Tears of the Moon - Di Morrissey [118]
Upon arrival in Fremantle, they took a riverboat up the Swan River to Perth and booked into a discreet hotel as Mr and Mrs Johnston. Their days and nights together were every bit as wonderful as they’d hoped and imagined.
Monsieur Barat came to their hotel and greeted them warmly.
His sensitive antenna picked up that there was something between the two of them, but his discretion prevented him from showing any reaction. Instead he addressed the business at hand. ‘If you have come to me, rather than wait for me to come to you, I must assume you have something special to show me?’
Olivia carefully unrolled the velvet wrapping to reveal the shell with the seven pearls on it. Monsieur Barat was speechless, an involuntary short gasp the only sound in the room.
‘Is this special enough?’ asked Tyndall quietly, with a slight smile.
Monsieur Barat did not take his eyes off the pearls but nodded in agreement. ‘It’s a miracle. Where was this found?’
‘Somewhere special indeed,’ answered Olivia softly. ‘But even if we were to return there, I doubt we’d find anything like it again.’
The Frenchman picked up the shell with both hands, lifting it with reverence, as if it was a sacred object. ‘One could live several lifetimes before seeing something like this. I am honoured you have shown it to me.’
‘You’re our friend and we trust you,’ responded Olivia and Monsieur Barat acknowledged her with a slight bow.
He examined the pearls on the shell more closely. ‘I am glad you didn’t try to remove the pearls. They could have come apart and they are worth more, initially, in their original state. A buyer can decide what is to be done with them later.’
Tyndall and Olivia exchanged a relieved glance. ‘Tobias Metta advised us to leave them intact. He is sworn to secrecy about them,’ said Olivia.
‘He is a wise man. Collectors are strange people and some prize more highly pearls that have not been publicly advertised. The sale must be handled very discreetly.’
‘Indeed,’ said Olivia, inviting him to continue.
‘I would travel to London and sell it privately in Hatton Garden. There are agents there for buyers with the sort of money this treasure will bring. But, of course, that is up to you to decide.’ He placed the shell back in its velvet wrapping.
Olivia and the French pearl buyer haggled briefly over the commission and the finer details of the transaction as they always did and Tyndall sat back and listened with faint amusement. It was a delicate dance, an exercise they both enjoyed with the toing and froing, pauses for consideration and suggestion, rather like a game of chess.
Monsieur Barat later joined them for dinner and when they bid him goodbye he warned them it might take a little time to find the right buyer ‘with the right amount of money’.
Over the next season, losses from the cyclone were more than recouped.
‘These are boom times,’ declared Tyndall as record yields of shell were sold.
The Broome fleet now numbered in the hundreds and adventurers and entrepreneurs from many countries came to seek their fortunes on the pearling grounds. Some put their life savings into a boat or talked an investor into backing them, but most failed from inexperience, greed, or bad luck.
The Star of the Sea Pearl Company now had twelve luggers.
‘We can’t expand and keep a close watch on any more than we have now,’ said Olivia. ‘It’s getting harder to find honest men to work for us, we need white shell openers on every boat to watch every shell that’s opened. I still think we’re losing pearls, even with the pearl boxes.’
These were an ingenious invention carried on all luggers where pearls were dropped down a funnel into the box, which was then padlocked so that only the holder of the key could retrieve the pearls. As soon as Olivia saw this device she put one on every boat.
‘You’re a tough businesswoman, Olivia,’ teased Tyndall, leaning down and kissing the tip of her ear.
She blushed and whispered, ‘Be careful, someone might come into the office.’
Tyndall picked up