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 him 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: "You’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 merchanted 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. Joss 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.

"I 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 just 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 Joss 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.. ” 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 known as the Unlucky One. There were legends attaching to it. It was said to bring misfortune. I never believed it. But look at me now.”