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
“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
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