Chapter 19: The Best Laid Schemes

“Anthea obtains the finest sapphires I have ever seen.” Shadrach said, taking the jeweller’s loupe from his eye. “These literally outshine the last consignment she sent.”

“Where do they come from?” I asked.

“These are from Ceylon, as we Europeans know the island, and are acknowledged by jewellers to be the most exquisite, and far superior to those from other parts of the world. Ceylon’s sapphires are a medium to light blue in colour, cornflower blue I think you English call the shade, and their lustre is unsurpassed. Ceylon is also where the most sought after pearls originate. Sinhalese divers can submerge to incredible depths, and thus harvest the largest and most lustrous pearls. I wonder how Anthea’s sisters acquire the gems and pearls in the first place, and then manage to spirit them away from under the noses of the authorities, which in Ceylon are you British.”

“Anthea has sisters in Ceylon?”

“The Sisterhood is world-wide, with communities in Europe, India, the Levant, possibly even in Cathay.”
He put the bag of sapphires in a desk drawer and then walked over to the large globe I had admired on my first visit to his premises.

Pepe, his mule, and I had made good time on our return from Mother Anthea’s villa to Naples. During the journey I was completely wrapped up in my own thoughts concerning the death of my sister, and whether to follow Eloise de La Zouche to Egypt to extract my revenge. However, the words of Sister Siobhan intruded.on my thoughts.

I turned over in my mind as to who that person could be, with Shelley, Byron, and the two publishers, Murdoch and Turner, as prime candidates.

Pepe announced. “We here. Go see Shadrach.”
And it was with some surprise I realised we had arrived outside Shadrach’s workshop in Naples.

“This is the route those sapphires and diamonds would have travelled,” Shadrach said, bringing me back to the present.
I joined him at the globe, and followed his finger as it crossed the strip of water between Ceylon and India, traversed the southern tip of the sub-continent and then up the west coast, through Persia, Mesopotamia, and the Levant provinces of the Ottoman Empire. Through Turkey, crossing the Bosporus at Constantinople, into the Balkans, then finally across the Adriatic Sea to the Italian port of Bari.

“It seems an overlong and unnecessary route.” I said. “Why not ship them to Egypt via the Red Sea, then overland to Alexandria and across the Mediterranean Sea to Bari?”
I traced the route on the globe. “It is half the distance and half the time.”

Shadrach nodded in agreement.”Indeed, but pirates, corsairs, the navies of Britain, the Ottomans, and now the French, might intercept ships approaching the Red Sea, or crossing the Mediterranean Sea. It is not only illicit gemstones being transported, but also slaves, weapons, opium, hashish, and all manner of goods the shippers wish to travel incognito. The Sisterhood have communities along the overland route; in fact we Jews have a similar route. Both Jews and the Sisterhood have networks, along which flows information and money, the sinews of power. It is ironic, is it not, that the two most persecuted groups of people in the world are the conduits of the appurtenances supporting those who persecute them.”

“There are Jews in India and Ceylon?”

“There are Jews everywhere, even in Rome.” His face expressed distaste.
“How incongruous is that, when you recall it is the accusation of the Rome based Christian church that the Jews killed Jesus Christ which has led to the hatred, persecutions, programs, and deaths, of my people.”
He then muttered something that I assumed was Hebrew.

“What was it you just said, Shadrach?”

“I said it was not Jews who killed Jesus but the Romans. Romans! And now the church of the city of His murderers persecute us for the crime.”

“Yes, your people have been badly treated by Christians.”

“Not just by Christians, Colonel. Egyptians, Babylonians, Hittites, and Assyrians, not forgetting the Romans of course. Jews have more enemies in their history than even the English can boast.”
I laughed along with him, and then removed the amulet from around my neck.

“As you speak Hebrew perhaps you could translate this?”

His eyes widened in surprise. “Why should you think I can read Hebrew? I am not a Rabbi.”

“But you spoke what I took to be Hebrew just now.”

“That was Ladino. I am a Sephardic Jew. After the Diaspora my ancestors settled in Spain, but were expelled some two hundred years ago. I do not read nor speak Hebrew, nor do I understand Yiddish.”

Shadrach peered more closely at the medallion I held in front of him.
“Some of these symbols I remember from my bar mitzvah, when I had to read a passage of Hebrew, but I had learned the passage parrot fashion and have no idea what each symbol means.”
He pointed to a sign resembling the three prongs of a trident.
“That one is not Hebrew, although I know Anthea has a similar device tattooed on her inner thigh, her upper inner thigh.”
He saw the look of surprise on my face and laughed.
“The Sisterhood have not taken any vows of celibacy. I make several trips to Anthea’s valley each year, and am always welcomed with open arms, and legs. Anthea and her Sisters believe their inner energy is greatly enhanced during copulation, and thus make the most of any male they encounter. I thought you would have experienced a vigorous, and exceedingly delightful, demonstration of their beliefs?”

I admitted Sister Siobhan had made herself available, which I had declined, wanting to remain true to my fiancée.

“Then you must have got engaged immediately after your epic night with Antonio’s five harlots.” He said with a grin on his face.

I was dumbfounded. “How do... ?”

“Your sexual exploits are now part of Neapolitan legend – Compo.” He said, before dissolving into an eruption of laughter.

Otto expressed his condolences when he learned of Becky’s death.

“I have sisters of my own, Colonel, and can well imagine the depth of your sorrow.”
He then changed the subject, as if concerned I would continue to brood on my loss.
“Shall you pursue this Cleopatra woman to Egypt?”
I rubbed my chin as I pondered Otto’s question.
I was now back in my office in the Fortezza Nuova in Livorno, and happy to return to a more disciplined way of life than the one I had ‘enjoyed’ during the past weeks.