"Nay, I will not be satisfied with that," replied Mrs. Rainsfield, "you are only intensifying my curiosity by endeavouring to evade my demand; something has occurred, I am sure, to make you so determined in your avoidance of us; and I must know what it is. If you decline enlightening me on the subject I must seek information from Mr. Rainsfield, or Eleanor; so you had better make a virtue of necessity, and tell me at once."
"I had much rather the subject had not been broached," said John; "but, as you are determined to know the cause of my elimination, I suppose I must communicate what I would sooner have buried in oblivion. It appears that your husband has formed some prejudice against me, the cause of which I am unable to account for. I accidentally learnt from my black boys that some espionage, in connexion with your station, was meditated by the Nungar tribe; and I took an early opportunity of going over to Strawberry Hill to apprise Mr. Rainsfield of the fact. He received me with marked coolness, for what reason I am at a loss to conjecture; and actually accused me of exercising an incentive influence over the tribe to his detriment. I would willingly believe that he has formed some misconception of my actions; but to impute such a motive to me is simply ridiculous. He loaded me with invective, and wound up his inflammatory tirade by requesting that I would discontinue my visits to his house; and before I recovered from my surprise I found myself alone; though, even if he had remained, I question if I should have succeeded in disabusing his mind, for he seemed in no disposition to listen to reason. I have no doubt but that he will very soon discover his error; but until then, you will perceive, Mrs. Rainsfield, it is utterly impossible that I can pay my respects to you at 'The Hill;' and it would also, under the circumstances, be highly inconsistent in Kate stopping longer with you than can be helped."
"I am truly grieved," replied the lady, "to hear of your rupture with my husband, Mr. Ferguson; it gives me great pain, I can assure you. I can't think he can be prejudiced against you, for he always entertained the highest esteem for you. It is possible he may have formed some erroneous impression with regard to those horrid blacks; but, whatever is the cause of the ill feeling, I will endeavour to dispel it; and have your friendship reestablished upon the old footing. But, in the meantime, it is impossible that you can take Kate away from us; you can't put her into an empty house, and you certainly would not have the cruelty to lodge her in those huts of yours. You must leave her with us, at least until you have made a comfortable home for her; and even then, I don't think the poor girl will have a very enviable life, living in seclusion, without a female near her."
"I have already thought of that," replied John, "and have hired a man and his wife; the latter, who is a professed cook, will be entirely under Kate's direction. Besides, our little black fellow, Joey, whom we brought from New England with us, is as useful, if not more so, as half the female servants in the country. So I think, on that score, we will be able to make our sister perfectly comfortable."
"At all events," said Mrs. Rainsfield, "it is understood you leave her with us until your furniture arrives."
"Very well," replied John, "I suppose it must be so. I need not beg of you to refrain from mentioning to any one in your house, not even to Kate, that any unpleasantness exists between our families; your own good judgment will convince you of the non-necessity. But suppose we join our friends, for we appear to have wandered quite away from them during our conversation;" and John Ferguson, and Mrs. Rainsfield, returned to the spot where the rest of the party stood.
"Well, it is to be hoped you two are satisfied with your 'confidential,'" remarked Tom, as the parties thus addressed joined the menage. "We were beginning to think you were meditating an elopement, and were just proposing giving you chase. We are agitating the question of return. Miss Ferguson says she does not like this dreadful wilderness of yours, John, and is anxious to get back to Strawberry Hill, and within the bounds of civilisation."
"Oh, what a dreadful falsehood!" cried Kate, "you know I never said such a thing; for that I am half disposed to stop here at once, and if I thought it would be any punishment to you, I would. I am sure my brother would make room for me if I desired it."
"I offer an abject apology, my dear Miss Ferguson," exclaimed the culprit; "we could not dream of losing you now; so I will make any reparation necessary to appease you."