She was full of remonstrances for this plan, and Mrs Shand would have none of it either, saying that a boy had been sent into town for her husband, and that she expected him out at any moment to stay the day with her.
“Besides,” said Judy, “if you stay out here all day and come crawling in by waggon to-night there will still be the journey to make from Salisbury to our place, nearly twelve miles, and I should not be able to borrow Mr Courtfield’s cart again, as he is going away in it to-night to Umtali. You look a perfect wreck, and ought to get to the end of your journey and rest. Don’t you think so, Mrs Shand?”
“Yes, of course she is tired. We’ve been trekking all night, and the waggon is not a very springy one. Mr Mackenzie hoped to get into Salisbury by the end of this morning’s trek, but there is no grass, and the oxen are poor.”
I was obliged to go and tidy myself up in the waggon tent, and thereafter climb into the Cape cart with Judy and sit behind the short, fat, soft man with the pointed golden beard and confidential eyes, to whom I had taken an unreasonable but nevertheless poignant dislike. I hated to get into the cart Mr Courtfield had so kindly placed at my service, and glanced longingly instead at Maurice Stair’s horse as he slowly mounted and prepared to ride beside us. He looked his best in riding-kit and sat his horse well, swaying in the rather slouchy, graceful way that men who have done stock-riding in Australia affect.
I had long ago learned from him that he had spent several years in Australia before coming to Africa. But it appeared that Mr Courtfield was the real thing from that country—an Australian born and bred, not just a man who had learned to ride there. Judy told me this in a low voice, perhaps to account for the extraordinary accent and bad manners of the man in front of us. I was not very interested. I only wondered vaguely how she could reconcile herself to accept favours from a man who was so obviously not a gentleman. Dick used to say there were some women who had no discrimination about men, and absolutely didn’t know the difference between a gentleman and a cad, even when they had the advantage of knowing and living with gentlemen all their lives. Opportunity had never discovered this trait in Judy; and I vaguely hoped she was not going to develop it now. Life is difficult enough spent among nice men: I could not tolerate the thought of what it might be with a few Mr Courtfields about. Under cover of his talk to Maurice Stair, riding beside us, Judy now addressed me:
“Dearest girl, how awful that you are not in mourning. I suppose you could not get any black in Fort George.”
“I did not try,” said I, looking down carelessly at my grey velveteen coat and skirt, which had certainly seen hard wear and tear in the seven months I had spent in Mashonaland. “I never thought about it, to tell the truth, Judy. Besides, Dick always hated to see people dressed in black.”
“Surely that has nothing to do with it, dear,” said my sister-in-law gently. “One must respect the conventions.”
“I daresay there are some black frocks in my packing cases. They arrived just as we were leaving, so I brought them on.”
“How fortunate!” said Judy, looking cross for the first time, but quickly recovering herself after a searching glance at me. “Still, I don’t suppose you will look well in black, Deirdre. It is such a trying colour for any one but the very blond, and you are so very brown, aren’t you? What a pity you didn’t take more care of your skin on this journey. I never knew anything like a waggon journey to turn one’s complexion to leather!”