hough conveyed in the
magnetism of the touch, very much the same idea runs through the mind of
each,--namely, that between this their first meeting, and the eventual
and final parting, lie grave and boundless potentialities.

A little more desultory talk, and a move is made towards the house, and
Suffield, owning to a magnificent drought after their eight-mile ride in
the sun, produces a bottle of grog; then presently, excusing a temporary
absence on the ground of it being time to count in the stock, departs,
for the sun is touching the craggy heights which bound the view on every
side; and already, over the bare treeless plains stretching away for
miles in front of the house, are moving white patches, the flocks
returning to their nightly fold.

As he disappears so does his wife, for the uproar and occasional howl
emanating from an adjacent nursery seem to require her presence. Mona
Ridsdale thus left to entertain the stranger, fails to do so, unless as
a dumb show, for she is standing at the open window in silence, gazing
meditatively out over the veldt, her splendid figure outlined against
the blushing glow of the sunset sky. A hostile witness might even have
insinuated that she was "posing."

"Well, Mr Musgrave," she says at length, alive to the necessity of
saying something, "how do you think you will like Doppersdorp?"

"Ah! Now that is something like a rational version of the question I am
by this time prepared to answer, from sheer force of habit before it is
asked, wherever I make a new acquaintance. The stereotyped form is,
`How do you like Doppersdorp?' not how do I think I will. Now, between
ourselves, I _don't_ like it at present, I don't say I never shall, but
so far I don't. I don't say I dislike it, for both sentiments are too
active to define my views towards it. I simply make the best of the
place. And you, do you live here always?"

"Oh yes. This is my home. Charlie and Grace are the only relatives I
can at all get on with, and we pull very well together."

"Well, and how do _you_ like Doppersdorp? It is a refreshing novelty to
be able to ask the question instead of answering it."

"My answer is the same as yours. I make the best of it."

"Ah! You are not very long back from England?"

"About a year. But--how on earth did you know that! Did Charlie tell
you?"

"Not a word. I deduced it. There was a discontented ring about your
tone, and colonial girls always take on discont