Page:The Days Work (1899).djvu/233

 the matter with them. Is n't it beautiful? Is n't it lovely?"

"Getting up at three to learn to milk, bless her heart! Oh, ye Gods, why must we grow old and fat?"

"She 's a darling. She has done more work under me-"

"Under you! The day after she came she was in charge and you were her subordinate. You 've stayed there ever since; she manages you almost as well as you manage me."

"She does n't, and that 's why I love her. She 's as direct as a man—as her brother."

"Her brother 's weaker than she is. He 's always coming to me for orders; but he 's honest, and a glutton for work. I confess I 'm rather fond of William, and if I had a daughter—"

The talk ended. Far away in the Derajat was a child's grave more than twenty years old, and neither Jim nor his wife spoke of it any more.

"All the same, you 're responsible," Jim added, after a moment's silence.

"Bless 'em!" said Mrs. Jim, sleepily.

Before the stars paled, Scott, who slept in an empty cart, waked and went about his work in silence; it seemed at that hour unkind to rouse Faiz Ullah and the interpreter. His head being close to the ground, he did not hear William till she stood over him in the dingy old riding-habit, her eyes still heavy with sleep, a cup of tea and a piece of toast in her hands. There was a baby on the ground, squirming on a piece of blanket, and a six-year-old child peered over Scott's shoulder.