The Lost Sapphire Read Free Page B

match rather than follow her heart.’
    â€˜You mean marry for money rather than love?’ Marli asked with dismay. ‘That’s crazy.’
    Didi nodded. ‘Many people felt that way before the wars. Anyway, Albert lost all his money and the house was given away to the government on a ninety-year lease. But now the house is empty and run-down. The government doesn’t want the bother of it anymore, so the house is to revert back to the family early.’
    â€˜Can we go and see it?’ asked Marli. ‘It sounds exciting.’
    â€˜Of course we can. I thought perhaps we could go on an excursion this morning. That’s if your poor father doesn’t have to rush off to work.’
    â€˜But it’s Saturday,’ Marli replied.
    â€˜Yes,’ said Didi with a twinkle in his eye, ‘but your Dad’s boss, Tony, has a habit of ringing constantly with dire emergencies, so your father seems to work six or seven days a week most of the time. But perhaps today will be an exception.’
    Dad held up his hands in surrender. ‘I wouldn’t dare go to work and deprive us of a family excursion. In fact, I’m fascinated too.’
    â€˜Then let’s go,’ replied Didi.

    Riversleigh Grove was a wide, curving street lined with mature oak trees, forming a leafy-green tunnel overhead. On either side of the road were grand heritage houses with tall fences and lush gardens. Dad drove, with Didi in the front passenger seat, leaning forward to check the house numbers. Marli sat in the back.
    â€˜Originally, in the 1880s, none of these houses were here, and this road was the driveway,’ explained Didi.‘In the days of my great-grandfather, that little cottage was the gatehouse to the estate.’
    Marli stared at the quaint gingerbread cottage they were passing, with its steep-pitched roof.
    â€˜There it is,’ Didi said, pointing. ‘Riversleigh.’
    Dad pulled up and parked the car on the opposite side of the road. They all looked across to where a high, stone wall surrounded the property. A pair of ornate wrought-iron gates had been covered by a metal mesh barricade. A large sign read Keep Out. Behind the wall, Marli could see the tops of gnarled old trees – oaks, elms, conifers and magnolias with ivory flowers.
    A thin boy with dark hair was ambling past the gate, his hands in the pockets of his black jeans, headphones on. A grey cat came to greet him, winding around his legs, arching her back to be patted. The boy scooped the cat up in his arms and stared curiously at Marli and her family in the car before glancing away. He turned into the neighbouring driveway and disappeared.
    â€˜It’s looking rather forlorn,’ said Dad, frowning.
    â€˜The house has been abandoned for nearly ten years,’ Didi explained. ‘I think at one stage squatters were living there. Before that it was a nursing home, a school and a convalescent home for soldiers during the Second World War. It’s nearly ninety years since the Hamilton family lived here.’
    They all climbed out of the car and walked towards the barricaded and padlocked gate. Through the bars, they could see extensive overgrown gardens with waist-high grass and thick weeds. A circular bitumen driveway surrounded a broken marble fountain. Behind that was the two-storey house.
    It must have been beautiful once: cream-coloured with graceful arches across the upper and lower loggias, arched windows in the rounded bays. On the left-hand side was a three-storey square tower with a rooftop terrace enclosed by a balustrade. Yet closer inspection showed dirty, peeling paint, boarded-up windows and cracked glass.
    â€˜It’s a bit of a dump,’ said Marli, wrinkling her nose.
    â€˜But you can see how grand it once was,’ said Dad. ‘The Italianate style of architecture was very popular in the late nineteenth century. Many wealthy families built these huge, extravagant