Next day Power kept his promise, and rode into Surprise as soon as he could. He let go the horse in a yard, and tramped the stretch which lies before the house. Outside the accountant's office he came across Mr. Neville and Maud. He heard Maud's cry, "Well done, Jim," and the old man waved a stick in the act of on a passer by. Maud came up in great glee.  
"How quick you've been. I was not expecting you till sunset."
 
"I've had good luck. They're a strong lot. Mick O'Neill is taking them to the hollow. You must ride out with me to-night for a look at them."
 
"But I can't, Jim. And I'd love to. These wretched people come to-day. Don't you remember? I can't leave them to father the first night."
 
"I forgot them. Hang it! that settles it, I suppose."
 
[Pg 93]
 
"We're on the way to meet the coach now. Come along. You have nothing else to do, have you?"
 
"I'll come, of course. You ought to pull that hat down, girl. Your face is getting burnt to bits."
 
"You said you liked me brown."
 
Old Neville was hard engaged with the passer by. The two people heard his , and saw him blowing cigar smoke in a hurry. Soon he drove the enemy through the office door, pursuing him hard in retreat. At once Maud went close to Power.
 
"Jim," she said, "I've been so nice to father all day. He is splendid just now. As soon as you get him alone, ask him about our marriage. He'll be reasonable this time, I know. I'll find you a chance. Why, Jim, what's the matter to-day?"
 
"Matter with me?"
 
"Yes, you're down on your luck, aren't you?"
 
"You are always thinking something, Maud."
 
The thread of talk was broken, and they wandered into the office with nothing to say. It was built of iron sheets, held together with wooden beams. Frequent and other volumes took their rest upon the tables, and files of ageing papers by along the walls. The dust of spent willy-willys[Pg 94] had found the upper shelves, and many an fly had left a lifetime's labour on ceiling and woodwork. The corpulent walked here after the heat of the day, and the spider spread his net in the loftier corners. For at Surprise a happy line is between the must-be and the need-not, and the word "broom" is not used among the best people.
 
The place was full of a sickly heat, but the day was Saturday, and King only had stayed behind. They found him writing at the lower end. Half-way down Neville had secured his victim between a table and a chair. The person in this unhappy case was an elderly man of a very broken appearance. He might have been a gentleman a long time ago. His hair was grey, but a moustache of any colour you please over his mouth. His eyes were pale blue, with a blink, and his chin grew a day-old stubble of beard. He wore round his neck a collar of many washings and a doubtful ironing, and a tie in a limp old age. He wore no coat, which is the summer fashion; his trousers were of khaki stuff and wrinkled at his boots. The toes of his boots leaned up in search of something kinder than the stones. On the little finger of his left hand showed the signet ring of the house of Horrington, of Such-and-such Hall, England.
 
[Pg 95]
 
Prosperity and Mr. Horrington were coldly acquainted. Horrington was an idealist among men. Some pass their days mapping out new continents, others knit their brows over the printing press and the steam engine. Horrington had resolved on reading the of how to build a fortune within call of a hotel and without hard work. He had met with poor success. He had hard work, and he had lived within reach of a hotel; but prosperity had shoulders at him. Devotion to an idea had lost him the affection of his cousin, Sir John; had found him a passage to Australia; had drifted him presently from town to bush. Unable to contend singly with ill-fortune, he had married a faded woman, who took him and his burdens, no one knew why. Mrs. Horrington painted a little, sang a little, worked her needle a little, played the piano a little—and these arts she taught the daughters of those parents who are not if terms be cheap. So Horrington had kept constant to his idea. But the lean times had brought the pair to an alien land. For at Surprise they paint only when a new coat is due to the poppet-legs, and only the needle should a wall need repair. At Surprise the mouth-organ and the concertina the ache for higher things.
 
The old man came to an end of his breath.
 
[Pg 96]
 
"Sir," Mr. Horrington began with a certain dignity. "You will own I have heard you with patience."
 
