The Black Opal (9 page)

He had been reading a book about opal mining in Australia, which had clearly fascinated him, and he was telling us about the stone. Adeline was present. She always wanted to take part in whatever was going on, and Lucian always included her.

“They are fantastic,” he was saying with that enthusiasm which he always showed for something which interested him and which made one share his pleasure in it.

“Just imagine searching for them and then coming across some wonderful specimen. The colours are magnificent.

They glow in reds and blues and greens. That’s why they call them black opals. There are the milky sort, too. They are found somewhere else. My mother has a black opal. She doesn’t wear it much. She keeps it with other jewellery in the bank. “

“People say they are unlucky,” said Camilla.

“That’s why our mother keeps hers in the bank. She thinks the bank will get the bad luck instead of her.”

“She does not!” laughed Lucian.

“She keeps it there for safety. It’s very valuable.”

“My mother has an opal,” said Henry.

“It’s in a ring. She wears it sometimes.”

“Perhaps that’s why she had an accident,” said Camilla, determined to pursue her bad luck theory.

“Nonsense,” said Lucian lightly.

“How could a stone be unlucky? People just say they are unlucky because they chip easily. You know how these stories start. People exaggerate and then you get superstitions. I’d like to see your mother’s ring.”

“It’s been in the family for a long time,” said Henry.

“It’s in her jewel case.”

“She doesn’t wear it very often,” said Estella.

“Of course, it will be mine one day. The opal has little diamonds round it.”

Lucian went on to tell us how they mined for opals, sorting them out and cutting them to the shapes they wanted. He said how strange it was that they were only found in certain places.

When we had finished tea. Henry said he wanted to go into the village to get something for his bicycle and Lucian was going with him.

Adeline said: “Will you come back here?”

“I expect so,” said Lucian.

We took Camilla up to the schoolroom and played guessing games which Camilla said the girls played in the dormitory after lights out.

Just before the boys had left, Mrs. Marline had come in from the garden. But after a while she had apparently decided that, as it was such a fine day and she was feeling better, she would like to go out there again, so Tom Yardley wheeled her out and the house was peaceful again.

Lucian and Henry had not returned. I expected they had gone off somewhere. We all walked back to the Grange with Camilla. Mrs. Marline was still in the garden.

I went up to my room and soon after the trouble started.

It was on the ground floor and I went down to see what it was all about.

Adeline was in great distress. She was seated on the floor in her mother’s bedroom with the drawer of the bureau upside down beside her and its contents scattered around. Apparently she had opened it and it had come right out. She had dropped it and it now lay upturned on the carpet. Finding herself in such a position, Adeline could think of nothing to do but cry for help, hoping that one of us, preferably Miss Carson, would come in and help her emerge from this situation before her mother discovered she had been in her bedroom and meddled with her bureau.

Unfortunately, her cries were heard by Mrs. Marline. Tom Yardley happened to be nearby and Mrs. Marline ordered him to wheel in her chair, and in her bedroom she found Adeline seated on the floor with the contents of the drawer around her. By this time Nanny Gilroy had arrived. There followed a heart-rending scene which, being in the hall, I was able to observe through the open door. Mrs. Marline was looking at the sobbing Adeline with disgust.

“I only wanted to show Lucian,” cried Adeline between her sobs.

“Just a look. I didn’t mean … it all came out when I pulled …”

“Stop snivelling, child,” said Mrs. Marline.

“You look ridiculous

Yardley, pick up those things and put them back. “

Tom Yardley did as he was bidden.

“Come here,” snapped Mrs. Marline to the cowering Adeline.

“You stupid child, when will you learn a little sense?”

“I only wanted Lucian to see the opal ring. 1 only wanted …”

“Be silent! How dare you go into my bedroom and open drawers?”

“I only wanted …”

Miss Carson had come down.

“What has happened?” she asked me.

“I think Adeline went in and opened a drawer which came right out,” I said.

“Lucian was talking about opals and Adeline wanted to show him her mother’s ring.”

“Poor child. That’s not the way to treat her. It won’t help at all.”

“You shall be punished,” said Mrs. Marline.

