Master of the Game

Chapter 15

It had begun casually six weeks earlier. In the middle of a hectic day, David received a message that Tim O'Neil, the friend of an important American diamond buyer, was in Klip-drift and asking if David would be good enough to welcome him and perhaps take him to dinner. David had no time to waste on tourists, but he did not want to offend his customer. He would have asked Kate to entertain the visitor, but she was on a tour of the company's plants in North America with Brad Rogers. I'm stuck, David decided. He called the hotel where O'Neil was staying and invited him to dinner that evening.

"My daughter is with me," O'Neil told him. "I hope you don't mind if I bring her along?"

David was in no mood to spend the evening with a child. "Not at all," he said politely. He would make sure the evening was a short one.

They met at the Grand Hotel, in the dining room. When David arrived, O'Neil and his daughter were already seated at the table. O'Neil was a handsome, gray-haired Irish-American in his early fifties. His daughter, Josephine, was the most beautiful woman David had ever seen. She was in her early thirties, with a stunning figure, soft blond hair and clear blue eyes. The breath went out of David at the sight of her.

"I - I'm sorry I'm late," he said. "Some last-minute business."

Josephine watched his reaction to her with amusement. "Sometimes that's the most exciting kind," she said innocently. "My father tells me you're a very important man, Mr. Black-well."

"Not really - and it's David."

She nodded. "That's a good name. It suggests great strength."

Before the dinner was over, David decided that Josephine O'Neil was much more than just a beautiful woman. She was intelligent, had a sense of humor and was skillful at making him feel at ease. David felt she was genuinely interested in him. She asked him questions about himself that no one had ever asked before. By the time the evening ended, he was already half in love with her.

"Where's your home?" David asked Tim O'Neil.

"San Francisco."

"Will you be going back soon?" He made it sound as casual as he could.

"Next week."

Josephine smiled at David. "If Klipdrift is as interesting as it promises to be, I might persuade Father to stay a little longer."

"I intend to make it as interesting as possible," David assured her. "How would you like to go down into a diamond mine?"

"We'd love it," Josephine answered. "Thank you."

At one time David had personally escorted important visitors down into the mines, but he had long since delegated that task to subordinates. Now he heard himself saying, "Would tomorrow morning be convenient?" He had half a dozen meetings scheduled for the morning, but they suddenly seemed unimportant.

He took the O'Neils down a rockshaft, twelve hundred feet below ground. The shaft was six feet wide and twenty feet long, divided into four compartments, one for pumping, two for hoisting the blue diamondiferous earth and one with a double-decked cage to carry the miners to and from work.

"I've always been curious about something," Josephine said. "Why are diamonds measured in carats?"

"The carat was named for the carob seed," David explained, "because of its consistency in weight. One carat equals two hundred milligrams, or one one-hundred-forty-second of an ounce."

Josephine said, "I'm absolutely fascinated, David."

And he wondered if she was referring only to the diamonds. Her nearness was intoxicating. Every time he looked at Josephine, David felt a fresh sense of excitement.

"You really should see something of the countryside," David told the O'Neils. "If you're free tomorrow, I'd be happy to take you around."

Before her father could say anything, Josephine replied, "That would be lovely."

David was with Josephine and her father every day after that, and each day David fell more deeply in love. He had never known anyone as bewitching.

When David arrived to pick up the O'Neils for dinner one evening and Tim O'Neil said, "I'm a bit tired tonight, David. Would you mind if I didn't go along?" David tried to hide his pleasure.

"No, sir. I understand."

Josephine gave David a mischievous smile. "I'll try to keep you entertained," she promised.

David took her to a restaurant in a hotel that had just opened. The room was crowded, but David was recognized and given a table immediately. A three-piece ensemble was playing American music.

David asked, "Would you like to dance?"

"I'd love to."

A moment later, Josephine was in his arms on the dance floor, and it was magic. David held her lovely body close to his, and he could feel her respond.

"Josephine, I'm in love with you."

She put a finger to his lips. "Please, David...don't..."

"Why?"

"Because I couldn't marry you."

"Do you love me?"

She smiled up at him, her blue eyes sparkling. "I'm crazy about you, my darling. Can't you tell?"

"Then why?"

"Because I could never live in Klipdrift. I'd go mad."

"You could give it a try."

"David, I'm tempted, but I know what would happen. If I married you and had to live here, I'd turn into a screaming shrew and we'd end up hating each other. I'd rather we said good-bye this way."

"I don't want to say good-bye."

She looked up into his face, and David felt her body melt into his. "David, is there any chance that you could live in San Francisco?"

It was an impossible idea. "What would I do there?"

"Let's have breakfast in the morning. I want you to talk to Father."

Tim O'Neil said, "Josephine has told me about your conversation last night. Looks like you two have a problem. But I might have a solution, if you're interested."

"I'm very interested, sir."

O'Neil picked up a brown-leather briefcase and removed some blueprints. "Do you know anything about frozen foods?"

"I'm afraid I don't."

"They first started freezing food in the United States in 1865. The problem was transporting it long distances without the food thawing out. We've got refrigerated railway cars, but no one's been able to come up with a way to refrigerate trucks." O'Neil tapped the blueprints. "Until now. I just received a patent on it. This is going to revolutionize the entire food industry, David."

David glanced at the blueprints. "I'm afraid these don't mean much to me, Mr. O'Neil."

"That doesn't matter. I'm not looking for a technical expert. I have plenty of those. What I'm looking for is financing and someone to run the business. This isn't some wild pipe dream. I've talked to the top food processors in the business. This is going to be big - bigger than you can imagine. I need someone like you."

"The company headquarters will be in San Francisco," Josephine added.

David sat there silent, digesting what he had just heard. "You say you've been given a patent on this?"

"That's right. I'm all set to move."

"Would you mind if I borrowed these blueprints and showed them to someone?"

"I have no objection at all."

The first thing David did was to check on Tim O'Neil. He learned that O'Neil had a solid reputation in San Francisco. He had been head of the science department at a Berkeley College there and was highly regarded. David knew nothing about the freezing of food, but he intended to find out.

"I'll be back in five days, darling. I want you and your father to wait for me."

"As long as you like. I'll miss you," Josephine said.

"I'll miss you, too." And he meant it more than she knew.

David took the train to Johannesburg and made an appointment to see Edward Broderick, the owner of the largest meatpacking plant in South Africa.

"I want your opinion on something." David handed him the blueprints. "I need to know if this can work."

"I don't know a damned thing about frozen foods or trucks, but I know people who do. If you come back this afternoon, I'll have a couple of experts here for you, David."

At four o'clock that afternoon David returned to the packing plant. He found that he was nervous, in a state of uncertainty, because he was not sure how he wanted the meeting to go. Two weeks earlier, he would have laughed if anyone had even suggested he would ever leave Kruger-Brent, Ltd. It was a part of him. He would have laughed even harder if they had told him he would have considered heading a little food company in San Francisco. It was insane, except for one thing: Josephine O'Neil.