a treasure-trove of literature
treasure 設立する hidden with no 証拠 of 所有権
(and our other authors) or get HELP Reading, Downloading and 変えるing とじ込み／提出するs)
or
SEARCH the entire 場所／位置 with Google 場所／位置 Search
|
このページはEtoJ逐語翻訳フィルタによって翻訳生成されました。 |
|
事業／計画（する） Gutenberg
Australia a treasure-trove of literature treasure 設立する hidden with no 証拠 of 所有権 |
BROWSE the 場所／位置 for other 作品 by this author (and our other authors) or get HELP Reading, Downloading and 変えるing とじ込み／提出するs) or SEARCH the entire 場所／位置 with Google 場所／位置 Search |
肩書を与える: Kirkham's Find
Author: Mary Gaunt
eBook No.: 0200581h.html
Language: English
Date first 地位，任命するd: 2002
Most 最近の update: 2002
見解（をとる） our licence and header
一時期／支部 1.
一時期／支部 2.
一時期／支部 3.
一時期／支部 4.
一時期／支部 5.
一時期／支部 6.
一時期／支部 7.
一時期／支部 8.
一時期／支部 9.
一時期／支部 10.
一時期／支部 11.
一時期／支部 12.
一時期／支部 13.
一時期／支部 14.
一時期／支部 15.
一時期／支部 16.
一時期／支部 17.
一時期／支部 18.
一時期／支部 19.
一時期／支部 20.
一時期／支部 21.
一時期／支部 22.
一時期／支部 23.
一時期／支部 24.
一時期／支部 25.
一時期／支部 26.
一時期／支部 27.
一時期／支部 28.
一時期／支部 29.
"It is not for man to 残り／休憩（する） in 絶対の contentment. He is born to hopes and aspirations, as the 誘発するs 飛行機で行く 上向きs, unless he has brutified his nature, and quenched the spirit of immortality, which is his 部分."
—SOUTHEY.
"Nancy!"
"井戸／弁護士席!"
"What's the good of sitting there 説 '井戸／弁護士席' when you know I want you?"
A pretty girl with golden brown hair and laughing blue 注目する，もくろむs の近くにd her 調書をとる／予約する and, rising leisurely from the スピードを出す／記録につける on which she had been seated, crossed the orchard and joined her sister under the apple tree.
"What do you want?"
"Those 蜂の巣s are just 十分な of honey, don't you think I might take some?"
"I'm sure I don't know. I thought the 調書をとる／予約する said bees せねばならない have enough left to 料金d them through the winter."
"But it's only November. There are six months till the winter."
"And how are you going to take the honey?"
"Smoke the bees or something. That wretched 調書をとる／予約する only tells about でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる 蜂の巣s. Where am I go to get money for でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる 蜂の巣s?"
"Oh! gin 事例／患者s do 井戸／弁護士席 enough, I think," said Nancy, cheerfully. "If you don't like them you can sell honey and buy others."
"That's just it, I want to know how I'm to get the honey, and then, when I've got it, I want to know how I'm to sell it."
Phoebe Marsden was taller than her sister, and, so said the little world of brothers and sisters, not nearly so pretty, in fact not pretty at all. She was older too, more than two years older, almost twenty-four, and the eldest of the family. The younger ones looked on her as やめる an old maid, and she herself felt her life, as far as any happiness or 楽しみ to herself went, was nearly over. She was nearly a ４半期/4分の1 of a century old, a 広大な／多数の／重要な age, so said her world, for a 選び出す／独身 woman, and she was inclined to think the world had no use for her.
"Mother will buy it from you. You know she said she would."
"Yes, I know. Poor mother," and Phoebe laughed scornfully. "She'll give me about a penny a 続けざまに猛撃する, and 支払う／賃金 me when she has the money. It'll come dribbling in, and I'll feel myself a brute for taking it, 特に after the boys have eaten all the honey."
Nancy was a little afraid of the bees, but she saw Phoebe had a discontented fit on, and settling herself 負かす／撃墜する on the grass at 十分な length, 用意が出来ている to listen, and if possible console.
"It's about that I'm afraid. I told you before, Phoebe, it isn't the least good in the world trying to do anything for yourself. Why can't you let things alone, like me?"
"Because—because," there was almost a sob in the 年上の girl's 発言する／表明する, "what on earth is to become of us? It seems to me we get poorer and poorer, father gets いっそう少なく and いっそう少なく to do, and the family expenses get heavier and heavier. Just look at those boys growing up."
"I do look," said Nancy, "with 悲しみ."
"Not a penny have I had this month."
"Nor me. Look at those becoming shoes. Don't they look 甘い," and she drew her petticoats up and looked 負かす／撃墜する at her feet. Whether they were pretty feet or not and matched the 残り／休憩（する） of their dainty owner it was impossible to say, for those shoes were in the last 行う／開催する／段階 of decrepitude, the leather showed wrinkled and 割れ目d through the 黒人／ボイコットing, and there was a deplorable 分裂（する） の近くに to the toe of the left foot. Nancy looked at them a little dolefully.
"Somebody will have to buy me a pair of new ones. Talk about 'travelling on your uppers'! And mother will sigh and look as 苦しめるd as if the 底（に届く） had fallen out of the world, and as for father—井戸／弁護士席, it's no good; I'd rather go barefoot than 直面する father. He makes me feel as if I hadn't a 権利 to 存在する at all."
"I don't think we have," sighed the 年上の girl. "How can you take it so coolly, Nanny?"
"What is the good of worry, worry, worry? Phoebe, you're just as bad as mother. It's the loveliest day—just look at the 日光. I've 現実に 攻撃する，衝突する on a 調書をとる／予約する I 港／避難所't read more than once before. I don't think there's anything particular to do, or if there is, father isn't here to reprove me for idleness, so I'm just going to loaf and enjoy myself."
"How can you? I wish I could. Do you really feel happy, Nancy?" and her 年上の sister looked 負かす／撃墜する on her wistfully.
"Happy?" Nancy lay 支援する on the grass, and pillowing her 長，率いる on her 武器 looked up at the patches of 有望な blue sky which peeped through the 支店s of the apple tree—"happy? Why, of course I do. Don't you?"
"No," sighed the 年上の, "no, never."
"You're older than me, I suppose," said Nancy, vainly trying to find some 推論する／理由 for this uncomfortable 明言する／公表する of 事件／事情／状勢s.
"I've always been old, I think," said her sister. "When I was やめる a little girl I was always too old to do the nice things the 残り／休憩（する） of you did, and if you did anything wrong I got scolded because I was the eldest and せねばならない have looked after you better, or 発揮するd a better 影響（力）, or something of that sort. Oh dear! it's a mistake to be the eldest."
"I don't know, I believe I'd have been contented enough even if I had been in that unhappy position."
"I believe you would. How is it, Nancy, you always manage to be cheerful, while I—井戸／弁護士席 I—"
"You are not—no, indeed you're not. You're very much the other way just now."
Phoebe cast another mournful ちらりと見ること at the gin 事例／患者s that did 義務 as 蜂の巣s, then slipped 負かす／撃墜する on to the grass beside her sister. She did not 嘘（をつく） 負かす／撃墜する though—there was nothing indolent about Phoebe.
"There seems nothing in the world to look 今後 to."
"Don't look 今後, then. I'm sure it's very nice here."
"When father comes home tonight he's sure to be depressed; we shall be told that he hasn't earned five 続けざまに猛撃するs this week, and if this goes on—"
"Oh, Phoebe, don't bother! What do you listen for if it makes you feel bad?"
"I listen of course—I must. I know there's a 確かな 量 of truth in it. So do you. His 商売／仕事 is 落ちるing off; there are so many younger men coming on, and really I don't know that there is room in Ballarat for so many 在庫／株 and 駅／配置する スパイ／執行官s."
"Oh, it will all come 権利 in the end. Things always do."
"You always say that, Nancy, but what will we do if they don't?" Nancy laughed.
"Oh! all men rub along somehow. Where's the good of worrying? You'll spoil your beauty."
"I 港／避難所't got any."
Candidly speaking Nancy did not think her sister had. She did not admire her 直面する herself, but she did not want to 傷つける her feelings, so she laughed gently and said—
"What a goose you are to believe all the boys say! I believe you think yourself やめる hideous."
Phoebe nodded her 長，率いる and blinked her 注目する，もくろむs in a vain 試みる／企てる to keep the 涙／ほころびs 支援する. It is cruelly hard on a young woman to have to 認める to herself that she is ugly.
Beside Nancy's sparkling 注目する，もくろむs and fresh complexion her sister's pale 直面する looked sallow; her dark hair, though abundant, was dull in hue; her 激しい brown 注目する，もくろむs were too 深い-始める，決める, and her whole 直面する wore a sad and discontented 空気／公表する which alone would have spoiled far greater beauty than she 所有するd. Her 人物／姿／数字 was good and she was tall, and had she had but that place in the world which she was always longing for, there would have been many to call the eldest 行方不明になる Marsden a handsome woman. But at home, father, mother, sisters, brothers, all considered and 率直に said she was plain—hopelessly plain, said her mother, who could not conceive of a good-looking woman over five feet five, which やむを得ず meant large 手渡すs and feet.
When Phoebe was eighteen she had already 直す／買収する，八百長をするd her 運命／宿命 in her mind.
"She will be an old maid," she told her only sister, plaintively. Mrs Marsden was a woman who must confide in somebody, her husband for choice; but, as she said, there were some things one could not tell a man, he would not understand, and so she 洪水d to her sister on the rare occasions on which they met. "She'll never marry. I don't see that I can do anything with Phoebe."
"I believe some men might call her handsome," said Mrs Carrington, thoughtfully, "if she were 井戸／弁護士席 dressed."
And that was the only commendation poor Phoebe had ever received, and even that she had never heard, and Mrs Carrington was away in England now, and had forgotten all about her.
The family thought Phoebe plain, and she was plain; it was almost 原因（となる） and 影響. How could she be good-looking in the 直面する of such 逆の opinions? Besides, even her aunt had said, "if she were 井戸／弁護士席 dressed," and she was never 井戸／弁護士席 dressed and never likely to be.
Nancy had more than a 疑惑 of Phoebe's struggle with her 涙／ほころびs, and suddenly 解除するing up her 長，率いる rolled herself into her sister's （競技場の）トラック一周 and put a caressing arm 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her waist.
"Phoebe, you old silly, I don't think you are ugly."
"I—I—Nancy, it isn't that. I know I'm ugly, but I don't believe I'd mind so much if I was a man."
"A man! Phoebe!"
"Or could earn a decent living for myself. It's the same thing, isn't it?"
"But how could you earn your own living? It's silly to talk like that."
Phoebe looked 負かす／撃墜する at the pretty 直面する on her 膝, and 負傷させる her fingers through the sunny curls with a sigh.
"We can't live on for ever like this, you know. Father and mother will die some day."
"Phoebe!"
"井戸／弁護士席, they will. Mother is forty-six and father is over fifty."
"Oh, Phoebe!"
Nancy was shocked. Such conversation seemed to her 残虐な. The two girls somehow, though they had had the same training, could not help looking at life from diametrically opposite points of 見解（をとる）.
"Yes, I know you are shocked," went on the 年上の, now 完全に worked up, and bent on expounding her ideas, even though it was to no 目的, "but suppose father did die, what would become of us all?"
"It is cruel to talk about such things!"
"It would be still more cruel if they happened, which I hope they won't; but still, suppose they do? Stanley couldn't keep us and won't be able to keep himself for a good many years to come."
"Oh, Stanley will get married as soon as ever he can afford to," said Nancy. Stanley （機の）カム between the two girls, and was, in his second-year 法律s, an 当局 to all the 世帯 on the ways of the world, for did he not live in Melbourne, and had he not for his allowance more money in one year than the girls had in four? Phoebe felt a little bitter に向かって her eldest brother. If he from his position outside the home circle, with his supposed knowledge of the world, had had a good word to say for her, had given her one word of 賞賛する, her position の中で her younger brothers and sisters would have been materially 改善するd; but he did no such thing. She did not happen to come up to his ideal of physical beauty, so he uncompromisingly pronounced her ugly; she had 見解（をとる）s on さまざまな 支配するs, and had 表明するd her 不賛成 of his noble self very 自由に when he 行方不明になるd his second year—and he 提起する／ポーズをとるd as one who should be admired—therefore he 復讐d himself as he had the 力／強力にする to do.
He explained to his mother that his eldest sister was just the sort old maids are made of. Fancy a fellow marrying a girl like that, plain as a pikestaff, and gives herself 空気／公表するs—faugh! Nancy, in his opinion, was all 権利, some fellow was sure to come along and marry her, but Phoebe—
All of which had filtered through not only to the girls themselves, but to the 残り／休憩（する） of the family, and Phoebe's happiness was not 増加するd その為に; and even though she 認める the truth of the unkind speech, she did not love the brother who had made that speech the more for it.
"井戸／弁護士席, Stanley might manage to keep himself, but what would become of mother and the 残り／休憩（する） of us?"
"What nonsense you do talk!" said Nancy, settling herself more comfortably on her sister's （競技場の）トラック一周. "Father isn't going to die until he's やめる old—when we are all grown up."
"Even then—," began Phoebe, but her sister 削減（する） her short.
"Then the boys will all be 収入 their own livings, and we will be all married."
"You may—I suppose you will—and so will Nellie; but what's to become of Lydia and me?"
"You'll get married too."
"The boys say I won't," said Phoebe gloomily, "and they say Lydia is just like me. Poor little Lyd!"
"Oh! what is the good of minding what the boys say? Of course you will get married!"
"Who can I marry?" asked the 年上の. "No one ever cared about me, no one ever does care for me. The few men we know all like talking to you and never take any notice of me."
"We don't know any 価値（がある） troubling our 長，率いるs about."
"There, I told you so!" with 暗い／優うつな 勝利. "If we don't know any men how are we to marry them?"
"Oh, I don't know. Husbands come 負かす／撃墜する the chimney for good girls, you know."
"It's not fair! it's not fair!" burst out Phoebe, passionately; and she 押し進めるd her sister aside, and rising to her feet began pacing up and 負かす／撃墜する under the apple tree. "A woman's just a useless thing, to sit still and do nothing but look pretty until some man comes along and says, 'I think you're rather good-looking, it pleases my majesty to marry you.'"
"Don't you be afraid," a mocking man's 発言する／表明する （機の）カム from behind, "there's no 恐れる of any one 告発する／非難するing you of looking pretty, and still いっそう少なく of any fellow asking you to marry him."
"Stanley!"
Phoebe turned quickly with 紅潮／摘発するd 直面する and glowing dark 注目する，もくろむs, and for just that moment her brother thought that that 直面する gave the 嘘（をつく） to his words, but he did not 認める it even to himself.
"You needn't trouble your 長，率いる, my dear," he said with brotherly candour, "no one's at all likely to marry you. You are just 削減（する） out for the old maid of the family."
"That's just 正確に／まさに what I've been 説." It wasn't, but under the circumstances strict 正確 could hardly be 推定する／予想するd. "And as I'm to be an old maid, I don't want to live a life like this always. I might 同様に have a little money or something to do in the world."
"Something to do in the world—bah! It's enough to make a fellow sick to hear a girl talk like that. You're as bad as the awful 女性（の）s at the shop."
"Some of those awful 女性（の）s, as you call them," said Phoebe, mockingly, "have left you far and away behind. Look at 行方不明になる Wilson, a 十分な-blown B.A., and you only in your second year!"
"行方不明になる Wilson be hanged! What does a girl have to do but grind?"
"I wish—"
"Oh yes, I know you. But let me tell you, all the decent fellows think like I do, and all the decent people too. Do you ever see a girl from good society up at the University? No, of course you don't. Decent girls have more sense. I know the sorts of girls I like, and there are lots and lots of chaps like me."
"Come, then," said Nancy from her lowly position on the grass, "tell us what she is like." For Phoebe, as usual in an 遭遇（する） with her brother, was silenced by his scornful insinuations—insinuations which at the 底（に届く） of her heart she believed to be true: that she, 存在 so much いっそう少なく attractive than the 大多数 of girls, had no 権利 to 裁判官 the world of women from her point of 見解（をとる）.
"井戸／弁護士席, a girl せねばならない stick at home. She oughtn't to bother her 長，率いる about Latin and Greek. Who wants his wife to know anything about mathematics? My wife's going to dance beautifully, and she must play and sing, and she might paint a bit—just enough to decorate the 製図／抽選-room. And then if she can cook a bit and sew a little, that's all I want."
"穏健な, certainly."
"She'll have to be pretty, of course. Ugly women せねばならない be shut up or smothered or something. Blest if I see what use they are."
"What about ugly men?"
"Oh, a man don't 事柄; but I say, you girls, are you aware that I've come all the way from Melbourne, driven out the seven miles from Ballarat, and I'm as hungry as a hunter."
"Are you, really?" asked Nancy, laughing. "I suppose you didn't bring that perfect girl along with you to wait on you?"
"Don't be a fool, Nancy! I never said you were ugly"—and the slight 強調 on the "you" did not escape the 年上の girl's notice—"I only said—and all fellows, decent fellows with any sense, think like me—that all this talk about higher education for women is all bunkum. No fellow likes a learned wife. Let the women stick at home and mind their houses. A nice girl's pretty sure to get married in the end; what does she want spoiling herself 収入 her own living?"
"I was thinking about the girls who aren't nice," began Phoebe.
"Hang the girls who aren't nice!"
"By all means, if you can do it," said Phoebe, politely sarcastic. "But I do believe there are some girls in the world who don't want to be only a reflection of a man. Wasn't the world made for women 同様に as men?"
But he could not understand her. He was not a bad fellow at 底（に届く）, he meant kindly enough, but he was young and egotistical, and he was most 堅固に imbued with the idea that the world was most certainly made for men, and women should only look on it through men's 注目する，もくろむs. Besides, his eldest sister irritated him. She was hopelessly plain, in his opinion she せねばならない 受託する that fact and 沈む 静かに into the background. It was hard enough on him, he thought, to have a plain old maiden sister, without her 主張するing herself and even by inference lecturing him, who, if he was not good in the schools, was certainly one of the best 競技者s at the Melbourne University.
"I wish you wouldn't talk such infernal rot," he said, "I'm sick of it! You are only talking about things you don't understand in the least."
"It is my life," thought Phoebe, but she did not put her thoughts into words. He would not have understood. It was a woman's 商売／仕事 to sit still and look pretty, and wait what 運命／宿命 would bring her. If the 未来 were good to her, then she should have 賞賛する and petting in plenty; but if it were not, then she should be 扱う／治療するd as if it were her own fault. But 事実上 she could do nothing to alter her life. The thought 重さを計るd ひどく on her this 有望な summer afternoon, and took the 日光 out of the day for her.
"井戸／弁護士席"—Stanley felt he had wasted やめる enough time over a sister, even if she were a pretty one—"井戸／弁護士席, isn't one of you girls going to get a fellow something to eat?"
"Phoebe will, I daresay," said Nancy, lazily; "she's just 燃やすing to show her usefulness in the world."
"井戸／弁護士席, here's a chance for her," said her brother, and Phoebe flashed 一連の会議、交渉／完成する 怒って. He thought her ugly, he thought ugly girls せねばならない be put out of the way, he 負傷させるd her without the slightest thought—why, then, should she wait on him? Angry words rose to her lips and died away there. What was the good of quarrelling? He didn't understand, not one of her little world understood her. She supposed there must be something radically wrong in her composition, evidently she was not like other girls. If Nancy would not get Stanley something to eat she must, and she went into the house with as good a grace as possible, which after all was not very good, and made him tell his mother that evening that Phoebe was more unbearably old-maidish than ever—a 発言／述べる which in time reached the 犯人's ears, and did not materially 追加する to her peace of mind.
Nancy did not 動かす. She understood her brother in one way far better than her sister did. He would not like her any the いっそう少なく because she gave herself little 空気／公表するs and did not wait on him 手渡す and foot, and she had 非，不，無 of Phoebe's earnest 願望（する） to do the 権利 thing. As she had explained to her sister, she had no 反対する in life save to get through it pleasantly, and this was just the 権利 sort of afternoon for a loaf in the garden. Soon it would be too hot to be out of doors, but today, lying here on the grass under the apple tree, it was perfect.
A high hedge hid the house from sight, and no one was likely to 乱す her, therefore she の近くにd her 注目する，もくろむs and 用意が出来ている to make the most of it. She couldn't read. The soft 勝利，勝つd blew the leaves over and lost her place, it made her arm ache to 停止する the 調書をとる／予約する, the drowsy hum of the bees—poor Phoebe's bees—was in her ears, and from the paddock behind （機の）カム the sound of children's 発言する／表明するs, 軟化するd by the distance. It made her feel sleepy. Those children were chasing the ducks again, she 反映するd, and wondered lazily if Phoebe would hear them and put a stop to it. Then her 注目する，もくろむs の近くにd, it was so pleasant here under the tree, and when Phoebe （機の）カム 支援する, after 供給するing her brother with afternoon tea, she was 急速な／放蕩な asleep.
