“It’s possible, of course; but it isn’t so easy for us; we’re up against so many obstacles—tradition is the biggest of them.”
“Some of you have climbed over that,” he said.
“Some of us have.” She lifted her face with a brief smile. “When we’ve climbed over in sufficient numbers we’ll roll it out of the way. Don’t come with me any farther, please; Mrs Graham won’t like it. That is Mrs Graham on the balcony. I am her companion.”
“Oh!” he said.
He opened the gate for her and stood with his hand upon it. Because of the watchful figure on the balcony he made no offer to shake hands; the girl, he believed, would prefer that her employer should not witness how far they had advanced towards a friendly intimacy.
“I hope the leg will soon be well,” he said. “I am often on the beach; I’m on holiday. Perhaps I shall have the pleasure of meeting you again, and hearing from you of its progress. I’m staying in town. Matheson is my name—Guy Matheson.”
“Mine is Brenda Upton,” she returned with a sort of shy bluntness that seemed to hint at unwillingness to respond to his insistent confidences. He was gaining information by insidious methods. In a few minutes he had learnt more about her than is sometimes revealed after a long acquaintance. She resented this. It conferred privileges to which he was entitled.
“Good morning,” she said, and passed through the gate, leaving him to shut it after her.
She did not look back; and, after following her retreating figure for a moment with his eyes, he turned about and walked slowly away in the sunshine. On one point he was determined; he intended to make it his business to see Brenda Upton again.
He returned to the main road and boarded the tram for Adderley Street; he was staying in the vicinity with Holman. The latter’s acquaintance he had made in Johannesburg. They had in a very brief space of time become surprisingly intimate. He was not quite dear what had been responsible for the development of the intimacy. He had never felt especially drawn towards the older man, who had pursued the friendship with a determination that was flattering and irresistible in the case of a man who was indolent in the matter of selection as in most things, and who, as a recent arrival in Africa, was fairly ready to respond to friendly overtures, particularly from a man long and closely associated with the country.