trusted he had done j, the same.

"It gives you an insight into one of our traditions here.  It's q "
Ben's idea to keep the workers happy.  They're far away from the bright
lights of .  a big city so we have to make their entertainment.  " ^ "
When is the next occasion?  2 "My dear Jessica, there are occasions
once a week.  Saturday nights are regular.  It's time you attended a
Saturday night.

I must introduce you to them.  " ^ The prospect of being with him
delighted me and I must have looked eager.

There's no time like the present.  We'll go next Saturday.  " I That
day in the office an incident took place and I did not'd realize until
later how very disturbing it was.  I overheard raised voices coming
from Joss's office and as I passed Joss and Ezra came out.  I had never
seen Ezra look angry before, y but then his large face had completely
lost its benignity.  It made him look quite different.  Joss looked
fierce and stem.

v They both acknowledged me rather curtly as though they a were not in
the mood to talk to me at that moment.

Later when Joss and I were riding back to Peacocks I said w to him:
"You and Ezra seemed at cross purposes this morning."  n "It happens
now and then," said Joss lightly.

"We don't ti always see eye to eye.  Ezra's a good man but he's not
always v practical.  There's always trouble about the houses in the v
town.  Those who have been living in the calico tents are i< naturally
anxious to get them when they fall vacant.  Ezra v had promised one to
a man he liked but I've given it to n someone who is a much better
worker and who has been with us longer.  Ezra had the unpleasant task
of telling his man he'd have to wait a bit."

"So that was it."

Joss looked at me quickly but he said nothing.  I was thinking : Ezra
can stand up for himself then.  Was it really about the dwelling house,
or had he perhaps told Joss that he was getting tired of seeing him
with his wife?

The next time I saw Ezra he was his beaming hearty self so I thought no
more of the matter until later.

Saturday had come and it was dusk as Joss and I rode into the
township.

"Saturday night at the camp," said Joss.  There'll be revelry.  Oh, not
what you'd call revelry.  No masked balls and powdered footmen, I do
assure you.  "

"You've no need to reassure me.  I am not expecting them, nor am I
accustomed to them.  Didn't I tell you that I was brought up in a Dower
House and though the family had seen Better Days, I was only with them
in the worse ones."

"What a mercy!"  He surveyed me ironically.

"Now perhaps we shan't disappoint you so much.  Saturday night has to
be seen.  The week's work is over.  Sunday is a day of rest, but not
for the gougers, who have to do their washing and clean their homes
then, but there has to be revelry before the work begins again."

"What sort of revelry?"

You'll see.  "

As we approached the township I saw that outside it a bonfire was
burning.

"We'd rather have it in the centre of the town," Joss explained, 'but
it's too dangerous with so many wooden buildings.  A wind in the wrong
direction and the whole town would be ablaze.  We'll take the horses in
and leave them at Joe's and then we'll wander out to the bonfire.

They're starting to cook and it's a communal feast.  No stranger is
turned away.  You'll find a few sun downers coming in on Saturday
nights.  "

I sensed the atmosphere of excitement as we rode through the town to
the blacksmith's forge and came away on foot.

Joss took my arm and we went past the wooden shacks and tents.  Outside
the children were dancing and calling to each other and the elderly
were seated watching them.

"Supper will be in that large tent over there," Joss told me.

"It's kept for Saturday nights.  Roast pig, I believe, and there'll be
beet and mutton."

wno provides me iood/ The Company.  It's part of their wages.  They
look forward 3 to Saturday nights all the week.  Ben always believed
that h incentives make people work harder and so do I. "

"So it's not for charity."  0 "Not a bit of it.  That's Madden policy,
as you'll discover.2 You're a little calculating, aren't you ?"  1
"We're in business and it's got to be successful.  If it wasn't, v what
do you think would happen to these people?  They might S find places
elsewhere, some of them.  Many would starve and some would die of
despair."  ^ "And you like seeing them enjoy themselves ?"

"Of course I do.  It means they're contented.  We'll get a " better
day's work out of them than if they have grievances.  "

" " Why do you always present yourself as the hardheaded business man?
"Jl He turned me round to face him and his face glowed in the
firelight.

"Because that's what I am," he said.  0 "You look like a demon in this
light."

Tve often thought they might be more exciting to know than the angels.
I'm sure you'll agree because you're not v exactly angelic yourself.
"

Indeed!  "

"Oh, most certainly.  There's a flash of fire in you.  They named you
Opal rightly ... Opal Jessica.  There's no one who a knows more about
opals than I do."

"Naturally," I mocked.  , "Of all varieties," he pointed out.

"I think perhaps you over-estimate your powers in some directions."

"Don't you believe it.  All opals come within my province.  y
Particularly those which are in my collection."

"What about Isa Bannock?2 " What about her?  " ^ " Do you see her as an
opal ?  "

That's an interesting idea.  " ^ " Of course I couldn't hope to compare
with her brilliance.  " y, He pressed my arm against his.

"You mustn't underestimate (, yourself ... or pretend to, must you ?" 
y "What a foolish conversation!"  a "Yes, isn't it... and on a Saturday
night!"

fl Just ahead of us lay the calico tents looking weird in the y
firelight.  Someone was playing on a fiddle the old tune of The Ash
Grove' and it made me think of home suddenly-the fields and lanes and
the Dower House with Poor Jarman working on the flowerbeds, and Miriam
and her curate, and I wondered whether Xavier had married Lady Clara
yet.

Two children in gingham frocks were turning somersaults and they stood
upright and bobbed curtsies as we passed by.  Someone had joined the
fiddler with a mouth organ and now I could smell the roasting pork.

Joss and I sat down on one side of a hillock on which grew dumps of
mulga, and from this slight eminence we had a good view of the scene.

From the tent came the smell of food and excited voices.

They're cooking in there," said Joss.

"It's safer inside.  We don't want to start a fire.  God knows where
that would end here.  When they've eaten the fun will start.  After the
pork, there'll be plum pudding.  You should take some just to show
you're not too proud to join in."  He grinned at me.

"Don't forget you're going to be one of the family.  You'll have to
follow our customs."

Tou find this a pleasant one?  "

"One of the bosses is expected to join in most Saturdays.  We take
turns.  Ben used to go often.  Then I'd go, or Ezra would.  We have to
show we are one of them.  That's very important.  Here Jack's as good
as his master.  Don't forget it."

"Yet it seems to me that there are some masters who think themselves
highly superior."

"Only because they are.  A man commands respect for what he is out
here."

"Doesn't he everywhere?"

"I mean he's not superior just because he' has had a better education
or has money.  He's got to show himself as a man and then he'll be
accepted as such."

"And if men rely on others to provide them with the means of earning a
living they might think it advisable to show them some respect?"

They'd be fools not to.  8 "Your philosophy of life is worked out to
give you all the advantages."

"Now isn't that the wise way?"

"You bring everything to your personal view."  , "It's you who do
that.

You brought me into this analysis.  8 1 shrugged my shoulders.

That's right," he went on, 'a woman should always admit

when she's beaten.  "

"Beaten!  I!"

; "Only in argument, of course.  There's a saying at Home:

I "A woman, a dog and a walnut tree The more you beat them the better
they'll be."  s < "Some arrogant man no doubt made that up.  I've never
heard of beating walnut trees and the thought of beating dogs I
nauseates me.  As for women, men who use physical violence ^ against
them usually do so because they know they will be S beaten in verbal
battles."

"You do very well.  I hope it doesn't become a test between " ' us.  My
strength, your brains.  Oh dear, what a contrast!  "

"We do seem to get involved in the most absurd bickering."

I "It's really due to your verbal agility."

I "Now you're mocking me."

"And once again we're forgetting we're here to enjoy J Saturday
night."

I turned my attention to the scene before us.  People were c crowding
into the tent and some were coming out with slices of roast meat on
bread which they were eating with great enjoyment.  They sat about and
talked together, shouting from ^ group to group and taking little
notice of us seated on the hillock.

Children came out with trays on which were slabs of pudding and with
which they were drinking what Joss told me was home-brewed ale.

a I was given a piece of the pudding which was like hot cake.  Both
Joss and I took it in our fingers and ate it.  It was good, I found.

When the eating was over the revelry began.  The two children whom we
had seen turning somersaults darted about turning cartwheels.  One man
did some conjuring tricks.  There were two violins and several mouth
organs in the camp and they played the songs the people knew and
everyone sang them.  It was a moving scene there in the light of the
campfire which glowed on the faces of men, women and children as they
sang the old songs we knew so well.  Always they were songs from Home
which many of them must have learned before they left and others had
picked up from those who had brought them across the sea.

There was one song which they sang with more feeling than any other and
that was The Miner's Dream of Home'.  This told the story of how the
miner fell asleep and dreamed.  Everyone joined in.  I remember some of
the words and I think I shall never forget them:

I saw the old homestead, the faces l lovea, I saw England's valleys
and hills.  I listened with joy As I did when a boy To the sound of the
old village bells.  The moon was shining brightly It was a night that
would banish all sin For the bells were ringing the Old Year out And
the New Year in.

As the song finished there was a deep silence in the company.  They
were in no mood to sing more for a while.  They wanted to think of the
people they had left at home; perhaps some of them longed to return and
knew they never would.

The silence was broken by the sound of horse's hoofs and a man came
riding up.  The tension was relaxed.  He cried: "Is Mr.  Madden here? 
I must see Mr.  Madden.8 Joss rose and went over to the rider who was
surrounded by a group of people.

"Oh, Mr.  Madden, sir."  I heard him say, "Mrs.  Bannock has sent me to
find you.  She says to tell you, sir, that Mr.  Bannock has not been
home all last night and not through the day and now his horse has come
back without him.  She's worried and says would you go over to the
homestead."

I heard Joss say: "Go back at once, Tim.  Tell her I'm coming over
right away.  like as not I'll be there before you."

He walked off and left me standing there.  I felt sick with rage and
anger.  She only had to send for him and he forgot my existence.  Then
I thought of Ezra and was ashamed.  What could have happened to him?  I
made my way to the blacksmith where Wattle was patiently waiting for
me.  Someone was already there.  It was Jimson.

"I'm to take you back to Peacocks, Mr.  Madden says," he told me.

Thank you, jim son I answered.

"Lets go.1 So I rode back to Peacocks with Jimson, all my pleasure in
the evening departed and a terrible anxiety about Ezra beginning to
disturb me.

I went to my room and took off my riding habit, put on my trousseau
dressing-gown and loosened my hair.

I sat up waiting.  It was midnight when Joss returned.  He came
straight to my room as I had hoped he would.

jim son brought you home all right?  " he said.

Yes.  What of Ezra?  "

ti^ i. ^ in-u auu iwn.  cu very anxious.  I can't think what's
happened.

He's missing.  I don't like it.  There must have been some accident. 
His horse coming back without him.  I'll send out search parties
tomorrow.

Isa will let me know if he turns up.  "

"You've said so often that people can get lost in the Bush," I said.

"Not a man like Ezra.  He could only have been going between the
homestead and the town.  He knows his way around blindfolded."

"You don't think he's gone..."

"Gone?"

"He might have been tired of being Isa's husband."

Joss looked at me incredulously.

"What about his horse's coming back like that?"

"He might have wanted to make it look like an accident..."

Joss shook his head and then his eyes dwelt on me almost tenderly.

"It was a bad ending to your first Saturday night."

"I do hope Ezra's all right.  I like him so much.  He was very nice to
me."

He laid his hand on my shoulder lightly and pressed it.

"I didn't want to disturb you but I thought you might be awake and
wanting to know."  Thank you," I said.

He smiled, hesitated, and I thought he was going to say something, but
he seemed to change his mind.

"Good night," he said and left me.

II.

DISCOVERY AT GROVER'S GULLY

Rumours regarding Ezra's disappearance grew as the days passed.  Some
of the stories were quite horrific.  He had tempted fate in some way.

He had always been a man who had laughed at legend.  He had never
minded going past Grover's Gully after sundown.  He had been heard to
say that Grover was an old fool and should have taken better care of
his money.

The favourite story was that he was the one who had stolen the Green
Flash, because in spite of Joss's desire to keep the theft secret the
news of it had spread like news of a lucky strike.  It was dear, said
rumour, that Ezra had found it and stolen it and the bad luck of the
stone was pursuing him.

Anything could, therefore, have happened to him.

Joss did not express his usual anger at the revival of the stories
about the ill luck of the opal.  He seemed very subdued.  I supposed he
could only think of what this meant to Isa.

Search parties had gone out in all directions, but there was no sign of
Ezra.  Some people said he had made off with the Green Flash and left
that wife of his who was not all she should be.

Three days passed while there was talk of nothing but Ezra's
disappearance.

I rode out on my own one late afternoon and as usual Wattle turned her
face towards the gap in the hills leading to Graver's Gully and the
road to the Bannock homestead.

It was a hot day and the wind was blowing from the north.  It grew
stronger and started stirring up dust.  It would be very uncomfortable
later, but at the moment it was not unpleasant hot, dry, and smelling
of the desert.

I rode through the gap and looked about me uneasily.  The place looked
desolate.  Little eddies of dust swirled just above the ground, and I
thought: The wind is certainly rising; I'd better get back soon.

"Let's go home.  Wattle," I said.

Then Wattle behaved in a most extraordinary manner.  I urged her to
turn so that we could go back through the gap in the hills but she had
grown suddenly stubborn and refused to do what I wanted.

What's wrong.  Wattle?  " I asked.  She started to move then towards
the mine.

"No, Wattle, not that way."

