Pink Gods and Blue Demons Part 5

"Ah! what hasn't she done?" said young Dalkeith smiling. "There are many strange tales about her. Would you like to meet her?"

"No, indeed," answered Loree. "I don't want her to come near me. Her gown simply kills mine."

Just then she looked up to discover that the lady in question having made a _detour_ was close upon her. Only a few people intervened. The two women's eyes met and there was such searching astonishment in those bold black orbs, and such determination, that Loree became suddenly frightened. It occurred to her with a sudden shock that the look had something to do with her chain, of diamonds. The thought sent a thrill of alarm through her. Her treasure was in danger!

"Please take me out to some cool dark place," she said quickly to her companion. "I want air."

Nothing could please young Dalkeith better. He thought her the prettiest woman he had ever seen, and was only too delighted to lose himself with her in the deepest depths of the faintly-lit conservatory.

But to his disappointment she wished to continue talking about Mrs Solano.

"Do tell me about her. Why do you say she is famous?"

"Well, when I say famous, I mean she is a sort of historical character in these parts. Her husband was one of the great diamond kings here in the old days and she was very much queen, I can tell you. They say she was extremely beautiful."

"She is still," said Loree slowly, "in a way."

"Oh no, quite _pa.s.see_," said he, with the calm and cruelty of youth.

"Everything's in the past tense with her, poor old thing. Over and done with before you were born I expect. But she had a good run for her money, and so did old Micky Solano."

"Isn't he a diamond king still?"

"Well, I believe he _thinks_ he is, but as a matter of fact he's in a lunatic asylum somewhere down in the Colony. He lost nearly all his money in speculations, and it sent him off his head."

"How sad! and how strange that she should still go out!"

"Oh, it was all a long time ago and she's had an exciting life and can't let go. Did you notice that big golden diamond on her forehead?"

"Yes, I did," said Loree. "And I don't think she can be very poor for she is covered with diamonds."

"Well, comparatively poor, you know. They used to eat off gold plates and build palaces wherever they went, that sort of thing. Now she lives in a small house with a couple of servants, and I believe all her most important jewels have been sold one by one to pay the bills at Micky's asylum. For _he_ still lives sumptuously. She's sport enough for that."

"I could tell she had big qualities," said Loree. "I felt she could either be a great saint or a great sinner."

"Well, I should say sport rather than saint," laughed the boy. "She certainly was a bit of a sinner from all accounts--not morally, you know, but against the law."

"I don't understand--"

"The Diamond Law, I mean. In the days when old Micky Solano made his money diamonds could be found lying about the streets here in Kimberley, or bought at every street corner from the n.i.g.g.e.rs who stole them."

"But how could the n.i.g.g.e.rs steal them?"

"Well, you see, nowadays, De Beers have the system of watching and searching brought to a fine art; boys who are working in the mines are absolutely isolated from the rest of the world in Compounds for six months or so at a time; at the end of their contracts and before leaving they are watched day and night and gone over internally as well as externally, so that they haven't a hope of getting away with anything as big as a pin's head. But in those early days there were no Compounds.

They worked out in the open with nothing round them but wire fences, and opportunities for stealing were endless. There were watching overseers, but John n.i.g.g.e.r is a wily fellow and soon discovered means of hiding some of his finds. At the end of a day's work among the blue ground he would hand over a dozen diamonds and probably have three or four fine ones concealed upon his person. The next step was to get into touch with illicit diamond buyers who would give him perhaps two pounds for a stone worth a hundred. This of course paid the n.i.g.g.e.r who had got the stone for nothing, while the man who made the purchase soon developed into a millionaire. A severe law was made to combat this traffic but people still did it, in spite of the risk of being sent to jail for ten or twenty years. The Breakwater at Cape Town was almost entirely built by men sentenced for I.D.B. People never talked of being sent to jail, but to the Breakwater. Nevertheless illicit buying of diamonds continued, and many well known men founded their fortunes in that way.

Micky Solano was one of them. Not only Micky. His wife was in it too.

She did it for love of the game, people say. Others say that diamonds had cast a glamour over her soul, and she couldn't help herself. Anyway it was quite well known that Micky who kept a sort of wayside hotel got hold of the stones by hook or by crook, and she ran them across the border into the Orange Free State. Once you were in Dutch territory the Diamond Law could not touch you, and from there you could easily smuggle the stones down to the Cape and away by mail boat to the big buyers in Holland. You can imagine that heaps of people were constantly backwards and forwards to the border pretending to be travellers and traders.

Scores of them were trapped at it and sent to the Breakwater. But Micky and his wife were never trapped. She was too clever. No one ever found the diamonds she hid though she was often searched. The detectives knew that she got away with thousands of pounds' worth every month, but they were never able to catch her out. Then, one journey she had her baby with her. It was the only child they ever had, and for the first time she took it with her on the rough coach journey. There were no trains then, you know. People either had their own wagons and trekked across the veld, rode horses, or drove a four-in-hand. Mrs Solano used all these modes of getting about but upon this occasion she was travelling by the ordinary mail cart. As usual they were all searched by detectives and nothing found, but just after they got across the border and were free of the police a fellow pa.s.senger called her attention to the stillness of the child which usually was a very lively little thing.