"Eh?" the old man .
 
"And I repeat I have every right to complain on finding myself put on a beggarly allowance of water at a moment's notice."
 
"We may be doing a perish before the rains come."
 
"Why, Good Lord! sir, what's a tin of water to a family? My wife is not a strong woman, and like all women in poor health, she's ready to blame others for her shortcomings. She has it at the back of her mind that I make a difficulty carrying the water; though, Good Lord! I've scraped my shins often enough on the tins. When I turned up with a single bucket this morning, and the goat had to go short, she put the blame at once on me. She wouldn't listen until she saw for herself the tanks were locked. Then home she went to throw herself on the bed. 'Never enough wood chopped to light a fire, now no water to wash with, not a soul to speak to, never anything to look at'—that's what I listened to until I left the place."
 
"Where did ye go to?"
 
"I had an appointment."
 
"Near the hotel, I reckon."
 
[Pg 97]
 
"Your joke, sir, could be in better taste. I had business with one of the shift bosses."
 
"At the hotel?"
 
"We did happen to meet at the hotel."
 
"He, he!"
 
"Because I have been unfortunate, sir, I think there is no need for rudeness. In a politer country, where I have ridden my twice or three times weekly to my cousin's hounds, I——"
 
The old man broke up the audience with a flourish of his stick.
 
King left his work when Maud and Power arrived. "Oh, Jim, I've just remembered." Maud called out. "Mr. King was down at the river yesterday, and saw the pretty girl. You know whom I mean? Mr. King hasn't been the same since. None of his balances came right this morning. He said she was the loveliest thing he had ever seen. Didn't you, Mr. King?"
 
"I expect so."
 
"Jim, you must see her, just to tell me it's true what they say. Would you think her the loveliest thing in the world?"
 
"I don't know."
 
"Don't look so over it. Will you go and see her?"
 
"I have seen her."
 
"You? When?"
 
"On the way home when I left you last time."
 
[Pg 98]
 
"Why didn't you tell me?"
 
"I didn't think of it."
 
"You stupid! And what was she like?"
 
"Like? Oh, she was very pretty."
 
"Is that all you can say? Tell me about her. What was she doing?"
 
"Doing? I don't know what she was doing. She had a lantern in her hand."
 
"You want shaking, Jim! Mr. King told me much more. Didn't you look at her? Mr. King said a hundred shadows were at hide-and-seek in her hair, and when he came to talk about her eyes, he sat down—the words in his mouth stopped his tongue moving."
 
"Perhaps that is why Power says nothing now," King said.
 
"I hope not," Maud cried quickly. And she fell to teasing. "No, poor old Jim was thinking of his bullocks when he saw her."
 
"What should I have thought about, the cattle or Moll Gregory?"
 
"Neither. You should have been thinking of me. I see you know her name."
 
"Yes, I've learned that."
 
King shut up the with a bang. "That's enough for Saturday. What's next? A smoke, a drink or the coach? I vote a drink."
 
"I vote the coach," Maud cried.
 
[Pg 99]
 
"Here's a cigarette," said Power. "You must find it hot here of an afternoon."
 
"I do. The sun gets round on to the wall, and I feel as charitable as a woman with an empty woodbox."
 
"You ought to give up this uncomfortable bachelor life, Mr. King," said Maud. "You ought to go down South and marry some nice girl."
 
"! my purse is not as full as once it was. A fool and his money are soon parted, they say. I should have to marry a girl with money, and a girl and her money are equally soon married—by someone else."
 
Neville came up behind. "How ye do , Maud. We'd better get along to that coach. Who's coming? King, ye had better come along." He jerked his head over his shoulder. "Hey, Horrington, ye can tell your wife she can have what water she wants and I'll be by to see you carry it." Marching four , they passed out of the office.
 