What had happened to her?  She was not going my way but hers.

I pulled on her reins and then Wattle did something which she had never
done before.  She showed me that I rode her so easily because it was
her wish that I should do so.  When she changed her mind and decided
not to go along with me, I must give way to her.  It was a startling
discovery.

She began to move forward.

"Wattle!"  I cried in a dismayed tone.  She ignored me and at that
moment I heard two kookaburras laughing.  They always seemed to be at
hand to witness my discomfiture, but perhaps at other times I heard
them without noticing them.

I felt a tingling horror in my spine and that I was in the presence of
something uncanny which was quite beyond my powers of understanding.

23S

Very resolutely Wattle was maKing tier way rorwara.

"Wattle, Wattle," I coaxed in vain for I could sense her indifference
to me.  She seemed, indeed, to have forgotten that she carried me on
her back.  I tried coaxing again and then a little anger; it was no
use.  She was in control.

What was she going to do?  I asked myself.  Never before had I been so
conscious of the fact that I was a novice with horses.  I could ride
well enough when all was well, but when this was not so, I was
incapable-as Joss had hinted-and at that moment I was at the mercy of
Wattle, and I knew that she was aware of something of which I was
ignorant.  Wasn't it said that horses and dogs had an extra sense,
higher powers of perception in matters which were beyond our
comprehension?

I don't know exactly what I expected, but I should not have been
surprised to see the spectre of old Grover rise up from the mine to
beckon to Wattle.

I had never been so frightened.

Wattle stopped suddenly; she pawed the ground and started to whinny.

Then she turned from the mine and made her way to the right where the
ground was very sandy and a ragged mulga bush was growing.

She pricked up her ears and began wildly pawing at the sand.  Then she
gave a sudden snort.  It was obviously one of distress.

"What's wrong.  Wattle?"  I asked.

Then I saw that she had uncovered something.  I leaned forward.

"Oh God!"  I whispered in horror, for I saw that what she had uncovered
was what was left of Ezra Bannock.

He had been shot through the head and someone had thought it safe to
bury him there under the mulga bush not far from the mine, where, but
for Wattle who had loved him, he might never have been discovered.

There was consternation throughout the community when they brought him
in.  He was taken to the homestead and the : blacksmith made a coffin
for him.  Then he was laid to rest in the graveyard on the edge of the
town and there was a full day's holiday so that all might go to the
funeral and pay their respects to Ezra.

j Joss held a meeting in the Company's offices which I ^ attended.  It
was to discuss what had happened and what was i to be done about it.

Ezra Bannock had been murdered and his murderer must be discovered.

Crimes of violence must not go unpunished.  In a community such as
this, certain laws of conduct had to be rigorously observed, so every
effort must be made to bring the murderer to justice.

Notices would be printed offering a reward of fifty pounds to anyone
who could give information about the murderer.  Everyone who had seen
Ezra on the day he disappeared was questioned.

It was disclosed that he had ridden over to Peacocks during the morning
of that day and he and Joss had been together for an hour or so.  Then
he had ridden off, presumably to go home.  Joss had gone into the town
some time later.

A terrible suspicion had come into my mind, for it occurred to me that
when Ezra had come over to Peacocks he and Joss might have been
quarrelling about Isa.  I asked myself whether the true cause of that
disagreement they had had some days before in the Company's offices was
indeed about housing one of the gougers and his family.  Was it really
about Isa and was Ezra putting his foot down at last and saying he
would have no more of it?  And if so.  No, I would not continue with
such thoughts.  1 wished I could stop thinking of Joss and Isa
together.  I had no doubt that they were lovers.  Hadn't he given her
the Harlequin Opal?  If she had not been married to Ezra she would have
married Joss, and then there would have been no question of his
marrying me.  They must both have regretted that.  Had they decided to
do something about it?  Isa was free now .  but Joss was not.  Where
were my thoughts leading me?

At the funeral Isa was swathed in black, which became her well.  Indeed
her widowhood seemed to have added an extra dimension to her charms.

She was mysterious and, I thought, not entirely desolate.  Her eyes
gleamed like topaz through a fine veil and her tawny hair seemed
brighter than ever.

Several of us rode back to the homestead afterwards where ham
sandwiches and ale had been prepared by her servants.

I found her beside me.  She said she hoped I would come and see her
some time.  It was comforting to have a woman in the neighbourhood not
so far distant I said I would call.

"Poor Ezra.  Who would have thought this could happen to him?  Who
cou7d have done it?"

I shook my head.

"I know so little of what goes on," I said.

"I'm such a newcomer."

"He cumi i. nave any enemies, everyone uxea tizra."

"You don't think he quarrelled with someone?"  I saw the speculative
light in her eyes.

"It ... could have been," she admitted.

The most likely theory is that a bushranger took his purse and shot
him.  "

"His purse was missing," said Isa.

"And it was full of sovereigns.  He liked to carry a good deal of money
around with him.  He said it made him feel rich and he used to fill his
purse every morning.  It was one of those leather ones with a ring over
the top.  You know the kind .. red leather."

"And that's missing?  It clearly must have been a thief."

"So he died for a few pounds.  Poor Ezra!  But perhaps that's too easy
a solution and it was someone who wanted him out of the way."

"Who could?"  I asked.

There might have been someone .  " I could not fathom the expression in
her eyes.

"Perhaps," she went on, 'you'll come soon.  I want to show you my
collection.  "

"You have shown me, remember ?"

"I didn't show you everything.  Some day I will."

Joss came up and she immediately turned from me to him.  I heard him
tell her that if she needed any help she was to call on him.

No, Isa had not become less attractive because she was a widow.

Joss and I rode back to Peacocks together.  Absentmindedly we made our
way past the peacocks on the lawn.  Later we sat on the terrace to take
advantage of the cooler evening air.

"What is your theory ?"  I asked tentatively.

"Robbery," he said.

"What else?"

Things are not always what they seem.  Poor Ezra's was not a very happy
existence.  "

"On the contrary, I rarely saw a man more pleased with his lot."

"You think he was contented to see his wife unfaithful to him?"

"He took a great pride in her attractiveness.2 " And you are really
suggesting that he enjoyed her infidelities?  "

There are men like that.  8 "Are you one of them ?"

I heard that gust of laughter.

"I wouldn't endure it for a moment."

 Yet you feel it all right for others to?  "- " Eveyone has a right to
act as he pleases.  If people don't like something they must find then
own way of stopping it.  "

"Do you think that's what Ezra was trying to do7' " I think Ezra was
trying to stop someone's taking his purse.  "

"Or his wife?"

"What's on your mind?"

Just that.  "

"But it was his purse that was missing."

That could have been taken as a blind.  "

"You're becoming quite a sleuth."

"I should very much like to know who killed Ezra Ban nock."

"So should we all."

I cried out passionately: "Shall we stop talking round this?  I want to
know the truth.  Did you kill Ezra Bannock?"

"I?  Why ever should I?"

There's a perfectly good motive.  You're his wife's lover.  "

Then what good would his death be to me?  I have a wife.  I'm not free
to marry Isa even if she's free to marry.  "

I didn't answer.  I was deeply shocked, for he had not denied being her
lover.

I stood up.

"I'm going in.  I find this conversation distasteful."

He was beside me.

"And," he said coldly, 'so do I. "

I went to my room and sat at the dressing-table looking at my
reflection without seeing it.  He would marry Isa if he were free, I
thought.  But he is not free because he is married to me.

Then it was as though the room was full of warning shadows.  Isa had
not been free once, but she was now.  He was not free at this moment
but why should he not be at some time in the future?

Oh Ben, I thought, what have you done?  How much did you really know
your son ?

Proud as a peacock, he could not give up what he coveted.  He wanted
above all to be in control-of the Company, of the town, of everyone.

That was how he saw himself, the supreme director of us all.  He had
two passions in his life- opals and Isa, and it seemed that he was
determined to lose neither of them.

But what of me?

I began to see very clearly that I stood in the way.

Several weeks passed.  My nights were uneasy.  Fears beset me 239 men
due oncu my lam^cs ui me mgni wouia disappear wim the light of the day
and when I went into the town I could push them to the back of my mind.
I tried to forget my apprehension by concentrating more and more on the
business and was able to take part in the discussions round the
boardroom table and even make one or two suggestions not about the
actual work, of course, but sometimes about the conditions of the
workers.  I was aware that my prestige was growing and that the
deference shown to me was not only [because I was Joss Madden's wife
and co-shareholder.  I had the great good fortune one day, in that room
where : the sorting was done, of selecting one piece about which I had
what I can only call a hunch.  I asked that it be worked on next
because I just had a feeling that under the potch was something rather
special.

I was humoured and some work was set aside that the merits of this
particular piece might be explored.  To my great joy-and I must admit
to a crowing delight in the fact -the experts were more than a little
astonished when it turned out that I had picked a winner.  There,
revealed by the fadng wheel, was as fine a piece of opal as had been
seen for many months.

|^ "She's got it!"  cried Jeremy Dickson excitedly.

"Mrs.  Madden, you're a real opal woman."

In my triumph I forgot my growing anxieties for a few hours.

But they were soon coming back to me.  In the town was the Reward
Notice to remind me.  Fifty pounds for anyone who could give
information regarding the killer of Ezra Bannock.  Then I thought of
Isa smiling secretly at Joss and the argument I had overheard and the
fact that Ezra had ridden out from Peacocks to his death.

I had to know what was thought and being said in the town and whether
there were suspicions that Joss was Ezra's murderer.  I made a habit of
going into the Trams' cook shop for a mid-morning cup of coffee.  Ethel
always left what she was doing to come and chat with me.  She had
clearly taken a fancy to me.  Moreover she was a born gossip and had
her finger on the pulse of the town.  She would know what was being
said and how people felt about everything.  When Joss laughed at me for
my regular visits I retorted that it was as well to know what people of
the town were thinking and there was no better way than chatting with
Ethel.

"I can see you're going w urmg a new u^iit .i- ^~ ---- pany," he
said.

"Don't you think that would be good ?"  I asked.

"Let's wait and see," he parried, and I fancied I saw a shadow of
concern on his face.  Was he afraid of what I might learn about him?  I
wondered.

As I sat stirring my coffee and talking with Ethel the topic soon came
round to the recent murder.

"I reckon Ezra has the Green Flash," said Ethel.

"And I'm not the only one who thinks it.  I reckon he stole it for his
wife."

"Surely you don't think she has it now?"

"It wouldn't surprise me.  There was a regular to-do when she first
came out here.  Came from Home, she did.  An actress, they said.  He'd
seen her at some theatre and fallen madly in love with her."

"Why do you think she came out here?8 To marry Ezra.  She thought he
was going to make a fortune.  She was young then.  There wasn't a man
around who wasn't crazy about her.  They hadn't seen anything like Isa
Bannock out here in the Bush.  They were all ready to be her slaves.
Even James's eyes would glitter at the sight of her.  That just suited
her.  Of course Ezra did' well.  He was one of the top men in the
Company under Ben Henniker and your husband, of course.  But he never
got as far as she wanted him to.  Now this Green Flash.  Mr.  Henniker
had hidden it all the time.  Ezra was in and out of Peacocks, and,
well"

"I can't believe that Ezra was a thief."

"It's not the same stealing the Green Flash.  It makes its own spell,
that stone.  People can't help themselves.  It's some evil spirit that
takes them over.  Possession, they call it."

I thought of my father who had loved my mother and promised to many
her.  Then he had seen the Green Rash and was ready to forget
everything for its sake.  Possession!  1 Yes, that was the word.

"I reckon he took it for Isa, and when it was his he got the bad luck
it always brings.  The bushranger was waiting for the first who came to
Grover's Gully and because his luck had turned, that one was Ezra
Bannock.  People are saying that the Green Flash ought to be found."

She was eyeing me speculatively, and I felt there was more in her mind
than she, gossip that she was, would tell me.

"All this mystery about its whereabouts makes talk," she added.

"I'm sure you're right," I said.

1 ici.  1 ucr ana weni oacK 10 the office.  At the door I met Joss.

"Well," he asked, 'been feeling the public pulse ?  8 Tes," I replied.
There's a lot of talk going on."

"Naturally.  There always is."

This is about Ezra and the Green Flash.  "

"I don't see the connection."

"People evidently think there is one."

What have you discovered?  "

"It's being whispered that Ezra stole the Green Flash because Isa
wanted it.  It would have been his for a while and because of this the
legendary bad luck sent him to Graver's Gully at the precise moment
when the bushranger was there."

I saw the tightening of his lips and the steely look I dreaded come
into his blue eyes.

"Nonsense," he said.

"Absolute nonsense."

"At least," I went on, looking straight at him, that's one theory.  "

He shrugged his shoulders impatiently and I thought: How far is he
involved?  Was he the one who had taken the Green Flash from its hiding
place that he might give it to his mistress ?  How far had his
infatuation led him ?

I felt sick and afraid.

I sat on the terrace as I often did when I returned from town and Mrs.
Laud and Lilias would bring me out a drink.  It was usually Ulias's
homemade lemonade.

On this day Mrs.  Laud brought it.

'you look disturbed," she said.

"Has anything upset you?"

"No, not really.  But I wish we could solve this mystery of Ezra
Bannock.  He was such a genial man."

"Is there really a mystery?  Wasn't it a bushranger?  His purse was
stolen after all."

Tes, I know.  "

'you don't seem to think that's what happened.  "

"It appears obvious, of course."

