Page:Coo-ee - tales of Australian life by Australian ladies.djvu/114

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
110
MRS. DRUMMOND OF QUONDONG.

you see everything at a glance, while at the same time you seem hardly to have raised your eyes. That is how it was with me then. I saw Mr. Drummond dart one quick suspicious glance at his wife,--saw Mrs. Creek's malicious smile as her eyes followed that look,--saw Mrs. Drummond smiling as she went on talking to one of the strangers. Had she heard? Surely not; for even had she not guessed why I had thus risked my life, she would have shown some feeling in the matter. But she did hear; for after a little while she turned to me and said, in a tone of complete indifference and rather flippantly, 'I think young men imagine they have as many lives as a cat.' Her speech did not need any answer; and if it had I could not have given it, for something seemed to choke me.

I went away soon, and did not see her again that day. Mr. Drummond asked me to dine with them, but his wife reminded him that they were engaged to dinner at Government House. But though I did not see her, I did hear her again; for as I was mooning about that night, restless and unhappy, the idea struck me to make one of the staring crowd about the gates that led to Paradise, and so perhaps catch a glimpse of her. As I stood there hidden by the shadow of the gatehouse, a carriage that was coming out stopped, and a gentleman, getting out, said,--

'Thank you, but here is my trap. Good-bye! I wish you a pleasant voyage. You must be uncommonly glad to return to the civilised world.'

'Yes, perfectly delighted, of course,' answered the