uld still the eager longing which was at
the root of the patient's retarded convalescence.

If he could only see her the days would not be so blank; even to hear of
or from her would be something; but this complete separation, this
seemingly hopeless isolation racked him with impatience. Wherefore the
sound of her voice breaking in upon his mournful reveries, of which she
was the central figure, made his heart leap with delight.

Come to take one of them away with her! Saving that his head swam so
much when he moved he would have crawled out of his bunk and appealed to
her that he should be the one, lest the other should be before him.

He strove to catch something more of the conversation carried on between
her and the doctor, but their voices were not sufficiently loud for him
to hear more than the sound of them. The creaking of the door as it
opened made him turn his eyes as the doctor came in.

"I've a visitor to see you. Do you think you can stand it?" he asked.

Over the doctor's shoulder Durham caught a glimpse of Mrs. Burke, and
the smile that rippled over his face was all the answer he had time to
give before she stood beside him.

"Oh, the poor, poor fellow," she exclaimed softly. "Sure he's just
pining for a change of air and a sight of the bush once more. It's
Waroona Downs that's the place where he can get what he wants and
recover so as to catch those villains that have done him so much harm.
I've come to fetch you, Mr. Durham. I've a waggonette outside and a
storeful of blankets, and Patsy to drive--sure he can't go faster than a
funeral at the best, so there's no fear of any jolting on the way. If
you want to come, the doctor says you may, and he'll ride along later
and see you are all fixed up before he goes after his other patients who
are all dying, poor things, without his help one way or the other."

Would he go? His pale cheeks flushed at the chance of escape from the
deadly solitude of the past few days. Anywhere would be better than
inside that bare, cheerless hut, anything preferable to lying on the
hard wooden bunk with only a blanket over him, and only an occasional
flying visit from Mrs. Eustace and the periodical dosing by the doctor.
But Waroona Downs with the woman he was beginning to idolise daily with
him!

"Will you come?" she asked softly, as he did not speak.

"If I only could," he answered.

"There, doctor, you heard him? I'll tell Patsy to spread the blankets on
the floor