'Ah! Then marriage has not changed you so immensely, after all!'
She bit her lip and rose abruptly.
'Do you want any more tea? No. Then come to the veranda and tell me how it is that Luke Tallant has allowed you to exchange Government House for the Never-Never?'
He had followed her through the French window.
'I see you haven't heard the bad news.'
'No—what? We only get a mail once a week.'
'I thought McKeith would have broken the shock. He came on, he said, to do so. Poor Lady Tallant.'
'Rosamond! The operation?'
'She died under the anaesthetic. Sir Luke got the news by cable the day before I left Leichardt's Town. He wired at once for leave and has started for England by this time.'
'Oh? poor Rosamond! Poor, poor Rosamond!'