His lovely, hot-tempered wife was jealous of the friendship between
Sean and himself!
Chuckling tenderly, Saul laid plans to appease Ruth. He'd have to be
less fulsome in his praises of Sean. He must get them together and in
Sean's presence pay special attention to Ruth.
He must . . .
Then his thoughts ricocheted off in another direction and he began to
think about Ruth. As always when he thought too intensely about her,
he experienced a feeling of bemusement similar to what a poor man feels
on winning a large lottery.
He had met her at the Johannesburg Turf Club during the big Summer
Meeting, and he had fallen in love at a range of fifty paces, so that
when he was presented to her, his usually nimble tongue lay like a
lutrip of heavy metal in his mouth and he squirmed and was silent. The
friendly smile she bestowed upon him licked across his face like a blow
torch, heating it until he felt the skin would blister.
That night, alone in his lodging, he planned his campaign. To its
conduct he allocated the sum of five hundred guineas, which was exactly
half his savings. The following morning he began his intelligence
work, and a week later he had collected a massive volume of
information.
She was eighteen years old and was on a visit to relations in
Johannesburg, a visit scheduled to last a further six weeks. She came
from a rich Natal family of brewers and hotel-keepers, but she was an
orphan and a ward of her uncle. While in Johannesburg she rode every
day, visited the theatre or danced every night with an assortment of
escorts, except Fridays when she attended the Old Synagogue in Jeppe
Street.
His opening manceuvre was the hire of a horse and he waylaid her as she
rode out with her cousin. She did not remember him and would have
ridden on, but at last his tongue, which was sharpened by three years
of practice at the Johannesburg Bar, came to life. Within two minutes
she was laughing and an hour later she invited him back to tea with her
relatives.
The following evening he called for her in a splendid carriage and they
dined at Candy's Hotel and went on to the Ballet in company with a
party of Saul's friend.
Two nights later she went with him to the Bar Association Ball and
found that he was a superb dancer. Resplendent in brand-new evening
dress, with an ugly yet mobile and expressive face, an inch taller than
her five feet six, with wit and intelligence that had earned him a wide
circle of friends-he was the perfect foil for her own beauty. When he
returned her home Ruth had a thoughtful but dreamy look in her eye.
The following day she attended Court and listened to him successfully
defend a gentleman accused of assault with intent to do grievous bodily
harm. She was impressed by his display and decided that in time he
would reach the heights of his profession.
A week later Saul again proved his command of the spoken word in an
impassioned declaration of love. His suit was judged and found worthy,
and after that it was merely a case of informing the families and