Tou're worried.  You mustn't let all this upset you, Mrs.  Madden.  I
get quite concerned about you.  "

Tou're always so kind and helpful, Mrs.  Laud.  You have been ever
since I came out here.  "

"Well, why not?  And you the mistress of the house.  I think you should
put all this out of your mind.  That would be the best way."

"I can't.  Did you know that some people have an idea that the murder
has somecmng lu uu wn.u aw, }ji^i j. u< " Whoever thought that ?  "

There's talk in the town.  1 "But what could Mr.  Bannock's death
possibly have to do with the Green Flash?  It's missing, isn't it?  Mr.
Henniker put it somewhere and it's been stolen."

That's the point-and perhaps we ought to do something about finding it.
"

"How, Mrs.  Madden?"

"Make every effort.  The Green Flash was stolen from this house.  We
should find out how and when it was taken.  Mr.  Madden's against it.
He doesn't want enquiries about the Green Flash and old legends
revived.

He doesn't want people to think that opals are unlucky, which they
always do when the Green Flash is talked of.  "

"He's right.  Jimson says that sort of talk is bad for business."

"We needn't stress whether it's lucky or unlucky.  What I want is to
find out the truth.  I must know what's happened to it."

"What will you do, Mrs.  Madden?"

"I'm not quite sure, but I'm going to start ferreting around."

"By yourself?1 " If I can get help, I will.  You might be able to help,
Mrs.  Laud.  "

You can be sure I'll do all I can.  "

You know who came to the house.  "

"Well, you saw at the treasure hunt-there are hundreds of them.  People
are in and out of Peacocks all the time."

The fact; remains, Mrs.  Laud, that someone came into this house, found
the hiding place, and took the Green Flash.  "

"You really think it could have been Mr.  Bannock!"

"I find it hard to believe that of him.  I liked him very much although
I had known him such a short time.  He seemed such a happy man.  It
doesn't seem possible that he could have anything on his conscience."

"Yes, that's very hard to believe.  So you're going to start making
enquiries.2 " Discreetly, not openly-because Mr.  Madden doesn't want
it.  "

No, I see he wouldn't.  " She stopped suddenly as though she had said
more than she had intended to.

Why?  " I asked sharply.

"He ... er ... wouldn't want enquiries ..."  She looked a Utde
distressed.

ii.  's Lici-auac m uus taiK about opals being unlucky," I said
firmly.

"Oh yes, of course.  That's the sole reason.  That's what I meant, of
course."

She was protesting too much.  I thought I understood what was in her
mind.  She knew of Joss's infatuation for Isa.  Isa was like one of
those princesses in the faiiy-tales of my youth.  To win my favours you
must bring me the .  " and then would follow the seemingly impossible
task which the prince always accomplished in the end.

It was becoming obvious.  She loved opals.

"I want my collection to be the finest in the world .."  How could it
be if it lacked the peer of them all?  Tou must find it for me, bring
it to me and then .  my hand in marriage .  " Wasn't that how it went
in the fairy-tales?

But they had not been free for marriage.  Isa was free now, though.

Joss wasn't.  not yet "You're shivering suddenly," said Mrs.  Laud.

"Are you cold?"

"It's nothing ... someone walking over my grave, as they say at
Home."

She smiled at me strangely, enigmatically.  I asked myself then: Are we
thinking the same thing?

12.

THE SPINET PLAYER

A few days later I made an alarming discovery.

During the last weeks the house had seemed to oppress me.  I had the
uncanny feeling that there was something there from which I must
escape.  I thought a great deal about Ben because his personality was
stamped on Peacocks.  Lately, I suppose because I was in a rather
nervous state, I had fancied I sensed his presence there.  I believed
that if there had been a close bond between people it did not
necessarily end with death.  He was after all the only person who had
really loved me.  For a short while I had been happy in that love, and
when he died I realized how alone and desolate I was.  I suppose
everyone longs to be loved, and those who do so most are those who have
missed the good fortune of enjoying that which I have come to believe
is the most desirable thing in life.  My childhood had been loveless. 
I was an encumbrance from the first.  My own mother had found life
intolerable and had lett me.  l could not say mat my cnuoflooa naa
oeea unhappy because it was not in my nature to be unhappy, and in
those days I had not missed what I had never known.  In fact, it was
having been loved and cherished by Ben that had taught me what I had
missed. Perhaps that was why I felt this special bond between us, and I
fanded that his spirit was in the house warning me in some way because
I was in danger.  Everything had certainly not turned out as he had
planned it should.  He had bound joss and me together, but such
interference in the lives of other people could be dangerous.  Had he
really known how far Joss would go to get what he wanted?  Had he ever
thought that I might be the wife who was in the way of a ruthless man
and because of this I coud be in a situation of acute peril?

Who was it who crept up to my room at night and would on the last
occasion have come in if the door had been unlocked?  Why?  For what
purpose?  Was it Joss?  I believed it was.  Had he come to plead with
me to let us begin a new life together?  No, he was too proud for that.
He had always said he would not force himself on me.  Then why?  And
what did it mean?

Was I right in thinking that there was some element in the house which
was trying to warn me ?

So when I came in and found Peacocks quiet I often had the desire to
get out of it.  Sometimes I sat in the pond garden but more often I
chose the peace of the orchard.  There among the lemon and orange trees
I could relax and think about my day at the offices and what I had
learned.  I would then admonish myself for my foolish fancies, and
there among the oranges, lemons, and guavas I felt a return to common
sense.

I had brought several books from the offices and these were teaching me
a great deal of opal lore.  I liked to take one of them to the orchard,
find a shady spot and sit and read, as I did so memorizing facts with
which I loved to startle people, in particular Joss.  I could see that
he was impressed, though he never said so, but there would be a certain
lifting of the corners of his mouth and twinkle in his eyes.  I found
this very gratifying because I knew that I was arousing his grudging
admiration.

It was there in the orchard that I made the discovery.

The grass was coarse and where the earth showed through it was brown
and cracked.  I suppose that was why the spot

wmcn naa Deen aug up recently was noticeable.

Looking up from my book, my eyes went straight to it and I saw at once
that the earth had been turned over and that something looked as though
it was protruding.  I studied it for a few seconds without moving.  The
sun caught it and it glittered like gold.

I went over.  It was gold.  As I pulled it out I was limp with horror,
for what I had found was a red leather purse with a gold band, and I
knew at once that it had belonged to Ezra Bannock, and that he had
carried it with him when he was shot at Graver's Gully.

Who had buried it in the orchard at Peacocks?

I could no longer stay in the orchard.  I went to my room in a haze of
horror and indecision.

I could not make up my mind what to do.  The theory that a bushranger
had shot Ezra was false.  What bushranger would come to Peacocks, steal
into the orchard in order to bury the purse there?

There seemed to be one answer to the mystery.  Someone at Peacocks had
killed Ezra Bannock and taken his purse to make it look like robbery
and then buried the purse in the orchard.

There was only one I knew who had a motive.

With Ezra out of the way, Isa was free.  But he was not.  He was
married to me and while I lived he was not free.  While , I lived . 
That was the thought that kept recurring.  It was becoming like a
nightmare.

I took out the purse and examined it.

"He had a red leather purse full of sovereigns.  He used to fill it up
every morning ..."  Isa had said something like that.

What was it that Joss aroused in me?  Was it love?  I wanted to protect
him whatever he had done.  I wanted to go to him and say: "I have found
Ezra's purse.  You hid it in the orchard ... not very cleverly.  The
ground was so parched it was obvious.  We must get rid of it..."

But why should?  he bury the purse in the orchard?  Why had he not got
rid of it somewhere in the Bush?  It seemed like a panic-stricken
action.  Strangely enough I could believe he might be a murderer, but
not that he would ever suffer panic.

He would say to me: "So you believe that of me.  Why don't you betray
me?  Why involve yourself?"

"Because I'm a fool," I would say.

"I have the same feeling lor you as you nave for isa Dannm-K..  re
maps nuw yuu unaer- stand."

But I would say nothing of the sort.  I did not know what to do and
being in doubt I put the purse into a drawer and then was afraid that
it might be discovered.  It was the perfect clue which would lead to
the murderer.

I must tell him.  He would lie.  He would say he hadn't put it there.

But who else.  Joss?  I asked.  Who else?

I spent a sleepless night and twice rose to look at the purse in the
drawer to assure myself that it was there and I hadn't dreamed the
whole thing.

The next day Joss had left when I went down and I rode into the town
with Jimson.  We talked as we rode but I don't remember what about.  I
could think of nothing but that red purse with the pieces of orchard
earth staining it.

As soon as I returned to Peacocks I went straight up to my room and as
I entered I knew that something had changed.  One of the drawers was
not properly shut and instinct told me that someone had been there
looking for something.  I went immediately to the drawer in which I had
put the red purse.  It was not there.

I sat down in a chair and thought of what this meant.  Whoever had
killed Ezra now knew that I had discovered the purse and taken it from
its hiding place.

It was difficult to appear normal.  I tried to think what would be the
best line of action.  I told myself that as soon as I saw Joss I should
know because even he must be shaken by what had happened.

I went to the window and stood there looking out across the grounds to
the arid] Bush.  I could just make out the calico tents on the fringe
of the town.  As I stood there I saw Mrs.  Laud drive in with the
buggy.

She often took it down to the town and brought back provisions which
were carried into the house by the servants.  She looked up and saw me,
lifting her hand in acknowledgement.

I went to the hall.  I felt an urgent need to get back to normality.

"Ifs very hot, isn't it?"  I said.

"My goodness, yes."

"You should have taken Lilias with you."

"I think she sees a little too much of Jeremy Dickson."

"He's a very pleasant young man.  Why don't you like him, Mrs. Laud?"

aiic ulu" i. ia vci uui presscu ner ups ngnuy togetner.

You must be worn out," I went on.

"Why don't you have a 1 cup of tea?"

i "I thought I'd go to my room and make one.  Would you ( care to join
me, Mrs.  Madden?"  "Why, yes, I'd like to."

We climbed to her room and she put the kettle on the ] spirit lamp.  It
was a very cosy little room with a bunch of dried leaves in a pot in
the fireplace and on the polished table 1 a runner of red plush.  The
chairs had tapestry seats and I ] was sure she had made them herself.
In the corner was a what-not on which were displayed miniature pieces
of china, and there was a cuckoo clock on the wall.

She watched my gaze.

"I brought these things out from England and when I came here Mr.
Henniker let me furnish my own room.  I appreciated that."

That must have made it seem very homely.  "

She made the tea.  She seemed upset about something and I determined to
find out what.  It took my mind off that other terrifying matter.

"I hope this is to your taste, Mrs.  Madden.  Tea doesn't taste right
here to me.  Not like home.  They say it's the water."

Tou were going to tell me about Mr.  Dickson," I prompted.

She looked at me in a startled fashion.

"Was I?"

Tou .  er .  don't like this friendship between him and Lilias?  "

"I wouldn't go so far as to say that."

"How far would you go?"

"I'm being silly, I suppose.  I wouldn't want her to make a mistake.  I
suppose mothers do feel like that about their daughters.2 " Has he done
anything to upset you ?  "

"Oh no... not him."

"Someone else... then?"

She looked at me in a worried way and she reminded me of an animal
caught in a trap.

"I have been in this house so long," she said, which seemed to me
straying from the point.  There I was at my wits' end .  "

"I know, and Mr.  Henniker offered you the post."

"I brought my children up here.  I was treated ... as though I
belonged."

"Mr.  Heimiker was a wonderfully kind man.8 " I couldn't bear anything
to go wrong in this house.  I just don't like what's being said.  "

"What was that?"  I asked sharply.

She looked at me blankly then she said: "When you think back it's hard
to put your finger on it.  It's.  implication ... or something like
that."

"Who implied what?"

She looked over her shoulder as though she were seeking some way of
escape.

"You're the last one I should be saying this to."

"Why?  Does it concern me?"

"It's a lot of lies ... plain lies..."

"Now, Mrs.  Laud, you have said too much to stop.  Someone's been
telling lies about me, have they?"

"Oh no, not about you, Mrs.  Madden.  Everybody's sorry for you."

"Why are they sorry for me They say it's a pity Mr.  Henniker made that
will.  They say it's forced things.  Mrs.  Bannock's not liked in the
town.  She's not liked at all.

Oh, Mr.  Madden would be angry if he knew.  I really mustn't say any
more.  He'd turn me out.  Perhaps I deserve it for talking to you like
this.  "

"I want to know what they're saying."

"If I tell you, will you promise to say nothing to him?"

To my husband, you mean?  "

Tes, please don't tell him that I talked to you like this.  He'd be so
angry .  Heaven knows where it would end.  It's only talk, that's all,
but it upsets me.  I told them it was a lot of lies .  but that doesn't
stop them.  They wouldn't say anything to you, of course.

You're the last one they'd talk to.  "

"Mrs.  Laud, I want to know what this is all about."

"It's not exactly what was said.  Ifs the looks ... the nods ... and "
Implications," I said.

"What was it?"

The words came out in a rush.  They said they'd always known how it was
between them.  Ezra put up with it for a long time because of his
position in the Company.  Then he wouldn't have it.  and that's why he
died.  "

"No!"  I cried fiercely, forgetting that it was exactly what I had
thought myself.

"It's impossible."

They say she has the Green Flash, that he took it from its hiding place
and gave it to her.  "

"I never heard such nonsense," I cried firmly.

Ts(o more did I, but it upsets me .  and you just caught me at a bad
moment.  "

I'm glad you told me, Mrs.  Laud.  But let's forget it, shall t we? 
"

She hesitated.