Phoebe sighed discontentedly. She had had no tea herself, not that she did not like it, but because, except on rare occasions, the family 財政／金融s did not run to it, and now it was an 追加するd grievance that her confidante should be in the land of dreams. Then the children's 発言する／表明するs caught her ear, the unlawful nature of the 占領／職業 struck her, and she went across the orchard to 調査／捜査する. It was not in Phoebe to shirk any 義務, however unpleasant, and Nancy was left alone to sleep her sleep out.
The 影をつくる／尾行するs grew longer and longer. Mr Marsden's buggy （機の）カム home, and was received with much yelling and shouting by the children; she was dimly conscious that the nursery tea-bell ran furiously, and also conscious that it was her turn to look after that meal, but still she did not rouse herself. She was not called, it was all 権利. Phoebe, in her own ungracious fashion, had probably taken her place, and Nancy settled herself comfortably to sleep again. Then a leaf or two dropped softly on to her 直面する and on her ungloved 手渡す, and she started up wide awake in a moment.
"Good gracious! What—"
"公正に／かなり won, by Jove! 行方不明になる Nancy—公正に／かなり won! That's a pair of gloves to Ned."
"It isn't! I—. How dare you!"
Nancy sat up rubbing her 注目する，もくろむs, angry and startled, but not so angry but that she remembered to pull 負かす／撃墜する her skirts over her feet to hide those worn-out shoes from the 注目する，もくろむs of the two young men who were standing over her.
"Don't be cross, 行方不明になる Nancy," said the taller of the two; "we've been waiting so long for you to wake, Ned here felt he had to try other means."
"Then he—he—"
But Ned Kirkham looked 負かす／撃墜する on her with 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な, dark 注目する，もくろむs, and she forgave him on the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す, or rather she 表明するd her belief there was nothing to 許す.
"I know you wouldn't; would you, now?"
"Of course not. Allan here dropped some leaves on your 直面する. I wouldn't be so impertinent."
"I knew it," said Nancy, in gleeful 勝利. "There now, Mr Morrison!"
"It's all very 井戸／弁護士席 to say, 'there now,' 行方不明になる Nancy, but you don't know what 大災害 might have happened if I hadn't been here to look after this young cousin of 地雷. You—"
"I've been asleep all the afternoon. One might 同様に do that as anything else, I think. You never told me you were coming, else—"
"Else you would have stayed awake?"
"Oh, I didn't say that," said Nancy, who was wishing she had on her evening shoes, the only decent pair she had left, and felt it to be a real grievance that she had been caught in such shabby ones. "But how did you come? Over the 盗品故買者?"
Ned Kirkham nodded, and Allan Morrison asked—
"Do you think the 知事'll 反対する?"
"He won't know," said Nancy, philosophically. "Now you are here, won't you sit 負かす／撃墜する?"
Morrison, who was an older man than his cousin, Ned Kirkham, by seven or eight years, 受託するd the 招待 and took a seat の近くに beside her, while the other man, 倍のing his 武器, leaned up against the apple tree in such a position that he could carefully ざっと目を通す the fair 直面する beneath him. She blushed a little under his 確固たる gaze, but it did not discommode her much.
"I am sorry to say," began Morrison, 厳粛に, "there's been a sad 大災害."
"I thought your presence 回避するd that," said Nancy, mischievously.
"I? I wasn't there," said Morrison, who had 完全に forgotten the chaff of a few minutes ago, "I wish to the Lord I had been. Ned and I were 燃やすing off at the other end of our place, and the confounded jumbucks got into your wheat."
"Your sheep in our wheat! Oh, goodness, gracious me!"
"It is 'oh, goodness gracious me!' with a vengeance. Looks as if about forty thousand of them had been revelling in it. There were only fifty really, but—but—"
"They had a real good time," said Nancy, smiling.
"They did indeed. And your kids, when they drove them out—"
"Had a real good time too. Yes, I know what our children are when they get the chance of 存在 useful."
"井戸／弁護士席, they did trample the 刈る a good 取引，協定," said Morrison; "but the question is, what is to be done? Ned and I thought we'd better come and see when your father will be at home. We must 申し込む／申し出 him 補償（金）, you know."
"For the boys trampling the wheat?"
"If the sheep hadn't been there the boys wouldn't have gone after them."
"And if the 盗品故買者 had been 適切に mended, as it should have been, the sheep wouldn't have trespassed at all. What are you going to do? See my 尊敬（する）・点d parent, and 乱用 him for not having his 盗品故買者 in proper 修理?"
"井戸／弁護士席, you know," said Morrison, who was a Scotchman, and believed in his own 権利s, "that 盗品故買者 is just rotten."
"I know, I know. It's 宙返り／暴落するing to pieces and we せねばならない have a new one, and we have not a penny piece to do it with. Oh, I've heard the story over and over again, and I'll hear it again tonight."
"Will your father be very wrath, 行方不明になる Nancy?" asked Kirkham.
"I don't know that it will make much difference," said Nancy, with a little grimace, "he's always cross. I don't know why we mind telling him about any fresh 災害. We ought not to really, because if the 底（に届く） had fallen out of the world bodily he couldn't be worse than he was this morning."
"And you 苦しむ. Poor little girl!" said Morrison, sympathetically, but the tender look that （機の）カム from Kirkham's brown 注目する，もくろむs went straight to her heart.
"After all, I'm not the one to be pitied," she said. "I retire and leave mother or Phoebe to 耐える the brunt. Phoebe is the one who takes things to heart."
"Don't you?"
"No, of course not. Where is the good of worrying? Phoebe has 見解（をとる）s, and is always wanting to do something for herself."
"Lord! She don't know what she's asking," said Morrison. "Ned and I could give her a wrinkle or two."
Nancy ちらりと見ることd up at Kirkham's 暗い／優うつな 直面する.
"Why? Aren't things going 井戸／弁護士席 with you?" she asked, sympathetically.
"井戸／弁護士席? Good Lord, no! We've about 底（に届く）d, I think. The 支持を得ようと努めるd is the only thing that 支払う／賃金s on the wretched place. We always buy our sheep dear and sell cheap, the cows ain't no good, the horses die, the pigs—" He paused in the 目録 of woes and threw up his 長，率いる despairingly.
"井戸／弁護士席," said Nancy smiling. "I'm glad the 支持を得ようと努めるd 支払う／賃金s."
"Yes, but my dear child,"—Morrison was very much in earnest—"We don't want to live out the 残り／休憩（する） of our lives as splitters."
"Oh, but times will mend."
"Mend!" Kirkham's 直面する was gloomily hopeless. "There's not much chance of mending, I'm afraid."
"Then what will you do?" Nancy's 発言する／表明する caught a touch of the 勝つ／広く一帯に広がるing gloom.
"Do? We'll—Ah, how do you do, 行方不明になる Marsden?"
Phoebe, coming silently across the grass, shook 手渡すs with both men and looked reproachfully at her sister.
"It's all 権利, Phoebe," said that young lady cheerfully. "I 港／避難所't been arranging a 内密の 会合 with two young men, if that is what you are thinking. They have come over with 悲しみ to 発表する a fresh 災害 to the family. Their sheep have been in the twelve-acre again, and we're just consoling each other in our poverty-stricken 条件."
"Really, 行方不明になる Marsden," said Morrison, "I'm awfully sorry—"
"Never mind," interrupted Phoebe, "I know all about it. The children have just been telling father."
"And—Is he very 悩ますd?"
"悩ますd? I don't know. Something went wrong in town, and—"
"We're all on the doorstep of the Benevolent 亡命," interrupted Nancy, flippantly. "There now," turning to Kirkham, "you needn't worry about it any more. Our wheat never is any good somehow. If it manages to grow up all 権利, it gets spoiled when they 得る it, or it gets left out in the rain, or something. It's lucky the bread 供給（する） does not depend on us."
"We go the wrong way about it," sighed Phoebe. "I wish to goodness father would let me manage just for a year and ask no questions. I know I could make it 支払う／賃金."
"Could you, 行方不明になる Marsden?" asked Morrison, sceptically. "It's more than Ned and I can, then. All those blessed sheep are 負かす／撃墜する on their 膝s with foot-rot, and we are just thinking of chucking up the whole thing, 捕らえる、獲得する and baggage."
"Going away?" cried Nancy in 狼狽, while Phoebe 単に shrugged her shoulders.
"Of course," she said, "it was just madness to take Bandara, poor 押し寄せる／沼地 land like that, what could you 推定する／予想する? If you must go in for cockatoo farming, you せねばならない have taken the Hill Farm up above there."
"Listen to Phoebe," mocked Nancy—"talking as if she were a land スパイ／執行官 at least."
"井戸／弁護士席, she 会談 ありふれた sense, anyhow," said Morrison, "as I know to my cost. But I'd been so long in the 支援する 封鎖するs that the green grass looked awfully attractive. I never guessed what a glue-マリファナ it would be in the winter."
"Take the Hill Farm now," 示唆するd Phoebe, pleased at the modicum of 賞賛する she received from her hero, and Nancy 熱望して seconded her.
"Oh, yes, do. It's to let cheap to good tenants." But Morrison shook his 長，率いる.
"It's no good," he said. "We don't want to be cockatoo 農業者s all our lives, and that's what it would mean. Ned could have done 同様に as this in England without leaving his own people."
Nancy's 注目する，もくろむs stole shyly to Kirkham's 直面する, and much to her 救済 did not read there any 調印するs of 広大な／多数の／重要な 悔いる at having left the old country. And Morrison went on—
"We want to make our fortunes."
"Lucky people," sighed Phoebe. "I only want to make my own living, but there doesn't seem to be the ghost of a chance."
"井戸／弁護士席, no, you are a woman, you see," said Morrison, watching with a pang the other two 交流 ちらりと見ることs, "some one else has got to do that for you."
Phoebe sighed. No one understood her, not even the man to whom she gave the highest place in her small world. He talked to her, but he watched her sister's 有望な 直面する the while. Then he sighed at what he read there, and the 年上の girl echoed the sigh. There was evidently something wrong in the 計画／陰謀 of 創造.
"井戸／弁護士席, what are you thinking of doing?" she asked, after a pause given up to bitter reflections.
Morrison hesitated, and looked doubtfully at his cousin.
"It's a wild 計画／陰謀," he said at last. "There may be a 造幣局 of money in it, or it may all end in smoke, and the next time you see your friends they'll be tramping the country looking for work, with swags on their 支援するs and quart マリファナs in their 手渡すs."
"All 権利," said Nancy, "come along this road, and we will give you tea and come and 注ぐ it out for you."
"But you will 後継する. I know you will 後継する," said Phoebe.
"Won't you tell us what it is? It seems to me almost anything would be better than stagnating here 権利 out of the world."
"It's a 取引，協定 その上の out of the world where we 提案する to go," laughed Morrison. "Don't scoff, and I'll tell you."
"Oh, we won't scoff," said Nancy, "but I can't see what you want going at all."
"You read about the gold 発見s at Dowden's Creek, up in the north?" said Morrison, and Phoebe nodded her 長，率いる—she always read the papers. "井戸／弁護士席," he went on, "I know that country, and I know some like it just two hundred miles to the west. If there's gold at Dowden's Creek there's gold in the Boolcunda country, I'll take my 植民地の 誓い on that."
"But," 反対するd Phoebe, "there was very little gold at Dowden's Creek. It was soon worked out."
"I know the man who discovered it," said Morrison, warming to his 支配する, "and he （疑いを）晴らすd twenty thousand 続けざまに猛撃するs before ever the 急ぐ took place. Now twenty thousand would just 控訴 Ned and me to a T. We ain't greedy. Five hundred a year 確かな would just give us something to go upon, and, of course, we'd make more than five hundred."
Nancy opened her 注目する，もくろむs.
"Oh, yes; five hundred a year would be very nice, if you could get it; but it just seems to me a wild goose chase."
"No, it isn't; indeed it is not. Is it, 行方不明になる Marsden?" cried Kirkham, 控訴，上告ing to Phoebe, ーするために 納得させる her sister. "That's 一般に the way gold has been 設立する before, only you must keep the secret. We must be first in the field."
"Yes; mum's the word," said Morrison. "Just you wait, 行方不明になる Nancy, till you see the 豊富な gold-diggers returning laden with the spoils. You せねばならない 約束 us a triumphal arch and a 禁止（する）d, at the very least."
"Oh, I'll 約束 you," said Nancy, laughing to try and hide the fact that the 涙／ほころびs were very 近づく the surface, "only I'm afraid you won't deserve it. You'll forget all about us, and never come 支援する any more. Why don't you take the Hill Farm, and be content with enough to live on?"
"Because we're sick to death of cockatoo farming, and we are going to make a 企て，努力，提案 for fortune. It's neck or nothing this time, I can tell you."
Both men sighed, as if it were already decided it should be nothing, and the girls echoed that sigh. What would their life be like when these, their next-door 隣人s, the only decent young men within reach, as Nancy 率直に said, were gone?
But neither could put their thoughts into words. The 影をつくる／尾行するs had grown longer and longer; it was manifestly 近づく the hour when the 年上の members of the Marsden family had their evening meal; but even careful Phoebe forgot for once to notice the flight of time; all four stood silent for a moment, then the older girl said, 厳粛に—
"If there's any chance of 後継するing, I really think you ought to go."
"Yes, I—" began Morrison. Then, with a sudden change of トン, "Oh, I say, here's your father."
Nancy 緊急発進するd to her feet, forgetful for once of the shabby shoes, and both girls looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する uneasily. They were doing nothing morally wrong, yet both started apart guiltily. In truth, Mr Marsden was not an 平易な man to を取り引きする. He strode across the orchard with long, quick strides, his downbent 長，率いる never raised, yet both girls were horribly conscious that those keen blue 注目する，もくろむs of his had taken them and their companions in long before they had perceived his long, thin 人物／姿／数字 coming に向かって them. That would have been all 権利 if only he would have come up and spoken, but both felt, too, that he would, if not stopped, pass on without taking any notice, and probably later on they would hear from their mother how much their father disapproved of their 行為／行う in talking to young men in a 内密の manner in the orchard. Nancy wished helplessly the earth would open and swallow her up, and Phoebe stood still, with a sullenness that had something of despair in it. Morrison saw their difficulty and stepped across their father's path.
"Good evening, sir," he said. "My cousin and I （機の）カム over to see you."
"Indeed," said Mr Marsden, coldly. "I don't usually see people in the orchard."
Nancy raised her eyebrows for Kirkham's 利益, and Morrison went on, 刻々と and civilly.
"It was about those blessed sheep, sir. I'm sorry."
Mr Marsden never stopped in his walk for a moment, and a 紅潮／摘発する of shame 機動力のある to Phoebe's cheek as she saw he had to follow after her father to make himself heard. Nancy gave a sigh of 救済.
"That's done," she said to Kirkham. "I do hope he won't be outrageously rude to poor Mr Morrison. I've long given over trying to tame the savage beast. When I find he's in one of these 甘い tempers I just retire and leave the coast （疑いを）晴らす."
"Nancy!" remonstrated her sister.
"Oh, it's all very way to say 'Nancy,' in shocked トンs, Phoebe, but it's no good pretending father is 甘い or amiable, or even decently civil, is it? Mr Kirkham has 注目する，もくろむs. You don't call that good old English manners, do you, Mr Kirkham?"
Kirkham laughed. He himself was certainly glad to see his cousin 耐えるd the lion in his den. After next month the old gentleman's tantrums wouldn't 影響する／感情 him one way or the other. He was sorry for the girls though, and did his best to smooth 事柄s over for them.
"Old gentlemen, even in England, 行方不明になる Marsden," he said, with a smile, "いつかs get out of temper, and make things unpleasant for—for—"
"Their daughters, and their daughters' friends," said Nancy. "There's one thing about father, he is abominably rude to you, but it must be 憲法の; he can't help it, he'd be just the same to the Prince of むちの跡s or—or St Michael and all the angels. I hope and pray it isn't hereditary. I've fancied of late I've seen 調印するs of it in Stanley. I'm afraid I'll have to remonstrate with him on the 支配する."
Kirkham looked over his shoulder. Through the fruit trees he could see the 執拗な Morrison had at last 後継するd in cornering Mr Marsden in the extreme end of the orchard, where the only 代案／選択肢 was to stand and listen or to turn and hurriedly retrace his steps.
Phoebe watched them, too, uneasily. Then a bell up at the house rang out loudly, and Nancy turned to Kirkham.
"That is our tea," she said. "We really must go for it at once. Father will be 支援する in a minute, and I wouldn't walk up to the house with him for worlds. Oh, dear! it's going to be such a lovely moonlight night. I wish I could ask you in and we could sit on the verandah and talk, but—"
"Thank you very much, 行方不明になる Nancy, for the kindly thought." Kirkham looked his 楽しみ. It was not very often his lady love was so gracious to him. "I suppose I may walk up to the house with you, mayn't I? I don't suppose your father would be best pleased if he saw me getting over the 盗品故買者."
At the house door Phoebe hurriedly 企て，努力，提案 him good-bye and entered. She was uncomfortably conscious that her sister 手配中の，お尋ね者 a word alone with him, and yet was fearful lest her father should come up and catch them before he was gone. Phoebe's 指名する, as Nancy often said, should have been Martha, she was troubled by so many things.
But for once in a way the same thought had occurred to Nancy, and she 削減（する） her adieux remarkably short.
"When shall I see you again?" he asked, laying a 拘留するing 手渡す on her arm.
"Goodness knows," said she, carelessly, though in reality she was as anxious as he. "Come over some day, in the evening. If it's 罰金, you are pretty sure to find Phoebe and me in the orchard. And—there, I really must go. Mind you come." And she 消えるd into the house, while the young man, not desirous of second interview with the house's master, hurriedly made his way along the 運動 to the 前線 gate.
"'I mean to be somebody, and to do something useful in the world,' said the eldest of five brothers. 'I don't care how humble my position is, so that I can only do some good, which will be something. I ーするつもりである to be a brickmaker; bricks are always 手配中の，お尋ね者, and I shall be really doing something.'"
—HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
The schoolroom, or breakfast-room, as it was indifferently called at Weeroona, was a plainly furnished room, the 床に打ち倒す covered with linoleum and the 議長，司会を務めるs of Austrian 茎 pattern, the couch was anything but a couch of 緩和する, and the only other furniture in the room was a 調書をとる／予約する-事例／患者, which Mr Marsden was wont to stigmatise as 'hideously' untidy. Phoebe いつかs made desperate 成果／努力s to 減ずる it to order, but her father on these occasions either took no notice of it at all or 不平（をいう）d at the way in which she arranged the 調書をとる／予約するs, and then her struggles after 法律 and order 苦しむd a relapse, and she 許すd the children to work their wicked will upon it.
She was just at 現在の in a 明言する／公表する of relapse, and the room, 明らかにする as it was, certainly looked as if it 手配中の，お尋ね者 some kindly 手渡す to 減ずる it to a 明言する／公表する of 慰安. The Marsden family lived there. They had both a dining-room and a 製図／抽選-room, 井戸／弁護士席 and comfortably furnished, but they very seldom sat in them, unless, in the winter-time, when 時折の 解雇する／砲火／射撃s were lighted to keep the damp and mildew out. The breakfast-room was the living room, that was part of Mrs Marsden's economies.
She was already seated at the 長，率いる of the tea-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, surrounded by the teapot and half a dozen cups and saucers of the ありふれた white-and-gold pattern. Her best service only saw the light on rare occasions. She was a little woman, below the ordinary 高さ, with a look of Nancy in her faded, fretful 直面する, but her 注目する，もくろむs were dark as Phoebe's own, and her hair, too, though plentifully streaked with grey, had once been 黒人／ボイコット as the proverbial raven's wing.
She looked up from her knitting as Phoebe entered.
"Where's your father?" she asked. "Late, as usual. Cook's made some scones, and they'll all be やめる 冷淡な if he doesn't come at once."
"Never mind," said Phoebe, whose mind was relieved by 審理，公聴会 Nancy's footsteps に引き続いて her 負かす／撃墜する the passage. "I don't suppose he will eat the scones. He will say they are indigestible. He is in the orchard, and he must have heard the bell, because I was there, and I heard it やめる plainly. But Stanley and Nellie aren't in yet."
"Oh, they'll come. I don't mind about them, but I don't like your father to be late. I know you were in the orchard, because—井戸／弁護士席, your father is very 悩ますd about it."
"About what?" asked Nancy, appearing on the scene to defend herself.
"About your 存在 there talking to those young men. He saw you from the road as he was coming in." Nancy made a mental 公式文書，認める of that for 未来 use. "And he's very 悩ますd. It is just like servant girls, he says."
