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 nonsense. Long ago opals were the good luck stones and then it was discovered that they can sometimes be fragile and 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.”
"Now 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. "I'll 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.
Then suddenly he looked at his watch. 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 I 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 still missing and may has been stolen by my father.
There’s always a great deal of speculation about that stone,” said Joss.