Still she did not answer; only her gaze, turned inland, grew troubled and hard pressed.
“It seems so unnecessary!” He felt suddenly impatient before her silent resistance of his efforts. “Lup’s place is here; that’s plain enough to anybody with half a conscience. He’s fond of the old folks, too. It isn’t as if they didn’t get on. Normally, he’d never have thought of leaving them. Can’t something be done? Can’t somebody help?”
She gave a sharp sigh, as if forced against her will over old ground already trodden to weariness, and brought her eyes to his as they rested on her full of demand and penetration.
“Hadn’t we better be frank with each other, Mr. Lancaster?” she asked gently. “You’ve heard the story—I feel sure of that—and you want to try to talk me round. That’s so, isn’t it?”
“I’ve heard some sort of an account—yes; and it looks as if the key of the situation lay with you. Of course, you’ll say it’s no business of mine, and from one point of view it certainly isn’t, but when old friends are in trouble one wants to stretch a hand. I wish you’d tell me why you did it—why you went back on Lup Whinnerah just when he needed you most. You’ll not deny you went back on him, I suppose?”
“No, I don’t deny it.”
“Why, then, there’s hope!” He smiled with quick relief. “You’re surely not the sort to play down upon a good lad like Lup? You’ll never break up his home for the sake of a whim or a foolish twinge of vanity?”
“I don’t want to break up his home. I’ve tried to dissuade him from going away. He could stop, if he chose. I can’t see that I make any real difference.”
“You make all the difference.” He was speaking gently enough, now. “We like to have married men on the farms, for one thing; and even supposing Lup did stop on, what sort of a life would it be for him, with you always within reach? You’re all so dependent on each other, out here. He’s been over-hasty, I consider, but I can’t find it in my heart to blame him greatly. Sticking by the man, of course, you’ll say? Well, perhaps; but in this case there’s reason. Come, Miss Francey, think better of it. If you care for him at all, you’ll never let him go.”
“I’ll not keep him,” she said, and they fell silent.