Amanda Jones' Diamond Necklace

Amanda Jones' Diamond Necklace. Object Post 12

Harry Opaldown meant to marry Amanda Jones, but as he was a foundling, he had to go off and make his fortune (or at least to establish himself) before he could make it official. (This was the 19th Century, after all, and maybe Harry had read too many books.) He returned eventually, only to find Miss Amanda had an "understanding" with Phineas Kane, who had (oh la!) given her a family heirloom; a diamond necklace!

Amanda didn’t get to keep it for long, as Captain Sunrise, the audacious bushranger, held up Amanda’s coach, and seized the diamonds. He also kissed Amanda, who wasn’t sure which was the greater insult. Phineas Kane was mortified.

Harry was understandably annoyed with Amanda for jilting him, but he resolved to get those diamonds back for her to show up Phineas Kane, who wouldn't even try. To this end, he invited Mary Downie, an Irish servant girl, to help him, by setting her up in some new clothes and a pretty string of ambers as bait for Captain Sunrise.

Mary got herself held up, but Sunrise thought she was more interesting than the ambers, so he suggested a bargain. Mary took him up on it (she’d do anything to please Harry) and won back the diamonds. Harry, (typical man!) was furious with Mary and threw the diamonds at Amanda’s feet. He never wanted to see them, or Amanda, again, but then of course Amanda (and the diamonds) were appropriated by Captain Sunrise and Harry was off to the rescue. Oh, and Mary, who had a forgiving nature, went too.

By the end of the escapade, Harry had washed his hands of those diamonds (and of Amanda) because he had found something a lot nicer.

Amanda Jones, her diamonds, Harry, Mary, Phineas Kane and the bold Captain Sunrise all appear in Captain Sunrise. And if you think this tale sounds like a Grade-A diamond-toothed melodrama, that’s because it is!

ABOUT THE BLOG

Sally is Sally Odgers; author, anthologist and reader. You can find you way into her maze of websites and blogs via the portal here.(Sally is me, by the way.)

The goal for 2017 was to write a post a day profiling the background behind one of my books; how it came to be written, what it's about, and any things of note that happened along the way. 2017 is well behind us, but I ran out of year before running out of books. As of May 2018 I STILL hadn't run out of books, but many of those still to come are MIA by which I mean I don't have copies and remember little about them. There are more new books in the pipeline, and I'm certainly showcasing those, but in between times, I'm profiling some of my characters, places and objects. Thank you so much to everyone who's come along on this journey so far!