"What is?" asked Nancy. She was not in the least afraid of her mother.
"Why, 会合 young men like that. Leaning over a 盗品故買者, and talking to them, instead of—"
"Coming into the 製図／抽選-room, and sitting 支え（る） chitty on two 議長，司会を務めるs, I suppose. 井戸／弁護士席, if father sees any 害（を与える） in what we did this evening he must be looking for it, that's all I can say. Besides we weren't there so very long. I was sound asleep on the grass by myself most of the time."
"So bad for you," murmured Mrs Marsden, and Nancy went on unheeding—
"Then Mr Kirkham and Mr Morrison （機の）カム over—"
"And your father doesn't like them getting over the 盗品故買者," put in Mrs Marsden.
"Just to tell us that their sheep had got into the twelve acre, and if you see anything wrong in that, why you had better make 手はず／準備 to keep us locked up in our rooms for the 残りの人，物 of our lives," finished Nancy, bringing her defence to a 勝利を得た 結論.
"They should come up to the house and ask for me," commented the mother, feebly. "As your father says, it's not proper for young girls—"
"You don't call Phoebe a young girl, surely," put in Stanley, entering and taking his seat at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. "I thought everybody knew she was comfortably settled on the shelf. Anything decent to eat? Give us a chop, Phoebe."
Phoebe took her seat at the 底（に届く） of the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and, raising the dish cover, began serving.
"Very 井戸／弁護士席, mother," she said, for once making 資本／首都 out of her brother's rudeness; "if I'm on the shelf I should think I might do whatever I please without anybody making 発言／述べるs. And there was no 害（を与える） in our talking to those two men in the orchard."
"The wonder is they cared to stop and talk to you," said her brother, who somehow could never resist teasing his sister. To do him 司法（官）, he hardly understood how cruel his 発言／述べるs were. "But I suppose it was Nancy they （機の）カム after, eh Nan? Jack says they're both awfully mashed on you."
Nancy 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd her 長，率いる and laughed a 否定, which deceived nobody, least of all her sister. It was true, she knew, most true. Stanley knew it, at any 率 thought it most probable, she herself saw it, even young Jack saw it, and she sighed to herself as her father entered the room and took his seat in dead silence.
非，不，無 of his family ever talked before Mr Marsden. He had a way of catching them up short and effacing their small 成果／努力s at conversation which effectually 鎮圧するd them into silence. They felt it hard, but probably 非，不，無 of them felt it so 熱心に as he did himself. によれば his lights he was a good father, but whether he asked too much or was too 厳しい, or what it was he could not have told himself, but he did not 後継する in 伸び（る）ing the 信用／信任 of his children. At the sound of his footstep all laughter was hushed, in his presence all conversation was 減ずるd to ぎこちない 試みる／企てるs, stilted and uncomfortable, on the part of all, to appear at 緩和する. Probably the only one of his family who sympathised with him was the one he cared least about, his eldest daughter. So often she herself was shy and ぎこちない, so often she felt ill at 緩和する, never did it seem to her she said the 権利 thing when she did speak, that she sympathised with her father, thinking he was in like 緩和する; for which sympathy, had he known it, he would not have thanked her one 手早く書き留める. 本人自身で he thought a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 of his 有望な and lively second daughter, who did not appear to care what she said to him. Like the 残り／休憩（する） of her family he thought Phoebe clumsy and plain, stupid and uninteresting, and he could not 許す her that she was in his 注目する，もくろむs a plain likeness of himself. Everybody said, "Her father's daughter," and he was not flattered.
Now the tea went on in dead silence. Nancy would not have minded a little more joking about her admirers, but such a 支配する was not to be thought of with their father 現在の, and after one or two ineffectual 試みる／企てるs at conversation on Phoebe's part, 試みる／企てるs which were so clumsy, so palpably 軍隊d, they made the 残り／休憩（する） of the party shiver, she gave up the 成果／努力 and betook herself to her own thoughts which were anything but pleasant.
They all saw it. Both Allan Morrison and Ned Kirkham were in love with Nancy, her pretty sister. How hard it was, how hard. The 血 crept into her dark 直面する as she thought of Allan Morrison's laughing 注目する，もくろむs. Why was all the tenderness in them for Nancy, all the laughter for her? He might like her, perhaps he did, but he loved her sister. She saw it in a thousand ways. No man had ever loved her, not one. She thought 激しく how 極端に unattractive she must be, for it did not seem to take much to make a man love a girl, 裁判官ing by Nancy. She kept turning it over in her own mind all tea-time, till she unconsciously sighed so ひどく that Stanley, in spite of his father's presence, burst out laughing.
"Good Lord! Phoebe, I hope you feel better."
"What? Why?"
"Sighing like a furnace. You must be in love."
"You have nothing to sigh for," sighed her father, ひどく. "You have your bread and butter in your mouths before you ask for it. What can you have to sigh for?"
Phoebe 押し進めるd away her 議長，司会を務める and rose from the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. What indeed? Was it nothing to be 非難するd to forty years of life unloved, uncared for, to know one's self unattractive and ugly, to be a thing of naught in the world, penniless and likely to be penniless all the days of her life? It was not a little thing she felt as she wandered away into the garden, and watched the moon rise through the trees. It was a 十分な moon and the night was 公正に／かなり warm for that part of the world, for even on the hottest summer days the nights up on the hills 一連の会議、交渉／完成する Ballarat are not hot, and tonight she was glad enough to draw a shawl 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her 長，率いる and shoulders. The moonlight had a 広大な／多数の／重要な charm for her. She liked to sit there 静かに and watch the red moon grow silvery as she rose up above the trees, to imagine the many scenes that old moon looked 負かす／撃墜する upon and would look 負かす／撃墜する upon when she had done with this 疲れた／うんざりした life. It was such a lovely world, such a grand world, so 十分な of glorious 可能性s for every one, every one, that was, but herself and poor little Lydia, who they all said was 正確に／まさに like her. And even Lydia as yet was not conscious of her shortcomings, she played with the other children and was content. Their father would give the boys a good education, and they would go out into the world; they would have at least a chance of making their way, what would she not give to be a boy. Women, unless they were pretty, as her brother had said, were 明確に a mistake, they weren't 手配中の，お尋ね者 in the 計画／陰謀 of 創造. Nancy would marry. She wondered whom. Would it be Ned Kirkham? She rather thought Nancy preferred Ned Kirkham to anybody else in the world just now, or would it be Allan Morrison? She thought she might have either, and Allan Morrison, 井戸／弁護士席 Allan Morrison was such a good fellow, so different to other men somehow, she liked to hear him talk, like to hear the sound of his 発言する／表明する, why was he so different, and why—oh why?
The silly old moon was getting 薄暗い and the 輪郭（を描く）s of the trees were all blurred—but it was a hard thing that she should be so unattractive, so unlike other girls; no wonder he preferred Nancy, and Nancy thought no more of him than she did of the wretched little telegraph 操作者 負かす／撃墜する at the Neparit 地位，任命する office, who, as not 存在 in 正確に／まさに the same social 計画（する） as his adored one, worshipped at a 控えめの distance. She valued him no more than she did the telegraph 操作者, and 扱う／治療するd him in 正確に／まさに the same way, and she, Phoebe, would give—but she had nothing in the wide world to give anybody, and first a 広大な／多数の／重要な 軽蔑（する） of herself filled her mind and then she pitied herself, and the trees grew more blurred in 輪郭（を描く） than ever.
"井戸／弁護士席, Phoebe, why what's the 事柄? You're a 正規の／正選手 waterworks."
Phoebe started and 解除するd her 直面する, all 涙／ほころび-stained in the moonlight, to her sister's gaze.
"Whatever are you crying for now?" went on that young lady, seating herself on the grass beside her.
"Everything is so uncomfortable." Phoebe broke 負かす／撃墜する and cried unrestrainedly now, and Nancy opened her 注目する，もくろむs in wonder.
"Of course it is, and always has been, and always will be, as far as I can see; but there's no earthly 推論する／理由 that I know of why you should cry about it. You're always preaching bravery and cheerfulness and all the 残り／休憩（する） of it, and 説 how much you would like to be a man; a nice sort of man you'd make!"
"If—" the poor preacher mopped her 注目する，もくろむs and tried to keep 負かす／撃墜する her sobs, "if I were a man it would be different. I would know I could get out of it some day and I'd work like—like—. There would be something to work for."
"You are selfish, always thinking about yourself."
This was a new 見解（をとる） of the 事例／患者, and Phoebe wiped her 注目する，もくろむs and 用意が出来ている to consider it.
"You never see me doing that," went on Nancy, virtuously.
"You never need to. Somebody else always considers you."
"I don't see that there is a pin to choose between us. They consider you just as much then. We are in 正確に／まさに the same position."
"Are we? No, we are not. You're pretty and I'm plain."
"Phoebe, I'm just sick of all that stuff. I'm not pretty, or if I am I don't see that makes a bit of difference." Even a pretty woman likes to think it is something more than her mere beauty that is attractive in her. "I know what you are worrying over. Just because Mr Kirkham and Mr Morrison seem to like me best. 井戸／弁護士席, I don't think it's because they think me pretty," went on Nancy, in a 厳しく judicial トン. "They do like me, I think. I suppose it's something in my manner."
"I know you're 権利," sighed Phoebe, loyally. "I know they more than like you, and it isn't only because you are pretty."
"井戸／弁護士席, then, you have the same chances as me, and why don't you take them instead of crying over things here by yourself. You know they say people make their own happiness. You say that yourself."
"You せねばならない have something to go upon first, I think," sighed Phoebe.
"You start by 存在 pretty and knowing it."
"You're rude," said Nancy; but Phoebe went on—
"And that gives you a standing. It's so much easier to talk comfortably to a man when you know he is thinking you are pretty than if you know is looking at you and thinking how plain you are."
"You are a silly old goose, Phoebe."
"I'm telling you the exact 明言する／公表する of the 事例／患者. Ask any plain girl and she'll tell you it is the truth. If you start a girl in the world ugly, clumsy, 不正に dressed, and in every way unattractive, she's not at all likely to 改善する. She is sure to get snubbed, and each 無視する，冷たく断わる will make her worse than she was before. It's a shame, it's a cruel shame." Phoebe started to her feet as she warmed to her 支配する. "Only give that girl something to excel in and she would begin to think a little more of herself and 改善する in everything."
Nancy lay 支援する on the grass and laughed.
"井戸／弁護士席, upon my word, Phoebe, that is the way you excel. You have no idea how 井戸／弁護士席 you look standing there with that shawl draped around you. Your 人物／姿／数字 must have been meant for 包むs of that description, I think. And if you could see your 注目する，もくろむs just now, you'd never say you were plain again. You make yourself plain by looking so mournful and 存在 so sure you are ugly. Why, your 注目する，もくろむs had やめる a sparkle in them just now. If any man saw your dark 注目する，もくろむs flash like that he would never look at my wishy-washy blue ones again."
"Oh, Nan," the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 died out of Phoebe's 直面する as she sat 負かす／撃墜する beside her sister, "you say that just to please me."
"I don't; it's true," said the younger girl, "only you never do make yourself 利益／興味ing to any one but me. If you only did go in for something, anything, any of those wild fads of yours, and didn't mind people thinking you eccentric, or what they said, I do believe you would be happy and good looking and attractive too."
It was an inspiration on Nancy's part. For once in her life she had 完全に realised the emptiness of her sister's life, and without thinking her careless words would have much 負わせる with the stronger nature, she gave her candid opinion of the best 治療（薬） that lay within reach. If only Phoebe would leave off minding what people thought of her Nancy felt sure she would be happier, and Phoebe 掴むd the idea as a 溺死するing man catches at a straw.
"Do you really think so?"
"Indeed I do," said Nancy, 真面目に, somewhat amused, too, at 存在 taken so 本気で.
"Then I tell you what, I 約束 you, Nan, I'll never 不平（をいう） again, however bad I feel. I'll just 始める，決める to work at something. Yes I will. I'll go in for bees 定期的に. I shan't mind what father and mother say. I'll just see if I can't make some money out of them; enough to dress decently, perhaps enough to make a living out of altogether."
Nancy laughed merrily.
"井戸／弁護士席, you are a funny girl, Phoebe! One minute you are crying because you are not beautiful and all the 残り／休憩（する） of it, and the next you are 慰安d by the thought of bees."
"One minute crying for the moon," sighed Phoebe, "the next building a 城 of bee 蜂の巣s, and a 城 in the 空気／公表する too. It's rather a poor sort of look out, I'm afraid, but any how it is all I have got, so I suppose I will have to make the best of it. There is a lot of honey in those 蜂の巣s; don't laugh, there really is, Nancy. I'll sell it, and put the money away and buy more bees and 蜂の巣s. I think that is the only way to 後継する."
"Who will you sell the honey to? Mother?"
"No." Phoebe sat up straight and considered the 事柄 本気で. "No, it's not a bit of good doing things in that way. Nan, I'm going in for it 定期的に, going to make my living at it, if I can. I won't be a lonely, desolate old maid if I can help myself. I want a little money if I can manage it. And it is not a bit of good taking mother into consideration. I couldn't take money from her. I'll sell it, if I can to the grocer, or even send it to Melbourne if I get better prices there. That man I bought the bees from told me it paid to sell honey at 3ｽd a 続けざまに猛撃する, and then of course there is the wax, that is 価値（がある）, I believe, about 10d a 続けざまに猛撃する, but I don't really know much about it yet; but you see, Nancy," Phoebe's 直面する began to look やめる cheerful in the moonlight, "I really think there せねばならない be something in it."
"Phoebe! One minute 負かす／撃墜する in the depths of woe, and the next—"
"Oh, I'm not in the seventh heaven やめる, just yet. But, really, just think how delightful it would be to have even a 続けざまに猛撃する that you could do 正確に／まさに what you liked with without accounting to any one for it."
"After all, though," said Nancy, 恐れるing this 城 was 存在 built too high, "you can't 推定する／予想する bees to bring you in a fortune."
"No, of course not. But suppose I could make enough to start something else, a farm of my own, perhaps. Don't you think if you and I had this place to live on and no other expenses—"
"We would be rich! What fun it would be!"
"井戸／弁護士席, listen." The moonlight shone 負かす／撃墜する on the earnest 直面する, and her sister once more asked herself how it was they all called Phoebe plain. "If I had a hundred a year （疑いを）晴らす, or even a hundred 続けざまに猛撃するs （疑いを）晴らす, I could afford to take the Hill Farm, and I'm やめる sure I could manage it, and not only make both ends 会合，会う, but have a little over 同様に."
"Phoebe!"
"井戸／弁護士席, have you any 反対s?"
"Me? Oh, no. Only I don't see how you can do it. Why, it will take you years to get a hundred 続けざまに猛撃するs!"
"井戸／弁護士席, I may just 同様に be getting that hundred 続けざまに猛撃するs as doing nothing. I suppose father will always give me twenty 続けざまに猛撃するs a year for my dress? It isn't much, but I can manage; and all the money I make I'll put into the 貯金 bank."
"Oh!" Nancy looked at her sister wonderingly. "And—but it will take you years to get a hundred 続けざまに猛撃するs, won't it?"
"I 港／避難所't an idea. But suppose I sell each hiveful of honey for five shillings. Surely I せねばならない get that?"
"It seems a good lot," said Nancy, dubiously. "And it will take hundreds of 蜂の巣s to make even fifty 続けざまに猛撃するs."
"正確に／まさに two hundred, and then of course the 蜂の巣s will go on 増加するing, and so will the money in the 貯金 bank, if it stays there long enough."
"But, oh, dear, it will take you years and years!"
"I may 同様に be doing that as anything else. If things go 権利 each year will bring me more 在庫／株, and if I'm only 独立した・無所属 by the time I'm fifty I will be better off at any 率 than I am now."
"Fifty," sighed Nancy. "Six and twenty years hence. Oh, Phoebe, how can you look so far 今後? We may all be dead and buried by then, or I don't see why you shouldn't get married. Almost every girl gets married in the end."
"Look here, Nan." Phoebe was not 近づく 涙／ほころびs now, but she was very 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な; no thoughtful good woman gives up hope of love of husband and children lightly, and Phoebe was the last woman in the world to look at things from a 従来の point of 見解（をとる）. "I'm not going to pretend to you I would not like to be married. I would like it very much indeed, 供給するd I married the 権利 man. But you know what the boys say—"
"The boys," interrupted Nancy contemptuously; but Phoebe went on bravely, though there was a slight tremble in her 発言する／表明する—
"There's a 確かな 量 of truth in what they say. You said so yourself. Now, if I'm not attractive to any man, is it at all likely the man I would like to marry will ask me? I would like to be married for love; love like Esmond had for Beatrice, or—or like Romeo had for Juliet, you know. You せねばならない be better up in that sort of thing than I am. And—since I can't have that, I'll do the best I can to be happy without. Nancy, even if I could, I do think it would be a shameful sort of thing to marry just for a home; to make a sort of 商売／仕事 of choosing a husband, like the boys do in choosing a profession," and the resolute dark 注目する，もくろむs looked straight up at the 一連の会議、交渉／完成する moon, now high in the heavens.
"I don't know," said Nancy, doubtfully, "a girl doesn't 正確に／まさに choose a husband like that. The man 落ちるs in love with her, and you don't know how different that makes you feel に向かって him," and Nancy's 直面する was all smiles and dimples in the moonlight.
"I use my 注目する，もくろむs, though, and see," said her sister, with the ghost of a smile. "It's not so 満足な, but you must 収容する／認める that lookers-on see the most of the game. Some men have fallen in love with you and you liked them a little for it; but 非，不，無 of them had a penny piece, and so—and so—"
"And so I couldn't say 'yes,' as I should have done long ago, just to be out of this, if they had."
"There! You may say what you like, Nan, but it is shocking that a woman in our class should have to marry for a home. If you had something you liked to do; if you were やめる 独立した・無所属, and had, perhaps, just a little money, you would 始める，決める a much higher value on yourself, and you would not marry until you were in love, and you would be very 確かな that you were in love, too."
"Oh, Phoebe," laughed Nancy, "what queer notions you have. I don't believe they would answer at all. I 推定する／予想する I will get married some day, and I 推定する／予想する I will be in love with my husband; and, somehow, I can't help thinking that will be better than bothering about your old bees till I'm about fifty."
"I wasn't meaning you," said her sister. "I was thinking about myself. I may 同様に have something to work for, even if I don't 達成する it for a ４半期/4分の1 of a century. But you, you are lucky. Of course you will marry the man you love, 特に if he is—"
"Don't Phoebe, don't."
"Why not, Nan? Is he Ned Kirkham?"
Nancy hid her 直面する on her sister's shoulder.
"Oh, Phoebe, do you think he cares for me?"
"Yes, dear, I do. I am sure of it. They all care for you, Nancy. How can they help it?"
"I," whispered Nancy, "I only want him to care, but, oh dear, what is the good even if he does? He hasn't got a penny piece."
"You're both so young," said her sister, 一打／打撃ing her hair; "he'll make money, why shouldn't he?"
Nancy sighed.
"He never told me he cared," she said.
"I don't think it needs to be told, it's so plain that even the children see it. You せねばならない be 満足させるd," and in her turn Phoebe sighed, for the children had seen more than that, and it 傷つける her even to think of Allan Morrison's love. She could not help 存在 glad her sister, this all-征服する／打ち勝つing sister, should not return his love; and yet she was unreasonably angry because she 扱う／治療するd it as a thing of naught.
"Phoebe," Nancy 回復するing her usual equanimity, raised her 長，率いる, "were you ever smitten?"
"How should I be? No man ever cared about me."
"I don't know, they might. Mr Morrison said to me only yesterday you had such a nice 直面する, just the 直面する he would like to see bending over him if he were sick or sorry. He said you looked so strong and 慰安ing. So, you see, you have an admirer after all."
Even in the moonlight Nancy saw how painfully her sister 紅潮／摘発するd.
"And my admirer fell in love with you, Nan. That's not much good to me, is it?"
"You don't care, do you? You're not a bit smitten with Allan Morrison, are you? Why, his hair is red, and he is the most clumsy fellow I ever saw."
"No, of course I'm not," said Phoebe, but her 発言する／表明する was not やめる as careless as she would have liked to have had it. "I don't care a bit. I'm going to work hard at my bees and, if I かもしれない can, be a 公正に／かなり 井戸／弁護士席-to-do old maid. There is nothing else for me to look 今後 to, and—"
"Girls, girls, why ever don't you come in? What can you be doing in the garden at this time of night," their mother's fretful 発言する／表明する was calling to them from the verandah, and Phoebe rose up with alacrity. She was thankful for anything that might turn Nancy's thoughts into another channel. That young lady followed more slowly. She had discovered Phoebe's secret and was turning it over in her own mind.