Surprise is not a beautiful place. The hills holding it are the greenest in that country, and lean up and down in gentle curves. But the bottom of the basin has grown shabby with much use. Patches of sand cover it, in company with of spinifex put out of repair by goats. The tents and humpies of the[Pg 100] camp rise up on this in seedy and unordered rank, and low-born at the . In the middle of the congregation stands one building somewhat more gracious. A glittering roof protects it, and there is paint upon the walls. Above the runs the legend—Surprise Valley Hotel.
 
On Saturday afternoon they keep holiday at Surprise. It is then the butcher kills for the second time in the week, and Mrs. Bloxham, Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Niven meet at his lean-to for Sunday's dinner and a half-hour gossip. They find talk until the coach arrives. About the same time, Bloxham, Johnson and Niven put an eye to their , pulling together a hole in the wall here, a in the roof there. They, in due course, turn steps to the hotel for the coming of the coach. At four o'clock, about that place, you find all the best people of Surprise.
 
The party from the office took the direction of the hotel. Old Neville with a great play of his stick held the lead. He kept the talk his way. Said he: "I can't make out what this fellow is coming for. Bringing his wife, too. She'd as well been left behind. He wrote something about coming for a holiday, being in poor health or something. It beats me what he thinks to find here. He'll be leavin' by the first coach, I[Pg 101] reckon. I shan't mind. I've too much on hand to be round with beef tea. Maud will have to see to them."
 
"Selwyn is the name, isn't it?" Power said.
 
The old man nodded his head. "Huh, huh! There was an of that name here once three or four year back. There was no houses then; didn't scarce run a tent, and he and me and a couple of other fellows was camped where the stable is. He had some damned silver thing something like a , and one night a feller out of pity asked him to play it. It was the horriblest row ever you heard. The chap that asked him made some excuse and went so far away he nearly got . He went on playing till near midnight, I reckon. When we were all asleep the damned row woke us up again. I sits up and lets fly in a great rage: 'For God's sake, man,' I said, 'a fair thing is a fair thing. We've listened to you half the damned night already. D'ye think,' says I—and then I see all of a sudden it was the dingoes howling. He, he! Huh, huh, huh!"
 
"Father, you put a bit to that story every time."
 
"And it's not everyone knows how to do that, my girl."
 
"Hullo, here's a new place," Power said. "You've grown it since last week."
 
[Pg 102]
 
"Smith, the schoolmaster," answered the old man with a jerk of the head. "He's doing his week here. I mean to catch him home if I can. I'm the man for a gentleman that lets his horse into my feed-room."
 
"Let him alone, father. He is hunted enough without you. You must have seen him, Jim. He's the man that looks as though something is just about to happen. He's married to a book and never gets past the first chapter. We ought to be sorry for him. He's meant for a town. I don't know what brought him here. Let's be romantic. Perhaps he loved some girl and lost her."
 
"In that case," King said, "I'll keep my sympathy. There are enough mourners for the man who has loved some woman and lost her. My heart goes out to the man who has loved some woman and can't lose her."
 
"Huh, huh!" cried the old man from the lead. "Ye needn't pity him, Maud. He has some woman to follow him round."
 
They had come to a couple of tents . Neville in the doorway of the first with his stick. "Hey, there, who's home?" The tent door was open for the world to look inside. At a table, consisting of a large board placed on a couple of travelling bags, Mr. Smith sat writing. An armful of books was at his[Pg 103] elbow, and a litter of papers had tumbled round his heels. He was a man of fair , going early bald on top. He sighed with great when the knock came, and put a hand to his forehead. On top of this he up a mechanical smile and rose to his feet.
 
"You, Mr. Neville? Turned hot, hasn't it? Can I do anything?"
 
"I suppose ye know your horse had its head into my half the morning? The last ton ran me up eighteen shilling a bag."
 
Mr. Smith shut his eyes. "I've driven it over the other way twice this afternoon," he said. "I sat down five minutes ago."
 
"I'm talking of the morning."
 
"I was at school then."
 
"That don't put my chaff in the bag."
 
