O, Fortuna

Chapter 6

With John Campbell waved off down the driveway and back to Brisbane, the atmosphere at Faridah immediately relaxed; Rosa became very animated and talkative, wondering what Grace would like to look at first, the house or the property, before lunch. Liam finished his tea, half a dozen triangle sandwiches and two cream puffs before excusing himself to get back to the garage, leaving the women to talk privately. Grace was glad of it. Liam's presence thus far had proven far too distracting. She did not often find herself struck by a man's appearance but there was something about Liam's that was pushing buttons she had almost forgotten she had.

Rosa was generous with her time and explanations of the house and Grace followed and listened with a smile, as keen to explore it as much as the housekeeper was eager to show it. There were three distinct wings to the house, the front most being the six bedrooms, each with a small ensuite and all much the same in appearance with their polished Jarrah floorboards, simple solid timber furniture, brass fittings and crisp white walls and bed linen. There were minimal adornments on the walls in each, very creditable depictions of Glass House Mountains, from various vantage points, in an Impressionist style, all which bore the inscription of the same artist in the bottom right hand corner, a name Grace was unable to read without appearing overly nosey.

The main bedroom was in stark contrast to the others with its timber floor stained the colour of honey, its walls papered with an intricately-detailed design of tiny golden blossoms and birds that clung to vine-like swirls on a background of the softest pink. Each piece of furniture shared the same golden hue of the floor and was carved to curve in a manner that suggested its craftsman had been utterly fixated on the female form. There was a richness to it all that alluded to the considerable wealth June had felt the need to bestow upon on Grace but no hint of sentiment, no photographs or mementos in sight which, in its own way, reminded the heiress of the rather clinical manner in which the fortune had been left to her too. Rosa did not offer a glimpse into the wardrobes or drawers or make mention of having removed the clothing ahead of donation to charity, in fact the housekeeper seemed very impatient to leave the room, as if uneasy about being in there, and Grace, denied any insight into her late relative, keenly nodded toward the door to second their departure.

At the end of the corridor southern corridor was the study, which made Grace gasp in astonishment for in spite of the laptop computer on the large desk by the window, all else seemed to be exclusively derived from a century long since passed. Nearly three walls of the large room were dedicated to bookshelves, built up to the four five-metre high ceiling, all filled with literature and reference material, some with leather-bound and tooled covers, others with more recently published glossy printed sleeves, a tracked ladder allowing access to the more loftily-stored volumes. Two soft leather low slung settees flanked a long glass-topped coffee table in the centre of the room beneath the cover of the glass, dozens of uncut gemstone and chunks of raw metals, displayed like specimens in a number of small compartments.

Grace was not absolutely certain, her geology knowledge limited to her early high school science studies, but she felt like many of them were not at home so south of the equator and it made her wonder if mining was the origin of her great aunt's fortune. It felt too early to start bombarding Rosa with the thousand or so questions she had about June, especially with housekeeper's enthusiasm to be so courteous with her time, so Grace followed the tour affably as they made their way toward the back of the house and the extensive spread of areas that were designed to entertain and indulge occupants and guests of the house alike in comfort.

The drawing, dining and living room were, as she might have expected after the tour so far, elegantly simply in their use of more timber, with soft green embroidered fabrics throughout, the light fittings crafted by a highly-skilled sadist who would never have to gingerly go about the cleaning of their delicate gold and crystal creations. As with the study, there was minimal evidence of 21st century technologies though Rosa, with a knowing smile, opened a number of doors of the inbuilt cupboards along the northern wall of the living room to reveal a huge flat screen plasma television, accompanying audio visual electronics and an enormous selection of movies and music, all of which was alphabetised.