"Well, I don't believe it, of course, but I ^ think .  well I just
think you ought to be on your guard ...s ( I stared at her and she bit
her lip in embarrassment and went stammering on: '... on your guard
against gossip."  ] "Cuckoo, Cuckoo," said the clock on the wall, and
went on repeating his silly cry to denote the hour.

] When I went into the town I imagined people watched me furtively.

They were sorry for me, asking themselves how much I knew.  In a place
like this everyone knew everyone else's business.  The notices asking
for information about Ezra's murder looked out at me from every post.

i It was an uneasy town.  The cosy theory was that Ezra had been shot
by a bushranger who was now miles away, the only other alternative
being that we had a murderer in our midst.  Murderers had to have
motives.  I knew that the murderer was someone who came to Peacocks and
was such a frequent visitor that no one would notice when he went into
the orchard to bury a purse.

When I went into the offices Jeremy was waiting for me.  He wanted to
show me the finished product of that opal I had had such a feeling
about.

"You can be proud to have your judgement proved correct," he told me.

"Does it really mean I'm learning or was it just good luck?"

"It was pure hunch and that's what we all wait for."  He said he would
make tea and did so.  I felt a great urge to talk to him about my
discovery and my fears, for it occurred to me that he was one of the
few people I could talk to; but I knew that would be unwise.  I brought
the subject round to the Green Flash.

"Have you heard the rumour that Ezra stole it and died as a result?"  I
asked.

"I never take any notice of rumours like that' " I suppose there's just
a possibility that it might be true.  "

"In the first place Ezra was no thief.  He would never have stolen
anything."

"His wife has a fine collection.  Suppose he wanted to add the best of
all to it."

Jeremy firmly shook his head.

"If the Green Rash could be found it would be hdpful," he said.

"Ah yes.  But where is it?  I only wish I knew where to start looking
for it.  You see, it's very awkward because Joss doesn't want to start
fussing about it."

Jeremy wrinkled his brows.

"It's very strange," he said.

"Perhaps he's making secret investigations."

"Since I am a joint owner I think he would have consulted me.  Can you
suggest anything that I might do?"

"Well, presumably it was there when Mr.  Henniker left.  There was
obviously no break in, so it must have been taken by someone who was
known to the house.  That could have been anyone at the works because
they could come or go without much notice being taken.  You might start
questioning the servants.  And you can be sure I'll keep my eyes and
ears open and do everything I can."

Thanks.  "

The door opened suddenly and Joss looked in.

"Oh," he said, 'cosy chat, I see!  " and was about to go when Jeremy
said: " Did you want me?  "

"Later will do," replied Joss and disappeared.

I left the office soon after that and went back to Peacocks.  I lay on
my bed with the blinds shutting out the heat.  I could not concentrate
on reading and kept thinking of Joss's burying the purse in the orchard
and the more I thought of it, the more absurd it seemed.  How simple it
would, have been to have thrown it away in the Bush which the suspected
bushranger might easily have done.

I was startled suddenly by a gentle pat on my door.  It was so light I
scarcely heard it.  I called "Come in' but there was no answer so I
went to the door and looked into the corridor.

"Is anyone there?"  I called.

There was still no answer.  Then from above I heard the sound of the
spinet.  It was a Chopin waltz.

I wondered who in the house played the spinet and my curiosity sent me
to the stairs leading to the gallery.  When I was half way up the
stairs the music stopped abruptly.  I opened the door of the gallery
and went in.

There was no one there.

I looked round in dismay.  If someone had been in here playing I must
surely have seen whoever it was coming out of the room.

Had I imagined it?  No.  I had distinctly heard it.

As I came downstairs I heard someone in the hall.  It was Mrs.  Laud
just coming in.

"It's hot in the town," she said.

Have you been ordering again?  You should have gone this morning.  "

"A few things I had forgotten.  You look startled, Mrs.  0 Madden."

"I thought I heard someone playing the spinet in the gallery."

Oh no, I don't think so.  Nobody's touched it for years.  Mr.  Henniker
used to play it sometimes.  He had funny fancies for a man such as he
was.  He used to say to me: "Emmeline 1 -" he used to call me Emmeline,
always my full name'Emmeline, when I play this I fancy I'm calling
someone from the grave .  " He had this strange feeling, you know.

She died .  of a broken heart, he said, and if he had stayed in England
he could have saved her.  Funny you should have fancied you heard it
playing.  " * " It didn't seem like fancy.  "

"I can't think what else, Mrs.  Madden.  I can't really " Oh, well," I
shrugged my shoulders.

"It's not important.8 But it was, because I was certain I had heard
someone there, and I could not understand how that could possibly be
the case.

Later that day, after sundown, I went up to the gallery.  It looked
ghostly in the candlelight, for only a few of those on the wall sconces
were kept lighted.  It could be a blaze of light when there was a
party. I could almost make myself believe that I sensed a presence
there.  Did people really return, people who had taken their lives and
could not rest?  Perhaps my mother would want to take care of me
especially because she had left me to the far from tender care of my
grandmother. What was the matter with me?  Finding the purse had
unnerved me, so that I could really believe that it was my mother who
had tapped on the door and that in playing the spinet she was letting
me know that she was watching over me.

When I came back to Peacocks the next afternoon Jeremy Dickson rode
with me.

"I shall be going away for a short time," he said.

Really?  Where?  "

Mr.  Madden spoke to me yesterday after you had left.  He wants someone
to go to the Sydney office and he suggests that I go.  "

I felt a mingling of disappointment and exhilaration.  I should miss
Jeremy, and yet what if Joss was sending him off because he knew that I
was rather friendly with him?  That could mean that he was not
indifferent to that friendship.

I had sensed that he was a little piqued by it.

"Are you pleased ?"  I asked Jeremy.

"I've become too enthusiastic about our plan to track down the Green
Hash.  Wouldn't it be strange if the answer was in Sydney?"

"I can hardly think that's so."

"Why not?  If someone took it would they stay here with it?"

"But we said it had to be someone who lived here ... someone who could
come in and out without being noticed."  That may be.

However, I'll drop hints about it when I'm in Sydney.  Ifs amazing what
comes to light during casual conversations.  1 I found comfort in
talking to him and missed him when two days later he left for Sydney.
Joss was sardonic as we rode into the town.

"I'm sorry to deprive you of your playmate," he said.

"Playmate?"  I retorted angrily.

"Workmate, you mean."  Tou and he always seemed to be enjoying each
other's company.  "

"He treated me like an intelligent being, that's why."

"Oh come, there's not a man in the Company who doesn't salute your
intelligence.  But you can start looking into other facets of the
business now.  You've spent too long with the facing wheels."

"Even you had to admit my hunch proved a good one."

"I've never denied it.  But you can't live on the glory of one hunch
all your opal-working days.  You go and look through the books with
Jimson Laud.  Accounting is a very important part of the business."

"What's happening about Ezra Bannock?"  I asked.  His expression
changed.

"What do you mean Are you nearer to discovering his murderer?2 " It's
hopeless.  Quite clearly it was a bushranger.  I expect Ezra put up a
fight and that was that.  "

"His purse was taken.  I thought it might have been found."  He stared
at me in amazement.

"His purse!  You don't think the thief would keep that, do you?  He'd
throw it away ... and quickly.  He wouldn't want to keep something that
could incriminate him.1 It was a red purse with a gold ring."

Yes, that came out in the enquiry.  "

But it was never found .  ?  "

"Did you expect it would be?  There must be hundreds of such purses in
this neighbourhood."

I wanted to tell him, but I couldn't.  It would be like accusing him of
murder.  He would never forgive me .  particularly if he were guilty.

It was true that there were hundreds of such purses.  Perhaps that one
had been lying in the orchard for a long time.  But then why had
someone later taken it from the drawer in my room?

We reached the office and I went to Jimson's department, but couldn't
concentrate.  I could think of nothing but Isa and Joss .  together.

I should never forget that moment when she had shown me the Harlequin
Opal and blatantly confessed that Joss had given it to her.

When I left the offices, instead of riding back to Peacocks I decided
to go to the homestead to see Isa.

I left Wattle with one of the grooms and went into the house where, in
the hall, I immediately noticed a big trunk which looked as though it
were ready for imminent removal.

A servant took me into the cool chintzy drawing-room and I had only
been there a few moments when Isa came in.  She looked beautiful in
flowing black chiffon-secret-eyed, I thought, and predatory.

"Jessica, how nice of you to take pity on me.8 " I thought I would come
and see you.  You did invite me.  "

"Oh, please, you mustn't make excuses.  Haven't I always told you that
I love callers ?"

"It must be lonely for you now."

"Oh, people are so good.  They call often."

A famt smile at the lips.  Joss, I thought.

"I'll ring for tea," she said.

"Oh, what should we do without tea?

It's our refuge from this thirst-parching heat' She rang for tea and
asked how I was getting on with the Company.

"I've heard you're something of a genius."

"Whoever told you that?"

These things get round.  I think you're going to be a martinet.  You'll
make them all keep their noses to the grind stone.  "

That's nonsense.  I happen to be very interested.  "

"It's clever of you.  Processes and all that.  All I can do is enjoy
the finished product."

"You said that you would one day show me the rest of your
collection."

"Didn't I show you once?"

Yes, when you had acquired the Harlequin Opal.  "

"A gem.  It was good of Joss."

"I'm sure he enjoyed giving it to you " He knew it would be in good
hands.  "

"It's not the best in your collection though, is it?"

She looked at me slyly and shook her head.

"What would you say is the finest opal you possess ?"

"Ezra used to say: " You shouldn't talk so much about your
collection.

One of these days someone will come along and steal it.  "

"But you didn't take his advice."

"I've always found that advice is something always to listen to but
only take when you want to."

"Now that I know a little more about opals I should appro- date your
collection so much more."

"Oh yes, you were a novice when you first saw it.  But not so much so
that you couldn't recognize the qualities of the Harlequin."

They were rather obvious, as I should think others in your collection
would be.  "

"Oh yes, of course.  How is Wattle?  It was a shock for her to discover
Ezra.  Isn't it strange, but for that horse his death would have
remained a mystery forever.  It's rather frightening, isn't it ... when
you think of what can happen in a place like this.  I wonder how many
bodies have been buried in the Bush with never a faithful Wattle to
unearth them.  So you saw the groom and the servant who brought you the
tea.  We might be alone but for them.  Did you tell Joss you were
coming to see roe?"

"I didn't.  I may do.  Or perhaps you will."

She opened her 'eyes very wide.

"Do you think I shall see him?  Is he coming over?"

"Is he?"  I asked.

"Are you going to show me the rest of your collection?"

"No," she answered.

"Why not?"

"Guess."

"Is there something so valuable there that you'd rather not show it?1
<

There are certainly valuable stones there.  " She laughed suddenly.

"Oh, I know what you're thinking.  The elusive Green h; Flash.  Do you
know what they're saying in the town?  That sc Ezra.  stole it and gave
it to me and that was why he died o1 because it brought him bad luck.
Do you think I'd want bad ti luck?"

"You wouldn't believe in the bad luck, would you?2 I " I'm very
superstitious.  And the reason I shall not show you my collection has
nothing to do with the Green Flash.

" V "

What, then?  "

b "It's packed away."

"Are you sending it away?8 She nodded.

"It's going with me.  I shall be leaving for England in a few weeks."

"Leaving for England!  Leaving... here I' c Tor a holiday.  I might
come back.  I need to get away now that Ezra's gone."

Tou are going.  alone?  " 1 The tiger eyes gleamed.

"You ask too many questions," she said.  I wondered what she was
hinting at.

I left soon after.  I did not want to be out after sundown.

' The house was quiet when I arrived at Peacocks.  Joss had not yet
returned from the town.  I was very uneasy because I felt there was
something significant about Isa's departure.  How would Joss feel about
her going?  If he were indeed madly in love with her he would certainly
be upset.  I could not wait to see him.

I mounted the stairs to my room and once again I heard the notes of the
spinet.  I took the stairs two at a time but when I reached the landing
the playing had stopped.  I went into the gallery.  No one was there.

I looked all around.  The only explanation was that, unless there was
another way out of the gallery, the spinet-player could only be someone
who did not have to take account of walls.

I sat down in one of the chairs and looked round the place.  As usual,
the sound of music had touched me deeply.  Perhaps I wanted to believe
it was my mother returned from the dead to care for me.  But why.
suddenly?  What of all those years I had spent in the Dower House?

Surely I had needed her care then?

Ben had given me a temporary stability; he had changed me; helped me
to grow up; then he had married me off to Joss whose affections were
already engaged and who had agreed to the marriage purely for gain.

The significance of my theories was startling.  Only now did my mother
think that the time had come for her to protect me.  So .  I was in
danger.

Yes, I could see it.  Something evil was here.  It was in this
gallery.

I could easily imagine.  I could hear a voice warning me.  Be
careful.

You are in danger.

I sat still, my senses strained.  Why play the spinet?  Why not come to
me and talk to me and tell me plainly what threatened me?  Supernatural
manifestations were never straightforward.  They were always implied in
some strange and unearthly way.

Then suddenly I heard the sound of hysterical weeping.  I went quickly
to the door of the gallery and listened.  It was coming from the
upstairs quarters.  I ran up.  The door of Mrs.  Laud's room was
slightly open and it was from there that the sounds were emerging.

"Is anything wrong?"  I cried.

I went into the room.  The three Lauds were there, Jimson, Lilias and
their mother.  It was Ulias who was half sobbing, half laughing. 
Jimson had his arm about her.

"What's the matter?21 asked.