So Phoebe had fallen in love with big Allan Morrison, had she? Poor Phoebe. That was why she had been so discontented lately, so extra discontented. And Allan Morrison was in love with her little self, she was やめる 確かな of that. She might 疑問 Kirkham's love, she cared too much to be 確かな ; but of Morrison she had not a 影をつくる／尾行する of a 疑問, and Phoebe was in love with him. How strange! And Nancy followed her sister into the house and listened with deaf ears to her mother's many 推論する／理由s why they should not go out into the garden in the evening.
More discontents I never had
Since I was born, than here
Where I have been, and still am sad.
—HERRICK.
The little church at Neparit was only a 天候-board building, roofed with corrugated アイロンをかける, and the heat inside on a summer's day was stifling. It was hot even when it was empty, and now when it was 十分な it was ten times worse. They were a tolerant folk those cockatoo 農業者s who lived up in the 範囲s and Church of England, Presbyterians, and Wesleyans, all held their services in turn in the same building, and all …に出席するd impartially. The Marsden family always went 定期的に, much to Phoebe's disgust. She did not like walking two miles to church through the heat and 冷淡な, and she held it a hardship to have to …に出席する the Presbyterian and Wesleyan services. Besides, she worked so hard at 世帯 事柄s during the week; there was always so much needlework to be done, so much mending and making for the 非常に／多数の family, that she looked 今後 to Sunday as a day of 残り／休憩（する）, a day which she might have to herself to read and think, and this going to church made it as 十分な as any other day, for the 独房監禁 servant they kept went away in the afternoon to see her own family and the two eldest girls of necessity took her place. All Phoebe's Sunday, as she 不平（をいう）d, was taken up with setting meals and （疑いを）晴らすing them away again. She would not have minded the Church of England service, but the others—they were a real hardship. However, Mr Marsden had decided that it was only 権利 his family should 始める，決める a good example, and accordingly, however unwillingly, they did so.
They certainly made a goodly array of boys and girls, filling up やめる two of the seats, the 支援する 列／漕ぐ／騒動 under Phoebe's guardianship not やめる so 井戸／弁護士席 behaved as the 前線, which their father had under his own 注目する，もくろむ. It was the Church of England's turn this November Sunday, and within the altar rails behind the desk, that did 義務 both as reading-desk and pulpit, stood one of the 穏やかな young men whom the Church at times seems to enlist by the dozen 簡単に because they are pious, and for no other 推論する／理由 whatever. He was not a forcible member of the Church 交戦的な, and he droned on gently, wiping his damp forehead every now and then in an apologetic way. The congregation were in no way 利益／興味d in him. They had all come to church, like the Marsden family, because it was the 訂正する thing to do, and having got there they settled themselves as comfortably as the hot 天候 would 許す and gave their thoughts up to the consideration of their 刈るs and their flocks and their herds. Phoebe did, or tried to. She knew all the 祈りs off by heart, she had long ago given up listening to Mr Thompson. He did read in such an astonishing manner, and put the 強調 in such palpably wrong places, that she had come to the 結論 that she was in a more Christian でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる of mind afterwards if she did not listen.
The Scotch 大臣 was wont to talk to them in commonplace 条件 of the very things that were filling the minds of most of them, became personal, and even について言及するd by 指名する any man whom he thought was neglecting his 義務 by leaving his 盗品故買者s unmended or his cattle improperly cared for, or who was getting rich at the expense of his 隣人. He was a homely man who had no dignity about him, and his talk of homely things carried a 確かな 量 of 負わせる with it. And the Wesleyan 大臣 投げつけるd anathemas around with 広大な／多数の／重要な 公平さ and a wonderful earnestness that held his congregation （一定の）期間-bound and even 減ずるd the more emotional to 涙／ほころびs; but Mr Thompson, like many another Church of England clergyman in the 植民地s, had no gifts of any description, he was a man who would have failed to make a decent living in any other walk of life, and was その結果 餓死するing, mildly and 謙虚に, on 75 続けざまに猛撃するs a year in the Church.
Phoebe felt a 確かな 量 of pity for him; he was worse off than she was herself, she thought. What could he hope for? Certainly she had not much, but if those bees—she had expended a whole shilling on a new 小冊子 the day before in Ballarat, and she had never 設立する time to look at it yet, but still she had gathered from the casual ちらりと見ることs she had stolen that bees might be far more profitable than she had ever dreamed. She ーするつもりであるd to 充てる the whole of sermon time to its perusal; but here was this slow young man only got as far as the first lesson and つまずくing helplessly through the Bible in a vain 成果／努力 to find the place. He had it wrong too. Phoebe did not, as a 支配する, 支払う／賃金 much attention, but she was pretty sure that the story of Absolom did not come somewhere in the last Sundays after Trinity. But what did it 事柄? It was so hot and the boys were so restless, while Nancy at the other end of the pew was just as bad. Phoebe began to be anxious least her father should turn and see that her sister, instead of 支払う／賃金ing attention to her devotions, was letting her 注目する，もくろむs wander all 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the church and fidgeting やめる as much as the little boy beside her. She knew what was the 事柄, had she not seen it the moment they entered the church. The two young men from Bandara were not there. They were as 正規の／正選手 attendants as the Marsden family themselves, a 事柄 which Mrs Marsden always について言及するd as 存在 大いに to their credit, but which both Nancy and Phoebe 始める，決める 負かす／撃墜する as 原因（となる） and 影響.
If Nancy's pretty 直面する were not there in its corner so 定期的に, would those young men have turned up to listen to droning Mr Thompson? Phoebe answered the question in the 消極的な, 敏速に, for it is not in the nature of mankind, at any 率 of young mankind, to listen to the 穏やかな admonitions of a 穏やかな young man whose education does not pretend to be half as good as their own, and who is as much their inferior 肉体的に as he is mentally. No, Phoebe 始める，決める the 出席 of those young men 負かす／撃墜する at about its 権利 value, and then unprofitably fell to wondering if they would have come to see her if Nancy had not been there. With a sigh she decided against herself, and tried to 直す／買収する，八百長をする her thoughts on her new 憶測 and grow rich in imagination on the proceeds of her bees, but it would not do. She would not look 一連の会議、交渉／完成する as her sister was doing, but she could not 妨げる herself watching that sister's 直面する. There was a slight movement at the open door, and Nancy's 直面する told Phoebe, like an open 調書をとる／予約する, that the one she had been 推定する／予想するing so long had come at last. Yes, Mr Kirkham had come, she was as sure of that as if she had seen him with her own 注目する，もくろむs, but had his cousin …を伴ってd him? Nancy's 直面する did not tell her that. She had a little 戦う／戦い with herself; he did not come to see her and the sooner she forgot him the better; she would not turn 一連の会議、交渉／完成する. Having arrived at which wise 結論, she turned at once and met a pair of smiling blue 注目する，もくろむs looking straight at her own. She blushed, she was so glad, and then grew hotter still, as she told herself it was only because she was her sister's sister she received that smile, which was doing herself a 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な 不正, for Allan Morrison, if he did not love her, had a 広大な／多数の／重要な 尊敬（する）・点 and liking for his lady love's sister.
And the parson droned on over the story of Absolom: "And his 長，率いる caught 持つ／拘留する of the oak, and he was taken up between the heaven and the earth; and the mule that was under him went away."
"ジュースd mean of that mule," muttered Stanley Marsden, in an audible whisper, and his little brothers 設立する the 発言／述べる so 極端に funny they gurgled and choked and 減ずるd their sister to the 瀬戸際 of despair. Mr Marsden heard, as she 恐れるd he would, and looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する with a frown; he would never make allowances for laughter and irreverence in church, however irresistible the 原因（となる）, and the boys dropped 負かす／撃墜する on their 膝s and buried their 直面するs in their pocket-handkerchiefs. Their father frowned ひどく at his eldest daughter, and having made her feel she was 完全に 責任がある the iniquities of her brothers, turned and listened with ostentatious 利益／興味 to the 結論するing words of the lesson. Phoebe was boiling over with 激怒（する） now. How was it she was held responsible whatever went wrong? Even now, when she was wholly innocent, it was always her fault, always, always, and Stanley, the 原因（となる） of it all, calmly pulled away at his incipient moustache with an 表現 of angelic innocence that irritated her beyond 耐えるing.
Every one was singing the Te Deum Laudamus to a tune only known to the Neparit Church folks, and she stood up with the 残り／休憩（する）, but she opened her 小冊子 and slipped it inside her 祈り 調書をとる／予約する. Why should she wait for the sermon? These 祈りs were not likely to do her any good. She had known the time when she had prayed with fervour for some change, something that should make her happier, but of late that mood had passed. She did not believe now that an answer to her 祈りs would come, unless, as the Scotch 大臣 had said last Sunday, she made some 成果／努力 to help herself. "God helps those that help themselves," he had 引用するd from that very reading-desk where the other young man was now struggling with the second lesson, and she （機の）カム to the 結論 that the only way to help herself, to 確実にする the answering of her 祈りs, was to 熟考する／考慮する her 調書をとる／予約する now when she had the chance. It was a little 成果／努力 to 直す／買収する，八百長をする her attention, too, for the thought that Allan Morrison was の近くに behind her would intrude itself upon her mind. The parson and his reading did not trouble her in the very least, but Allan Morrison she could not put out of her mind, could not help wondering whether he would walk home with her as he had last Sunday. She had been so ぎこちない and stupid too, for she had felt all along that it was only because she was Nancy's sister he had done it, and she could not think of anything to say. She had felt her own want of charm terribly, indeed it is only given to the most 遂行するd woman of the world to be charming under such circumstances, and Phoebe's knowledge of the world was of the crudest. And now today it would be the same thing over again. No, it should not. She would be nice to him, as nice as she knew how; but he should not be first with her. She would think about the bee farm, that should be first. She would tell him about it, and if he was not 利益／興味d, then he could do the other thing. She would not care, and she would not think about him.
They sang a hymn—Phoebe had a little lost her place in the service—and then the young man started on his sermon. He was not a wise young man, and he chose a text out of 発覚s and began a disquisition upon the war in heaven, the war between Michael and his angels and the dragon. What it all meant he did not seem 正確に／まさに to understand himself, and he certainly did not throw any light upon the 支配する for his hearers. And Phoebe, with a mighty 成果／努力, gave all her attention to the 調書をとる／予約する upon bees. The parson's monotone soothed her somewhat and she read on, 軍隊ing at first the 利益／興味 which grew as she read. So it was a real thing she had been planning for herself; やめる possible she might 後継する, with care she could 後継する and she would. The only difficulty was the first 支出. And she すぐに began to consider ways and means with such earnestness that she was surprised by the sermon coming to an abrupt 結論—she had long ago forgotten about Michael and his army—and the congregation rising with a relieved sigh to its feet. And during that half-hour, it was over half an hour, for she looked at Stanley's watch, she had not once thought of Allan Morrison. She felt it was a 際立った 改良 and sighed with thankfulness, perhaps she would not find it so hard to forget him if she had something 利益／興味ing to do in life. And she left the church with a smile on her usually 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な 直面する; for once church had done her good, albeit her 祈り 調書をとる／予約する had been a 調書をとる／予約する on bees.
Ned Kirkham joined Nancy outside. She had 推定する／予想するd that. And now what would the other man do, would he join her or would he walk with Stanley? She hoped he would go with Stanley, she told herself, she didn't want to play second fiddle; besides, they would have to walk home through the paddocks, and her shoes were not as nice as they might have been. If she walked with him she would have to let her skirts cover her shabby shoes, while if she went with one of the boys she might 持つ／拘留する them up as high as she pleased, 反して if she let them 負かす／撃墜する it meant getting them 十分な of grass seeds, which would take at least half an hour to 選ぶ out. Yes, she would rather walk alone. Lydia （機の）カム and hung affectionately on her arm, and she told herself she was glad. Then Jack called the younger girl away, and some one else took the place beside her.
"You look very blooming today, 行方不明になる Marsden."
She knew Allan Morrison's 発言する／表明する without turning her 長，率いる, but a 発言／述べる like that did not please her, why should he call her blooming when she knew 井戸／弁護士席 enough he must think her plain, 特に in this blue and white spotted print, which was the last thing in the world to 控訴 her dark complexion.
"Why do you mock me?" she said, some of the vexation she felt appearing in her 発言する／表明する.
"Mock you! Why—"
"Yes, mock me. You know you don't think me a bit good-looking. You know," she went on hurriedly, somewhat ashamed of her own vehemence. Phoebe had never spoken her thoughts out to any man in her life before, "you know you don't think I'm a bit the style you call blooming, and you are laughing at me."
"Laughing at you," the kindly laughing blue 注目する，もくろむs looked straight into hers, good honest 注目する，もくろむs they were, "laughing at you. Why, 行方不明になる Phoebe, nothing could be さらに先に from my thoughts. I did think you 有望な and happy this morning, brighter and happier than I have ever seen you look before, and so I called you blooming, that's all. Is it a very 広大な／多数の／重要な offence?"
"No, no, of course not."
"And really I don't know why you should say I don't think you good-looking? You needn't 名誉き損 me."
"You? It's me, I think. I daresay you'll laugh at my stupidity, Mr Morrison," she went on, 紅潮／摘発するing to the roots of her hair, "but it really is a very hard thing to be the plain 年上の sister, and I can't help worrying over it," and then she wished with all her heart she had not spoken.
But Allan Morrison seemed to understand her.
"Yes," he said. "I think that would be やめる natural. But are you the plain 年上の sister? Does anybody say so but yourself?"
"Anybody? Why, all of them."
"What! You don't mean to say you take to heart what your brothers say? Why, they only do that to tease you!"
"My glass tells me it's true," she said, ruefully, still somewhat ashamed of talking thus 自由に to a young man, and yet glad to get an outside opinion.
"Then your glass does not tell you the exact truth, or you don't read its 発言／述べるs aright, which is more probably the 事例／患者. I know what's the 事柄 with you, you know. You will put yourself on the same 計画（する） as your sister when you are so different."
"She is pretty, isn't she?" said Phoebe, loyally.
"She is," said the man beside her, with a sigh. "But, 行方不明になる Marsden, you have many advantages that you don't seem half 感謝する enough for, and you don't seem to 高く評価する／（相場などが）上がる at all. Now, will you let me be a little personal, since we have got upon this 支配する. It seems to me you don't think half enough of yourself. You let those brothers of yours sit upon you in the most abominable manner. Now, look here, don't you know you really have a 罰金 人物／姿／数字, you せねばならない carry yourself a little better and look as if the world belonged to you more, and—"
"I'm so tall," sighed Phoebe.
"正確に／まさに. It's a 広大な／多数の／重要な thing if you only manage it better. But you will 固執する in looking as if you were ashamed of the fact. If you looked as if the world belonged to you every one else would admire you."
"And if I were better dressed, I suppose?" said Phoebe, getting 利益／興味d in this open discussion of her 長所s and demerits.
"井戸／弁護士席, of course, I think a 罰金-looking woman always 支払う／賃金s for 存在 井戸／弁護士席-dressed. I'm not going to say she doesn't."
"And I'm so poor."
"Oh, we're all poor. But you know you might do better than you do. You always put on your 着せる／賦与するs as if it didn't 事柄 a bit what you wore. Now, 行方不明になる Nancy always looks spick and （期間が）わたる. Why don't you wear pretty colours like she does?"
"Nan looks such a dainty little thing in her pinks and blues, it's 価値（がある） the trouble of getting them up. You don't know what a bother it is to get up dresses. It never seems 価値（がある） while to bother about myself. I'd never 返す the trouble."
"Do you mean to say you get up 行方不明になる Nancy's dresses and don't bother about your own?"
"井戸／弁護士席," said Phoebe, apologetically, "she has such dainty little 手渡すs, you know; I don't like her to spoil them, and washing and アイロンをかけるing does spoil them, you know."
He looked at her curiously. If he had only thought of her as Nancy's eldest sister before now—a separate 利益／興味 was awakening within him.
"And what about yours? Doesn't it spoil yours too?"
"Oh, 地雷, it doesn't really 事柄 about 地雷. There isn't anything to spoil. The boys say I've got a 握りこぶし like a 脚 of mutton."
He looked at her 手渡す, 事例／患者d in shabby dark blue silk gloves. It was large but not unshapely.
"There you make a mistake. Your 手渡す is 権利 enough. A tall woman like you don't want a tiny little 手渡す like 行方不明になる Nancy's. Now, 行方不明になる Marsden, do take my advice and don't think me horrid cheeky for giving it. Just you think a lot of yourself, and don't let those young brothers of yours bounce you. You dress in pretty things too, and do your hair becomingly, up on 最高の，を越す of your 長，率いる, I think, instead of a knob behind, as if it were ready for the wash, and you see how much better looking your glass will tell you you look."
Phoebe looked at him shyly.
"You really won't think 不正に of me for talking like this. I never did it to any one before."
"不正に of you, of course not. I think it's very 肉親，親類d of you to take me into your 信用／信任, and I shall be awfully flattered if you follow my advice."
"I will," said Phoebe, gratefully. "You see if I don't."
"You'll have to begin at once, then," he said. "Do you know we have sold the place and are going to （疑いを）晴らす out tomorrow fortnight?"
"What?" It seemed to Phoebe as if the 有望な 日光 had suddenly clouded over and the glory of the day had 出発／死d. "Are you going away?"
"Yes. Ned and I can't make it 支払う／賃金 anyhow. So we just took what we could for the farm and are going away north. I told you about it."
"Then we shall never see you again."
"Oh yes, you will. There's a loadstar I 推定する／予想する will fetch Ned 支援する from the uppermost parts of the earth," and he ちらりと見ることd to where Nancy and Ned Kirkham were walking in earnest conversation in 前線. He envied Ned Kirkham, that was evident, he would have walked with Nancy if he could, and Phoebe 抑えるd a sigh of envy and 悔いる. He showed her her own good points, but like the 残り／休憩（する） of the world he preferred Nancy. 井戸／弁護士席, she had known it all before, why should she grieve now. One shall have all the love while the other—井戸／弁護士席, the other had evidently got more than she 推定する／予想するd, hearty liking, why should she not be content. She held her 長，率いる up as her new 助言者 had directed and tried to look as if the world belonged to her, tried to hide the fact even from herself, that the only man in the world she did want, her all-征服する／打ち勝つing sister had already taken from her. It was no good crying over what could not be helped. She 提案するd from this time 今後 to turn over a new leaf and make the best of everything. This man beside her was looking longingly at her sister, still he had been 肉親，親類d to her and she would make him listen to her thanks.
"You must come 支援する," she said, looking him straight in the 直面する, and he wondered he had not before noticed how 同情的な those 深く，強烈に 始める，決める brown 注目する，もくろむs of hers were, "there won't be any 楽しみ in 改善するing if my master doesn't 賞賛する me for it. And even if the loadstar you talk of does not fetch Mr Kirkham 支援する, surely that's no 推論する／理由 why you shouldn't come?"
He stood still a moment looking at her 厳粛に. These two had fallen behind. There was no 跡をつける across the paddock, which was 不明瞭なd, 十分な of tall red gums and an undergrowth of ti-tree and bracken, and so each little party choose the path which seemed best to themselves, and they were as much alone as if 非，不，無 of the others were anywhere about.
"You know, 行方不明になる Marsden," he began, hurriedly, and Phoebe would have given worlds to check his 信用／信任s, but he had been 肉親，親類d to her and she felt it her bounden 義務 to do all she could for him, "you know I think that—that—would be just the very thing that would bring me 支援する. I might have some luck if he were out of the way with his confoundedly handsome 直面する."
"Surely," began Phoebe in wonder, and then checked herself.
He looked at her 熱望して.
"Yes; 井戸／弁護士席, what were you going to say?"
"That surely you don't think Mr Kirkham better-looking than you are?"
"Why, yes, of course. Any fool could see that with half an 注目する，もくろむ. Ned's a handsome fellow."
"And I've always looked on you as much the finer man, but then, you know, I'm not a fool."
"No, you're not. Thank you very much for the compliment, 行方不明になる Marsden. But whether I'm good-looking or not won't 前進する my 事例／患者, I'm afraid. Do you think now I've the ghost of a chance beside Ned?"
She hesitated. She did think so much of him, might she not be making the wish father to the thought when she said he had not a chance beside his cousin?
"You don't wish to 傷つける me," he said, 激しく.
"No," she said, 真面目に, "indeed I don't. How can I tell? I really can't be 確かな . I've seen Nancy carrying on so often before, you know. She always has had lots of admirers ever since she was a little girl, and you—井戸／弁護士席, you always give way to Mr Kirkham. Perhaps it would be different if—if—"
"If I 押し進めるd a little. No, it wouldn't. Not a bit of it. I only go in the background because I'm sent there."
Phoebe winced. He only walked with her because he couldn't get her sister, but she had decided before to make the best of that.
