"'Ten and a half per cent bonus,in addition to his salary,if he shows an increase on last year's sales.'""'Net profits on the departments not to exceed twenty-five per cent.'"read Clara in amazement."Why,I should have thought the more profit he made,the better for you.""No fear,"said Jonah,with a grin;"I can't 'ave a man puttin'up the price of the Silver Shoe with his eye on his bonus."Then a long discussion followed that lasted till nightfall.As the night promised to be fine,Jonah persuaded her to take tea at a dilapidated refreshment-room,halfway to the jetty,and they continued the discussion over cups of discoloured water and stale cakes.When they reached the Point again the moon was rising clear in the sky,and they sat and watched in silence the gradual illumination of the harbour.The wind had dropped,and tiny ripples alone broke the surface of the water.On the opposite shore the beaches lay obscured in the faint light of the moon,growing momently stronger,the land and water melted and confounded together in the grey light.The lesser stars fled at the slow approach of the moon,and in an hour she floated alone in the sky,save for the larger planets,Hooding the deep abysses of the night with a gleam of silver,tender and caressing that softened the angles and blotted details in brooding shadows.
Overhead curved the arch of night,a deep,flawless blue with velvety depths,pale and diluted with light as it touched the skyline.On the right,in the farther distance,Circular Quay flashed with the gleam of electric arcs,each contracted into a star of four points.And they glittered on the waterline like clustered gems without visible setting.
A fainter glow marked the packed suburbs of the east;and then the lamps,flung like jewels in the night,picked out the line of shore to Rose Bay and the Heads.
Ferry-boats were crossing the harbour,jewelled and glittering with electric bulbs,moving in the distance without visible effort with the motion of swans,the throb of engines and the swirl of water lost in the distance.It was a symphony in light,each detached gleam on the sombre shore hanging Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear.
Between the moon and the eye the water lay like a sheet of frosted glass;elsewhere the water rippled without life or colour,treacherous and menacing in the night.
Jonah turned and looked at the woman beside him.They were alone on the rocky headland,the city and the world of men seemed remote and unreal,cut off by the silvery light and the brooding shadows.It dawned slowly on him that his relations with this woman were independent of time and space.Of all things visible,it was she alone that mattered.Often enough he had missed his cue,but now,as if answering a question,he began speaking softly,as if he were talking to himself:
"Clara!--Clara Grimes!--Clara!I've wanted ter say that out aloud fer months,but I've never found the place ter say it in.It sounds quite natural 'ere.Yer know that I love yer--I've seen it in yer face,but yer don't know that you're the first woman I ever wanted.No,yer needn't run away.I'm afraid ter touch yer,an'yer know it.Yer thought because Iwas married that I knew all about women.Why,I didn't know what women were made for till I met you.I thought w'en I 'ad the shop an'my boy that I had everythin'I wanted,but the old woman was right.There's a lot more in this world than I ever dreamt of.Seein'you opened my eyes.
An'now I want yer altogether.I want ter see yer face every 'our of the day,an'tell yer whatever comes into my mind.I spend 'ours talkin'to yer w'en I'm by myself.""It's only my right,"he went on,with increased energy."I'm a man in spite of my shape,an'I only ask fer what I'm entitled to.I can see that other men 'ave been gittin'these things without me knowin'it.Iused ter grin at Chook,but I was the fool.I had everythin'that I could see that was worth 'avin',an'somehow I wasn't satisfied.I never could see much in this life.I often wondered what it was all about.But now Iunderstand.What's this for,"and he indicated the dreamy peaceful scene with a sweep of his hand,"if it only leaves yer starin'and wonderin'?
I know now.It's ter make me think about yer an'want yer.Well,yer've made a man of me,an'it's up ter yous ter make the best of me."He broke off with a short laugh."P'raps this sound funny ter you.I've 'eard old women at the Salvos'meetings talk like this,tellin'of the wonderful things they found out w'en they got converted."Clara had listened in silence,with an intent,curious expression on her face.Jonah's words were like balm to her pride,lacerated three years ago by her broken engagement.And she listened,immensely pleased and a little afraid,like a mischievous child that has set fire to the curtains.
Jonah's face was turned to her,and as she looked at him her curiosity was changed to awe at the sight of passion on fire.She thought of the crazy fiddler's words,and felt in herself an infinite sadness,for she knew that Jonah would never gain his heart's desire.
"I've 'ad my say,"he continued,"an'now I'll talk sense.You're a grown woman,an'yer know what all this means.I can give yer anythin'yer like:
a house an'servants;everythin'yer want.What do yer say?"Clara had gone white to the lips.It had come at last,and the "Silver Shoe"was within her reach,but the gift was incomplete.She must decline it,and take her chances for the future.
"Not quite everything,Joe,"she replied gently,afraid of wounding him.
"Ever since I was a girl I've had something to be ashamed of through no fault of my own--my drunken father,the street we live in,our genteel poverty;and now,when I seem to have missed all my chances,you come along,and offer me everything I want with the main thing left out.Oh,I know those cottages where the husband is a stranger,and the neighbours watch them behind the curtains,and pump the servant over the back fence!
