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Rh She held it back, but he took it from her, and put it to his lips.

"I have spoilt it for you now," he said.

She still held out her hand. "How?"

"Because I kissed the flowers. There!" He tossed them away.

She gathered another spray. "That is a very nice one: and please don't throw it away directly you are out of sight of the house."

He laughed. "I'll show you the ghost of it next time we meet."

"That means that we sha'n't meet for a long time."

"Long enough for these to wither. I don't know when I shall be able to get over again. I must canvass the district. We shall meet at Tunimba."

"Write and tell me how things are going," she said.

"Do you really care to hear? Oh! Elsie, it makes me glad."

"Of course I care to hear. I am immensely excited. I wish I could go to Goondi and canvass for you. I'd make love to the Luya selectors. I'd abuse Mr. Blake to your very heart's content. Blake of Baròlin! Has it struck you that the name sounds rather poetic?"

"Much more so than Hallett, of Tunimba."

"Well, yes! I love a poetic name. I couldn't marry a man who was called Smith. Two Smiths proposed to me, by the way, and they were good matches, and Mammie and Ina scolded me for sending them about their business. To be sure, I couldn't have married them both. Oh, what a bore it is that one must marry—somebody!"

"I can't bear to hear you talk like that. Why must you marry—anybody?"

"Because I've got no other way of gaining my living. Because my prettiness is going—oh yes! Girls in Australia go off very soon. And do you think I haven't heard it said that Elsie Valliant is going off? Because I should hate to be an old maid. Mr. Hallett"

"Yes?"