“You shall go to your room and stay there without a light when it is dark.”

Adeline let out a wail of terror. Then Miss Catson went into the room.

Adeline gave a cry of joy and ran to her, clinging to her.

“It’s all right,” said Miss Carson to Adeline.

“Nobody’s going to hurt you.”

Adeline went on sobbing and clinging to Miss Carson.

“How dare you interfere?” cried Mrs. Marline, “What impertinence! This is really too much. You are to leave this house at once.”

“No, no, no,” screamed Adeline.

“I can’t believe my ears,” said Mrs. Marline.

“Has everyone taken leave of their senses? Miss Carson, how dare you come in here!”

“Adeline meant no harm and has done none,” said Miss Carson firmly.

“Come along, Adeline.”

Adeline gripped Miss Carson’s hand while Mrs. Marline stared at them in amazement. Miss Carson walked to the door with Adeline and into the hall. Then suddenly she

gave a little cry. She stumbled and would have fallen if Nanny Gilroy had not stepped forward and caught her. As it was, she slipped to the floor and lay on the carpet. Her eyes were shut and she looked very pale.

“She’s fainted,” said Nanny, with a look of grim satisfaction on her face.

“She’s fainted clean away.”

“What on earth is happening?” demanded Mrs. Marline from her bedroom.

“The governess has fainted. Madam,” said Nanny Gilroy.

“I’ll see to her.”

Adeline was staring in dismay at Miss Carson. I was horrified. It seemed so unreal.

Mrs. Barton ran out and said: “What’s up?”

“The governess has fainted clean away,” said Nanny, and there was something significant in her manner of which 1 was faintly aware. It was almost as though she were saying to Mrs. Barton: “I told you so.”

The next minutes were like something from a nightmare, touched with unreality. I heard Adeline sobbing and crying “Wake up! Wake up! And don’t let her hurt me.”

Nanny was whispering to Mrs. Barton.

“Annie will be here soon. Might be a good idea to let her have a look at her.” She nudged Mrs. Barton, who smirked. It was as though they shared some secret joke.

Then to my relief and Adeline’s Miss Carson opened her eyes.

“What … what… ?” she began.

“You fainted, dear,” said Mrs. Barton.

Miss Carson looked about her in a bewildered, frightened way. Adeline was kneeling beside her, clinging to her hand.

“Don’t faint,” she pleaded.

“Stay here … with me.”

“I’ll help you up, dear,” said Mrs. Barton.

“Best go and have a lie down.”

“That’s it,” said Nanny.

“You go and lie down. You’ve had a nasty turn.”

Miss Carson went to her room. Nanny and Mrs. Barton went with her, and Adeline and I followed in their wake.

I was very shaken by the scene which I had witnessed. I even went into Miss Carson’s bedroom. She lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling and there was fear in her eyes.

“Now, you lie there for a bit,” said Mrs. Barton.

“Mustn’t upset yourself, you know.”

I saw Nanny’s lips turn up at the corners in that familiar smirk. Then her eyes fell on me and Adeline.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded.

“You get along with you.”

I took Adeline’s hand and we went out.

“Miss Carson is not ill, is she?” asked Adeline anxiously.

“She’ll be all right,” I told her.

“They won’t send her away, will they?”

I pressed her hand.

“Oh no, no,” I said, without conviction. I had to soothe Adeline. I could not bear to see her face so distorted by fear.

Nanny Gilroy had come up behind us. She seized Adeline’s hand and drew her away from me.

I went to my room. I knew something dramatic was going to happen. I believed Miss Carson would be told to pack her bags and go. Mrs. Marline would never allow anyone she employed to talk to her as Miss Carson had. She had come near to dismissal once before. She could not escape again. Like Adeline, I was wretched, contemplating what the house would be like without her.

When Annie Logan came at half past six to settle Mrs. Marline, Nanny Gilroy took her up to Miss Carson’s room. I opened my door and peered over the banisters. I saw them in the corridor.

“It would be best for you to have a look at her, Annie. Fainted clean away, she did. I mean, it’s not natural for a young woman to faint like that. There could be something wrong.”

Then they went in and the door shut.