Mrs.  Laud looked distressed.

"Now you've disturbed Mrs.  Madden.  Oh, I from sorry.  Poor Lilias was
a bit upset.  Her brother and I have been trying to comfort her."

Why?  What's wrong?  "

Mrs.  Laud shook her head and looked at me appealingly as though
begging me not to ask questions.

Lilias pulled herself together and said: "I'm all right now, Mrs.
Madden.  I don't know what came over me."  She was obviously trying
hard to control herself.

"Just a little personal matter," murmured Jimson.

"I was in the gallery and I heard sounds of crying," I said.

"In the gallery," repeated Lilias and there was a tremor in her
voice.

"I thought I heard the spinet again."

There was a brief silence, then Jimson said: "It must be out of tune.

I've heard that spinets have to be tuned frequently.  "

"Are you sure that everything's all right?"  I asked.

"Oh yes, Mrs.  Madden," Mrs.  Laud assured me.

"We can look after Lilias.1

p.  p. 257 I "I'm only sorry that we disturbed you," said Jimson.

"Yes," echoed lilias meekly.

"I'm very, very sorry, Mrs.  Madden."  I went out.  There was a great
deal that puzzled me about that family.

Mrs.  Laud came to my room while I was changing for dinner.

"May I come in for a moment, Mrs.  Madden?"  she asked.

"I wanted to have a word with you and tell you how sorry I am for what
happened this afternoon.  It was dreadful that we should have disturbed
you."

"Oh please, Mrs.  Laud, it was nothing.  I'm only sorry for Ulias's
trouble."

"Well, that's it, Mrs.  Madden.  She's a little upset.  You can guess
what it is, perhaps."

I looked at her blankly.

"Ifs this Mr.  Dickson.  She's upset because he's been sent to
Sydney."

"Oh, I understand."

"She's very taken with him.  I've been against her marrying, but
perhaps I'm wrong."

"Have they talked of marrying ?"

There's nothing been said officially, you understand, but Lilias was
very upset when he went away.  "

"But he's only gone for a short time."

"She's got some idea that Mr.  Madden might want him to stay
permanently in Sydney."

"I didn't gather that' Tou would know, of course.  I keep forgetting
you're one of the directors of the Company.  It seems so strange for a
lady to be in that position."

"It was Mr.  Henniker's idea."

"Oh, I know he was a one for ideas.  Well, I thought I'd better explain
about Lilias."

"Don't think any more about it, Mrs.  Laud."

lilias seemed to have recovered at dinner time.  The conversation was,
as usual, about business.  I was able to join in now and I always
enjoyed doing so.  But suddenly my pleasure was shattered when Joss
said: "I think a trip to England will be necessary in the not too
distant future."

I stared at him in amazement.

"It seems we have only just arrived here," I said.

That's how it is in business," he replied easily.

"One can never be sure when something is going to arise."

What is this that has arisen?  8 "New markets are opening up in
London. There's a growing demand there for black Australian opals. 
Naturally we war^ to exploit that.2 " So you are proposing to go to
England ?  "

"Nothing definite yet.  Ifs just something that may well l
necessary."

I felt deflated and wretched.  It was so easy to understanc^ Isa was
going to England, so he would go too.  I dare say ^ would be very
discreet.  She would leave and then he wouly discover that he had to go
too.  He was already paving th^ way.

I no longer had any appetite, and as soon as we left th^ table I made
an excuse to go to my room.  I had noticed th^ way in which Joss had
looked at me when he had made th announcement that he was about to go
to England.  It seeme^i as though he were waiting for me to protest.

I won't give him that satisfaction, I thought.  But I shall 1^ him know
that I am aware that the reason for his sudden desire to leave for
England is not due to business but to Isa.

I had made up my mind that when Jeremy Dickson returnee I would tell
him about my discovery of the red purse.  could talk to him freely.

Then I told myself that I could dA no such thing because it was an
implied accusation agains^ Joss.  How could I bring myself to talk
about the red purse?

I had never felt so alone in the whole of my life.

I came home one afternoon to a quiet house and went to^ my room.  As I
stood there, my hand on the door handle, ) heard again that ghostly
touch on the spinet keys.

I ran upstairs as fast as I could.  It was the same procedure The music
stopped and there was no one seated at the spinel Someone was playing
tricks on me.  And as I looked roun<) the gallery I noticed that there
was a difference.  One of th^ curtains which hung at intervals along
the walls in the manner of the gallery at Oakland was disarranged.  I
went to it anq drew it right back.  I had disclosed a door which I had
never^.  known was there before.  A light shone through the mist now
Someone had been playing the spinet and stepped behind th^ curtain and
left the gallery before I arrived by way of that^ door.

This must be the answer for the door was not quite shut, That time the
trickster had had to escape in too much of ^ hurry to disguise his
escape.

2?  I pushed open the door and peered into darkness.  I felt with my
foot.

It was a stair.  Cautiously-for I was in complete darkness-I stepped
down two steps.  Then something shifted under me.  I clutched at
something to save myself.  It was a banister but I couldn't see it.  I
felt my feet slide from under me and I was seated on something dank and
cold.

So shocked was I that I was unable to move for some moments.  I was
aware of the sound of heavy objects falling, with bumping movements as
though they were falling down stairs.

I called out: "Help!  Help!"  and tried to stand up.  My eyes were
growing accustomed to the darkness and I could make out this staircase
which seemed to go down into gloom.

Then I heard someone shouting from below.

"What is it?  What's wrong?"

It was Mis Laud's voice.

I called out: "I'm here, Mrs.  Laud.  I've fallen."

Did you come from the gallery?  I'll come up there .  "

I sat there waiting.  I realized what had happened.  I had started down
a staircase which was blocked in some way.  I had had a narrow escape
for I should have had a very bad fall if I had not found the banister
in time and been able to save myself.

Mrs.  Laud appeared behind me.

"Whatever's happened?  Let me help you, Mrs.  Madden.  Just a moment,
I'll get a candle.  It's that old staircase."

I stood up gingerly and she half dragged me back into the gallery.

"I saw the door open," I said.  Td no idea there was a door there.  ""
It was hidden by that curtain.  There's a stairway between this floor
and the one below.  It hasn't been used for years.  Someone must have
put boxes in there at some time and used it as a sort of cupboard.  "

"Ifs very dangerous," I said.

"I don't remember anyone's using it for years.  Just stand up, will
you, Mrs.  Madden.  I don't think you've broken any thing.  How do you
feel?"

"Stiff and sore and rather shaken.  I thought I'd broken a leg or
something."

"You could have done yourself some real damage.  Perhaps I should help
you to your room.  I could get you something.  They say a cup of tea
with plenty of sugar is good for that sort of shock" I just want to
sit here for a moment and think.  I heard the playing this afternoon.
"

She looked uneasy.

"Did you really.  Mis Madden?8 " You think I imagined it, don't you ?
"

Well, people do imagine things when they're a bit wrought up, don't
they?  "

"I didn't know I was wrought up " Well," she flapped her hand
vaguely.

"Everything .. l " Everything?  2 I insisted.

"Well, Mr.  Madden talking of going off like that and the way things
are."

It was impossible to keep secrets from people who shared one's
household.  I dare say there was a great deal of talk about my
relationship with Joss.

I said: "What I should like to know is why mat door was open.  No one
has used that staircase for years, you say.  But someone has been using
it lately, I think, someone who has been playing the spinet and
escaping by it.  I think that today whoever it was didn't forget to
shut that door but left it open for a purpose."

"Who could have used the stab-case with all those things on the
stairs?"

"Someone who knew they were there ... someone who put them there ..
knowing that I should see the open door and investigate.8 " Oh no, Mrs.
Madden, he wouldn't go as far as that.  "

"He?  Who?8 " Whoever it is who is playing these tricks with the
spinet

That's what you said, isn't it, it's someone playing tricks.  "

"I have got to get to the bottom of this, Mrs.  Laud.  pon't move
anything on that staircase.  I'm going to see what is actually
there."

"Well, Mrs.  Madden, there's a door on the landing below this.  It's so
unobtrusive you'd hardly notice ifs there.  I put a curtain over it
since no one uses it as a straicase.  As you've seen, ifs dark and
dangerous.  It looks to me as if someone used it as a cupboard and
piled boxes on the stairs."

"Anyone would see on opening the door down there that it was a
staircase and not a cupboard, surely.8 " I can't think how it
happened," said Mrs.  Laud helplessly.

I took a candle, lighted it, and peered down the staircase.  I could
see the huddle of boxes on the lower stairs.

"We'd better clear it out and open it," I said.

"I don't like (he idea of these secret places."

And as I was speaking I knew mat someone had lured me

on to that staircase, had put the boxes there to trap me, someone who
had hoped that I would have an accident .  Aa or perhaps break my neck.
I knew it was not the spirit of my so' mother-or anyone who cared for
me-who had lured me to ou the gallery with the spinet playing.  to It
was someone who wished me out of the way.

As I rode into the town next morning for I had suffered little physical
effect from yesterday's adventure.  tv I said to Joss: "Did you know
there was a staircase con- bl necting the gallery with the corridor on
the lower floor?"

I watched him carefully as I asked the question.  His expression did
not change as he said: "Oh yes, I remember.  I used to play hide and
seek a lot when I was a boy.  It was one of my favourite games, and I
remember using that stair- c< case."

"You haven't used it lately?"

Td forgotten about it.  What made you mention it ?  "

"I discovered it yesterday."

"We ought to open it and use it."  n Thafs what I said.  Did you ever
play the spinet ?  "

"What makes you ask?"

"Just curiosity."

"As a matter of fact I did."

I laughed.  ^ "What's amusing?"

The thought of your sitting at that dainty stool rendering a Chopin
nocturne.  "

"I wasn't bad at it.  I'll show you one day."

"Have you played recently?"

"Haven't touched it for years.  I expect it's out of tune.  We ought to
get someone to look at it.  I can't think who.  Spinet- care would
hardly be a profitable profession in these parts.  I can't think why
Ben ever brought it out here."

"For sentimental reasons, I believe."

"And they are rarely sound ones."

How could he be so calm, so matter of fact?  He didn't want me.  I was
well aware of that, but would he really play the spinet and try to make
me break my neck?  Ruthless I knew him to be, in love with Isa and
making little secret of it.  There were people in the town who
suspected him of murdering Ezra-Mrs.  Laud had hinted at it-but what
was the use of getting rid of Ezra if nothing was to be done to remove
the other encumbrance?

1 must lace me tacts, it l did not exist ne could many isa.  They had
been lovers for a long time without contemplating marriage, so why
should they suddenly desire it?

I realized that it was not so much that I believed Joss would not
despatch me but that I could not believe he would have used such a
method.  Why not?  Above all, my death must appear natural.  It would
be too much of a coincidence if I were supposed to be shot by a
bushranger.

In Fancy Town Joss was a great power; people were afraid of him.  But
even he would have to be careful how he committed murder.

13.

IN THE HAUNTED MINE

The next morning when one of the maids came in with my hot water she
brought a letter to me.  I was astonished because we collected our mail
from Fancy Town when it came in from Sydney every Wednesday and for a
letter to be delivered at the house was unheard of.

"How did it come?"  I asked, turning it over in my hand.

"It was found in the hall, Mrs.  Madden.  One of the servants Saw it
lying there and it was addressed to you so I brought it up."

It had obviously been delivered by hand and the writing on the envelope
was vaguely familiar.  I opened it.  My dear Mrs.  Madden (I read), I
have made a discovery as I hoped I might.  I rode in late last night to
drop this letter at Peacocks.  I must see you alone and in secret.

My enquiries have revealed so much and it would be very unwise for us
to meet openly at this stage.  You are in danger.  So am I. I have
something to show you and it is known that I have this.  I hope you
won't think this is too melodramatic, but I assure you there is
something melodramatic about the whole matter and both our lives could
be in jeopardy.  Therefore I am going to ask you to meet me tomorrow .
that will be today when you get this letter.  I have tried to think of
a suitable meeting place, for I assure you it must be very secret, and
I have decided that the best would be Glover's Gully.  Could you be
there at three o'clock?  There should be no one about at that time but
we must be very careful.  I'm going to suggest that we meet m me
underground cnamoers 01 1 the mine.  There is nothing to fear and
descent is easy by ha: means of the old ladder there.

soi Please don't show this letter to anyone.  That's very im- ou port
ant You will understand the reason for this when we to) meet.

Sincerely, I's Jeremy Dickson.

The words danced before my eyes.  It sounded wildly tw dramatic but
then everything connected with the Green Flash bl-' was-and I was
certain that this was connected with that stone.

Of course I would do it.  I was not afraid, although the mine was said
to be haunted.  I had always liked and trusted Jeremy Dickson.  I could
scarcely wait for three o'clock.

I did not want anything to be different so I went as usual with Joss in
the morning.  If I was more silent than usual, so t( was he.  We left
each other at the doors of the offices and I went into Jimson Laud's
department.  n I could concentrate on nothing that morning.

I had seen some of the chambers of disused mines and f would take a
candle with me so that I should be able to find a my way through the
passages.

I left just after midday and went back to Peacocks, which I had to pass
on my way to the Gully.  In my room I picked's up the candle and
matches and set out, confident that no one had seen me leave.

There was not a touch of wind nor a cloud in the sky.  The day was at
its hottest.  I rode fast, so eager was I to reach our rendezvous in
time.

