"Damn the camp!"
"You ruffian."
Selwyn threw himself to his feet. "It's the last good turn I try and do. Power can keep a harem for what I care. I suppose you are content now you have driven me away?"
Mrs. Selwyn made no reply, but resumed her reading. Scowling terrifically, Selwyn plunged down the verandah steps, the bodyguard pattering at his heels. There were the sounds of steps, very sharp and dignified, dying away down the path, followed by silence. Mrs. Selwyn closed her book and proceeded to consider matters in all their aspects.
CHAPTER XIII The Journey to the Pool
Coming up from the yard near the creek where the goats were herded, Maud Neville stood a moment in the darkened dining-room; and, standing there, she heard Selwyn begin his story. She dreamed while the first words were spoken, soothed by the change from sunlight to the shadows and quiet of indoors; then understanding arrived, and she stood wide-eared to the end.
Waiting by the table, clad in a cool dress, with a wide straw hat upon her head, she happened upon the telling of that tale, and stood listening until the final word was spoken. In that space life lived and done with. A book opened; the story read. Truth told which could not be untold. And she must rouse herself from daydreaming in this quiet room, for outside a sun was shining, and earth still rolled through high heaven.
She lingered among the shadows a little while yet, while the greedy sunlight crept under the verandah roof seeking a way to climb in. Her light fingers moved among the household gods, settling and re-settling them with old skill.