“And if the worst come to the worst, the prospective glories of the viceregal throne will gild the pill,” said Fitz.
CHAPTER II.
“LIFE IS REAL; LIFE IS EARNEST.”
“Oh, Georgie, I do so want a good long talk.”
It was the morning after Mabel’s arrival, and she had settled herself on the verandah with her work, a laudable pretence in which no one had ever seen her set a stitch. After Dick had ridden away, she yawned a good deal, and looked out more than once disconsolately over the desert in search of entertainment, which failed to present itself, and Georgia had her household duties to perform before she could devote herself to amusing her sister-in-law. Mabel had several distant glimpses of her laying down the law to submissive servants, and paying surprise visits in the compound, but at last she mounted the steps, threw aside her sun-hat, and bringing out a work-basket, spread a little pile of delicate cambric upon the table before her.
“Talk, then,” she said, with a pin in her mouth.
“But you are sure we shan’t be interrupted? Have you quite done?”
“I think we are safe. I have visited the cook-house and the dairy, interviewed the gardener, arranged about the horses’ and cow’s food as well as our own, and physicked all the invalids in the neighbourhood. So begin, Mab.”
“Well, don’t you want to know my real reasons for coming out?”
“I thought we heard them last night—such as they are.”
“How nasty you are, Georgie! Didn’t you guess that there were other reasons behind, reserved for your private ear, and not to be exposed to Dick’s ribaldry? The truth is, I was hungering and thirsting for reality, and that’s why I came.”