or four hours’ work ahead of her. Reluctantly she went in, drank a long draught of water to wake her up, and settled down to her evening’s work.
IV
When Dane Barrington entered his house from the launch that morning he struck a little gong.
“Lee,” he said to the Chinese boy who appeared instantly in the hall doorway, “there are some people picnicking on my point. Go and tell them they are trespassing, and that they have to clear out. God damn them, there are plenty of places for them to go to.”
He turned back through a French door to a broad verandah, that ran most of the way round the house. On this side, that nearest the river, it was furnished in two sections for living and sleeping with a bare space between,where steps came up from the path. The sleeping end was at the front against the side wall of a large study. It was screened on two sides by heavy canvas curtains now drawn up almost to the roof. Besides the cot there was a plain table littered with books and magazines and an Italian stool upholstered in worn red tapestry. An Indian rug, much worn, in shades of red and blue covered the floor for the length of the bed. Opposite the steps and making with them a passage between the sections was a French door opening into the room beyond.
The living end was comfortably furnished with a specially made wide hammock of white canvas, two low chairs upholstered in dull red rep, a footstool covered with the same material, a couple of old carved English chests, a solid mahogany reading table with a pile of books on it, and a beautiful small table of vermilion lacquer decorated with black dragons. The hammock was loaded with red