I hung about, waiting, and in due course they came out and went down to the kitchen to have the customary cup of tea. I watched and I waited. They were there for some time with Mrs. Barton. I wished I could hear what they were saying.

Then the door opened and I heard Nanny say: “It’s only right and proper. Madam will have to be told. I ask you! To think of it! Mind you, I’ve had my suspicions all along. And I know you have, too.”

Annie Logan, with Nanny and Mrs. Barton in attendance went into Mrs. Marline’s room. I could not hear what was said. For once, Mrs. Marline was not shouting. Then they came out and Annie Logan went off on her bicycle, and Nanny and Mrs. Barton went back to the kitchen for more talk.

When the doctor came home, Mrs. Barton told him that the mistress wished to see him without delay. I knew there was going to be a discussion about Miss Carson’s future, and, as I had become a skilled eavesdropper, I managed to hear some of it.

Because it was a hot day, the french windows leading from the garden to Mrs. Marline’s room were open. 1 went as close as I dared and managed to hide myself in some measure behind a bush, and, although I could not hear all, I did hear some, particularly when Mrs. Marline raised her voice, as she did when she was incensed; and she was very angry.

“The insolence of the woman! Telling me how I was to treat my own daughter!”

Then there was a rumble from the doctor which was indecipherable.

“You would stand up for the slut! This is the last straw. She is going now. It would be a disgrace to keep her. You’d dismiss her … or … will you leave it to me? I want her out of this house. Let her stay the night, and then … out.”

The doctor must have left then, for there was silence.

I crept into the house, and, on impulse, went to Miss Carson’s room. I knocked and, when she heard my voice, she said: “Come in.”

I went in. Adeline was lying on the bed with her, her arms round Miss Carson. She was crying, and Miss Carson was comforting her.

I felt such a rush of emotion that I went to Miss Carson and the three of us were lying on the bed, our arms round each other, when the doctor came in.

He looked pale and unhappy.

“Oh, Papa,” sobbed Adeline.

“Don’t let Miss Carson go.”

“We must do our best to make her stay,” he said.

“Yes, yes, yes,” cried Adeline.

“And now, children, I have something important to say to Miss Carson.

Carmel, will you take Adeline away? “

We rose from the bed and Adeline ran to her father. She took his hand.

“Please … please … make her stay.”

“Dear child,” he said, and he stooped and kissed her. It was something I had never seen him do before.

“I shall do all in my power,” he said.

Then he smiled kindly at me, and, taking Adeline’s hand, 1 led her away.

It was a strange night. I slept little and when I awoke to daylight, it was with a sense of deep foreboding. I knew it was going to be an important day.

Of course, it was the day when Henry was going back to school. He was to leave at ten in the morning, as he had done before. Previously everything else had been forgotten in Henry’s departure and it seemed much the same today.

Henry had spent the evening with Lucian at the Grange, and seemed to know nothing of the events of the night before; but then Henry was rarely interested in anything that was not of immediate concern to himself and, as Miss Carson had played a very small part in his existence, he

would not realize or care what a tragedy her departure would be.

The doctor drove him to the station, as he always had, and there he would meet Lucian and the two of them would travel together. Having said goodbye to them, the doctor would go to his surgery and not return until late afternoon. It was strange, after last night’s drama, that everything should seem to have returned to normal. But, of course, things were far from normal, and this quiet was what people called the lull before the storm. Mrs. Marline would insist on Miss Carson’s departure and would the doctor be able to prevent it?

Miss Carson was not feeling well enough to take lessons. Estella was pleased about this. She knew that there had been trouble between Miss Carson and her mother, and she gave me the impression that she knew something which she then refused to tell me. She went over to see Camilla, who was not going back to school for a few more days.

I did not go with her. I did not want to leave the house, for I did not know when the next momentous event might occur.

Mrs. Marline stayed very quietly in her room.

I heard Nanny say to Mrs. Barton: “The mistress is upset. Who wouldn’t be? Wait till he comes back, then the fire works will start.”

There was something ominous about the silence that afternoon. It pervaded the house. It would break when the doctor returned, as that would be time for the ‘fireworks’.