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'I don't mind.'

'Make it a bargain, miss!'

'A bargain, then. If Mr. Macdonald doesn't come at once, I must ride back, rain or no rain.'

Jim thought that he should not grieve if she did. 'I hope you'll do no such thing, miss,' was, however, what he said; and certainly, for a common man, he was wonderfully ready with a polite falsehood. 'I'll make you a billy of tea and a johnny-cake in true bush style, miss, if you'll do me the honour to try 'em when made.'

Miss Howard consented with light hauteur, and went on gazing out into the rain, wondering by what stages such a good-looking, decent-spoken man had gravitated to the bush; and whether he had ever been anything very much better than a whim-driver.

As for Jim, he made himself very busy indeed, sitting on his heels over the fire in an attitude peculiar to back-blockers; and there was silence in the hut for several minutes. Then Miss Jenny grew tired of looking out of doors, and wandered round the room, examining the prints