Maud came to the front. "That's enough, father. I hope the horse had a good dinner. It does the Company good to give away a little chaff. How is the book getting on?"
 
Mr. Smith shook his head. "According to the time-table the third chapter would have been finished this week, but everything is turning out against it. I am afraid this life isn't to study, and my unfortunate poverty me from obtaining the necessary reference books. Directly I sit down, there's the dog to[Pg 104] put out, or the cat to put in, and, honestly, as my name is Pericles Smith——"
 
"Perry!" a woman's voice called from somewhere, "there's a wretched goat at the flour."
 
"Instantly, darling." Mr. Smith closed his eyes. "I live in the hope of getting an hour to myself one day; but for ten years——"
 
"Perry, there's another goat joining it."
 
"At once, dear. I suppose I shall write the words 'Chapter Four' some day, but——"
 
"Well, I'm not going to stay here while you chatter any longer," interrupted the old man, moving off, "and you, Smith, you look after that horse of yours or ye'll find yourself reading a pretty long bill."
 
They came away with Smith still in the doorway.
 
"I wish he wouldn't make me laugh. I am so sorry for him," said Maud.
 
King made answer. "It's not the best of lives this, packing up for somewhere at the end of every week, knowing the sun will be at the back of your neck all day, and a dozen wild children wait at the journey-end for the ABC to be knocked into their heads. I am content to stay plain John King."
 
"A man can say he has put a good day's work behind him," Power said, "and that's as well. It helps to pull his thoughts straight at night."
 
[Pg 105]
 
"Jim, you are taking life so heavily to-day. I had to cheer up Mr. King this morning because he looked too long at the pretty girl. Now you have caught the somewhere."
 
The butcher's shop stands on this side of the hotel, and on Tuesday and Saturday the butcher stands behind his block, and chops your fate up with the meat. Mrs. Niven, Mrs. and Mrs. Bullock grow very when they go a-shopping. It is "Mr. Simpson, and how's the heat been using yer, and is there any chance of a bit o' the silverside this time?" And "Mr. Simpson, and I suppose the flies is worrying yer a treat, and I take it it's my turn for the undercut." And Simpson, with a to-do of knife and steel makes answer. "Now, I'm givin' wot there is, and I'm not givin' nothing else, and if yer aren't satisfied, yer can go elsewhere. I reckon the next butcher isn't farther than Mount Milton, and I reckon Mount Milton isn't more than seventy mile."
 
"Aw, you are gettin' at us, Mr. Simpson," comes the timid chorus.
 
The bakery stands between the butcher's and the hotel, presenting itself to the world as a building of wood and bagging of a very cutthroat appearance. Mr. Regan, , being a man of parts, turns a pleasant sovereign or two in the little "Crown and Anchor" saloon at the[Pg 106] back. A couple of nights a week the policeman looks in to run the bank for an hour or so. It's "Now don't stand feeling yer corns there as though yer ole woman was watching. Choose yer crown, and pick yer anchor. The aren't loaded more than my old grandad's gun was, and I never see him try to blow to bits anything stronger than his nose. Come on, gents, every throw a crown, and every chuck an anchor. An' don't forget time's flying, as the monkey said when he 'eaved the clock through the winder."
 
They took their stand under the hotel verandah. In twos and threes Surprise strolled to the meeting ground. Neville waved his stick a dozen times and grunted a how-de-do and shouted. Mr. Horrington appeared presently, and later disappeared; and others of note the congregation. In a doorway loitered Barcoo Bill, as a hand at duffing a horse as you might find this side of the border. Into argument had fallen one-eyed Sal, who, armed with a crowbar, and with a bottle of Dewar's best, had once upon a time defeated the only policeman in a single round go-as-you-please affair. In a patch of shade kicked his heels Iron-jawed Dick, who, for the price of a drink, had lifted in his teeth a table laid for dinner. Other people—tall and short, lean and stout—took their stand up and down the way, and kept[Pg 107] ever the tail of an eye on the horizon. Dusty curs mooched about, and sat down suddenly to beat their stomachs with a back leg. At half the posts were high-rumped horses with saddles a-top of them.
 
