left Oakland. We had had little Minnie jobber making dresses for me and I had some lovely garments made. In particular there were two pretty ball dresses. I remember Mama’s looking at them when we knew we were going to leave Oakland and saying: ” You’ll never need them now. ” One was more beautiful than the other; it was in cherry-coloured silk trimmed with Honiton lace; it fell off the shoulders, and I had a pretty neck and shoulders. It had been cut in that style for the sole purpose of showing them.
“Poor neck, poor shoulders,” I used to say, “you will never be shown off now.”
“One could talk to Mr. Henniker about anything so I told him about the dress. It was strange that he-a miner really and I suppose a rough one-could understand how I felt about almost anything I mentioned. He said: ” You shall wear the cherry dress. After all, why should the world be deprived of a glimpse of your divine neck and shoulders just because your father was a gambler? We’ll have a ball and you shall bring cherry red to it. ” I said I would never dare and he answered:
“Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Never be afraid to dare.” Then he laughed and said he was a wicked man who was leading his neighbour’s daughter from the strait and narrow path. He laughed a good deal over that.
“Strait and narrow paths are so restricting. Miss Jessica,” he
said.
“The wide open spaces are much more stimulating.” 2 “Well, I digress again. I didn’t intend to. At first I meant this to be a brief letter, but as soon as I took up my pen I felt impelled to write like this. I had to make you see it all. I didn’t want you to think I was just a wanton. It wasn’t like that at all.
There was a house party at Oakland. Ben Henniker often had them. His guests were mostly people who were in his business. They used to come bringing special stones to him. He bought them afld sometimes sold them; there was a lot of talk about opals. I began to learn something of how they were mined and marketed and found it fascinating.
“He told me there was to be a ball and that I must come to it and be one of his guests. It was thrilling, but I knew I couldn’t put on my cherry red dress and walk out of the house in it, so Ben suggested that I smuggle cherry red (as he called it) into Oakland and then on the night of the ball slip over and change into it there. He would get one of the maids to help me dress. So this was arranged.
“What a night that was, for during it I met Desmond for the first time. I must make you see Desmond. Everyone was wrong about what happened afterwards. That is what I want you to understand more than anything. It couldn’t have been the way it seemed. It just wasn’t possible.
The gallery at Oakland looked beautiful with the musicians at one end and decorated with flowers from the greenhouses. It made a beautiful ballroom with the candles flickering in their sconces. It was like my coming out ball and that was what Mr. Henniker intended it to be. He once said: “I didn’t mind taking Oakland from your father-he took a gamble and lost. I’m glad I took it from your mother because she deserves to lose it. I sometimes feel a twinge when I see your brother looking so mournful, but he’s a young man and he should be seeing what he can do about getting it back, or some place like it. But for you.
Miss Jessica, I’m right down sorry. So now we’re going to have a ball. ” It was an enchanted evening. There had never been such an evening in the whole of my life and never will be again, for it was at the ball that night that I met Desmond.
“He was young … not much older than I, but twenty-one seemed a responsible age to me. It was not a crowded ballroom because Mr. Henniker had asked none of the people from the neighbourhood. He told me that he couldn’t ask them because they would know me and that might cause trouble.
This was to be my ball-the ball of the cherry red gown and the divine neck and
“Poor neck, poor shoulders,” I used to say, “you will never be shown off now.”
“One could talk to Mr. Henniker about anything so I told him about the dress. It was strange that he-a miner really and I suppose a rough one-could understand how I felt about almost anything I mentioned. He said: ” You shall wear the cherry dress. After all, why should the world be deprived of a glimpse of your divine neck and shoulders just because your father was a gambler? We’ll have a ball and you shall bring cherry red to it. ” I said I would never dare and he answered:
“Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Never be afraid to dare.” Then he laughed and said he was a wicked man who was leading his neighbour’s daughter from the strait and narrow path. He laughed a good deal over that.
“Strait and narrow paths are so restricting. Miss Jessica,” he
said.
“The wide open spaces are much more stimulating.” 2 “Well, I digress again. I didn’t intend to. At first I meant this to be a brief letter, but as soon as I took up my pen I felt impelled to write like this. I had to make you see it all. I didn’t want you to think I was just a wanton. It wasn’t like that at all.
There was a house party at Oakland. Ben Henniker often had them. His guests were mostly people who were in his business. They used to come bringing special stones to him. He bought them afld sometimes sold them; there was a lot of talk about opals. I began to learn something of how they were mined and marketed and found it fascinating.
“He told me there was to be a ball and that I must come to it and be one of his guests. It was thrilling, but I knew I couldn’t put on my cherry red dress and walk out of the house in it, so Ben suggested that I smuggle cherry red (as he called it) into Oakland and then on the night of the ball slip over and change into it there. He would get one of the maids to help me dress. So this was arranged.
“What a night that was, for during it I met Desmond for the first time. I must make you see Desmond. Everyone was wrong about what happened afterwards. That is what I want you to understand more than anything. It couldn’t have been the way it seemed. It just wasn’t possible.
The gallery at Oakland looked beautiful with the musicians at one end and decorated with flowers from the greenhouses. It made a beautiful ballroom with the candles flickering in their sconces. It was like my coming out ball and that was what Mr. Henniker intended it to be. He once said: “I didn’t mind taking Oakland from your father-he took a gamble and lost. I’m glad I took it from your mother because she deserves to lose it. I sometimes feel a twinge when I see your brother looking so mournful, but he’s a young man and he should be seeing what he can do about getting it back, or some place like it. But for you.
Miss Jessica, I’m right down sorry. So now we’re going to have a ball. ” It was an enchanted evening. There had never been such an evening in the whole of my life and never will be again, for it was at the ball that night that I met Desmond.
“He was young … not much older than I, but twenty-one seemed a responsible age to me. It was not a crowded ballroom because Mr. Henniker had asked none of the people from the neighbourhood. He told me that he couldn’t ask them because they would know me and that might cause trouble.
This was to be my ball-the ball of the cherry red gown and the divine neck and
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