that there were
to be no ladies in the party."
"I don't know why he should suppose there were likely to be."
"Possibly not, but he is a cautious man. Anyhow, when you tell him I
am going he will make ready to start to Edwardstown on business."
So they sat on under the stars, each busy with thoughts. Henry Pym's
were a trifle anxious. So little ever escaped his clear eyes that it
was not in the least surprising he had seen whither Meryl's mind was
trending, almost before she knew of it herself. And much as he admired
Major Carew, he feared, with the clear sight of a great love, that
indefinable something that stood as a barrier between the man and his
outlook upon certain phases of life. Whatever it was, his studied
avoidance of social intercourse, and his turning his back so
resolutely upon England and all his people there, suggested to the
astute man of the world that he had taken out of his life's plan all
thought of marriage, and was not very likely to turn from his purpose.
Hence the shadow of anxiety in the father's eyes, for his deep
knowledge of Meryl told him further that she would neither love
lightly nor forget easily.
And still the girl herself sat on and made no sign. The joy of the
evening hour was still too new. Under the stars at present she asked
nothing better than to live through it again and again in her memory.
For whereas a woman is often fearful to anticipate a joy for dread of
a disappointment, afterwards, when the realisation is sure and sweet
and all her own, she will draw delight from it for many a silent hour
in quiet contentment.
And down at the police camp the two troopers and the officer sat
likewise under the stars. Stanley was very full of his trip, for Carew
had readily given him the two or three days' leave; and in the
direction whither they journeyed were roan and sable and water-buck
and probably lions to rejoice the heart of a game young British South
African policeman with a bloodthirsty desire to kill. Moore, in his
quaint, Irish way, chaffed him a good deal, as was his wont; for
though one had received his education at the Bedford Grammar School
and was a clergyman's son, and the other at a board-school and was the
son of a small innkeeper, in the Rhodesia police force all troopers
are equals, and there is a frank camaraderie which is very creditable
to its members. Carew himself showed very little difference, and in
the same spirit the homely Moore had received a cup o
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