"I never can be 確かな of Nan," she said. "You—I'm so sorry."
"Thank you again, 行方不明になる Marsden. I'm sure I ought not to growl when 存在 driven from my lady love's 味方する gives me you to sympathise with me and soothe my ruffled plumes."
"Do I sympathise 井戸／弁護士席?"
"Very nicely indeed. I want no kinder sympathy."
She held out her 手渡す.
"Then we will be friends. I am sorry, I am indeed. But after all another person's sympathy in a thing like this never does much good, does it?"
He took the outstretched 手渡す and held it in both his for a moment.
"Doesn't it? How do you know anything about it? You never got awfully gone on a fellow who never seemed aware of the fact."
She drew her 手渡す あわてて away, and the colour 機動力のある to her forehead.
"By Jove!" thought Morrison. "Have I 攻撃する，衝突する the 権利 nail on the 長，率いる by 事故? 井戸／弁護士席, she'd make a jolly good wife. What a swab the beggar must be not to see it."
"It's very good of you to sympathise with me, 行方不明になる Marsden," he said, aloud. "Yes, I think it counts for a good 取引，協定 to have a friend you can 信用, 特に if that friend is a woman. Will you do me a 親切 now? I'm going 権利 away into the 支援する 封鎖するs, where I shan't see a decent woman for the Lord knows how long. Will you 令状 to me いつかs arid tell me how things are getting on?"
"Yes, I will," she said, "if you like. But wouldn't you rather Nancy wrote?"
He winced.
"I can't help it," he said in a low トン, almost as if he were speaking to himself, "I do care a—a—" he could find no adjective strong enough for him, "lot for her, but—but it's not the least good in the world. I couldn't 信用 her to 令状 me a line. She'd 約束, I daresay, bless her, but she'd forget all about it in a week. Now, I wonder why," he went on, argumentatively, "a beggar should be such a fool as to give a second thought to a girl whom he feels he couldn't 信用 to 令状 to him, even if she 約束d," and he laughed a little 激しく.
"Every man, and woman too, for that 事柄, is a fool when he's in love," she said. "At least, I don't know; don't let us talk about it. I'll 令状 to you 定期的に, I 約束 you that faithfully, and tell you all the news. Can you 信用 me?"
"With my life," he said, laughing. He was beginning to wonder what she would think of him and to wish he had not spoken やめる so 自由に, and yet it was a 慰安 to think he would have that letter, and he felt she would keep her 約束. She was a nice girl, a downright good girl. He could not understand that swab, surely if she cared for a man he must return it. She was やめる good-looking enough to 勝利，勝つ any man she cared about, those 注目する，もくろむs of hers were so 甘い and 同情的な—so different from her sister's laughing ones. If only she would look at him like that—if only she would. But no—with his cousin in the way there was no hope of that, and now he had 許すd this girl to guess his secret, and she evidently took almost as hopeless a 見解（をとる） of the 事例／患者 as he did himself. Still he felt a little 慰安d. She would keep her word he felt sure, and he would not be やめる 削減（する） off from the only 世帯 in the world he took much 利益／興味 in.
They walked on in silence. He was a tall man, but she did not look short beside him, and when she held herself upright, Phoebe walked 井戸／弁護士席.
"行方不明になる Marsden," he began, hesitatingly, "I don't やめる know how to thank you. You don't know what a lonely man I am. Ned, there, is the nearest 親族 I have in the world. He's got an adoring mother and an array of sisters who think there's no one like him anywhere, but I'm やめる alone. There isn't a creature who cares whether I live or die."
"Oh, hush, hush," she said, "you know, you know, that can't be true. Why, your aunt and cousins—"
"My aunt and cousins," he laughed a little scornfully, "they look on me as the cruel tempter who enticed their darling away from his happy home where he might have been monotonously comfortable all the days of his life, and have exposed him to all sorts of unknown dangers. No, my aunt and cousins 港／避難所't any room in their affections for me."
"Why, how cruel! how—"
"No, after all, don't pity me. I really don't think I mind. They have lived in a 静かな English village up の中で the Cumberland hills all their lives, and they're ジュースd slow I think. We 港／避難所't two ideas in ありふれた."
"Then what are you 不平（をいう）ing at?" asked Phoebe, with a smile.
He laughed, too, a little.
"It does sound rather inconsistent, doesn't it, but it isn't, really. I think when a man gets to my age, he begins to want a home of his own and some one to love him just for himself."
"I hope you will get that home, and as for the some one to love you, why—"
"The one I want is out of reach. Is that what you think?"
"Yes, I do," she said, honestly, "just at 現在の. But really there's no placing much 依存 on Nancy. She might be やめる different when you come 支援する."
"She'll probably be married to some other fellow, if I know anything about girls. Now I wonder why," he went on, "I want her so much. I believe she wouldn't make half as good a wife as you."
Phoebe 紅潮／摘発するd 怒って. He had no 権利 to talk thus lightly of her.
"I—" she began coldly, but he had seen his mistake.
"I beg your 容赦," he said. "Come now, 行方不明になる Marsden, I didn't mean to be rude. I only meant to 発言／述べる on the cussed contrariness of things. Now, if you'd only fallen in love with me and I'd fallen in love with you, how 井戸／弁護士席 we'd have ふさわしい each other. But here we go 飛行機で行くing off at tangents. I'm making a fool of myself over a little girl who doesn't condescend to remember my 存在, and you—井戸／弁護士席, I suppose when I come 支援する I shall find you married to some chap who won't 控訴 you half 同様に as I should."
"No," she said, "no," and the 紅潮／摘発する 深くするd painfully, "there's not the smallest chance of my getting married."
A big スピードを出す／記録につける lay invitingly across their path, and a 広大な／多数の／重要な clump of dark green ti-tree shaded it from the sun's rays. He caught her by the arm and 押し進めるd her 負かす／撃墜する on to it, and flung himself on to the 乾燥した，日照りのd-up yellow grass at her feet.
"Stay a little," he begged, "it's 早期に yet, and I never get a chance of talking to you, and goodness knows when I shall have a chance again. There's a charm about you to a happy-go-lucky fellow like me. You are so 静かな and strong one feels 残り／休憩（する）d by your very presence."
"Do you?" She looked 負かす／撃墜する at him out of her 深い dark 注目する，もくろむs, and then because she was a little shy and uncomfortable began あわてて to 広げる to him her half-formed 計画（する）s for the 未来. And he lay there plucking up handfuls of 乾燥した，日照りの grass and throwing them into little heaps and listened with 利益／興味. She hesitated at first, but his 是認 lent her 信用／信任, and when she had finished he caught her by both 手渡すs and held them 急速な／放蕩な.
"You are a 勇敢な girl, upon my soul you are. I hope you'll 後継する and I believe you will. Only go slowly, 平易な does it, you know."
"I don't know," she said. "Is that the way you do it yourself?"
"Me? Bless you, it's always neck or nothing with me."
"But this gold 地雷—this—"
"It's only a 投機・賭ける, my dear girl, that's all. If it turns up trumps, I make my fortune, and if it don't—井戸／弁護士席, I go under like many a better fellow before me."
"You mustn't go under," she said, 厳粛に. "What should I do if my friend did that?"
He held her 手渡すs tighter and looked up into her blushing 直面する.
"Thank you, 行方不明になる Marsden, thank you. You are giving me something to take away with me. You don't know what it will be to think of your goodness when I'm miles away from any woman."
"And Nancy?" she asked.
"And Nancy, of course. Hang it all, do you think I'd think of her if I could help myself. But you—you are different. Keep a corner in your heart warm for the poor chap away in the 支援する 封鎖するs, 行方不明になる Phoebe."
Phoebe hardly knew what to say. Why was she talked to like this when he was so manifestly and 率直に in love with her sister.
"I'll not forget you," she said, 厳粛に, "if that's what you mean. If I do 後継する it is you who have given me the first 激励 I ever had in my life. All the others seem to think I'm hopelessly plain and stupid and fit for nothing but to be a 世帯 drudge all the days of my life."
"Nonsense. Never you let any one make you believe that again. And when you do arrive at that cosy little farm don't forget to ask a poor bushman to take a seat at your fireside."
"Take care the millionaire doesn't look 負かす／撃墜する on it," she laughed, and then she rose up with a sigh. She had spent an hour in which keenest 楽しみ and 苦痛 had mingled, and yet the 楽しみ was so 激しい she was loth to go 支援する to the ordinary hum-派手に宣伝する 存在 which was hers. "I must go," she said. "They'll be wondering what has become of me."
"Let them wonder."
But she shook her 長，率いる.
Reluctantly he 緊急発進するd to his feet.
"Look here, I'm not going for a fortnight. We must have some more 雑談（する）s, eh?"
Phoebe looked 負かす／撃墜する 審議ing with herself. She did love this man, there was no 疑問 about it in her own mind, and to see him so often would only make the 必然的な parting more bitter. Still he had been 肉親，親類d, and how could she say him nay when her own heart pleaded so for him.
She raised her 注目する，もくろむs to his 直面する.
"There is next Sunday," she said, feeling what years lay in those seven days, and more than half hoping he would want an earlier 会合, but he 受託するd the 申し込む／申し出 cheerfully.
"And the Sunday after, thank you so much. We'll walk home from church together then, that's a 取引. I'd like to see 行方不明になる Nancy, of course, but hang it all, the いっそう少なく I see of her, I guess, the better."
Phoebe said nothing, and he 新たな展開d a long blade of 乾燥した，日照りの grass in his restless fingers. If she was not happy, neither was he, and he was remembering his unhappiness at this moment and she was just nothing to him.
"Good-bye, 行方不明になる Marsden, then, till next Sunday if we 港／避難所't the good luck to 会合，会う before."
"Good-bye."
He turned away without even looking at her, and she watched him a moment as he made his way の中で the trees and scrub, then when his tweed 控訴 had disappeared の中で the tree trunks, she turned reluctantly homewards, not やめる sure in her own mind whether she were not ten times more 哀れな than she had been before church.
What see you there
That hath so cowarded and chased your 血
Out of 外見?
—SHAKESPEARE.
"地雷 make a light. Plenty blackfellow sit 負かす／撃墜する along a creek—my word!"
"You just get along—move off now—move, I say."
Ned Kirkham was busy with the frying-pan cooking the evening meal, and inclined to be contemptuous of 黒人／ボイコット gins in general, and this 執拗な 黒人／ボイコット gin in particular. He had only been up north, had only joined Morrison on パン職人's Creek in the Boolcunda country a week before, and was 直す／買収する，八百長をするd in his 決意 to keep the 黒人／ボイコットs at a distance. Allan Morrison had gone ahead with another man to build their hut and peg out their （人命などを）奪う，主張する, while his cousin had stopped a little longer in Port Darwin to arrange about the getting of their 蓄える／店s and to get another man to help them in their digging. Whether they were to make their fortunes or not still remained to be decided. The gold 地雷 which was to do it was before his 注目する，もくろむs now—a heap of yellow earth と一緒に a windlass which stood over the 軸. A creek, which was now 単に a chain of water-穴を開けるs, flowed, or rather would flow after rain, at the 底（に届く） of the slope about two hundred yards away, and just a little to the 権利 was the hut, a 厚板 事件／事情／状勢 with a bark roof, which at 現在の was the only 調印する of civilisation within a 半径 of many miles. Just here there was a small （疑いを）晴らすing, partly natural, partly the result of Allan Morrison's 労働s, but the dense scrub was all 一連の会議、交渉／完成する them and の近くにd them in on every 味方する. It was brigalow, fresh, green, and 甘い-smelling to an Australian, but to the Englishman, with the vivid, living green of his own country still fresh in his memory, dull, grey, and dreary in the extreme. 負かす／撃墜する in the creek the reeds grew tall and 厚い and were pleasant to look upon, but Jim Tretherick, the man Kirkham had brought up with him from Port Darwin, had shaken his 長，率いる over those same reeds, and had 投機・賭けるd to hint to his boss that they made good cover for the 黒人／ボイコットs. Morrison received the 警告 with 軽蔑（する）.
Kirkham only 反対するd to the 黒人／ボイコットs because, like the 海軍の officer of the old story, he considered that "Manners 非，不，無, and customs beastly," just about 述べるd them. More 特に did he 反対する to this particular 黒人／ボイコット gin who was at the 現在の moment 迫害するing him with her unwelcome attentions. His cousin did not sympathise with him.
"Hang it all, Ned," he said, "what the dickens do you 推定する／予想する? You aren't looking out for an 招待 to dinner, are you, with your host in a claw 大打撃を与える and a flower in his button-穴を開ける, because if you are I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. The bucks have brought us in fish and wild duck, and they've 跡をつけるd our horses when they 逸脱するd, and now Webb's 負かす／撃墜する with fever here's Polly cooking and making herself useful in the most charming manner."
Kirkham did not seem impressed, and his cousin went on—
"It's most important, you see, Ned, that no one gets 勝利，勝つd of this field before we get all we want out of it. You think it's out of the world, but bless you, just let them hear in Roebourne or Port Darwin that we are in for a good thing and half the 全住民 will be here like a 発射. You see it's only two hundred and fifty miles from Port Darwin, and before two months were out there would be a big 急ぐ from Victoria. There are a 確かな 始める，決める of men there who are always on the look-out for a new gold field and don't care a cuss if they have to come half 一連の会議、交渉／完成する Australia to find it. So we'll just keep 静かな till we've got all we want. As for the 黒人／ボイコットs—pooh! I don't believe there are ten bucks about, and the gins are やめる useful, as I said before. Look at Polly there."
Kirkham did look at Polly leisurely running her dirty 黒人／ボイコット fore-finger 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the 辛勝する／優位 of the frying-pan and licking the grease off, and was utterly disgusted. Next day she was 退位させる／宣誓証言するd from her high 広い地所, and he himself undertook the cooking. Robert Webb was hut keeper, and that 義務 should 適切に have fallen to his 株, but he was 負かす／撃墜する with fever and so ill it was imperatively necessary some one should look after him, and Kirkham, 存在 given his choice, had preferred it to 労働ing at the 底（に届く） of a 軸 which had now reached a depth of nearly sixty feet. Tretherick and Morrison were below and at 確かな intervals he was 推定する／予想するd to 勝利，勝つd up the windlass and empty out the bucket which they sent up. The ground was very hard and they worked so slowly that he had plenty of time for everything; but he had been at it all day long and by evening was utterly disgusted and tired out. Work he was not afraid of, but this—the romance of gold-digging was gone for ever, and he would need to make thousands out of that （人命などを）奪う，主張する to make up for this sacrifice of life for even a month or two. A thousand times better was the cockatoo farm up in the 範囲s 一連の会議、交渉／完成する Ballarat and the chance of seeing pretty Nancy Marsden at least once a week. This—this was 追放する indeed. The heat was stifling, and though the sun was on the point of setting, his level rays seemed to have lost 非，不，無 of their 力／強力にする and, hemmed in as the （軍の）野営地，陣営 was by the 厚い brigalow scrub, not a breath of 空気／公表する stirred. Kirkham would 喜んで have dispensed with the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, but the 黒人／ボイコット woman, after the manner of her 肉親，親類d, crouched 負かす／撃墜する over the glowing embers as if it had been bitter 冷淡な. Her presence irritated him and he shook the frying-pan viciously. Polly, seeing him look at her, started off again in the blackfellows' lingo, which to him was unintelligible.
"Bungally you. My word! 地雷 make a light plenty blackfellow along a creek." By which she meant that he, Kirkham, was very stupid, and that she could see plenty of blackfellow 負かす／撃墜する by the creek.
"Hallo, boss," called Webb from the hut. "What the dickens is all this bobbery about?"
"Baal bobbery," said Polly. "You quamby here—plenty myall got 'em nulla-nulla, plenty white fellow 宙返り／暴落する 負かす／撃墜する."
Webb はうd to the door and leaned against the rough 塀で囲む. The （一定の）期間 of fever and ague had passed and left him, weak and ill, it is true, but still 井戸／弁護士席 enough to take an 利益／興味 in passing events.
"What on earth does she mean?" asked Kirkham.
"What she's 説 is that there are plenty of blackfellows 負かす／撃墜する by the creek, and that if we stop here they've got plenty of nulla-nullas, and they'll use them on us. Will they, old girl? This fellow got 'em plenty gun, myall quamby here—plenty myall 宙返り／暴落する 負かす／撃墜する."
"You pull along a 駅／配置する plenty quick," 示唆するd Polly with cheerful earnestness, unheeding his 脅し, and Webb laughed again.
Then there （機の）カム a shout from the men below, and Kirkham drew first one and then the other up to daylight again.
"Phew," said Morrison, stretching himself, "it's as hot as 炎s. How's the tea, Ned? I could eat a bullock. Hallo, Webb, are you better?"
"Pretty 井戸／弁護士席, boss, for the time; but I can't shake the darned thing off; it'll be as bad as ever tomorrow. And here's Polly 説 the blackfellows are coming to wipe us out."
"Are they? by Jingo! I like that! Four of us too! 井戸／弁護士席, I like their cheek!"
"Then you don't really think there's any danger?" asked Kirkham, as he bent over the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, trying with small success to 直す／買収する，八百長をする the billy upright.
"Danger! Pooh! Here, man, let me do it—what a duffer you are! It's 平易な to see you aren't accustomed to a bush life. Danger? I should just think not. Why, I 港／避難所't seen ten bucks and perhaps twice as many gins and pickaninnies all the while I've been here, and what could they do against us? One man with a gun's やめる enough to settle fifty such 哀れな creatures, and there are four of us. Wipe us out? They know better. Here, Polly, what's the 事柄 with you, old girl? Has the old man been giving you a taste of his waddy again?"
"White fellow pull along a 駅／配置する," advised Polly, gutturally.
"You pull away along a humpy, and make it up as quick as you can. Here's a bit of baccy for you, poor old girl. Now then, off with you, and make it up with the old man."
The 黒人／ボイコット woman walked off in the direction of the creek, and Morrison turned to his cousin.
"Don't you be afraid, old chap. It's only a little matrimonial 騒動. Polly's lord and master has probably been overlooking her charms, and bestowing his favours on a younger and fairer wife, and the neglected one, by way of 復讐, wants to bring us 負かす／撃墜する on him. Oh, I know their ways. There's not the slightest danger, is there, Webb?"
"No, no. I've been up north five years, and not had a 小衝突 with the 黒人／ボイコットs yet. No such luck."
"Still, sir," said Tretherick, "the women often do give 警告. I remember up at Ingle's if it hadn't been for a 黒人／ボイコット gin 指名するd Lizzie—"
"You'd all have been 殺人d in your sleep. Oh, yes, I know; but then Ingle was a brute, and did 扱う／治療する the 黒人／ボイコットs shamefully. We've always been on the friendliest 条件 with them."
"井戸／弁護士席, I'll keep my revolver handy, and see that the ライフル銃／探して盗むs are 負担d," said Tretherick.
"Oh, 井戸／弁護士席, there's no 害（を与える） in 存在 on the 安全な 味方する," said Morrison; but it was very evident to Kirkham that the 出来事/事件 had made no impression on him whatever, and he himself felt 安心させるd. His cousin was Australian born, and save for that 簡潔な／要約する （一定の）期間 of cockatoo farming 負かす／撃墜する in the south when he had met the Marsdens, had been in the north for many years.
にもかかわらず, Tretherick 辞退するd to sleep outside under the verandah as he usually did, and Kirkham followed his example. Morrison laughed at their 恐れるs.
"Polly's done me one good turn," he said, "if it's only 脅すing you two inside. I don't want any more of you laid up with fever and ague, and sleeping outside is just the way to get it."
"But you sleep outside yourself," remonstrated the new chum.
"Only when I can't help it, man, only when I can't help it. Sleep under a roof when you can get it, even if you're nearly stifled, that's my tip for this part of this world. If Webb had only taken my advice, he wouldn't have been ill now."