The mother looked, and found it dead. It was black in the face and had apparently died of strangulation. Mrs Solano nearly went mad. Some one took charge of her while the child was examined by a doctor who found a magnificent rough diamond stuck in its throat. It had been sucking one of those sugar bag arrangements that mothers sometimes make for their children. Apparently the stone had been placed inside the sugar bag for concealment and I wonder it never occurred to the mother that the baby might suck a hole in the bag and swallow the stone.

Pretty awful Nemesis to descend upon her, wasn't it?"

"Terrible!" murmured Loree.

"That was the last I.D.B. adventure she undertook anyhow. They were pretty rich by then and she must just have been doing it for the love of the risk. But she never did it again. Micky invested the beans--and they became fabulously rich. But isn't it a curious idea of hers to wear the stone that choked the baby?"

"Wear it?"

"Well, they say that's the one--the big golden stone she always wears on her forehead. They say she hates diamonds now and wears them as a sort of punishment and reparation, especially that one. I don't know how much truth there is in it. People say anything in Africa. Awful country! Hullo! there's the band. Do let's go in and have this dance."

Loree felt very uneasy, but the music was irresistible and she let herself be beguiled. As soon as she got back into the ballroom she saw that Quelch had arrived. He was on the other side of the room staring about everywhere, but to her relief he pa.s.sed out of a door without having caught sight of her. In a few seconds she had forgotten him and everything else in the joyous response of her whole being to the rhythm of the music. Young Dalkeith in common with most Colonials was an accomplished dancer and it was like being wrenched brutally out of a dream when the music stopped. They strolled in silence to one of the doors leading to the verandahs. As they reached the darkness Loree realised that she had run right into that which she had tried to avoid.

A resonant and determined voice was saying:

"It is mine, I tell you. I left it with Freddy Huffe. I am quite certain. I should know it anywhere."

She found herself facing Mrs Solano and another woman. They had been standing just outside the door, apparently watching the dancing. Loree saw at once that the _rencontre_ could no longer be avoided. Mrs Solano addressed herself directly to young Dalkeith.

"Will you introduce me to this lady, George," she said pleasantly.

Dalkeith, rather taken aback and annoyed, could hardly do otherwise than her bidding, but he performed the ceremony without wasting much grace.

"Mrs Temple, this is Mrs Solano," he said, adding crisply--"of whom I have been telling you."

"Oh, _have_ you, George?" remarked Mrs Solano with a good-natured laugh. "That's very kind of you, I'm sure. Well, you can run away now and play."

George walked off, very cross, and Loree felt desperately alone and frightened, for Mrs Solano's friend remained, and she felt somehow that they were two to one. Whatever she felt within, however, she managed to show no outward trace of discomposure. There was a tinge of haughtiness in the glance of enquiry she levelled at Mrs Solano.

"I hope you won't be offended with me, Mrs Temple," said that lady courteously enough. "But I've been all the evening admiring the necklace you are wearing. Would you mind telling me how it came into your possession?"

Loree's heart was ice, but so in terrified self-defence was her manner.

"It is a little curious of you to ask me such a question," she said coldly. "Perhaps you will explain--"

"Ah! I see you _are_ offended," answered the other with the utmost good nature, but behind her pleasant manner was still that strong determination Loree had recognised from the first. "Really you mustn't be. It is only that the necklace reminds me very much of one I once possessed." Suddenly she darted out a question: "Was it a gift?" Loree stepped away slightly and got her back to the wall in body as well as in spirit. People were dancing again. The verandah was deserted except for the little group of three and another woman, approaching in the distance.

"Most jewels are gifts," said Mrs Temple with the utmost composure, but wondering whether she was going to die or only faint. The other woman looked at her now with open hostility in her eyes. And then, to her relief, Loree recognised that the approaching woman was Valeria Cork.

She came up to them swiftly.

"Is anything the matter?" she asked in surprise, staring at the silent group of three. "How do you do, Mrs Solano?"

Perhaps it was by accident that she ranged herself at Loree's side, facing the other two women. In the darkness she felt Loree's hand clutch her arm as if in fear, but Loree's voice said very calmly:

"This lady is under sane delusion about the necklace I am wearing."

"No, I am not under any delusion," said Mrs Solano and her voice, no longer pleasantly resonant, clanged like iron. "If you will take off that necklace I will prove to you that it is mine."

Loree's breath shortened. Mrs Cork laughed.

"But how fantastic, Mrs Solano! You must really realise that this is rather a wild statement to make."

"It may sound so," said Mrs Solano doggedly, "but, as I say, I am ready to prove it. _My_ necklace has a blue diamond on each side of the clasp, and one of these diamonds has three dots or defects in it, that held in a certain light, give the impression of a tiny Death's head grinning at you."

"More fantastic still!" cried Valeria Cork still laughing. Loree had never known her so hilarious. "Does _your_ necklace possess this sinister distinction also, Mrs Temple?"