The sun was high in the sky-a white blazing light-and as I rode I left
a cloud of dust behind me.  The song of cicadas filled the ah" but I
was so accustomed to it that I scarcely J noticed it.  Away on the
horizon a kangaroo leaped in his ungainly progress among the dumps of
mulga. Overhead the inevitable kookaburras laughed together and never
before had I felt so conscious of the loneliness of the Bush.

I went through the pass and there was the mine.  There was no sign of
anyone there.  I looked at my watch.  It was five minutes to three.

Shading my eyes I studied the landscape.  I could see no one.  Jeremy
had said in the underground chambers and he must be there already
although I wondered whether he had hidden his mount I slipped off
Wattle, who showed no objection and seemed perfectly at peace.  I
tethered her to a bush and went to the mine.

I stood at the head of the shaft for some moments, looking around me.

Just utter loneliness.  Could it really be that Jeremy had found the
Green Rash and had it to show me?  If so, where was his horse?  Perhaps
he had not yet come and in a few moments I should make out his figure
riding towards me.  But he had stressed the time.  Three o'clock and it
was almost that now.

I descended the iron rungs; they were very rusty and looked as though
they had not been used for a very long time.  I reached the bottom and
stepped into a cavern which led into another and from that one several
passages had been hewn out of the rock.

I peered into them and could see very little.

I called softly: Tmhere.  "

There was no answer.

I lighted my candle and started to explore the first chamber but I had
only taken a few steps when the flame flickered.  I advanced and as I
did so it went out altogether.  I relighted it, but it flickered
faintly and again went out.

I could not understand What was wrong.  The passage had turned at right
angles and I was in complete darkness so once more I tried to light the
candle.  This time there was no flame at all.

A sudden cold fear possessed me.  It was as though every sense I
possessed was calling out a warning.  I did not know what it meant
except that I was in acute danger.  It was as though a flash of
inspiration came to me.  Jeremy did not write that letter.  But it was
in his handwriting.  How well did I know his handwriting?  I had only
glanced casually at it once or twice.  Other people would know that
handwriting.  Would it be so difficult to copy it in order to deceive
me?

"Jeremy?"  I called.

There was no answer.

Someone had lured me here and it was not Jeremy.  I would know very
soon . Right at the end I should know.

What a fool I had been to step right into the trap.

"No, Joss," I said aloud.

"Oh no.  Joss ... not you."

I had never known fear like this.  It was the strangeness of everything
the silence .  the darkness closing in on me .  and most of all the
silence, the terrible silence.

But an odd lethargy was creeping over me .  it was some- I thing that
was completely alien to me.  It was as though I had were being slowly
paralysed.

sorI stumbled through the passage out to where I could see a out faint
shaft of light, but I could scarcely lift my limbs and tui slowly, it
seemed, for it was as though time had stopped, I sank to the ground. 
Is "Joss?"

tw Yes, Joss had come.  He was holding me in his arms.  bli "So ... you
came to kill me," I murmured.

"So it was you.  You want Isa.  It's all so clear.  I guessed..."

Joss did not answer, but I could vaguely hear a lot of shouting voices
and I realized that I was no longer in the mine.

cc I was lying on the ground and Joss was bending over me.  I heard him
say: "She's got rid of the poison, I think.  Give her air ... don't
crowd round ... Plenty of air ..."  t I opened my eyes and I heard him
say "Jessica' in a way he had never said my name before, half
reproachful, half tender.  a Something about the way in which he said
my name made me feel very happy.

Then I heard him say: "You've got the buggy ?"  a He lifted me
tenderly.

TO take her back," he said.

I was lying in the buggy and Joss was driving it.  We stopped's and he
lifted me out.

I seemed to be only half conscious and the voices seemed very far
off.

Trouble at the mine.  Mrs.  Laud .  hot bricks, please, and milk.  "

"Oh, Mr.  Madden, how terrible."

"Never mind.  She's safe.  I got her out in time.1 He laid me on my
bed.  My eyes were shut but I was aware I of him.  He bent down and
kissed my forehead.  1 When I opened my eyes he was sitting by my
bed.

He smiled at me.

"Ifs all right," he said.

"I got you out in time."

I closed them again, not wanting to know more just then.  I wanted
merely to revel in the knowledge that he had saved me and that he cared
about what happened to me.

It was dark when I awoke.  There were candles in the room and Joss was
still sitting by my bed.

auu nerec i said.

"I wanted to be here when you woke up."

"What happened?"

"You did a very foolish thing."  He was the old Joss again.

"I was going to meet Jeremy Dickson."

"We're going to get him.  We're going to find out what he's after."

"I don't think it was Jeremy Dickson."

"I saw his letter.  Lilias brought it to me."

"Lilias 1 Where did she get it from ?"

"She found it in your room.  Like you, she doesn't believe he wrote
it.

Thank God she had the sense to bring it to me without too much delay.

I went straight to the mine because I guessed he meant you some harm.
"

"He was not there.  It was just that I began to feel so strange."

"You felt strange because you were poisoned.  Jeremy Dickson sent you
into that mine because he knew just what would happen.  Now we've got
to find out why he wanted to kill you.  People hereabouts know that
nobody goes into mines that have been disused for a long period without
first expelling the poisonous gases.  There are several ways of doing
it.  You should have seen that your candle didn't stay alight."

I did.  "

That was a warning.  It meant .  get out quickly.  There are pockets of
poisonous gases down there.  We've searched the place now.  There's no
sign of Dickson.  He was never there.  No one was there.  but you.  "

"So people went down after I came up?"

"We had made it safe by lighting dry bracken and throwing it down.  The
descending blaze changes the temperature, stirs up the currents of
fresh air in the shaft and so drives out the poison.  Then we give it
the candle test and if the flame stays we say it's safe to go down.

Dickson lured you there for some reason.  I'm going to find out what.
"

"It was something to do with the Green Hash.  I had talked to him about
it."

"Why not to me?"

"You had other interests."

"What nonsense."

There was silence for a few moments, then he said: There was something
you said when I brought you out.  You said:

"So you came to kill me.  So it was you.  Joss ..."  That was What you
said.  "267

i spu&c my muugats aioua.

^ "You really believed that of me?  Oh, my God, this farce has ha, gone
on long enough.8 soi; " Why shouldn't I believe it?  It fitted.  You
got rid of Ezra.  out I thought it was my turn.  "

tur He stared at me incredulously.

"Don't you understand anything ?1 he said with the old contempt.  I s;
" I understand that you hated me you avoided me .  you humiliated me
whenever possible.  "

tw "What did you expect me to do?  Didn't you avoid me ... bli
humiliate me by your constant assurance that you wanted me out of your
way."

"Because I didn't fall victim to your virility..."

"I can see you have a lot to learn, and ifs not about opals.  Get well
quickly.  I have to start to teach you right away."  co I half rose in
my bed and he took me by the shoulders and kissed me.

"Joss," I began, 'there's so much.  " te But neither of us wanted
explanations then.

At length he said: "Ben was right.  I realized that pretty ni soon.  I
was waiting for you to come and tell me."

"Why didn't you say so?2 Too proud."  he replied.

"I wanted it to come from you.  a Many times at night I've come to your
bedroom door.  Once I almost burst in."

"I know.  I heard you.  I thought you'd come to murder me."  's Tou're
crazy," he retorted.

"I'll have a lot to say to you.  Just now you've had a shock.  We might
have gone on and on like this, but when you asked me if I'd come to
kill you that was the end of it.  I to plot to kill my own wife ... the
only wife I ever wanted 1' " Say that again.  "

He did, and I cried: "Why didn't you tell me before?  Didn't you know
it was what I wanted to hear more than anything 1 else?"

] "What a deceiver you are!  You made me feel you were trying to get
away from me all the time.  Now you're getting excited.  You mustn't.

You came very close to death in that old mine.  It has its effect.

Perhaps you'll wake up tomorrow morning and find you still hate me. 
"

"Don't talk of hate... talk of love," I begged.

"I will ... endlessly ... when you've rested.  Don't forget I'm in
command.

You've had a great shock and you need to stay here quietly.  "

"Will you stay with me?"

"I will, but you must lie still and rest.  Just lie there thinking of
two foolish people who have said goodbye to their folly and are now
going to wake up and live."

I felt light-headed as I had in the underground passages of the mine;

but with a difference.  This was not the delirium of fear but of joy.

I must have slept a long time for it was mid-morning when I awoke. 
Joss was sitting by my bed watching me.

"You're better now," he told me.

"You've had a good night's sleep.

You've cast off the effects of the poison, but you'll have to go
quietly for a day or two.  "

There's so much we have to say.  "

"We've a long time to say it."

"Just tell me one thing: Is it really true that you care about me?"

"It's the truest thing that ever happened."

"Yet you were planning to go to England with Isa Bannock.1 When I go to
England you're coming with me."

"Why did you pretend... ?"

"Because I wanted to goad you.  I wanted you to show some feeling for
me."

"You seemed so involved with her."

"I've only been involved with one woman since I married.  The rest was
pretence to try to break through her indifference."

Tou gave her a magnificent opal.  "

"Why did you think I did that ?"

"Because she wanted it and you were so besotted by her and wanted to
please her at all cost.  You liked to show her what an important man
you were.  She only had to express a wish for you to grant it."

Wrong again.  I gave it to her because I knew you'd hate it.  I thought
it might show you how foolishly you were acting and arouse some feeling
in you.  I thought it might be a first step towards sanity.  "

"Rather an expensive step."

"Anything that brought about that state couldn't have been too
expensive."  Then he turned to me and kissed me fiercely.  That's what
I mean by sanity.  "

Tou have changed .  changed overnight.  Because I go down into a mine.
"

"Because I came near to losing you I made up my mind I was going to
keep you and make you understand."

Wny didn't we talk before?  "

I.

"We did nothing else but talk.  In fact I think we got rather had
fascinated by all those verbal fireworks.  Time and time again son I
was on the point of pushing all that aside and being the out primitive
male."  tur "Which I believe you are."

"You'll discover," he replied.

"But just now you have to I s: recover from a rather shattering
experience.  You think you have already, but the shock was great.  I
want you to stay tw quietly in the house for the rest of the day."  bli
"Where are you going ?"

To find Jeremy Dickson.  He's concerned in this and I want to know the
meaning of that letter.  " 'lilias said it wasn't quite his
handwriting."

"Ulias is trying to defend him.  He's somewhere in the cc neighbourhood
and I'm sending people out to look for him.  I was waiting for you to
wake up so that I could tell you this and where I was going."  te "I
cannot believe this of Jeremy Dickson."

"One can never believe these things of the people who do n: them.

That's why they get away with them .  up to a point.  "

"You really believe he sent that letter, don't you?  Why should he want
me dead ?  It doesn't make sense."

a That's what we have to find out.  I've sent off parties in all
directions.  I'm going off now and taking Jimson with me.  "

"Do you think he had anything to do with the purse?"  's "What purse?4
" Ezra's.  I found it in the orchard .  buried there.  "

You couldn't have.  "

"I did, and later someone took it from my room."

He was puzzled.  I had an idea that he thought the poisonous gases had
made me a little lightheaded.

He said: "We'll talk about all that later.  I just wanted to make sure
you were all right before I went."  His eyes blazed for a moment.

"I

can't forget," he went on, 'that you might have died in that mine ..
believing that I wanted to kill you."

"It's over now," I answered.

"What I'm remembering now is that you risked your life to save me."

He grinned, his old self again.

"I just had to," he said.

"It was pure selfishness, for what good would mine have been to me
without you?"

I felt then (hat I had reached the summit of happiness.

Joss became brisk.

"You're to have a restful day.  I'm going lo leave you m me care 01
ivus i-auu <uiu i u uo " n'-n.  "v-.^*~ sundown."

Then he took me into his arms and held me as though he would never let
me go, and I was content to remain there.

He said: "If Ben were looking down ... or up from wherever he is ...
he'd be pleased with himself.  I reckon he's laughing in the way we
remember so well and saying:

"I told you so" "

Then he kissed me again and again.

Till sundown.  "

14.

THE GREEN FLASH

I rose in a leisurely way, washed and dressed.  I was still feeling a
little dazed.  Mrs.  Laud came to my room to see how I was.

"Not at all bad," I answered.

"Just a little tired."

"It's to be expected after what happened.  What would you like to
eat?"

"I'll wait for luncheon."

"Come to my room and I'll make a cup of tea."

That would be nice," I said.

"Come up when you're ready.  I'll go and put the kettle on.

Within five minutes I was knocking at her door.

"Do come in.  You look so much better.  The tea's all ready.  I've
poured out."

"What a cosy room this is," I said.

"I always thought so.  Mr.  Henniker used to like to come in for a cup
of tea."

I sat down in the chair she had pulled up to the table with the plush
runner.  Her workbox was open, and a piece of needlework lay on the
table.

"Oh, Mrs.  Madden, what bad luck you've had lately.  First you nearly
fall down the stairs and then you get into that mine.  It looks like
bad luck, doesn't it?  People will be saying you must have taken the
Green Flash and this is the result of it."

I sipped the tea, which was refreshingly warming.

"People will say anything."

That's a fact, they will.  But it was bad luck, wasn't it?  first one
and then the other.  I'd like to know what that

"It's very good, thank you."

"Drink it up and I'll give you another cup.  I always say there's
nothing like a nice cup of tea."

There's a good deal in that.  "

They're regular tea drinkers out here .  every bit as much as We are at
Home.  Let me give you that other cup.  "

Thank you, Mrs.  Laud.  "

"Do you feel rather sleepy?"

"I feel a little... strange."

