s Justin said," pursued the train of her meditations, "an
abominable shame--a beastly shame, he called it--that I should be left
all alone like this. Well, if I am, surely no one can blame me for
consoling myself. But what a number of them there have been, all mad,
quite mad, for the time, though not all so mad as poor Reggie. No, I
oughtn't to be proud of that--still I suppose I am. It isn't every
woman can say that a man has blown his brains out for her--and such a
man as that too--a man of power and distinction, and wealthy enough even
for me. If it hadn't been for Hilary, he needn't have done it. And,
now Hilary and I are tired of each other. Ah!"

The last aloud. She rose and went to the door. The sound of a distant
shot, then another, had given rise to this diversion. It came from away
behind the granite kopjes. Her deputed hunter had got to work at any
rate, with what result time would show.

The afternoon sun was declining. His rays swept warm and golden upon
the spreading veldt and the pioneer residence, the latter looking,
within its stockade, like a miniature fort. The air was wonderfully
clear and pure; the golden effulgence upon the warm and balmy stillness
rendering life well-nigh a joy in itself. The distant mellow shouts of
the native herders, bringing in the cows; the thud of the hoofs of
knee-haltered horses, nearer home, driven into their nightly stabling--
for lions were prone to sporadic visits, and nothing alive could with
safely be left outside; and then, again and again from time to time, the
distant crack of the gun away behind the great granite kopjes,--all
seemed much nearer by reason of the sweet unearthly stillness.

"He is doing me real service," said Hermia to herself, as she gazed
forth over this, and as each far-away report of the double-barrel was
borne to her through the sweet evening air. "I think I can see him,
sparing no pains--no trouble--climbing those horrid rocks, blown,
breathless, simply because I--_I_--have asked him to do so."

The sensuous glow of the rich African evening seemed to infect her. She
stood, the sunlight bathing her splendid form, in its easy but still
well-fitting covering. She began to wrap herself in anticipation, even
as the glow of the declining day was wrapping her in its wondrous,
ever-changing light. He would be back soon, this man whom she had sent
out to toil through the afternoon heat in obedience to her behest. What
would he no