uccessful, but it
enabled him to see out of the vehicle. Away behind them the dark shadow
of the range between the township and Waroona Downs rose against the
sky.

"Where is Mrs. Burke?" he called, turning his face towards the form of
the driver.

The horses stopped, and the figure on the box leaned back as a merry
laugh came down to him.

"Oh, are you awake then? Sure I thought you were asleep for good and all
the way you never moved all the journey. And did you think I had
vanished and left you to the tender mercies of that old fool? Well, now,
that's a poor compliment to yourself surely, to think I'd run away from
you as soon as I saw your eyes were closed. No, no, I've got charge of
you till you are well and strong again, though maybe I'll have hard work
to shunt you at all then, you'll be so used to being nursed. But I had
to come and drive while I sent the old man on ahead to get the door open
and a fire alight so as to give you something hot to cheer you as soon
as you reached the house."

"But he cannot walk quicker than we are going?"

"Going? Why, we're standing still. So we were at the top of the hill
where the horses, poor beasts, wanted a long rest to get their wind
again, seeing how they had come all the way without as much as a five
minutes' break since we started. You were sleeping through it all so
peacefully I had not the heart to disturb you, but sent the old man on
ahead while I climbed up here. Sure we're nearly there; I can see the
light of the lamp shining out of the window. Just keep quiet and rest
now till we're there."

She started the horses again, and Durham lay back on his blankets till
he felt the waggonette turn off the main road and drive slowly up to the
house.

As it stopped, he managed to raise himself into a sitting position.
There was a momentary humming in his head, and he gripped the seats to
steady himself. The cessation of the noise made by the moving wheels and
trotting horses accentuated to his ears the still silence of the night.
So quiet was it that as the humming passed from him the creaking of the
springs when Mrs. Burke swung herself down from the box-seat seemed an
actual noise.

Patsy's heavy tread echoed on the bare boards of the verandah. For a
second they stopped, and through Durham's brain there rang a curious
stifled sound, something like a cry coming from afar, a cry indistinct
and choked as if it were muffled.

The loud tones of Mrs. Burke's voice, s