"I thought you did somehow.  The house is quiet now, isn't it?  Do you
know, we're the only ones here.  Everybody's out.  They've all gone on
this wild goose chase.  All except two of the girls and I said they
could ride into the town and get some goods for me.  They're both
friendly with gougers there."  She chuckled.

"I reckon they won't hurry back."

Then I noticed that she was watching me very intently and that there
was a strange gleam in her eyes.

Tm going to show you something before you go," she said.

"Show me something... before go... where?"

"It's in my workbox.  There's a little secret drawer.  You remember
that night ... the treasure hunt?  That Ezra ... he knew.  I could see
the look in his eyes that something had led him to my workbox."

I tried to stand up but I couldn't.  My legs seemed as though they were
not part of my body.

"Don't try to go yet.  You'll want to see this.  I had it since he went
away.  Mr.  Henniker couldn't have been far out at sea when I found it.
I was always particular about the spring cleaning.  You can't trust
those servants.  There was always a lot I liked to do myself.  I was
always very fond of that picture.  Mr.  Henniker used to like it.  He
said it reminded him of Joss and he had a way of looking at it and
laughing to himself and it struck me that there was something rather
special about it.  That was why I paid such special attention to it.  I
found the spring and then I knew it was meant.  That was how it
happened."  She leaned forward, her arms on the table.  There's
something inside it, something that's alive .  a living god.  Do you
remember Aladdin's lamp?  Well, it's like that, you see.  The genie is
there and it does your bidding.  "

I said: "You're talking about the Green Flash at Sunset, Mrs.  Laud."

"Yes; she answered.  That's what I'm talking about' " Are you telling
me that you had it all the time?  "

hJU IJ1.  6U t,^U (,tJ ^UU^U.  t k ^UUU^Vf uuv* ^u*u^ w T v& u< / w,
--A"-----It was as though she had been impersonating someone at a
masque and now it was the time for the unmasking.  I had never known
this woman.

No wonder I had felt that she was like the chorus in a Greek play-she
and her family.  She was no longer the mild housekeeper so grateful to
have become the master's mistress and found shelter for herself and her
family all those years.  She was someone else.  But perhaps the mild
housekeeper was the real person and that it was another which looked
out at me from those wild eyes.  She was possessed.

She repeated: "You shall see it before you go.  I want you to see it. I
shall never forget the moment when I found it at the back of that
picture and it just burst on me ... all that brilliance, all that
power.

"I'm yours," it said to me.

"Keep me.  I'll work for you.

Anything you want will be yours.  " I wasn't going to keep it at
first.

I was just going to have it in my room and look at it.  I used to wake
up in the night and remember I'd got it.  I'd get out of bed and look
at it.  And then I started to see that I could do anything I wanted
because the Green Flash would give it to me.  "

"Show it to me, Mrs.  Laud," I said quietly.

She drew the workbox towards her and fumbled there.  I have never seen
a miser counting his gold, but I could imagine what he would look like
and that was as Mrs.  Laud looked at that moment.  Her face changed
again; her mouth twitched and her eyes blazed.  I thought: She really
is mad.  The Green Flash has driven her mad.

She took out a mass of cotton wool; her fingers shook as she unwrapped
it.  Then she took something in the palms of her hands and crooned over
it as a mother might over a baby.

She leaned across the table and there it lay in all its fabulous glory,
the most magnificent opal of all time, the stone which had shaped my
destiny, the unlucky one, the most beautiful jewel I had ever or would
ever see in my life.

It is impossible to put into words the qualities of that stone.  I can
say it was large .  even larger than I had expected it to be; even with
my sparse knowledge I knew that it was perfect in every way.  I can say
that there was the deep blue of a tropical sea and the lighter blue of
a cloudless sky and the glint of red was like shafts of sunlight
breaking over the sea.  But this does not convey the utter fascination,
the aura, the living quality.  It had life; it changed as one looked. 
I was feeling more and more dizzy and hazy and it really seemed

uj ua.  mai i 1-uuiu luac myscu m in-'l si.  muii'-ui'g wum.

drown in that deep, deep blue sea.  It had a power, that stone;

a subtle emanation came from it.  It was magnetic and I could not stop
myself reaching out to take it.

"Oh no you don't," she said.

"You think you're going to take it from me, don't you?  You think
you've found it at last.  I tell you this, Mrs.  Madden, I'm only
showing it to you, that's all.  I thought you should see it before you
died."

"Before ... I died... ?"

"Feel sleepy, don't you?  It won't hurt.  You won't know anything.  It
was something I put in your tea ... nice peaceful sleep, that's all.

Look at my hands.  They're strong.  You've got a little neck.  I've
often looked at it.  It'll be easy.  I know just where to press.  But
I'll wait until you're fast asleep.  I don't like hurting things .  so
it's better that way.  You'll know nothing about it.  "

I could feel the hair rising on my scalp and it was because she spoke
so quietly in such a matter-of-fact way that it was so sinister.  It
was only when she mentioned the Green Flash that her hysteria became
apparent.  I was alone in this house with a madwoman.  I had not really
taken her seriously until I had seen the Green Flash.  Then I knew that
she was indeed mad.  She had put a sleeping draught into my tea; and I
was going to get more and more drowsy under its influence.

I wondered if I could make a dash for the door, but my limbs were
already leaden.  I kept thinking: Alone in the house .  everybody gone
. alone with a woman who is mad.

She was looking down at her hands .  those hands which were waiting to
strangle me .  but not till I slept, so I must not sleep.  I must keep
awake.  I must find some way of out witting her.

I said: "You play the spinet well, Mrs.  Laud."

It was eerie-the manner in which she supped from the malevolent
personality of the murderess to that of the homely housekeeper.

"Oh yes, I used to play for Mr.  Henniker.  He told me about this
Jessica who was your mother.  I didn't like that much because I was
fond of Mr.  Henniker myself.  He had this fancy about playing and her
coming back.

So I played for him and he said it reminded him of her.  "

"And then you played for me?"

You started to pry, didn't you?  As soon as you got back you did.  You
always had your eyes open and you were looKing for the Green Flash.  I
knew that.  I got wonderful ideas from the power that's there.  I was
there when you looked with Mr.  Madden and I saw you with Mr.  Dickson.
I watched you take down The Pride of the Peacock.  I didn't want Ulias
to many Jeremy Dickson.  I wanted Mr.  Madden for her.  That was a
fancy of mine.  I guessed Mr.  Henniker would leave him the Green Flash
and then it would be partly hers.  But no, it was mine.  Never mind
Lilias . because you'd come then and you'd have to be got rid of.  I
didn't want Ulias to have it, even.  It was mine and I wanted to keep
it.  "

"You've been getting it to work for you, have you?8 She nodded.

"It first came to me when Tom Paling came' over to the house and I went
into the stables and meddled with the wheel of the buggy.  Then he had
his accident and Jimson had his job and did very well at it.  You see,
the Flash puts the notions into your head and shows you how to do
it."

"So you lured me to the gallery."

"I wanted you to think it was your mother warning you."

"Why did you want me warned?"

The Flash is clever.  It never does anything without reason.  I wanted
you to tell people you were afraid .  because you thought your husband
wanted you out of the way, didn't you?  When wives die mysteriously
husbands are the first to be suspected.  I knew how things were .
separate bedrooms and Isa Bannock.  I thought you'd tell someone.  He
used to play the spinet long ago.  Ben liked tp hear him at it.  And he
knew about the stairs, didn't he ?  "

"So it was you who played, and you escaped by way of the stairs and
then you arranged for me to have an accident and if I was killed you
would have seen that my husband was suspected?"

"It was not really the Flash's idea.  That was mine.  It wasn't very
good.  It was hardly likely that a fall down those stairs would have
been the end of you ... and there was all that playing to get you up
there and I could easily have been caught at that.  But if you'd had a
bad accident it would have stopped your prying for a bit and it would
be a sort of preliminary if you know what I mean.  Ulias spoilt it. She
got hysterical about my playing the spinet and she and Jimson tried to
stop me.  They were always watching me closely.  They didn't know I had
the Flash, of course, but they thought I'd changed and they got
frightened."

i musi stay awake and Keep her talking so I said: T$y this .  time had
you given up the idea of Lilias's marrying my ^ husband?  "

r Well, it could have been a good idea but the main thing .  was to
keep the Flash.  When I came into my room that night ^ and saw Ezra
Bannock looking into my workbox I knew he had guessed.  There was
something in his face which told me.  " t " So you killed him?  "

'< "fes, I did.  I waited for him at Glover's Gully and I shot ^y him
and buried aim there.  He'd have stayed there hidden for y, years if it
hadn't been for that horse.  And you were the one who found him.  That
was it ... The idea came to me that you were Danger.  The Flash put it
into my mind so I knew it was right' " And the letter from Jeremy
Dickson ?  "

p( "I spent hours copying his writing on his acceptance to the
invitation to the treasure hunt.  I think I did well.  There again it
was the Flash.  I thought that would have done it.  (( And Ulias ... my
own daughter stopped it.  She found that letter.  What was she doing
prying in your room?  She was n jealous of you with Jeremy.  Well, she
found it and she swore it wasn't his writing.  She went into the town
with the letter and it was all spoiled again.  Now of course
something's got a to be done."

Her face puckered and she looked as though she were going to burst into
tears.

5 "I could see it in Mr.  Madden's face.  I could see he wasn't going
to let it rest.  Someone had threatened you and he'll find out too
much.

He's like Mr.  Henniker.  He'll go on and on until he gets to the
bottom of things .  and I've gotj stop him.  " Tou will never be able
to."

She looked cunning.  The Flash has the answer.  The Flash always has
the answer.  There's no beating the Flash.  It's only when I don't let
myself listen that I go wrong .  like burying that purse.  That was
silly.  I took it because I wanted them to think it was for robbery.  I
should have thrown it away in the Bush somewhere.  Then it wouldn't
have mattered if it had been found.  So then I had to get it back and
that was wrong .  ,. I won't act without the Flash again.  The Flash is
all- powerful.  No one can go against it.  " You tried to kill me and
you didn't.  Twice you've failed."

"I didn't Understand what the Hash was telling me."

"And you think you do now ?"

un yes.  I've got it all clear now.

Oh God, I prayed, help me to fight off this overwhelming desire to shut
my eyes and escape into oblivion, help me to keep awake.  While I'm
awake I'm safe.  I've got to keep her talking.

"It won't work, Mrs.  Laud," I said.

She looked startled.

"You have drugged me.  You've got so far and you think you're going to
kill me."

She nodded, smiling benignly.  She looked down at her hands and
stretched her fingers, flexing them.

"Suppose you kill me," I went on.

"I shall be in this room.  How will you explain what happened to me?
You'll be exposed as a murderess.

They don't let murderesses live, Mrs.  Laud.  So what good will it do
you ? "

"You won't be here," she said.

"You'll disappear."  She laughed and it was a demoniacal laughter that
sent cold shivers down my spine.  It reminded me that I was fighting
for my life with a woman who was mad and yet had the strength to kill
me. One false step could be the end of me.  I could see no way of
escape.  I felt trapped.

In the palm of her hands she still held the Green Flash.  She seemed as
though she could not put it down, as though she were afraid that if she
let it go some power would leave her.

All these months when I had been living in this house with her she had
been mad.

I did not speak because while she forgot my presence, as she appeared
to now, I was gaining precious moments.  She would not touch me while I
was conscious.  She was not by nature a violent woman; it was only this
thing which had possessed her which could make her capable of
perpetrating acts of violence.

I thought of Joss .  I could not stop thinking of Joss.  I was still
tingling with memories of our encounter.  There was so much explaining
to do .  but one fact surpassed all others.  He had come down into the
mine to bring me up.  He had risked his life to save me.  He had come
riding to the mine with all speed when he had seen the letter.  He
loved me.  He wanted me.  Those steps in the corridor had been his.  He
had given Isa Bannock the Harlequin to sting me into awareness of my
true feelings and he had done so, because it was after this that I had
realized my need of him.  We had both been foolish; we had refused to
see the truth.  Ben had been wiser

tnan we nau.  auu iiuw wiicii i saw n cic any l was in deadly danger
of losing it.  Our pride had kept us apart-mine no less than Joss's;
and now in his ignorance he had left me ]F alone with the murderess.

son Death faced me and if it was victorious I would never know ou the
life Joss had promised me.  I could see two roads stretch- ring out
before me-one ended abruptly in death and the other was full of
exciting twists and turns which life with Joss ', would be.  I should
long ago have started down that road.

Why had I been such a fool as to fear it ?  Oh, where are you now. 
Joss? I wondered.  I want us to start to live.  now.

Where would it end?  He was off on a false trail, hunting for Jeremy
Dickson who was no doubt sitting in his Sydney office discussing the
properties of certain stones which had recently been found in the Fancy
mines.  Mrs.  Laud was remembering.

"Everything is ready.  It's in the garden ... I shall bury you ( there
and no one will think to look.  I shall hide your travelling bag and
some of your clothes will be missing."

p "You couldn't do it, Mrs.  Laud.  Think what happened to Ezra
Bannock's purse.  The Flash wasn't very clever about that, was it?"

a "I told you that it did not want that.  It was where I went wrong.  I
wouldn't mock it, if I were you.  It'd never forgive you.  It was
warning me then.  It was saying: " Bury her deep.  5 No one must find
her like she found the purse .  ""

"Still you were wrong about the purse."

"It was meant as a warning to me.  It was a preparation for this.
That's how it happens sometimes."

"It seems strange to be sitting here discussing my burial."

