Melanie laughed. 'Faotane is Samoa language; it means stealing a husban.... And yo' won' steal my husban' from me, will you? Yo' hav' got a new husban', and yo' won' take Tom from me, will yo'?'
Mrs Laurance sprang to her feet and placed her hands on the Brown 'Woman's' shoulders.
'Tell me,' she said, 'did he ever talk of me?'
'Yes,' said the truthful Melanie. 'He tell me that yo' have hair like gold, and that your eye was blue like the sky.'
'No more?'
Melanie shook her black locks. 'No more. My man never talk too much. You like to eat some roast pigeon now?'
The White Lady turned her head aside and sobbed. 'And for a soulless being like this!' Then she remembered that Masters was not to blame, and waited, trembling and sobbing, for the two men to return.
Masters, having finished his business on board the barque, held out his hand to Laurance.
'Good-bye, Harry. Nothing can be done. Tom Masters was drowned off Beveridge Reef years ago, and Harry Laurance married his widow; and Tom Patterson is another man, who has a native wife, and—'