Free The Pride of the Peacock by Victoria Holt

all he’d got because this son of his had robbed him right and left before he died. To cut a long story short he staked the Green Flash for a fortune. I took the gamble and won. He shot himself a few weeks later.
    Disaster follows the Green Flash, they used to say. “
    “And what about you ?”
    “I wouldn’t believe in the curse.”
    “You lost the stone so perhaps you escaped it ” One day she’ll be back where she belongs. “
    You talk about the Green Hash as though she were a woman. “
     
    That’s how she was to me. I loved her. I used to take herj out and look at her when I was downcast. I’d watch for the’ flash and I used to say to myself: “Times will change. You’ll;
    find happiness as well as stones, old Ben. ” Thafs what she’s telling you.”
    Suddenly it seemed as though he could no longer bear to talk of his loss and he started telling me of the days when he had been a young man and had done what he called ‘a bit of fossicking’ and how he had first felt the lure of the opal. Then he said he reckoned I’d like to see the house, and as he was not able to get around as fast as he’d like, he’d tell one of the servants to take me.
    Much as I disliked leaving him, I did want to see the house, and as I hesitated-which seemed to please him-he said:
    “You’ll come again. We must make a point of these meetings, for there’s one thing that’s certain sure. You and I have quite taken a fancy to each other. I hope you agree with my feelings.”
    “Oh I do, and if I can come again and hear more, I’d love to see the house now.”
    “Of course you would and so you shall. Then you can think what it would have been like if you’d lived your life here as you would have done if one of these get-rich-quick johnnies hadn’t come along and grabbed the ancestral home.”
    “I shall always be glad of that now,” I assured him, and he looked very pleased.
    He pulled a bell-rope and Wilmot appeared immediately.
    “Miss dave ring would like to see the house,” said Ben.
    “One of you must show her round.”
    “Very good, sir,” murmured Wilmot.
    “Just a minute,” cried Ben.
    “Let Hannah do it. Yes, Hannah’s the one.”
    “As you say, sir.”
    I went to Ben’s chair and took his hand. Thank you. I have enjoyed it so much. May I really come again? 4 Next Wednesday. Same time. “
    Thank you. “
    His face looked strange for a second. If he had been anyone else I should have said he was about to cry. Then he said:
    “Off with you. Hannah will show you round.”
    I wondered why he had selected Hannah. She was the one who interested me most She was a tall, spare woman with rather gaunt features and large dark eyes which seemed to
     
    bore right into me. She was clearly gratified that she was the one who had been chosen to show me round.
    “I was with your family for five years,” she told me.
    “I came here when I was twelve years old. Then I stayed on, and when they went they couldn’t afford to keep me.”
    That happened with so many, I’m afraid. “
    “Would you care to start at the top of the house. Miss Clavering, and work down?”
    I said I thought that seemed an excellent idea, and together we climbed the newel staircase to the roof.
    “You can see the turrets best from up here. And look what a fine view of the countryside.” She looked at me intently. There’s a good view of the Dower House. “
    I followed the direction in which she was looking and there it was nestling among the trees and the greenery. The house looked like a doll’s house from here. The clean lines of its architecture were very obvious and the smooth lawn looked like a neat square of green silk. I could see Poor jar man working on the flowerbeds.
    “You have a better view of us than we have of you,” I commented.
    “In summer Oakland House is completely hidden.”
    “I often come up here and look round,” said Hannah.
    “You must have seen us in the garden now and then.”
    Oh, often. “
    I