It was certainly hot and stifling in the little hut, and Tretherick enlivened things by lugubrious stories of cruel 乱暴／暴力を加えるs committed by the myall 黒人／ボイコットs till Kirkham heard stealthy footsteps all 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the hut, and saw dusky forms in every dark corner. He was not a nervous man, but the Cornishman's tales were very 恐ろしい, and the 黒人／ボイコット gin had evidently been very much in earnest. One by one the other three went to sleep, and he did not like to 認める his 恐れる. If these men—bushmen and accustomed to the country, could sleep 平和的に, why not he? and yet he could not. He kept 推測するing—calculating how 平易な a thing it would be to compass their death. To begin with, the 黒人／ボイコットs might spear the horses, which were hobbled and then turned loose to find pasture for themselves. What was to 妨げる them from doing that at any hour of the day or night? Nothing, certainly nothing, he answered himself, によれば Tretherick it was just the very thing they would do. And then—井戸／弁護士席, they were eighty miles from the nearest 駅／配置する—and—and—yet those three men were 平和的に slumbering 一連の会議、交渉／完成する him. He got up and looked out of the door—the landscape lay 静める and 静かな before him in the moonlight. The moon was almost at 十分な—a brilliant 熱帯の moon, and it was light nearly as day. There was the （人命などを）奪う，主張する which was to bring them untold wealth, the windlass, the buckets, the 選ぶs, and shovels, just as the men had thrown them 負かす／撃墜する when they left work the evening before. The 影をつくる／尾行するs were 深い and dark, and he almost shouted aloud when he saw something move on the 辛勝する／優位 of the scrub. The next moment he was thankful he had not, for he recognised one of the horses, his own grey 損なう moving slowly 負かす／撃墜する に向かって the reed beds which fringed the creek. He shook himself together then and clambered 支援する into his bunk, glad that no one else had seen him. Of course he said to himself, there was no 原因（となる） for 恐れる, and yet at the same time he decided to stay awake till 夜明け, when he had heard the 黒人／ボイコットs always attacked, ーするために be やめる sure. Having come to which 満足な 結論, he turned over on his 味方する to 残り／休憩（する） more comfortably, and remembered no more till he 設立する himself 存在 violently shaken by the shoulders.
"What? Where? The 黒人／ボイコットs?" he asked, springing to his feet.
"The myalls? No, hang it all, man, 港／避難所't you got over that yet? Come on, old chap, lend a 手渡す with breakfast, will you? We're bound to get up 早期に when it's so hot, and then we can take a （一定の）期間 in the middle of the day."
The day passed on dully, so hot and still that Kirkham felt it a 労働 even to go 負かす／撃墜する to the creek for water, a thing he had to do pretty often, for the 世帯 utensils of the party were 極端に scanty. By noon he had 完全に forgotten his fright of the night before, and in the afternoon he took a turn at digging, an 占領／職業 which so 疲れた／うんざりしたd him that by nightfall he was only too thankful to turn into his bunk and sleep the sleep of the just, forgetful alike of the heat and of the dangers which he fancied menaced them. He was awakened by some one moving about the hut, and sat up rubbing his 注目する，もくろむs.
"Hallo," he said. "What's the 事柄?"
"Only me, boss," （機の）カム 支援する Webb's 発言する／表明する out of the dusk. "I've got the fever on me again that bad, and I'm that thirsty I had to get up for a drink."
"All 権利," said Kirkham, "there's some water in the bucket in the corner, and I left a pannikin on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する."
"I'm afraid, boss," said the man, ruefully, "I've knocked it over and spilt it all. There ain't a 減少（する） left. I'll go 負かす／撃墜する to the creek."
"Nonsense, man, I'll go. Get 支援する to bed."
It was getting light outside, getting light with a rapidity only known to the tropics, and Kirkham, as he stood in the doorway, watched for a moment the lines of gold and red growing brighter and brighter in the eastern sky. It was dark when he had awakened, and yet in another few minutes the sun would be up. The birds in the brigalow scrub were beginning to twitter, from the far distance he heard a bell-bird （死傷者）数ing like some solemn musical church bell, and over his 長，率いる flew a flight of wild swans crying mournfully as they bent their way southward. It was such a still morning; not a leaf stirred, only his grey 損なう 負かす／撃墜する by the reed beds was raising her nose in the 空気／公表する and 匂いをかぐing curiously. The reeds, too, were strangely agitated, waving about as if a strong 現在の of 空気／公表する were 軍隊ing its way through them. But there was no 勝利，勝つd, and Kirkham idly 公式文書，認めるd the fact, and as idly wondered what it could be. They were tall reeds—six feet high at the very least. Far away in England he had watched just such another 影響 when his terrier had 軍隊d her way through the green corn. This must be something bigger than a dog though—the horses, perhaps, or—the 黒人／ボイコット gin's 警告 flashed across him as he stepped out of the 避難所 of the hut—perhaps it was the myalls! Surely that was just the way they would come. He stepped 支援する, and then stepped 今後 again. What a fool his mates would think him! These Australians would laugh at him for a coward, and besides, whatever happened they must have water. Another step 今後 with his 注目する，もくろむs still on the waving reeds. He hardly liked to waken up the others just to see what after all might be a ありふれた occurrence. For all he knew to the contrary Australian reeds might be in the habit of waving and shaking like that even without a 勝利，勝つd, and he knew very 井戸／弁護士席 that if it had not been for Tretherick's stories he never would have noticed it at all, and by this time would have been 負かす／撃墜する at the creek filling his bucket at the water-穴を開ける. After all, too, these bushmen せねばならない know best; they said there was no 恐れる, and—
Out of the waving reeds （機の）カム a flight of spears—silent, swift, unerring—directed not at him, but at the poor horse, and the grey 損なう dropped 今後 on to her 膝s, and then fell over on to her 味方する.
It is one thing to imagine a danger, it is another to have one's worst 恐れるs 確認するd, and for a moment Kirkham stood rooted to the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す. The next he was 支援する in the hut.
"Allan, Tretherick, Webb, wake up. For God's sake, wake up! The blackfellows are 群れているing in the reeds! Quick, mates, quick!"
Allan Morrison sat up and rubbed his 注目する，もくろむs sleepily.
"Confound you, Ned," he said, "you've got those myalls on the brain, I think."
"Hang it all, Allan," he cried, snatching up his ライフル銃／探して盗む, "it's solemn earnest. I've just seen them spear old Jenny."
"What! The old grey 損なう! The devil they did!" Morrison was wide awake in a moment. "This'll never do. The sooner we give them a lesson the better, and I thought they were all tame! There's no 信用ing these myall 黒人／ボイコットs!"
"Nor any other that ever I heard tell of," growled Tretherick, peering out of that square 穴を開ける that did 義務 as a window; "give them a lesson! My word, boss, we'll be lucky if we come out of this with whole 肌s; the reeds are just alive with them."
They were all on the 警報 now; even the sick man had left his bunk and taken up a ライフル銃／探して盗む.
He was an old bushman, and 完全に understood the 状況／情勢.
"My God!" he said, looking at the empty bucket, "we're done for this time, and no mistake. The devils are between us and the water."
"Don't funk, man, don't funk," said Morrison, who was a much younger man, besides 存在 in good health; "we'll soon settle a 小包 of niggers like them."
"I see something," said Kirkham; "shall I 解雇する／砲火／射撃?"
"No, bless you, no. Don't alarm 'em. Let's be sure they get a good dose while we're about it. We'll マリファナ the whole （人が）群がる as they come out into the open."
"We're pretty 井戸／弁護士席 off for 弾薬／武器, aren't we?" said Tretherick.
"Oh, yes, there are two 事例／患者s of cartridges unopened there. Enough to see the whole tribe through. Now then, boys, here they come. 選ぶ your man, and let 飛行機で行く as soon as they get 井戸／弁護士席 out of the reeds."
The sun was up, and it was 幅の広い daylight now. Between the little hut and the reed beds was no 避難所 whatever, and the short, crisp, 乾燥した，日照りの grass was not above an インチ or two long. Softly out of the 避難所ing reeds stepped ten or twelve blackfellows, long, lean, lithe men, their 団体／死体s 示すd by way of ornament, with 恐ろしい white cicatrices which stood out 明確に against their 黒人／ボイコット 肌s. Three of the ライフル銃／探して盗むs rang out. One man dropped like a 石／投石する, a 尊敬の印 to Morrison's 技術 as a marksman, and the 残り／休憩（する）, with a wild cry, ran 支援する into the reeds.
"One of those fellows at least is 負傷させるd, I'll bet," said Morrison.
"But, Ned, why the devil didn't you 解雇する／砲火／射撃?"
"They were 非武装の men. How—"
"非武装の be hanged! They were dragging their spears along with their toes—that's their little game. They're rather late, you see; they せねばならない have attacked a little earlier, when we'd have been sure to have been sleeping. As it is, I dare say they thought we might be awake, and so were coming up friendly fashion till they got within throwing distance."
"I thought you said yesterday—"
"Hang yesterday! Never mind what I said yesterday. Today you マリファナ any nigger that comes within 範囲 whether he's 武装した or not. They're 背信の devils and not to be 信用d."
"The boss has changed his tune mighty quick," muttered Tretherick to Webb. But the other man, ill as he was, only leaned against the 塀で囲む and sighed—
"Oh, the water! the water! My God! what shall we do for the water?"
"Water! By Jove! that is serious!" cried Morrison. "Isn't there a 減少（する）? No. And those devils are between us and the waterhole."
"We're done for now; I told you so," said Tretherick. "It's hot as 炎s, and we can't 持つ／拘留する out a day without water."
"Now, man, where's the good of croaking. We must manage for the day, and tonight we can creep 負かす／撃墜する under cover of the 不明瞭. The 黒人／ボイコットs never attack at night; they're afraid of a devil devil, or something of that sort."
Kirkham said nothing. The 黒人／ボイコットs had all disappeared now, and the only 調印する of their presence was the waving of the reeds. 供給するd they stopped there he could see but little chance of their lives, for the only drinkable water for miles was in the 中央 of those reeds, and he felt sure the blackfellows, savages as they were, would recognise their advantage, and, even if they did not attack at night, would take care to （軍の）野営地，陣営 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the water-穴を開ける. There were, of course, other water-穴を開けるs, a 正規の／正選手 chain of them in the bed of the creek, but these were salt as the sea itself—a not uncommon result of 干ばつ in Australia. All this Kirkham knew and knew 十分な 井戸／弁護士席; if the others were silent it was because they understood their danger やめる 同様に or even better than he did. Webb was evidently very ill and 速く growing worse. His かわき was 苦しめるing, but he was 患者, as men must needs be 患者 when their necessity is so 悲惨な. Morrison ordered him 支援する to his bunk after the first ボレー had been 解雇する／砲火／射撃d, and he lay there 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするing and turning in the agonies of a fever 悪化させるd by a かわき which grew every moment more unbearable. Kirkham bent over him with some words of unavailing sympathy.
"It ain't no good," said the sick man. "I can't 耐える it. The boss he 会談 cheerful enough, but he knows it's all up a tree with us—no man better. The horses is all sure to be speared, and the best thing you three can do is to make 跡をつけるs for McAlister's 負かす／撃墜する the creek as soon as it's dark. It ain't no good trying for the waterhold, that it ain't. The 黒人／ボイコットs won't attack at night, but they ain't such darned fools as to let us get at the water for all that."
"But it's eighty miles," remonstrated Kirkham. "You're not fit to 請け負う such a 旅行."
"Who? Me? Oh, I don't take no part in this 業績／成果."
"But we can't かもしれない leave you alone," said Kirkham, while the other men listened in silence. Webb was a middle-老年の man, an old bushman, and his opinion on the 状況／情勢 was 価値（がある） listening to.
"Leave me alone," he echoed. "Bless you, I'll have kicked the bucket by then, and I don't know as any of you'll fetch McAlister's. You won't have twelve hours' start, and the 黒人／ボイコットs'll be after you like winkin'. You ain't got no horses—if they ain't all speared you ain't got no time to go alookin' for 'em—and the 黒人／ボイコットs'll travel just twice as quick as you. It's all up, boss; I'm mighty afeared it is. Oh, Lord! if I only had a drink!"
Morrison （機の）カム over to him. 勇敢な as he was, it was やめる evident even to him that his over-信用／信任 had got them into a 捨てる which was likely to cost them their lives. "Never 恐れる," he said, cheerily; "we'll pull through all 権利. You see."
But the sick man turned his 直面する to the 塀で囲む and answered him never a word.
Up from Earth's centre through the Seventh Gate
I rose and on the 王位 of Saturn 満たす,
And many a Knot unravel'd by the Road,
But not that Master-Knot of Human 運命／宿命.
Earth could not answer; nor the Seas that 嘆く／悼む
In flowing purple of their Lord forlorn;
Nor rolling Heaven, with all his 調印するs 明らかにする／漏らす'd
And hidden by the sleeve of Night and Morn.
—Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.
It was 疲れた／うんざりした work waiting. The minutes seem to stretch themselves into hours, and the hours into interminable days. Not a breath of 空気／公表する stirred outside, the sun 注ぐd 負かす／撃墜する his pitiless rays on a sweltering earth from a cloudless sky, and the heat in the little hut was stifling. It was useless to try and eat, though they had a plentiful 供給（する） of damper and salt beef left over from the night before, for their mouths were parched with かわき. に向かって noon the sick man became delirious, and babbled incessantly of 冷静な／正味の shady waterholes and running streams, and at last, getting up 静かに, made a dash for the door. Kirkham, who had been 推定する／予想するing something of the sort, was just in time to 掴む him, and he and Morrison strapped him 負かす／撃墜する in his bunk again while Tretherick still kept watch and 区 at the door.
"Poor chap," said Morrison, 静かに, to his cousin as he listened to his ravings. "I shan't be sorry when his sufferings are over."
"The 黒人／ボイコットs are gone, surely. There's not a 調印する of them now. Shall I make a dash for it? A bucket of water would make all the difference to us."
"Useless, old chap. You'd be speared before you got half-way to the reeds. The devils have the patience of 職業, and they know they've got us 安全な enough. If we had water we might 持つ／拘留する out—but without—Webb's suggestion is the only practicable one, and 井戸／弁護士席—even though we have twelve hours' start, you know how the beggars can 跡をつける. I'm afraid there isn't much chance for us. I'm sorry, old chap, I'm awfully sorry, to have got you into such a 穴を開ける."
"It's not a bit worse for me than for you."
"井戸／弁護士席, I don't know. There's not a soul to care whether Allan Morrison goes off the hooks or not, while you—There's your mother and sisters and Nancy Marsden—what about Nancy Marsden?"
Kirkham turned away はっきりと.
"You know very 井戸／弁護士席—I mean—it was a little rough on me, wasn't it, old man, never telling me you'd settled it all? Of course I guessed, but you might have told me, seeing I was your mate."
"Told you what?"
"Why, of course you settled it that day?"
"What day?"
"Why, the last Sunday we went home with the Marsden girls."
"Yes, but—" Ned Kirkham hesitated. These two men had never before discussed their relations with the two girls they had been accustomed to see so often, and now that the 支配する was opened between them each felt shy and strange. "Yes, but—" said Kirkham, hesitating. "Hang it all, man, you know jolly 井戸／弁護士席 I care about Nancy Marsden—there's no good hiding the fact; but she—she—いつかs I thought she cared for me, and いつかs—井戸／弁護士席, I'd have sworn it was you."
"ネズミs!"
"井戸／弁護士席, anyhow, she talked most to you that last evening at their house."
"Yes, but that was because her father was there, and she's always shy before him. He's an awful old curmudgeon, you know, she's afraid to open her lips before him, and as you were silent I got a say in. But you walked 負かす／撃墜する to the gate together, and I thought—I thought—"
"You thought wrong, then," said Kirkham, though there was a 夜明けing gladness in his heart which he dashed aside in a moment. What was the good of it all? Even if she did care it was too late now.
"You mean to say you're not engaged to her?"
"No."
"井戸／弁護士席, I'm blessed. You are a fool. Any one—"
"How do you know she cared about me?"
"港／避難所't I 注目する，もくろむs? Besides, her sister told me."
"Phoebe?"
"Yes. Why, I made sure you'd jumped at the chance."
"But there—what's the good of talking? We're pretty 井戸／弁護士席 done for now. But I know that girl cared for you. I've been lost in wonder that you didn't take me into your 信用／信任. 井戸／弁護士席, if you cared a straw for her you have made a mess of it."
He sighed and, turning away, 示唆するd to Tretherick that since their only hope lay in getting away under cover of the 不明瞭 they should take it in turns to watch, so that two at least might sleep. Morrison took the first watch, then Tretherick, then Kirkham, the others lying 負かす／撃墜する in their bunks with their 負担d ライフル銃／探して盗むs beside them, ready to spring up at the first alarm.
It was doubtful if any of them slept—Kirkham certainly did not. To begin with, his かわき was overpowering, the heat was terrible, he had lived for the last week almost 完全に on salt 準備／条項s, and he had had nothing to drink since the night before. Poor Webb was raving like a lunatic now in his bunk just opposite, and if there had been nothing else that alone would have 妨げるd his sleeping. He lay on his 支援する and 星／主役にするd up at the unceiled bark roof, and wondered ばく然と if they would ever get out of this. Three young, strong, 井戸／弁護士席-武装した men, it seemed strange they should be killed like ネズミs in a 穴を開ける by a 小包 of naked blackfellows 武装した only with spears; and yet these bushmen seemed to have given up hope, and they knew better than he did. He watched a string of 黒人／ボイコット ants diligently making their way up the 塀で囲む, and wondered ばく然と if they had a nest in the roof, and if so, what they would do when the hut was burnt, as it assuredly would be. A month ago he had been away in Victoria, and now he was lying here waiting for death, 苦しむing agonies of かわき, and wondering how long he had to live. Would Nancy Marsden give him one thought? Was it true, as Allan had said, that he was the favoured one after all. Had she cared for him? If so, what must she have thought of his 行為／行う? He had showed her plainly how much he cared, and then he had gone away and left her without one word, ready almost to believe she was engaged to his cousin. The string of ants （機の）カム to a knot in the 支持を得ようと努めるd, and he let his attention wander just one moment to wonder whether they would go 一連の会議、交渉／完成する or はう over it. They were going straight over it—勇敢な little ants. And after all he might have won her, and yet he had gone away and left her without one word—fool! fool! fool!
His turn （機の）カム to watch, and he stood in the doorway looking out, his 注目する，もくろむs on the reeds and the brigalow scrub, and his thoughts away 負かす／撃墜する south, going over and over again every moment of that last interview with the woman he loved.
"And so you are really going?" she had said. "It will be nice for Mr Morrison to have you to look after him in such a terrible country." And there had been a tender little quiver in her 発言する／表明する which he had not failed to notice and had been inclined to 始める，決める 負かす／撃墜する to Allan's 得点する／非難する／２０. Then there arose in his breast for a moment a bitter feeling against his cousin. Why had he let him come? He must have known that, had he been sure of Nancy Marsden, not all the wealth of all the Australias would have tempted him to come north. A cockatoo farm with her would have been good enough for him. Yet here he was, and the chances were as ten to one against his 存在 alive twenty-four hours hence. Only for a moment, though, and then he thought pitifully of Allan Morrison, the good-tempered, 肉親，親類d-hearted fellow who even now, in the hour of danger, could look cheerily on the 有望な 味方する of things—and Webb—surely things were going hardly with poor Webb. His ravings had 沈下するd to low muttering during the last few minutes, and now had 中止するd altogether. Kirkham turned, anxiously 審議ing whether he shouldn't call one of the others to look to him, when to his astonishment he saw he had 解放する／自由なd himself from the ひもで縛るs and was sitting up on the 辛勝する／優位 of his bunk.
"Allan," called Kirkham, and Morrison was on his feet in a moment, but Webb was too quick for them. With one spring he reached the doorway, dashed Kirkham aside, and before either of the others could stop him, 急ぐd 負かす／撃墜する the slope に向かって the reed-beds.
"Now," cried Morrison, as all three 急ぐd outside, "God help him, for it's all over," and, indeed, as with one （許可，名誉などを）与える the reeds parted in at least a dozen places, and out （機の）カム a flight of spears flung by invisible 手渡すs. It seemed to the onlookers the greater number must have transfixed the unfortunate man, but though he gave one loud cry, he staggered on and fell 今後 on his 直面する not ten yards away from the reeds, out of which （機の）カム another flight of spears …を伴ってd by a yell which seemed to be echoed from behind the hut.
Though it all passed in a moment, the onlookers with one （許可，名誉などを）与える 解雇する／砲火／射撃d a ボレー, in the vain hope that some 弾丸 might by chance find its billet.
"There goes the first of us," said Tretherick, "how long for the 残り／休憩（する）, I wonder?"
"He mayn't be dead," said Kirkham, 熱望して. "Can't we 救助（する） him?"
"He's dead enough, poor chap," sighed Morrison, "and I don't know whether to be glad or sorry he settled it that way. Poor Webb, he was a jolly good mate. He and I have worked together—oh, ever since I （機の）カム into the bush."
"I'm thinkin' ye won't be long parted," said Tretherick. "We may 同様に make a bolt for it tonight, boss."
"Yes, as soon as it's dark. We 港／避難所't above two hours to wait."
No one lay 負かす／撃墜する again, it seemed impossible to 残り／休憩（する）, and Morrison and Tretherick began making 準備s for 出発, filling their belts with cartridges and doing up little 小包s of salt beef and damper.
"We mustn't overload ourselves," said Morrison. "Everything depends on 速度(を上げる）, but about ten miles 負かす／撃墜する I think we're pretty sure to find water, and then something to eat will buck us up a bit."
