Page:Coo-ee - tales of Australian life by Australian ladies.djvu/135

Rh mind as this woman spoke; why, I couldn't tell. She looked and spoke (bar the theatrical turn) and seemed straight, and yet I felt it borne in on me that she was not. I felt she was laughing all the time in her sleeve at the whole batch of us, myself, of course, included. I felt it quite distinctly, and yet it amused me to laugh with her.

'Ah, Mrs. Vallings, he was noble and good; and oh, how he loved me!'

'But you did not break with him, surely--you will marry him one day?'

'Some day, perhaps. I have offered him his freedom, but he will not take it from my hands; he is too good, too true. You see I must not go home--I cannot stand the climate. My lungs are organically wrong--yes; that is what the doctors say. There is a great big hole just here,' she explained, planting her hand on a part of her form that I always used to consider covered the heart; at least, I am quite certain that was where the ambulance lecturer put it. However, Miss Ariell seemed quite confident as to the site of the cavity, and no doubt she knew best. 'No, I cannot live at home; and Everard, poor fellow, he must stick to his regiment--he may not come into his property for years. Ah, parting is sad, sad!' She stopped to sigh and pose a little. 'And such a parting as ours! Who knows if ever we shall meet again!'

'Oh, perhaps he'll come into the property sooner than you think, and your lung will heal up, and you'll