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104 Blake mounted his own horse, which was a fiery creature, but not the black one he had been riding on the day he first met Elsie. Baròlin was famous for its horses, and Dominic Trant was no less well mounted. He had a scowling expression on his dark face as he passed Elsie and his partner, but he made no attempt to join them. Elsie was the object of attention to a bevy of young men, but it was a tribute to Blake's power that no one thought of interfering with him.

In an Australian March, one may sometimes have a delightful day, with just a fresh faint foretaste of winter in the air. Sometimes, on the other hand, an Australian March is as muggy and disagreeable a month as can well be imagined. To-day it was bright and clear. There had been a heavy rain a few days previously, and the world looked as if it had been well washed. Never was sky bluer. There was a faint breeze stirring the tops of the gum-trees, and throwing a ripple on to the surface of the lagoon. The grass—where it had not been trodden down by the racers exercising—was thick and lush, and brown with its autumn heads. But the yellowing quinces and swelling oranges and the great pumpkins and squashes were the only sign of autumn. As they rode down by the garden fence, the enclosure was spring-like in its bloom. The prickly pears were growing faintly pink, it is true, and the passion-creeper hung out purple eggs, but the roses massed in quantities—golden Maréchal Neils and pale tea-roses, flaunting cabbage-roses, and dark delicate cottage beauties—a most sweet and gorgeous array. And there was a plant of the Taverna Montana in bloom, its dazzling white flowers nearly as large as a camellia. And the honey-suckle and stephanotis scented the air, and the great vermilion pomegranates were like blobs of sealing wax thrown at haphazard upon the green.

It was a day to intoxicate the senses.

"Who says that the Australian birds have no song?" said Elsie. "There's a magpie gurgling away as if he meant to sing at a concert to-night."

Blake smiled at her, and she smiled back in return. She