Kirkham stood still in the doorway; the dead man lay 権利 before him. Their own chance of life was but small, and yet listening to the other two making their 準備s for 出発 it seemed to him utterly impossible they could be so 確かな of their dying as their talk seemed to 暗示する. One moment Morrison spoke of the food that was to 支える them, and the next he was asking Tretherick whether he though it would be any good them leaving behind in the hut any 記録，記録的な／記録する of what had befallen them.
"They'll 燃やす the hut, 確かな sure," said the man. "They allus do."
"We could bury it. McAlister's sure to be here some time next week, and if we are to be wiped out in the scrub it would be a 慰安 to know somebody knew all about it."
"The devils'd have it up quicker'n he would. I guess the burnt hut'll tell tale enough for old McAlister."
"Yes. 井戸／弁護士席, I'm sure nobody cares much whether I live or die, 推定する／予想する, perhaps, the 蓄える／店-keeper at Port Darwin. I believe I still 借りがある him fifty 続けざまに猛撃するs on the outfit, but you, Tretherick, you've got a wife there."
"She was a bad lot, boss. She got all my 貯金 out of me, and then bolted with another chap. I guess I won't bother about her." Morrison sat 負かす／撃墜する at the rough （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, and as 簡潔に as possible wrote out a 声明 of the calamity that had befallen them, and then, dating it and 調印 his 指名する, he put the slip of paper into a small silver box he had used as a タバコ pouch; then he took Kirkham's place.
"令状 a line to your mother, old chap," he said. "I'm afraid the chances are against her getting it, but still she might, and there's no knowing whether we'll get through the scrub. Say how sorry I am to have got you into this 捨てる."
Kirkham sat 負かす／撃墜する and took paper and pen in his 手渡す, but his letter was 簡潔な／要約する—almost 冷淡な it seemed to him as he read it over with a 十分な heart. They were very dear to him—the 未亡人d mother who had loved her first-born, her only son, so tenderly, the 有望な-直面するd sisters whom he had petted, and who had petted him ever since they were babies together—so dear that no mere words could have 表明するd the love and tenderness he felt. The 涙／ほころびs 急ぐd to his 注目する，もくろむs as he thought of his mother reading this 簡潔な／要約する letter.
"Have you nearly done, Ned?" asked Allan, from the doorway, "because you know we must bury it."
He 小衝突d his 手渡す across his 注目する，もくろむs.
"All 権利," he said, "another moment," and he took up another sheet of paper. All that his cousin had said about Nancy Marsden （機の）カム 支援する to him, all the love he had been 鎮圧するing 負かす／撃墜する and repressing for the last month 井戸／弁護士席d up afresh in his heart. If he were dying and she had cared ever so little, then surely he might send a message.
"My darling," he wrote, "my darling, for you are my darling though I never dared to tell you so, I am dying. We are all as good as dead, they say, but I cannot die without making one 成果／努力 to tell you how much I love you. If I had only told you before, would there have been a chance for me, I wonder. Good-bye, my darling. God bless you, Nancy. Good-bye."
Then he 調印するd his 指名する, and 倍のing up the letter 演説（する）／住所d it and put it in the box with the other two.
"Dig a 穴を開ける," 示唆するd Morrison, the hut, of course, had no 床に打ち倒すing save the 明らかにする earth, "put it in, and walk backwards and 今後s to destroy all traces. It's just 価値（がある） trying, and that's about all. And, Tretherick, 削減（する） a good big 'Dig' on the 厚板s with your knife, will you? If the place isn't burnt, they'll know we've hidden something."
"No 恐れる of the old shanty not 存在 burnt," said Tretherick, but にもかかわらず he 削減（する） a big 'Dig' on the 塀で囲む 権利 opposite the door.
"Now," he said, "we're about ready. I'm pretty 近づく done for want of a drink. Webb 警告する't so 不正に off after all. He died quick like. How long, boss, before we can start?"
"Not for an hour at least," said Morrison, "and then it'll be 有望な moonlight, but—By Jove! Look out! Here they come."
Some of the blackfellows had こそこそ動くd 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to the brigalow scrub at the 支援する of the hut, and now, dashing out, tried to take the inmates unawares, but Morrison was too quick for them. He took 安定した 目的（とする） and 発射 the leader half way across the 明らかにする space, and the 残り／休憩（する） skulked 支援する into the scrub again before either Kirkham or Tretherick had time to 解雇する／砲火／射撃.
"That's two to one of us," said Morrison, grimly; "but the account's not square yet."
"The balance is goin' to be on the other 味方する this trip, I'm afeard," said Tretherick.
"Oh, you be blowed! Wait till McAlister raises the country and fetches 負かす／撃墜する the native police."
"But we won't see that unfort'nately," said Tretherick, and then they were all silent again.
That waiting for the night seemed to Kirkham very terrible, it was like waiting for death itself. Slowly the sunk sank in the west slowly—slowly. They watched it touch the 最高の，を越すs of the distant blue hills, then 沈む behind them, and 不明瞭 fell upon the land.
Allan Morrison touched his cousin's shoulder.
"Now, lad," he said, "now's our time. The moon'll be up in いっそう少なく than an hour, and though they say the 黒人／ボイコットs don't attack by night, still I wouldn't give much for our chances if they saw us trying to steal away from under their very noses. Now then, Tretherick, are you ready. We'll strike through the brigalow scrub and come out on the creek below the first bend."
"What about Webb?"
"He's dead, I know. Still, we won't leave him if there's a chance of life; I'll just steal 負かす／撃墜する and see."
"I—"
"No, Ned better let me go. I'm more accustomed to this sort of thing than you are." And as if to put an end to その上の remonstrance he stole off through the 不明瞭.
It seemed to the two waiting men an age before he was 支援する again, but he （機の）カム at last, 静かに as he had gone.
"石／投石する dead, poor chap," he said. "I knew it. We can't do anything for him. Come along, mates, the sooner we're off the better. Now we must keep の近くに."
It 要求するd a good 取引，協定 of courage, Kirkham 設立する, to walk across that open space in the 不明瞭; every 影をつくる／尾行する seemed to him a lurking 敵, and once in the 厚い, dense scrub, every snapping twig and breaking 支店 was a fresh danger. If they had been followed in scrub like this their doom was 調印（する）d. He kept his feelings to himself as long as he could, but at last he spoke to his cousin.
"Are you sure," he said, "there's no one behind?"
"Not yet, old man, but there will be tomorrow—a hundred."
"And we're making a path like a high road."
"That won't make much difference. They'd 跡をつける us, I verily believe, across the 明らかにする 激しく揺する. There never were such trackers as the Australian 黒人／ボイコットs."
Had he been by himself Kirkham knew he would have been utterly lost the moment he entered the scrub, but Tretherick, who led the way, went 刻々と on, guided it seemed by a sort of instinct, for it was pitch dark and hardly a 星／主役にする was 明白な through the 介入するing leaves. It was twenty-four hours now since they had had any water, and the hard walking 苦しめるd them terribly. Half the night seemed to have passed before they 設立する themselves （疑いを）晴らす of the scrub and on the banks of the creek again. The moon was just rising over the trees, and her beams turned the big water-穴を開ける at their feet into a veritable 保護物，者 of silver.
"That's the water-穴を開ける, sure enough," said Morrison. "井戸／弁護士席 done, Tretherick; I don't think we could have come straighter. Thank God for a drink."
They （一定の）期間d there for a few minutes to bathe their 直面するs and 手渡すs in the 冷静な／正味の water, and to eat the first meal they had had that day. It put new life into them, and they went on refreshed both in 団体／死体 and mind.
"We'll find plenty of water all the way," said Morrison, "McAlister told me last time I saw him that he was pretty sure now that this creek was 永久の; even when it doesn't run there are the water-穴を開けるs, good fresh drinkable water, never いっそう少なく than ten miles apart."
Then they moved on again, keeping along the banks of the creek. Kirkham had all sorts of wild notions for throwing the blackfellows off the scent, but his cousin only shook his 長，率いる, and 保証するd him it would take them much longer to put them into practice than it would for the 黒人／ボイコットs to find them out.
"No, our only chance is to go 刻々と on. They're bound to follow us, they're bound to catch us up, but then—井戸／弁護士席 they may not attack us. It's a poor hope, but they're uncertain sort of devils, and I have heard of them に引き続いて a man for days and never touching him."
The country was 公正に／かなり （疑いを）晴らす of scrub and undergrowth, and along the bank of the creek the walking was not difficult save that to walk at all is always a hardship to an Australian who is unaccustomed to it. To the Englishman it （機の）カム easiest, and even Tretherick, who had been nearly ten years in the 植民地, managed very 井戸／弁護士席, but Morrison began to complain of 存在 footsore before half the night was over.
"I'll never do it, I'm afraid, Ned," he said. "How you can walk, and on a hot night like this too!"
It was a hot night—a still, breathless night. The white trunks of the tall gum trees stood out ghostlike and 恐ろしい, and the long 狭くする leaves gleamed silvery in the light that was as 有望な as day, but the 影をつくる／尾行するs were dark and dismal, and from the depth of the forest （機の）カム every now and then the sound of a breaking 支店 or the cry of some night bird with startling distinctness. に向かって morning they stopped and bathed in a water-穴を開ける, snatched a 迅速な meal from their scanty 準備／条項s, and went on again refreshed. An hour or two later, when the sun had risen with all the 約束 of another pitiless hot day, it began to be evident they must 残り／休憩（する） if they would ever reach the end of their 旅行 at all, and they lay 負かす／撃墜する beneath the scanty shade afforded by a lightwood tree.
"We've done about thirty miles," sighed Morrison, "and we've got about fifty more to do. We'd better sleep now we've the chance. We won't be able to once the 黒人／ボイコットs are after us."
"I'm about done," said Kirkham, "but I can't かもしれない sleep. I'd rather go on."
"Don't be a fool, old chap, you just try. Look at Tretherick." And, indeed, at the first suggestion of a 停止（させる） Tretherick had taken of his boots and flung himself 負かす／撃墜する on the 乾燥した，日照りの grass, pillowing his 長，率いる on his arm, and was now sleeping as calmly as if he were taking an afternoon nap on a summer's day in far-away England.
Morrison followed his example, and Kirkham lay 負かす／撃墜する beside him しっかり掴むing his ライフル銃／探して盗む and 星／主役にするing up at the 深い blue sky that peeped between the leaves. Such a far-away sky, such a beautiful sky, such a cruel hot sky, with never a cloud to break the monotony. It was ridiculous to think he could sleep with such danger 差し迫った, with those blue 注目する，もくろむs of the sky's looking 負かす／撃墜する on him—a hundred 注目する，もくろむs the sky had peering through those 支店s. Nancy Marsden's 注目する，もくろむs were as blue but not so hard—tender, loving, 甘い. What was she doing now? The difference in time was—was—. And trying to calculate the difference in time his natural weariness overcame him, and he too slept, slept so ひどく that he did not waken till Morrison laid his 手渡す on his shoulder and brought him to his feet with a start.
"What—where—?"
"All 権利, old chap. I though you couldn't sleep. It's nearly eleven o'clock, and we've no time to lose. Come on."
So when the Angel of the darker Drink
At last shall find you by the river brink,
And, 申し込む／申し出ing his Cup, 招待する your Soul
前へ／外へ to your lips to quaff—you shall not 縮む.
—Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.
It was harder work walking now than it had been during the night and 早期に morning, and even Kirkham, refreshed as he was by his 激しい sleep, began to feel that the 労働 was telling on him. The ground was rough, large 石／投石するs and 激しく揺するs 妨げるd them at every turn, and though the country was only lightly 木材／素質d, yet there was no 跡をつける, and they had to make their way between clumps of ti-tree, brigalow, and はしけ scrub of all descriptions. いつかs they 緊急発進するd 負かす／撃墜する into the bed of the creek to reach the water-穴を開けるs, but once their canvas water-瓶／封じ込めるs were 十分な they did this as seldom as possible, for though the water was tempting, still their lives depended on their 押し進めるing on. Their 準備／条項s, too, were getting low, for since they had to carry everything, they had brought as little as possible.
"Never mind," said Morrison, cutting them each a slice off their last piece of damper, "we must have done pretty nearly fifty miles by now, and each step we take brings us nearer safety. If we have to 餓死する for a day, it won't do us much 害（を与える） while we have plenty of water."
"I think we're 安全な, Allan," said Kirkham, "it's nearly four o'clock, and I see no 調印するs of our 存在 followed."
"No, no; don't let's begin to holler till we're out of the bush. I shan't feel 安全な till to-night."
"But it's getting on that way now," said Kirkham, "and I see no 調印するs of the blackfellows."
"Begging your 容赦, sir," said Tretherick, "you don't know much about them blackfellows. They'd 跡をつける you 負かす／撃墜する for days, and you wouldn't know anything about it. Just look at them patches of scrub, there might be twenty blackfellows in 'm for all we know."
"Don't croak, Tretherick," said Allan Morrison, "it's no good imagining things."
"Is it possible?" asked Kirkham.
"More than possible. I'm afraid that's just what they will do. Better not walk too の近くに together, makes too good a 的 for the spears, you know; and yet don't get too far apart, in 事例／患者 we have to fight for it. I'm afraid it's all up. I think I saw something こそこそ動く behind that gum tree."
Kirkham stopped dead, and flung his ライフル銃／探して盗む to his shoulder.
"Go on," said Tretherick, catching him 概略で by the shoulder; "go on, mate. For God's sake, don't take no notice. I saw あそこの chap a ４半期/4分の1 an hour agone—only thing to do is to keep straight ahead. It ain't no good 狙撃 at a tree trunk."
It was a 恐ろしい notion to Kirkham, the thought of 存在 followed by a 敵, swift, silent unseen; from every bush, from every 石／投石する and tree trunk might come their death, and yet they were unable to strike a blow in self-defence. The 成果／努力 to walk straight ahead in Tretherick's footsteps cost him more than all the 苦悩 of the past twenty-four hours, and looking 一連の会議、交渉／完成する at his cousin he saw the beads of sweat standing out on his forehead.
"Nervous work, old man," said Allan, wiping his 直面する. "I could manage a stand-up fight better than this, whatever the 半端物s."
"No hope of that, boss," said Tretherick; "we'd better peg on ahead. They mightn't touch us tonight, and then we must make a 押し進める for it and reach the 駅／配置する before they're up with us tomorrow morning. You follow me, and we'll keep in the open as much as we can."
It was all very 井戸／弁護士席 to say they would keep in the open, but the country grew more rugged as they 前進するd, the 石／投石するs and 激しく揺するs were small 玉石s scattered thickly の中で the 厄介な shrubs, which taken together formed excellent cover for the enemy; but still the desperate men marched on in silence, there was no turning 支援する for them. Every now and then Tretherick, with a slight 動議 of his thumb, 示すd to the other two that he had seen a 黒人／ボイコット form stealing away, but Kirkham's unpractised 注目する，もくろむ never 後継するd in distinguishing it. As the time passed on he grew callous, and was able to march on with a bolder 前線. He looked at his watch. Half-past five. In another hour in these latitudes it would be getting dark, and they might 安全に hope—even Tretherick thought so—only another hour—if only—
Tretherick half turned his 長，率いる.
"See that pile of 激しく揺するs, boss, 権利 ahead?"
"Yes."
"There's a ten mile stretch of plain country ahead of that. Hard as a 激しく揺する the ground is, and not a bit of cover for miles 一連の会議、交渉／完成する. Once we get there we're pretty 安全な. We can shoot anything that comes within 範囲."
"Hurrah!" cried Allan Morrison. "I clean forgot that."
"You ain't there, yet," said Tretherick, grimly.
"Why, man, it's not a ４半期/4分の1 of a mile off, and we've been followed for the last hour and a half."
"Longer nor that, you can bet," said Tretherick. "They travel like a house on 解雇する／砲火／射撃, them 黒人／ボイコットs; but they're coming closer now, it's a bad 調印する. However, we can't do no more."
熱望して Kirkham kept his 注目する，もくろむs on the heaps of 激しく揺するs, another five minutes and they would be abreast of it, five more and they would be 安全な on the open plain. The 誘惑 was to put out all his strength and run with all his might for the 安全な 港／避難所, but Tretherick in 前線 was walking as 刻々と as ever, and he turned to speak to Allan who was の近くに behind.
"Wouldn't it be better—" he began.
From the 激しく揺するs to the 権利 （機の）カム hurtling a flight of spears, which whistled past his ears and buried themselves in the ground beyond.
"My God!" He heard a 激しい 落ちる beside him, and saw Tretherick had fallen 今後 on his 直面する. He heard the 割れ目 of his cousin's ライフル銃／探して盗む, but, though he raised his own to his shoulder, could see nothing to 解雇する／砲火／射撃 at.
"Are you 傷つける?" asked Allan. "No. That's good. Now about Tretherick."
Kirkham stooped 負かす／撃墜する and raised up the 負傷させるd man.
"Are you 傷つける, mate?" he asked.
"Done for, boss. Run, run—never mind me."
Morrison looked at his cousin, and stooping they raised the dying man between them, and tried to make for the 激しく揺するs beyond which lay safety. They were 妨害するd with their ライフル銃／探して盗むs, the man was 激しい and could lend no 援助（する） himself, and before they had taken two steps another flight of spears, …を伴ってd this time by a shrill call from the blackfellows, struck Tretherick 公正に／かなり in the chest, and brought both the others to the ground. In a moment the scrub and 激しく揺するs were alive with blackfellows, who evidently thought they had nothing more to 恐れる from the white men; but the next moment they were undeceived, Kirkham had 緊急発進するd to his 膝s and brought his ライフル銃／探して盗む to 耐える on the first he saw. The 発射 took 影響 and the man fell 支援する into the scrub. At the some moment he heard Morrison's ライフル銃／探して盗む behind him. Like 魔法 the enemy disappeared, and except for the man he had 発射, who lay 支援する against a bush 石／投石する dead, there was not one to be seen. He turned 一連の会議、交渉／完成する then.
"Allan! Tretherick!"
"Tretherick's done for, poor chap, and you'd better run for your life—run, old man! They're only driven off for a moment."
"Come, then, if you're sure it's no good our waiting for this poor fellow."
"Not the least in the world. But, old chap, it's a 事例／患者 of save himself who can now. There's a spear in my 脚 and I can't keep up with you. Run, man, run. It's only thirty miles to the 駅／配置する, and if you can only reach the plain you'll be 安全な."
"Rot! As if I'd leave you!"
There was not a moment to be lost. Already Kirkham fancied he could hear the scrub rustling all 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, and he bent over his cousin, and with cruel 親切 dragged him to his feet. The barbed end of a spear had 侵入するd his 権利 脚 just above the 膝. To try and drag it out hurriedly was hopeless, the only thing he could do was to break off the long 軸.
"I can't help it, I know I'll 傷つける you, old man," he said, 切り開く／タクシー／不正アクセスing away at the 堅い, 井戸／弁護士席-seasoned 支持を得ようと努めるd with his knife.
Morrison could not repress a groan.
"Never mind," he said. "I can 耐える it. But the best thing you can do is to put a ピストル in me and leave me."
Would it never break? It seemed to Kirkham, listening to the rustling behind him, that hours had passed since first they were attacked. One blade of his knife broke, and as he fumbled to open the other, Morrison raised his ライフル銃／探して盗む, and a shrill 叫び声をあげる に引き続いて the 報告（する）／憶測 told him it had taken 影響 on some one. Then the other blade broke.
"The devil's in the 支持を得ようと努めるd," said Kirkham, flinging the useless 事例／患者 aside.
"Go—go, old man," 勧めるd Morrison.
"Nonsense. Your knife, man, quick!"
He 後継するd in cutting a groove 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the 堅い spearshaft.
"Break it," said Morrison. "You can now. Oh, never mind me! Quick, it's our only chance."
With a violent wrench that sent the 血 from the 負傷させるd man's 直面する, Kirkham snapped the hard 支持を得ようと努めるd and again dragged his cousin to his feet.
"Now then, Allan," he said, しっかり掴むing him 堅固に by the arm, "we must run for it."
The moment they turned their 支援するs a 嵐／襲撃する of spears whistled 一連の会議、交渉／完成する them. One passed so の近くに to Kirkham's cheek it grazed the 肌, and he gave up all for lost. Morrison hung 激しい on his arm, and though before them stretched the little plain, he felt if only the 黒人／ボイコットs made a 決定するd 急ぐ they were utterly helpless.
"押し進める on—押し進める on," gasped Allan, "while we can. They're stopping to plunder poor Tretherick."
It was even so. Behind them they could hear a yelling and shouting, but for the moment they were undisturbed, and Kirkham put out all his strength and dragged the helpless man on past the heaps of 激しく揺するs 権利 out on to the little plain already darkening before the coming night.
He looked 負かす／撃墜する into his 直面する, white and drawn with 苦痛.
"We must stop now," he said. "You can't stand any more."
"Can't I?" said Morrison. "I must a little その上の. Look behind."
