'And that was less immoral than staying with the man she married,' said Stella, a hard expression coming into her face.
'Still, it isn't what people mean to do when they marry for love. You see, the point is that you may fall as completely out of love as you may fall into it. But you can't wake up one morning to find eighty thousand acres first-class arable land, freehold, all gone to kingdom come like a rainbow. May I smoke a cigarette?'
'Yes. What a pretty case, and what elegant little cigarettes!'
'They ought to be. Do you know what they cost each?'
'Oh heavens! You are going to be just like Cr[oe]sus Henway, always telling the price of things.'
'Or you might say like my father. He likes to mention the figure that things cost. Still, I might easily take after a worse old boy than the governor. Though, mind you, I don't mean to go into Parliament ever, and give ninety Affghanistan camels for an exploring expedition, and get a handle tacked to my name because they came on a desert a hundred miles by ninety.'
'You're like a good many more Australians. You'll never do as much for your native land as your fathers did for their adopted one.'
'Oh, I don't know! I've half a dozen gold medals for my wool; and my horses are far-away the best in the district. But there—I'll put my foot in it again if I say much more. Would you like me to be Sir Edward Ritchie, Stella, like the old man?'
'Surely that is a very foolish question to ask me, of all people.'
'I am not so sure about that—Sir Edward and Lady Ritchie. If you really have any fancy for the title, I might give another big dose of camels to the Government. There's plenty more desert to be opened up for selectors to perish in.'