"'Ten and a half per cent bonus,in addition to his salary,if he shows an increase on last year's sales.'""'Net profits on the departments not to exceed twenty-five per cent.'"read Clara in amazement."Why,I should have thought the more profit he made,the better for you.""No fear,"said Jonah,with a grin;"I can't 'ave a man puttin'up the price of the Silver Shoe with his eye on his bonus."Then a long discussion followed that lasted till nightfall.As the night promised to be fine,Jonah persuaded her to take tea at a dilapidated refreshment-room,halfway to the jetty,and they continued the discussion over cups of discoloured water and stale cakes.When they reached the Point again the moon was rising clear in the sky,and they sat and watched in silence the gradual illumination of the harbour.The wind had dropped,and tiny ripples alone broke the surface of the water.On the opposite shore the beaches lay obscured in the faint light of the moon,growing momently stronger,the land and water melted and confounded together in the grey light.The lesser stars fled at the slow approach of the moon,and in an hour she floated alone in the sky,save for the larger planets,Hooding the deep abysses of the night with a gleam of silver,tender and caressing that softened the angles and blotted details in brooding shadows.
Overhead curved the arch of night,a deep,flawless blue with velvety depths,pale and diluted with light as it touched the skyline.On the right,in the farther distance,Circular Quay flashed with the gleam of electric arcs,each contracted into a star of four points.And they glittered on the waterline like clustered gems without visible setting.
A fainter glow marked the packed suburbs of the east;and then the lamps,flung like jewels in the night,picked out the line of shore to Rose Bay and the Heads.
Ferry-boats were crossing the harbour,jewelled and glittering with electric bulbs,moving in the distance without visible effort with the motion of swans,the throb of engines and the swirl of water lost in the distance.It was a symphony in light,each detached gleam on the sombre shore hanging Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear.