"A duchess," Sir Ernest replied absently.
The
party talked, inevitably, about diamonds, especially about a big stone
that was recently found on the grease tables of the Premier Mine. It is
one of the most beautiful specimens ever found, and the guests had
heard a rumor that Sir Ernest wanted to buy it himself. He is not like
a lot of diamond men who are bored by their own stock in trade and
whose wives never wear such things. Lady Oppenheimer's diamonds are
famous, and she enjoys wearing them, though not in profusion. Someone
once asked her if it is true that she has a diamond of every color in
the spectrum, and she seemed surprised.
"Oh no," she said. "I have a few colored stones, it's true, but not as many as all that. I have a blue, of course. And a
pink. And-----" She paused, looking thoughtful. "Come to
think of it," she said, "I'm not exactly underfed with diamonds."
Now Sir Ernest talked eagerly about the new stone. "It is beautiful," he said. "It is lovely. I wish I owned it."
A guest asked, "Why don't you buy it, then?"
"It would cost a lot of money," said Sir Ernest.
"Politics
were different then," said Harry Oppenheimer one day when he was
talking of his father's experiences as a Member of Parliament. Like
most political careers in South Africa, Harry's is stormy. "The House
wasn't the same then; it was quieter, because it represented a much
more restricted group. Men in his position had things more their own
way."
Sir Ernest as a Member did have an occasional fight on his hands, especially when he first took his seat in 1924. To go to
