der Merwe frowned. ‘I don’t know. She –’
It was an iron-clad rule of Salomon van der Merwe’s never to permit any man to be alone with his daughter. In the case of Mr Travis, however, he decided there would be no harm in making an exception. With so much at stake, he did not want to appear inhospitable. ‘I can spare Margaret from the store for a short time. You will show our guest around, Margaret?’
‘If you wish, Father,’ she said quietly.
‘That’s settled then.’ Jamie smiled. ‘Shall we say ten o’clock in the morning?’
After the tall, elegantly dressed guest left, Margaret cleared away the table and washed the dishes, in a complete daze. He must think I’m an idiot. She went over and over in her mind everything she had contributed to the conversation. Nothing. She had been completely tongue-tied. Why was that? Hadn’t she waited on hundreds of men in the store without becoming a stupid fool? Of course they had not looked at her the way Ian Travis had. Men all have the devil in them, Margaret. I’ll not let them corrupt your innocence. Her father’s voice echoed in her mind. Could that be it? The weakness and trembling she had felt when the stranger had looked at her? Was he corrupting her innocence? The thought of it sent a delicious thrill through her body. She looked down at the plate she had dried three times and sat down at the table. She wished her mother were still alive.
Her mother would have understood. Margaret loved her father, but sometimes she had the oppressive feeling that she was his prisoner. It worried her that he never allowed a man to come near her. I’ll never get married, Margaret thought. Not until he dies. Her rebellious thoughts filled her with guilt, and she hurriedly left the room and went into the store, where her father sat behind a desk, working on his accounts.
‘Good night, Father.’
Van der Merwe took off his gold-framed spectacles and rubbed his eyes before he raised his arms to embrace his daughter good night. Margaret did not know why she pulled away.
Alone in the curtained-off alcove that served as her bedroom, Margaret studied her face in the small, round mirror that hung on the wall. She had no illusions about her looks. She was not pretty. She was interesting-looking. Nice eyes. High cheekbones. A good figure. She drew nearer to the mirror. What had Ian Travis seen when he looked at her? She began getting undressed. And Ian Travis was in the room with her, watching her, his eyes burning into her. She stepped out of her muslin drawers and camisole and stood naked before him. Her hands slowly caressed the swell of her breasts and felt her hardening nipples. Her fingers slid down across her flat belly and his hands became entwined with hers, moving slowly downward. They were between her legs now, gently touching, stroking, rubbing, harder now, faster and faster until she was caught up in a frantic whirlpool of sensation that finally exploded inside her and she gasped his name and fell to the bed.
They rode out in Jamie’s carriage, and he was amazed once more at the changes that had taken place. Where before there had been only a sea of tents, now there were substantial-looking houses, constructed of timber with roofs of corrugated iron or thatch.
‘Klipdrift seems very prosperous,’ Jamie said as they rode along the main street.
‘I suppose it would be interesting for a newcomer,’ Margaret said. And she thought, I’ve hated it until now.
They left the town and drove out towards the mining camps along the Vaal River. The seasonal rains had turned the countryside into an enormous, colourful garden, filled with the luxuriant bush Karroo, and the spreading Rhenoster bush and heaths and diosmas plants that could be found nowhere else in the world. As they drove past a group of prospectors, Jamie asked, ‘Have there been any big diamond finds lately?’
‘Oh, yes, a few. Every time the news gets out, hundreds of new diggers come pouring in. Most of them leave poor and heartbroken. Margaret felt she had to warn him of the danger here. ‘Father would not like to hear me say this, but I think it’s a terrible business, Mr Travis.’
‘For some, probably,’ Jamie agreed. ‘For some.’
‘Do you plan to stay on a while?’
‘Yes.’
Margaret felt her heart singing. ‘Good.’ Then added quickly, ‘Father will be pleased.’
They drove around all morning, and from time to time they stopped and Jamie chatted with prospectors. Many of them recognized Margaret and spoke respectfully. There was a warmth to her and an easy friendliness that she did not reveal when she was around her father.
As they drove on, Jamie said, ‘Everyone seems to know you.’
She blushed. ‘That’s because they do business with Father. He supplies most of the diggers.’
Jamie made no comment. He was keenly interested in what he was seeing. The railroad had made an enormous difference. A new combine called De Beers, named after the farmer in whose field the first diamond discovery was made, had bought out its chief rival, a colourful entrepreneur named Barney Barnato, and De Beers was busily consolidating the hundreds of small claims into one organization. Gold had been discovered recently, not far from Kimberley, along with manganese and zinc. Jamie was convinced this was only the beginning, that South Africa was a treasure-house of minerals. There were incredible opportunities here for a man with foresight.
When Jamie and Margaret returned, it was late afternoon. Jamie stopped the carriage in front of Van der Merwe’s store and said, ‘I would be honoured if you and your father would be my guests at dinner tonight.’
Margaret glowed. ‘I’ll ask Father. I do so hope he’ll say yes. Thank you for a lovely day, Mr Travis.’
And she fled.
The three of them had dinner in the large, square dining room of the new Grand Hotel.
The room was crowded, and Van der Merwe grumbled, ‘I don’t see how these people can afford to eat here.’
Jamie picked up a menu and glanced at it. A steak cost one pound four shillings, a potato was four shillings and a piece of apple pie ten shillings.
‘They’re robbers!’ Van der Merwe complained. ‘A few meals here and a man could eat himself into the poorhouse.’
Jamie wondered what it would take to put Salomon van der Merwe in the poorhouse. He intended to find out. They ordered, and Jamie noticed that Van der Merwe ordered the most expensive items on the menu. Margaret ordered a clear soup. She was too excited to eat. She looked at her hands, remembered what they had done the night before and felt guilty.
‘I can afford dinner,’ Jamie teased her. ‘Order anything you like.’
She blushed. ‘Thank you, but I’m – I’m not really very hungry.’
Van der Merwe noticed the blush and looked sharply from Margaret to Jamie. ‘My daughter is a rare girl, a rare girl, Mr Travis.’
Jamie nodded. ‘I couldn’t agree with you more, Mr van der Merwe.’
His words made Margaret so happy that when their dinner was served, she could not even eat the soup. The affect Ian Travis had
