by page, was
revealing strange things.

The luncheon-hour always provided fresh material for a reflective mind.
The dining-room was large and lofty, and the table must have dated back
to the early days at the Cape, when every great family had its scores
of retainers and slaves. It was composed of time-stained teak, and
could have seated dozens, being curiously shaped like a capital E with
the middle branch of the letter missing. Only one of the branches was
now in use, and at this Christine presided over her small charges,
fortunately somewhat aloof from the rest, for they had many odd habits
which it was her business to correct without drawing attention. Coral
did not like pumpkin, and would keep dropping it on the floor. Rita
loved to kill flies with a spoon. Roddy's specialty was sliding bits
of meat into the open jaws of a pointer--there were always several
under the table--then briskly passing his plate for more. Once or
twice, looking up from correcting these idiosyncrasies, the girl found
the blue eyes of Richard Saltire fixed upon her as if in ironic
inquiry, and though she felt the slow colour creep into her face, she
returned the glance coldly. How dare he be curious about her, she
thought rather angrily. Let him confine himself to making the lids of
his hostess droop and her cheeks dimple. Not that Christine believed
there to be any harm in their open flirtation--Mrs. van Cannan was
plainly devoted to her husband; perhaps it was natural that she should
enjoy admiration. She possessed the kind of beauty only to be achieved
by the woman who makes the care of her appearance an art, and spends
hours in absolute repose of mind and body. Her face had not a line in
it of strain or sorrow. Faint pink tinted her cheeks. Her pink-linen
gown, open in a low V, showed the perfect contour and creaminess of her
breast. The restless, adoring eyes of her husband came back to her
always with that glance, vigilant and sombre, that was peculiar to them.

With some assumption of state, he always sat in the centre of the body
of the table, with his wife beside him. Saltire sat at her right, and
Saxby, the overseer, was placed beside his host. Opposite them, on the
other side of the table, were the two young Hollanders and a cheerful
Scotch colonial called McNeil.

These six men were expected to take both luncheon and dinner at the
farm, but only the Hollanders turned up in the evening, perhaps because
the excell