The walk in the sun had left King a good deal the worse for wear. He pulled a handkerchief and pushed it about his face. "If," said he, making an end, "things are ordered properly in the world to come, we shall have a special heaven to ourselves. There the sun will through the sky in a mild old age, the rivers will run water, the goats will come home to be milked, and the woodbox will never empty. And an angel will wait at the gates holding out a flypaper in place of a flaming sword."
 
"Hey?" cried the old man in a sudden excitement. He was beating his stick at the distance.
 
.         .         .         .         .         .         .
 
The five goose-rumped horses, in a of sweat, and chastened with a great following of flies and dust clouds, had the coach to the top of the last rise, and the first tents of Surprise, and the poppet heads of the mine were marching into view, as Mrs. Selwyn stated for the third time on the journey that she did not know whether she was on her crown or her toes. From the box seat, Joe Gantley, mailman, his team with bored fingers, jerking his[Pg 108] head to the right now and then to clear his throat, and spitting the flies from his lips on occasion in an every-day sort of way. Selwyn and Mrs. Selwyn were packed beside him, where the sun leaned down, the dust climbed up, and there was perpetual of heaving flanks and clicking .
 
Mrs. Selwyn had come to the struggle in a dust coat and a veil of many folds; and in face of a hundred difficulties that massive woman had lost no of dignity, remaining to the end a most inspiring spectacle.
 
Selwyn had made the best of a bad place at the end of the row. By a play of elbow and he had widened his share of matters, and now could lean a little easier and find a bit of support for the hollow of his back. He had grown shabby from the of dust rising from the top of the wheel, but he was not a man to be put about by small matters, as he was always very ready to let you know.
 
Hilton Selwyn, a director of the Surprise Mining Company, and gentleman of no other special business, was at this time between fifty and fifty-five, but lean and active in spite of middle age. Cleancut in feature, upright in carriage, he suggested the military man, and his youthful step would have passed him as any age. It was only on discovery of the thinned grey[Pg 109] hair and close-clipped tobacco-stained moustache that one understood half a century had gone over his head.
 
Half a century had gone over his head and health had become . He could crawl through a swamp at dawn on the chance of an odd teal, and come home to a breakfast; but two minutes weeding in the garden brought on sciatica. Similarly he could stand all day in a of rain persuading a to rise, and more than one biting July breakfast-time had found him half naked worming a way across the lawn of his country place to a flock of pigeon feeding in the timber; but indoors his only seat was right over the fire, where he took the warmth from everybody—as Mrs. Selwyn was often good enough to tell him.
 
It was to get himself into better fettle that he sought the present change of scene. He woke up one evening of last winter from his after-dinner sleep in the best arm-chair. The waking up was a delicate matter. He gave two long drawn-out yawns. He shot a fist into the air and stretched slowly, rolled himself into a sitting position, blinked once or twice, screwed up his face as though he had a bad taste in the mouth, caught hold of the mantelpiece and pulled himself on to his legs. He rocked about a little, screwed up his face again, and at last quite woke[Pg 110] up. His hair was like a storm at sea, his tie was , his dress clothes were .
 
In the manner of a man announcing news of deep interest he :
 
"I feel a little better now. I think I deserve a cigarette." He felt in his pockets for his cigarette case. He looked on the floor, in the fender, and under the cushions of the arm-chair. "Dear me! Where's my cigarette case?"
 
"You don't think I have it, do you?" Mrs. Selwyn asked coldly. She had been playing hostess to a couple of friends while the host slept.
 
"I don't know where it is; it's not here, anyhow." A terrific frown came over his face. "This accursed habit of tidying is making the house impossible to live in. One puts a thing down, and the next minute some picks it up and hides it, and then forgets where they put it. Curse everybody!"
 
