CHAPTER VI

THE BONA FIDE GOLD MINE

Fully two years had gone by since I bade farewell to Lord Ragnall and Miss Holmes, and when the curtain draws up again behold me seated on the stoep of my little house at Durban, plunged in reflection and very sad indeed.  Why I was sad I will explain presently.

In that interval of time I had heard once or twice about Lord Ragnall.  Thus I received from Scroope a letter telling of his lordship’s marriage with Miss Holmes, which, it appeared, had been a very fine affair indeed, quite one of the events of the London season.  Two Royalties attended the ceremony, a duke was the best man, and the presents according to all accounts were superb and of great value, including a priceless pearl necklace given by the bridegroom to the bride.  A cutting from a society paper which Scroope enclosed dwelt at length upon the splendid appearance of the bridegroom and the sweet loveliness of the bride.  Also it described her dress in language which was Greek to me.  One sentence, however, interested me intensely.

It ran:  “The bride occasioned some comment by wearing only one ornament, although the Ragnall family diamonds, which have not seen the light for many years, are known to be some of the finest in the country.  It was a necklace of what appeared to be large but rather roughly polished rubies, to which hung a small effigy of an Egyptian god also fashioned from a ruby.  It must be added that although of an unusual nature on such an occasion this jewel suited her dark beauty well.  Lady Ragnall’s selection of it, however, from the many she possesses was the cause of much speculation.  When asked by a friend why she had chosen it, she is reported to have said that it was to bring her good fortune.”

Now why did she wear the barbaric marriage gift of Harut and Marut in preference to all the other gems at her disposal, I wondered.  The thing was so strange as to be almost uncanny.

The second piece of information concerning this pair reached me through the medium of an old Times newspaper which I received over a year later.  It was to the effect that a son and heir had been born to Lord Ragnall and that both mother and child were doing well.

So there’s the end to a very curious little story, thought I to myself.

Well, during those two years many things befell me.  First of all, in company with my old friend Sir Stephen Somers, I made the expedition to Pongoland in search of the wonderful orchid which he desired to add to his collection.  I have already written of that journey and our extraordinary adventures, and need therefore allude to it no more here, except to say that during the course of it I was sorely tempted to travel to the territory north of the lake in which the Pongos dwelt.  Much did I desire to see whether Messrs. Harut and Marut would in truth appear to conduct me to the land where the wonderful elephant which was supposed to be animated by an evil spirit was waiting to be killed by my rifle.  However, I resisted the impulse, as indeed our circumstances obliged me to do.  In the end we returned safely to Durban, and here I came to the conclusion that never again would I risk my life on such mad expeditions.