"What are you getting at, Mrs.  Madden?  You've always been one for a
joke.  But this is no joke.  I shall tell them that you have the Green
Flash, that you showed it to me, that I tried to persuade you to give
it up.  That you've gone right away with the Flash."

"It wouldn't be possible.  Unless you are going to kill Wattle and bury
her too."

"Oh no.  You'll have gone away with someone who came for you.  He
brought horses and you rode away together."

"Jeremy Dickson, I suppose."  That could do for a start.  "

"And when he comes back?"  The Flash will know.  Why don't you go to
sleep?  It's better if you do.  Then we can get it over "I'm not going
to sleep."

"You must.  You can't help it."

She was wildly fanatical.  I saw the greed in her eyes and I thought:

This stone has done this to her.  She means to do exactly what she has
told me.  This stone ruined my mother's life and now I may well die
because of it.  I have seen it and that is enough, for I understand
what it can do.  There is evil in it and it has taken possession of
this woman.

I gripped the table.  Waves and waves of weariness swept over me.  I
tried not to think of the softness of a feather bed and downy
pillows.

I thought of death and Joss's coming back and finding me gone.  Would
he really believe that I had gone off with Jeremy Dickson .  and later
when Jeremy returned, with some person unknown .  taking with me the
Green Flash?

Others had been possessed by that stone.  Would he believe that it
could happen to me?

I must stay alive.  I was fighting for my life as I had never fought
for anything.  I must remind myself that all that stood between joss
and me and our exciting future was a madwoman.

I heard myself saying over and over again: "You could never do it..."

I saw her face as though it floated before me .  the mask down .  the
madness of the possessed, and I knew that her very madness would give
her the powers she needed.

The scene in this room was getting more and more remote.  I felt that I
was outside looking in on the actions of others:

myself limp and lifeless being dragged to a spot in the garden where
the sandy loose soU encroached on the cultivated part.  It would be
easy to bury me quickly there and later she would make ,a better job of
it. She would give me a deeper grave.  She would take my clothes away
and hide them .  I saw Joss returning from the hunt for Jeremy Dickson
which would prove fruitless.  How could it be otherwise when he was
working in Sydney?  I could see his anger, his fury, his wounded pride.
How.  he had hated to be repulsed by me!  How he had retaliated by
wounding me through Isa Bannock!

And now he would believe that I had deceived him.  How could he?  Her
plan could not work.  With whom should I have gone off?  There was no
one who could possibly be suspected.

Yet who would believe that the quiet unassuming housekeeper could be
capable of such diabolical plans?  But it was

not really this one.  It was the devil which possessed her.  I; I
heard myself murmuring: "No ... no .. no ..."  hap The minutes were
ticking by.

son "Cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo ..."  said the silly little bird in out her
dock.  I could hear the cuckoos going on and on in my tur head, as I
felt myself slipping away.  But every time I brought myself back.  I s.
She was getting worried.

"I don't understand this.  You should be off by now."  tw "My
will-power is stronger than your drug, Mrs.  Laud."  bli "Why," she
said, 'anyone would think you had the Hash.  "

"It is mine ... by right.  I share it jointly with my husband.  Perhaps
it knows that."  I saw the real fear in her eyes.

Tes/ I went on.

"It knows.  See how it shines for me.  It cc knows it is mine."

"No, no.  I've had it all this time.  It's not the one who owns it by
law.  It was meant to be mine.  I'd never had anything t very much
before but with the Flash I had everything.  It's possession that
counts.  All this time ifs worked for me."  n "But not against me, Mrs.
Laud.  You made an accident for Tom Paling.  You killed Ezra Bannock.
You lured me to the stairs but see how I saved myself.

Then you tried the mine a and I was rescued.  "

Her face had turned a pale grey.

You see," I went on, 'the Flash won't hurt me because I'm's the true
owner.  It's mine, Mrs.  Laud."

Til never give it up.  never," she screamed.

"Look, Mrs.  Laud, it's only a piece of opal... silica deposited at
some time in the rock.  How can you attach special powers to that?"

She looked at me as though she did not understand what I was talking
about.

"It's done you a great deal of harm," I went on.

"Don't you see?"  She stared at me blankly.

Oh, thank you.  God, I prayed, I'm fighting off my sleepiness.  I'm
going to do it.  I'm going to live.  Keep her talking.  Keep
remembering that Joss is waiting for you and you are going to start to
live as you never have before.

"You've become obsessed by a stone ... by a legend ... you've built all
this up in your mind, but it doesn't really exist."

"How dare you call it just a stone.  You haven't lived with it.  You
haven't held it in your hands.  Look now ..."

"Yes, let me see it.  Let me hold it in my hands."

She shook her head craftily.

"Oh no.  You can see it from where you are.  Look at it.  It's the sun
going down into the sea.  If you look closely you might catch a sudden
flash of green.  That's what the sun does and that's what my Green
Flash does too."

I was alert suddenly.  I thought I heard sounds from below.

Someone was coming.  I looked at her, but she was staring at the opal
absorbed in the wonder of it and her own beliefs.

Waves of relief were sweeping over me.  I believed I had won.

The door was flung open.  Joss was there.  Someone else was with him. 
It was Jimson.

Jimson cried out in a voice of anguish: "Mother."

She stood up, her eyes on her son.

"You've brought him back," she screamed.  'lilias did it before .  and
now you.  My own children .  "She stood up clutching the stone.  Joss's
eyes were on me and I stood up and tottered towards him, for now that
the need to hold tightly to consciousness was no longer urgent I felt
the waves of drowsiness too much to resist.

Joss caught me in his arms.  He said my name twice.  It was wonderful
how much he could express by just that.  He held me against him and I
was content to stay there.

I heard Jimson's voice, anguished, pleading: "Mother, I had to.  I knew
something was wrong."

Joss said: "Give me what you're holding in your hand, Mrs.  Laud."

Her agonized scream broke into my unconsciousness bringing me back into
the room.  There was silence which seemed to go on and on.

When I awoke from my drugged sleep I remembered it all vividly every
intonation of her voice, every expression on her face.

Joss told me how she had cried out that she would never give up the
Green Flash, and before they could stop her she had dashed on to the
terrace.

When they picked her up from the stones below she was dead, but still
clutching the Green Flash in her hands.

It was six months later when Joss and I went back to Oakland a new me,
a new Joss.  They had been a wonderful six months of discovery and

adventure-the greatest adventure of all, being loved and p. loving.

bar Lilias had married Jeremy Dickson before we sailed.  She son talked
to me a great deal and told me how she and Jimson out hA both realized
that their mother was verging on madness, tur though they had not
guessed how far she had gone.  They had not been aware of course that
she had the Green Flash, I s; but they suspected that something had
turned her brain.  They had discovered that she played the spinet and
this was what tw had so upset Lilias on that occasion when I had
discovered bli her hysterically crying.  Both she and Jimson, while
being eager to protect their mother, had wondered what her motive had
been.  When I had had the accident on the stairs and had been lured to
the mine they became very suspicious; and that was why Jimson, when he
had heard that I had been left in cc a weak state with his mother,
decided to tell Joss of his anxieties for my safety, which resulted in
Joss's speedy return to the house.

t( Lilias, in great distress, tried to explain to me, but I told her
there was no need to.  I understood perfectly.  They had n tried hard
to protect their mother who had done everything for them when they had
been helpless children.  She had come to Peacocks, had worked for Ben,
had loved him and hoped a to marry him.  But Ben did not want marriage
and she had had to content herself with a home for herself and her
children.  She had been a very conventional woman and the's situation
had worried her a great deal.  I could imagine how she grappled with
her conscience and how she might have quietened it by telling it she
did what she did for her children's sake.  But it would have preyed on
her mind, I realized, and she would have been constantly trying to make
things right.  If Ulias had married Joss she might have felt everything
was worthwhile.  That was certainly in her mind, Lilias told me, and it
was the reason why she had tried to stop a match between her daughter
and Jeremy Dickson.

Then she had discovered the Green Hash and the madness had set in.  It
had led her to maim Tom Paling, to murder Ezra and to attempt to kill
me.  Still, somewhere at the back of her mind must have been the idea
that if I were not there Joss might marry Ulias, but her great fear was
that I would find the Green Bash.  She had been jealous of my mother
and that had meant that she had been against me from the start.

But how well she had concealed her animosity, with her humility and
her constant expressions of her desire to help me.  It did not seem
possible that she could be so devious, but I had come to the conclusion
that there were really two Mrs.  Lauds-the housekeeper eager to please
and help run the house smoothly, and the madwoman whose mind had become
deranged When the fascination of the Green Flash had caught her and
made her its prisoner.

I was sorry for Jimson and Lilias, but Jeremy was about to comfort
Lilias, and Jimson seemed to find a certain solace in his work.

And when Joss and I decided to go Home, it was due to the Green
Flash.

I had talked this out with Joss and it was one of the matters over
which we were in disagreement.  There were, of course, many matters
over which we disagreed and somehow that gave a stimulus to our life
together.

Joss used to laugh when we argued fiercely.

"Well, I always knew I must expect fireworks from you," he said.

"Fireworks make such a glorious blaze," I retorted.  Tou must admit
they're exciting to watch.  "

"I always enjoy them," he answered.

"And they make the occasions when we do agree extra good."

Of course everyone in the town was waiting for bad luck to strike us.

There'll always be legend attached to that stone," I said.

"Naturally, it's unique."

Joss liked to take it out and look at it.

"You're getting obsessed," I accused him.

"Nonsense.  There's only one thing in the world I'm obsessed with."

And that?  "

Tou know very well it's you.  "

"Oh Joss," I cried, 'you say such marvelous things sometimes.

Obsessions can be momentary, though.  They often don't last.  "

There you are.  Never satisfied.  "

"Well, there was a time when you were obsessed by Isa Bannock."

That was before you came.  Everyone was obsessed by Isa.  I fell in
love with her when I was sixteen .  in common with everyone around
here.  "

"But you continued with the affair."

"She seemed to expect it."

"And you gave her the Harlequin Opal."  F "Ah, but only to spite you.1
hap " Sometimes I hate you.  Joss Madden.  2 son "I know.  It makes the
times when you love just marvelous."  out He was serious suddenly.

"Forget Isa.  It's over.  I behaved as I tur did because you wouldn't
have me.  You scorned me ... scorned the Peacock.  Peacocks don't like
that.  They get I s;

spiteful.  "

That was the cruel lest thing you did .  to give her the tw Harlequin.
"

bli "I'm going to make up for it.  I'm giving you something more
valuable.  The Green Flash."

No, Joss.  "

"Yes, you'll forget that Harlequin incident then.  I'm going to
relinquish my share.  Ifs yours.  Ifs a thousand times more cc valuable
than the Harlequin."

"I've been meaning to speak to you about the Green Flash.  I'm
frightened of it."  te "You 1 Frightened of a stone?"

"Yes, I am.  It ruined my mother's life.  It changed mine.  n Ezra died
for it.  Tom Paling nearly died ... and so did I.2 " You're not going
to let all that talk upset you.  "

"I'm not thinking of myself, but my family ... I won't run a risks.
There are some things which are too predous to be put in jeopardy."

Me?  The child?  " E I nodded.

He was moved, I could see, so he laughed at me, half derisive, half
tender.

"So what da you propose to do ?"  he asked.

We're taking the Green Flash to London and we're presenting it to a
geological museum there.  People will be able to see it and marvel at
it and I'll cheat the evil in it because it won't belong to anyone. 
"

"So you're resigning all claim of my gift to you?"

Tour gift to me.  Joss, is not a stone.  It's much more than that could
ever be.  "

"Do you know," he said, 'you're getting sentimental as you grow up. 
"Do you mind that?"

How can I when you're making me the same?  I wanted my baby to be born
in Oakland Hall and it was a whim Joss was ready to humour.  I knew Ben
would have been pleased.  Joss was his son and there would be a new
line to

^^^^^^^"^^^^^ add to the genealogical tree in the hall which had
always intrigued him.  Mr.  Wilmot and Mrs.  Bucket thought this right
and proper.

Oakland had not changed.  Why should it because I had been to Australia
and fallen in love and come near to death, when it had stood for
hundreds of years and had no doubt witnessed as many tragedies and
comedies?

Miriam had a child now.

"She'll live to rue the day," said my grandmother.

My grandfather was a little bolder than he had been, and the whip with
which my grandmother had scourged him had lost some of its sting since
I had brought Oakland back to the family in a way, and because Xavier
had now married Lady Clara and was managing the Donningham land.

My grandmother was quite respectful to me and most interested in the
child who was to be born at Oakland-a gesture with which she entirely
agreed.  She even took to Joss after the first few skirmishes.  I think
she recognized some power in him which it would be impossible even for
her to subdue.

She used to say: "Well, he received a large part of his education in
England," as though that made him acceptable;

and the fact that he had brought Oakland back to the family made him
almost admirable in her eyes.

My son was born on a mellow September day in the vaulted chamber where
my ancestors had made their first appearances.

This was the culmination of my happiness.  I sat up hi the big
four-poster bed and looked out on those lawns which had mellowed for
hundreds of years and I had a feeling that I had come home; and yet I
was well awaos that nothing was half as important to me as the rich and
full life I should live with my husband and son.

Joss came and looked at the baby, marvelling at the tiny creature as
though he couldn't believe he was real.  Then he turned to me.

"Ifs good, eh ?"  he said.

What?  " I asked.

'life," he answered.

"Just life."

"Ifs good," I agreed, 'and going to be better.  8 "Who can be sure of
that ?"  he asked.

"I can."  I retorted.

"And I will.  " Victoria Holt

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