The Pride of the Peacock (33 page)

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, 3uau.^… 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