Mrs. Selwyn grew very stiff. "Is this language meant for me? I shall not submit another moment to it. I am very pleased your cigarette case is lost. I hope it has gone for good. You are a perfect plague with your things. It is very good of anyone to touch them at all. In future they can lie where they drop as far as I am concerned."
 
"I hope everyone else will be equally kind.[Pg 111] There may be a chance of finding things then. Life's not worth living as it is, with a troop of women following one about picking up every little thing one puts down and then losing it."
 
Selwyn shouted at the top of his voice. "Jane!" The parlourmaid came in. His smile was charming. "I've lost my cigarettes, Jane. They are nowhere to be found."
 
"The case is on the mantelpiece, sir, in the library, where you left it this afternoon."
 
"Ah!" Selwyn saved an awkward situation by finding a pipe and cleaning it. Mrs. Selwyn watched him keenly. He cried out suddenly.
 
"You women amuse me. You live in an agony of unrest in case a bit of ash gets on a chair or rug, and shorten your lives with the excitement of finding a fishing-bag with a few fish in it on a drawing-room sofa instead of in the kitchen. There never was a woman yet with a true idea of comfort. Hullo! chocolates here. They don't look bad at all." He proved his words by diving into the box and bringing out a handful, which he with obvious satisfaction.
 
"I believe in a man sweets. It shows he doesn't drink." He munched on a moment or two. Then he smiled with the charm that deceived guests into believing him a host. "Now who is going to play or sing? I am sure none of you are entertaining as I[Pg 112] should have done had health allowed. By the way though, I did hear some music. I think I must have been asleep. It was that sherry we had at dinner. It's a fatal thing to wet one's whistle with. A glass or two of sherry followed by the blaze of a good fire on the pit of the stomach, and the case is hopeless. I expect these chocolates will play up with my hollow tooth. It's a sad thing to arrive at my time of life and begin to feel oneself giving way everywhere. I can't get about as I used to. A hard day's shooting knocks me up." He shook his head in deeply sympathetic manner.
 
"Haven't you done enough talking about yourself?"
 
"I'm talking because I'm the only one here with any ideas of conversation. You are all sitting like a crowd at a wake before the whisky is passed round."
 
"You give everybody a racking headache."
 
"I'm very sorry. I don't know why, but there it is, I never get headaches."
 
"Nothing would ever kill you."
 
"You needn't be so annoyed about it. As a matter of fact I've not been at all well these last few months; only, unlike other people, I make no fuss about it. I've a thundering good mind to see a doctor to-morrow. I jolly well will."
 
Great matters followed on that little upset.[Pg 113] The rocky state of his health came as a thunderbolt to Selwyn. His medical man said an entire change of scene and climate was absolutely needful. What better place than Surprise where every worry could be put behind? With a fishing-rod and a gun-case in the baggage a man should be good for a six-month's stay. Mrs. Selwyn began with a stout refusal. She knew as well as she was alive the affair would end . She had a some was waiting. She could foresee with her capable brain how unfitted Hilton was for the whole business. Her heart was in her mouth at the thought of the journey. And look at the expense. "Think of my purse!" she cried. "Think of my pocket!" Finally she fell into agreement, so as to be at hand to say "I told you so."
 
Thus it came about that a November afternoon found the Selwyns covering the last mile of the journey. The back of the coach was a-choke with . The mail bags shared the bottom with the Selwyn luggage, and a round dozen of other parcels held the hopes of as many women at Surprise. Mrs. Niven, Mrs. Bloxham, Mrs. Anybody-else-you-please, by a catalogue, had summoned them in a halting hand weeks before, and had spent spare time counting up the days to their coming. On top of this[Pg 114] bundle of wares, in no ways a bed of their choosing, were chained Selwyn's proved , the sharers of his board, almost the sharers of his bed. They were a mangy pointer of great age, and a terrier with a punishing . The pointer had fallen into a doze; but the terrier yet nursed hope of sudden calamity, and kept a quarrelsome eye at half-cock.
 
