er or later she would
yield. His love was irresistible. He told the old woman of his wishes,
and found somewhat to his surprise that she and the neighbours, long
aware of them, were strongly urging Sally to accept his offer. After
all, every native was glad to keep house for a white man, and Neilson
according to the standards of the island was a rich one. The trader with
whom he boarded went to her and told her not to be a fool; such an
opportunity would not come again, and after so long she could not still
believe that Red would ever return. The girl's resistance only increased
Neilson's desire, and what had been a very pure love now became an
agonising passion. He was determined that nothing should stand in his
way. He gave Sally no peace. At last, worn out by his persistence and
the persuasions, by turns pleading and angry, of everyone around her,
she consented. But the day after when, exultant, he went to see her he
found that in the night she had burnt down the hut in which she and Red
had lived together. The old crone ran towards him full of angry abuse of
Sally, but he waved her aside; it did not matter; they would build a
bungalow on the place where the hut had stood. A European house would
really be more convenient if he wanted to bring out a piano and a vast
number of books.

And so the little wooden house was built in which he had now lived for
many years, and Sally became his wife. But after the first few weeks of
rapture, during which he was satisfied with what she gave him he had
known little happiness. She had yielded to him, through weariness, but
she had only yielded what she set no store on. The soul which he had
dimly glimpsed escaped him. He knew that she cared nothing for him. She
still loved Red, and all the time she was waiting for his return. At a
sign from him, Neilson knew that, notwithstanding his love, his
tenderness, his sympathy, his generosity, she would leave him without a
moment's hesitation. She would never give a thought to his distress.
Anguish seized him and he battered at that impenetrable self of hers
which sullenly resisted him. His love became bitter. He tried to melt
her heart with kindness, but it remained as hard as before; he feigned
indifference, but she did not notice it. Sometimes he lost his temper
and abused her, and then she wept silently. Sometimes he thought she was
nothing but a fraud, and that soul simply an invention of his own, and
that he could not get into the s