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 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. That's 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. ” 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.”