With a crack of the whip, a from the goose-rumped horses, and a stir among the waiting congregation, the coach rolled to a standstill before Surprise Valley Hotel. Such was the manner of the Selywn coming.
 
.         .         .         .         .         .         .
 
That evening it wanted half-an-hour to the rise of the moon when Power left Neville's verandah for his horse and the journey home. The lights were going out over all the camp. Maud followed at his side for a good-bye. The old man fussed after them as far as the back door.
 
"Don't chatter too long, gel. I won't be left with them people, d'ye hear? I may be wrong, but I think it won't take me time to be sick o' the pair of them. I may be wrong, huh, huh! Goodness! Look at the lid off the dustbin again. That woman don't do a thing she's told. Look at it! Some people breeds flies for a fancy.[Pg 115] Hope ye have a good trip, Power. See you again in a week."
 
The hill begins at the very backdoor of the house, and lifts a wide breast of broken red rock into the cooler spaces. There are many seats about the top, and all breezes go that way. The poet, the refugee and the sighing swain may turn steps to find easement of their state. But few visit the hilltop, for the poet has no place on the books of the Surprise Mining Company, and the refugee need not take such a journey, while love ever keeps its hiding-places ready at hand.
 
The old man turned into the house, and Maud Neville put her hands on Power's shoulders. "A few minutes don't matter, Jim. This is our first time to-day. We'll go up the hill a moment."
 
They went up there, and sat down upon the warm, red rock. The camp was a few points of light in the dark; but many white stars filled the sky in old places—the Cross to the South, the Belt to the North, the where you must crane the neck to find it. In such a dark lovers must sit closely if they would not be lost.
 
"Jim, to-day has been a failure, hasn't it?"
 
"I didn't mean it to be."
 
"You have had the blues all day, and those wretched people came before I could cure you."
 
"I shall be back in a week, Maud."
 
[Pg 116]
 
"I had worked father so hard, and all for nothing. I know it was not your fault. There wasn't one chance."
 
"I'll have a pipe now we have sat down."
 
"See the stars marching into their old places. What a lot they see. Do you think they look right into us?"
 
"Let us hope not."
 
"Do you love me, Jim?"
 
"Must I say it again?"
 
"As much as you say you do?"
 
"I forget how much I said."
 
"Because sometimes ... well ... sometimes."
 
"What happens sometimes?"
 
"Ah, Jim, is there always to be a 'sometimes?' Why do I have always the little stab at my heart? Is the whisperer true who says I do most of the loving?"
 
She heard no answer.
 
"Sometimes I am afraid of what waits for us. And always I love you very, very much. No, no, I am not afraid. I am now the wise woman. Along the road my heart has come I have found the places, but I am learning to tread them with a of pain and to march on where the way opens out. There are aloes in the sweet cake of love; but let us eat, for the spices will forget the aloes. The cook cooks well, but he has not all the ingredients to his[Pg 117] hand, and they go hungry who demand only the stars for food." Her arms found his shoulders. Her kisses found his lips.
 
"What an little tongue you have, girl! How can I find the words to answer you?"
 
"Don't talk a minute." But she herself spoke again in a little while.
 
"Time goes by."
 
"It does."
 
"Two years ago we were strangers. We got along without each other. How funny that! What did you find in me to want me? Jim, aren't you ever going to answer to-night?"
 
There was no answer.
 
"Friend Jim, do cheer up."
 
"I'm cheered up. Things are wrong to-day. I don't know why. These things happen sometimes. My fault, no doubt. The bush is a good enough place, girl, but it doesn't do to start thinking there."
 
He put silence to flight by getting to his feet. "I must stand watch by midnight. A week will bring me back again. We'll say good night here. Good night."
 
"Good night, Jim. Seven days are flying towards me on damaged wings."
 
"Good night again, girl. Let your follow me while I am away."