"No 調印するs of them," said Kirkham, laconically. "Are we 安全な?"
"For the time 存在—yes, I think so. Can you 運ぶ／漁獲高 me on a little その上の?"
In dead silence, broken only now and then by a groan from Morrison, they went on for about a mile till they were 権利 out on the plain, and there was no 調印する of any one に引き続いて them; then the dead 負わせる on his arm grew heavier still, and Kirkham looking 負かす／撃墜する saw his companion had fainted. He laid him gently 負かす／撃墜する on the hard, rocky ground, and ひさまづくing 負かす／撃墜する beside him, 注ぐd between his white lips the last remaining 減少（する）s in his whisky-flask. He took his 手渡す between his own and chafed it gently. What could he do? What was there to do? Two of them were dead already—Allan looked dying, and he had no 治療（薬）s at 手渡す—not even a 減少（する） of water now to moisten his lips. Almost he wished he could change places with him. Why should the most helpless of the lot be left? After all, though, the 負傷させる could not be mortal. With proper 器具s at 手渡す it might only be a trifle, but they were out in the bush—thirty miles from the nearest human habitation—surrounded, dogged by 敵意を持った savages; what chance had he of saving the helpless man—what chance, for that 事柄, of saving himself? The light was fading 速く, in another minute or two it would be やめる dark. Ought he to use these last moments of daylight to try and 抽出する the spear-長，率いる, or would he only make 事柄s worse? He rose and walked up and 負かす／撃墜する in his 激しい 苦悩; behind them stretched a 追跡する of 血—the 負傷させる was still bleeding a little—it was useless to try and 信頼できる it with the spear-長，率いる still there. He bent over his cousin again, and Morrison opened his 注目する，もくろむs.
"Rough on you, Ned," he said, "ain't it, old man? How about that spear? Could you get it out?"
Without a word Kirkham took the knife and 削減（する） out the barbed spear-長，率いる, and then with their handkerchiefs and pieces torn from their shirts he bound up the torn and bleeding flesh. It was rough 外科, and Morrison fainted under it again; but there was no time to be lost, and by the time it was done the light had faded altogether. There was nothing to be done, and Kirkham sat 負かす／撃墜する beside his friend and waited. Their water-瓶／封じ込めるs were 乾燥した，日照りの, the creek was nearly half a mile away—even then he did not know how far the nearest water-穴を開ける might be. No, there was nothing more to be done, unless—what if he were to start off for the 駅／配置する at once, and be 支援する with help before morning? For a moment the idea took 十分な 所有／入手 of him. It seemed as if he had 削減（する） the Gordian knot and solved all their difficulties. He took out his watch and began to calculate. Already it was past seven. At the very quickest he could not reach the 駅／配置する under ten hours, and be 支援する in, say, three at the earliest—that would be by eight o'clock in the morning. Long before then it would be 幅の広い daylight, and—no, that 計画／陰謀 was hopeless, and before his 注目する，もくろむs rose a 見通し of two desolate, 負傷させるd men slowly dying of hunger and かわき, using their last remaining strength to keep off the waiting blackfellows who, as they grew 女性, grew hourly bolder and bolder. The vivid picture drew a groan from his lips which roused the other from his stupor.
"Are you there, Ned?" he asked.
"Yes, old chap. How do you feel now?"
"Done for." Then he roused himself, and said, briskly—
"You'd better be off, Ned. Keep by the creek, and you'll do it easily now. It's not やめる twenty-nine miles, and if you stick to the creek you can't get lost."
"I know," said Kirkham, dully. "I've looked at it from all points, and I see it can't かもしれない be done."
"Nonsense, man! The sooner you start the better."
"And you?"
"井戸／弁護士席, having a gamey 脚, it's （疑いを）晴らす I must stop here till you fetch me."
"Which I couldn't かもしれない do before eight o'clock tomorrow morning."
"If you stop here ガス／無駄話ing," said Morrison, with a cheerfulness that went to his companion's heart, "it'll be nine."
"Look here," burst out Kirkham, passionately, "what's the good of talking like that? You know very 井戸／弁護士席 I'm not going to leave you to die. I can't do it."
"事柄s won't be mended by your stopping to die also."
"At daylight tomorrow the devils'll be after us. Even I could not fail to follow our 跡をつけるs, your 脚 has bled so. 本気で now, what chance would you have against them?"
"本気で, they were such a pack of 臆病な／卑劣な brutes I believe I might 持つ／拘留する out till you （機の）カム. Go, Ned, go, old chap, go! Think of your mother—think of your sweetheart. If you ever cared a straw for Nancy Marsden, go now."
"Allan," said Kirkham, under cover of the 不明瞭, "did you care?"
"Did I? Do I? Good God! There, there, I'm talking like a sentimental baby; but, old chap," his 発言する／表明する was hoarse with emotion, "it's come to a 事柄 of life or death now, so I don't mind telling you I loved her—good God, how I loved her! It's some 慰安 to me to know she'll have you and be happy. Go, old chap—go for her sake. Good-bye, think of me kindly いつかs."
"It's no good, Allan, I'm not going. Even for her sake, I'm not going. How could I look her in the 直面する and tell her I'd left you to die alone?"
"Ned, your staying won't help me. Man, it's a useless sacrifice. Your going is my only chance. You may bring help in time—you probably will, if only you'll hurry. You're sacrificing my life and your own 同様に from a stupid idea of honour. Any one who wasn't a pig-長，率いるd fool would see that."
He struggled to his feet and leaned ひどく on his cousin's shoulder.
"Don't let me have your death on my 良心. I 約束d your mother to look after her boy."
The unbidden 涙／ほころびs rose to Kirkham's 注目する，もくろむs. In his last extremity this man had no thought for himself. He had no kith or 肉親，親類 to watch for him, 非，不，無 近づく enough to 嘆く／悼む his loss, and yet he could think of another man's mother, another man's sweetheart. Kirkham 押し進めるd him 負かす／撃墜する again.
"It's no good, Allan," he said, gently. "Believe me, even for my own peace of mind I can't leave you. Don't ask me again, old chap. Suppose we 残り／休憩（する） now till the moon's up and then discuss the best means of 押し進めるing on."
"Ned, I'm useless—a スピードを出す／記録につける—an encumbrance that must mean death."
"Nonsense. You can shoot. We've plenty of cartridges, and I mean to pull through somehow."
"Let's cross the plain, you hoist me up a tree, and then go on. I could 持つ／拘留する out then."
"We'll see. I'm going to sleep now."
"You're a fool, Ned," said Allan Morrison, but he しっかり掴むd the 手渡す nearest him and wrung it with all his strength. They lay 負かす／撃墜する 味方する by 味方する, and soon by his 正規の／正選手 breathing Kirkham knew that the 証拠不十分 and weariness had overpowered his companion, and he was sleeping soundly. To him sleep would not come. One by one he watched the 星／主役にするs like points of gold come out in the （疑いを）晴らす velvety sky, and went over and over again in his mind the events of the last thirty-six hours. Webb was dead and Tretherick was dead. Allan was 負傷させるd, their chances of life had dwindled 負かす／撃墜する to nothing at all, tomorrow would see the end. He might save himself still, the man beside him would never 非難する him he knew, and then he fell to 推測するing what life would be 価値（がある） bought at such a price. And yet he could not save him—could only die with him. If their positions had been 逆転するd, could he, he wondered, have 行為／法令／行動するd as this man had done. Could he have sent another man to his sweetheart's 武器 with a smile on his lips? Would he have given one thought to another man's mother? So slowly the minutes dragged on—so slowly—and Allan slept calmly on undisturbed by the thought that tomorrow's 夜明けing could only bring him a terrible death. But at least they would sell their lives dearly, he thought grimly, and they would not die unavenged. On the still, hot night 空気／公表する rose the quavering cry of the dingoes, and from the creek below rose the mournful wail of the curlew. Dirge-like it sounded, their dirge, and he sat up instinctively しっかり掴むing his ライフル銃／探して盗む and watched the 縁 of the red moon rise slowly over the tree-最高の，を越すs. Then he stooped and wakened Morrison.
"Allan, I'm going 負かす／撃墜する to the creek to fill our water-瓶／封じ込めるs, and then we'd better be off."
"You won't save yourself?"
"Not without you."
"You are a good fellow, Ned, and Nancy Marsden has lost a treasure of a husband."
"He's not lost yet," said Kirkham, setting off for the creek. It was more than half an hour before he was 支援する again with the canvas water-瓶／封じ込めるs filled and flung across his shoulder.
"The creek takes a turn there," he said. "If we take to it again after we've crossed the plain it'll be time enough. Now, Allan, you must lean on me."
Morrison しっかり掴むd his arm, and they began to move slowly across the plain. Very, very slowly, for it was evident by his white 直面する and 会社／堅い の近くにd lips that it was only by the greatest 成果／努力 that the 負傷させるd man moved at all. Neither spoke—all their thoughts were centred in the one 広大な／多数の／重要な 成果／努力 to 押し進める on. Half way across Morrison paused and looked into his companion's 直面する.
"You see," he said. "Two hours on level ground. We 港／避難所't done four miles. Is it 価値（がある） it, old man? Think what it will be in the scrub!"
"We'll pull through somehow," said Kirkham, as cheerfully as he could; "suppose we （一定の）期間 a bit now, and give your 脚 a 残り／休憩（する）."
"No, no. It'll only get stiff. Let's 押し進める on, if you won't see the uselessness of it all," and they 押し進めるd on wearily.
Such a still hot night, such a perfect night, only from the direction of the creek （機の）カム always the wail of the curlews, and now and them from Morrison's lips 苦痛 would wring a sigh which was half a moan and went straight to his companion's heart. Again and again they had to 残り／休憩（する）, and it was two o'clock in the morning before they were in the scrub once more. They 残り／休憩（する）d there for a little, and Kirkham, 緊急発進するing 負かす／撃墜する the 法外な bank to the creek, filled his water-瓶／封じ込める to bathe Morrison's 脚, which was now fearfully hot and inflamed. They did not speak much, where was the use? The one man had done his best to induce the other to escape, and since he would not, no words of his, he felt, could thank him for so 広大な／多数の／重要な a sacrifice; 事実上, he was giving him his life, whether they escaped or not he had made the sacrifice, and Allan Morrison had no words in which to thank him, only with all his failing strength he 押し進めるd on. No word of （民事の）告訴, no cry of 苦痛 burst from him, and his companion only knew by the 負わせる on his arm, and his 直面する, white and drawn in the moonlight, how much he was 苦しむing.
But at last human endurance could stand no more, and just as the first faint streaks of 夜明け in the east began to pale the light of the moon, he sank 負かす／撃墜する on the hard, baked earth.
"I can't go a step その上の," he sighed.
"A little その上の," 勧めるd Kirkham, "only a little その上の. It can't be fourteen miles to the 駅／配置する now."
"I can't go a step," gasped the other, and it was painfully evident that he spoke the truth. "You go—go now. You'll yet be in time."
But Kirkham shook his 長，率いる.
"I'll see you through, old chap," he said, as cheerfully as he could. "Don't give in yet. Take a little 残り／休憩（する）, and then we'll go on again. We can make a fight for it now till we reach the 駅／配置する. With every step we take there's more chance of our 苦境 存在 discovered."
Morrison の近くにd his 注目する，もくろむs, and Kirkham lay 負かす／撃墜する beside him for a few moments, and 星／主役にするd at the coming day. All night long he had been going over and over in his own mind every possible 計画／陰謀 for their escape. Things had looked 黒人／ボイコット enough then, they were blackest of all now. They could but put their 支援するs against a tree and fight till the bitter end. Instinctively he 示すd a tree, a tall white gum, standing alone somewhat, （疑いを）晴らす of 小衝突 and undergrowth, and の近くに at the water's 辛勝する／優位. That would answer their 目的; but what then? As long as they were wakeful—as long as they had cartridges, they could keep the 黒人／ボイコットs at bay; but the children of the 国／地域 were 患者, watchful, untiring, they could wait, and would wait till the white men were helpless. Their 準備／条項s were all gone, but at least they would have water, and without water they could not live. He got up and looked at the tree more closely. From the high bank above there was nothing to 妨げる the 黒人／ボイコットs from throwing 負かす／撃墜する their spears on them; but any man standing there must needs form a fair 的 for their ライフル銃／探して盗むs. No, there could be no better place. Then he touched Allan's shoulder, for the sun was up now—a 燃やすing, 熱帯の sun—and from every bush and scrub （機の）カム the cry of the birds, their welcome to the newborn day. In silence Morrison 許すd himself to be helped 負かす／撃墜する the 法外な bank, and then, once with his 支援する against the solid tree trunk, looked up in its 支店s.
"Couldn't you 運ぶ／漁獲高 me up there?" he said, with a trace of 活気／アニメーション in his tired 発言する／表明する. "I guess I could 持つ／拘留する out then while you went along and fetched help. The niggers would wait 一連の会議、交渉／完成する me, and I really don't think they would pester you at all. You could do it in four or five hours."
"By Jove," said Kirkham, "I never thought of that! But it's too late now. We'd better stick together till tonight, and then I can do it. 元気づける up, Allan; only twelve hours—you can 持つ／拘留する out that long, can't you?"
The older man smiled faintly, and bent 負かす／撃墜する over the water to bathe his 直面する. He looked 疲れた／うんざりした and worn, hardly 有能な of 耐えるing up through the long hot day; but at least the の近くに proximity of the water was a blessing beyond count, and Kirkham washed out and 適用するd afresh, 冷静な／正味の wet 包帯s to his 負傷させる. He could not stand now, could only 嘘（をつく） with his 支援する against the tree-trunk, and his ライフル銃／探して盗む しっかり掴むd 堅固に in his 手渡す. Kirkham took up his 駅／配置する beside him, and so the long, dreary day began.
When first the 黒人／ボイコットs （機の）カム up they could hardly have told, but soon after they had settled themselves （機の）カム a flight of spears out of the scrub on the bank a little to the left and fell just short of them.
"の近くに," commented Morrison. "No, no," as Kirkham raised his ライフル銃／探して盗む; "don't waste cartridges. We've only eleven left; don't 解雇する／砲火／射撃 unless they show in the open."
But at first the blackfellows contented themselves with にわか雨ing spears from the scrub, till at last one, bolder than his fellows, crept along the 辛勝する／優位 of the bank just opposite them, his naked 団体／死体 hardly showing against the dark earth.
"You take him," muttered Morrison. "You've a better chance of a good 目的（とする） than me. For God's sake, don't 行方不明になる, and it'll perhaps 脅す the devils for the 残り／休憩（する） of the day."
Kirkham waited till he got 権利 opposite, then raising his ライフル銃／探して盗む, he 解雇する／砲火／射撃d. There was a shrill 叫び声をあげる, and as the smoke （疑いを）晴らすd off he saw that if he had not killed the man he had at least 負傷させるd him so 厳しく that he was unable to move away.
"That's all 権利," said Morrison, with a half sigh; "poor beggar, he'll be of more service to us now than if he were dead. The 残り／休憩（する） won't forget that's a place to be 避けるd as long as he's struggling there. They'll reckon on 餓死するing us out now."
He was 権利. The 黒人／ボイコットs （性的に）いたずらするd them no more that morning, and the long hot day stole wearily on. Long before midday Kirkham was ravenous, but he could only be thankful that かわき was not 追加するd to their other 裁判，公判s, and when he looked at his companion's 紅潮／摘発するd, hot 直面する, he knew that only beside the waterhole could he have kept his senses at all. It was 疲れた／うんざりした work, that waiting. It seemed as if the day would never end. First one man took the watch and then the other, and Kirkham was surprised to find he could 現実に sleep, sleep ひどく, too, his slumber 無傷の by even the 影をつくる／尾行する of a dream. The two men grew very の近くに together as the long hours passed by, very の近くに indeed, and opened their hearts to each other, as they would never have done save in the presence of almost 確かな death.
"You have given your life for me, Ned," said Morrison more than once. "I'm a lonely sort of chap, and never had any one to care for me much, and—I—I—井戸／弁護士席, it won't do you much good, my 感謝, but I'm 感謝する all the same."
"Rot!" remonstrated Kirkham; "tonight we'll both be out of it," but the other man shook his 長，率いる. He was weak and ill, and had long ago given up hope.
Midday （機の）カム and the heat grew sweltering, and the 支店s of the tall gum tree afforded but scant shade from the 燃やすing rays of the 熱帯の sun. Then the afternoon stole slowly on and the 影をつくる／尾行するs grew longer and longer.
"元気づける up," said Kirkham as he watched the long 影をつくる／尾行する of their tree creep slowly across the water-穴を開ける. "It'll be dark in an hour."
Morrison only groaned. He was not 苦しむing the pangs of hunger, he was too ill for that; he was 簡単に worn out and hopeless.
"At dusk," he said, "those devils will come on again, and God knows we won't have much chance then."
Kirkham agreed with him, and turning over tried to sleep a little longer. He would save all his strength, for he had a 旅行 before him if they 後継するd in keeping off the enemy tonight. But sleep would not come now, not even a doze, so he sat up, and leaning against the tree kept watch.
And just as the sun was setting and the 影をつくる／尾行するs had grown long and 深い as contrasted with the 有望な sunlight, the place grew 公正に／かなり alive with naked blackfellows, up on the bank above, 負かす／撃墜する on the other 味方する of the water-穴を開ける, 群れているing through the scrub all 一連の会議、交渉／完成する; it seemed impossible they could ever escape. In the presence of danger Allan Morrison pulled himself together and struggled to his feet, supporting himself against the tree trunk, but though the blackfellows showed themselves 自由に and kept them on the 警報, stealing 一連の会議、交渉／完成する on every 味方する, the lesson they had learned in the morning stood them in good stead, and they never （機の）カム within 範囲. Still it was terribly 疲れた／うんざりしたing, and Kirkham knew if it went on a little longer they could not 持つ／拘留する out against it.
"Luckily," said Morrison, as if divining his thoughts, "they'll （疑いを）晴らす out as soon as it's dark."
"But they have us in a cage here."
"Still, I don't believe they'll come on. They're afraid of the bunyip so 近づく the water."
Lower and lower sank the sun, and when at last his 縁 touched the horizon, the 黒人／ボイコットs, as it were, concentrated themselves for one last 成果／努力. They were not 平易な to see, those naked 黒人／ボイコット 人物／姿／数字s, that seemed to understand how to assimilate themselves with the scrub and to take advantage of every bit of cover, but the two lonely men seemed to feel their presence all around them. There was a strange rustling in the scrub, a breath of 勝利，勝つd sighed mysteriously, a twig snapped on the bank above, some pellets of earth fell 負かす／撃墜する, gently, slowly, silently, as if afraid to break the stillness. Kirkham moved uneasily, and Morrison sighed ひどく.
"I think," he said, "there's something in that patch of scrub just on 最高の，を越す of the bank, Ned. If we don't do something now it's all up. You マリファナ at the ti-tree, and I'll go for that dark 影をつくる／尾行する by the スピードを出す／記録につける over there."
A sharp cry followed the 割れ目 of the ライフル銃／探して盗むs and Kirkham knew if he had not killed his man he had at least 負傷させるd him 厳しく, while Morrison, in the 猛烈な／残忍な joy of 戦う／戦い, forgot for a moment his 苦痛 and stepped out やめる briskly.
"Killed my man, by Jove!" he cried. "I saw him 倒れる over behind the スピードを出す／記録につける without a sound. Now we're 安全な till morning."
負かす／撃墜する sank the sun behind the horizon and the 不明瞭 （機の）カム 速く upon them, 広範囲にわたる over the land like a 広大な／多数の／重要な cloud.
"We're 安全な," said Kirkham, with a sigh, and even as he spoke a flight of spears （機の）カム whistling about them in the dusk. Morrison sank 負かす／撃墜する wearily.
"It's the last 成果／努力," he said. "They've done for the night now, I guess. Now, Ned, my boy, you can be off in a minute or two. The sooner the better. I shall be 権利 as ninepence till you come 支援する."
It might have been so, but Kirkham utterly 辞退するd to leave him there. It seemed to him too の近くに to the danger they had just escaped. So, supporting him, they crept slowly 負かす／撃墜する the creek under the 影をつくる／尾行する of the bank. 負傷させるd as Morrison was they had done sixteen miles the night before, and it seemed to him that if they could 遂行する the thirteen that still lay between them and McAlister's together, so much the better, but not half an hour after they had left their 避難所ing tree, Allan let himself 沈む on the ground, and 辞退するd to 動かす.
"I can't, indeed I can't—you don't know what agony it is. Keep straight on till you come to McAlister's, and then fetch them 支援する for me."
"But suppose I get lost?"
"You can't if you stick to the creek. Keep straight on till you come to a water-穴を開ける with a 地位，任命する and rail 盗品故買者 一連の会議、交渉／完成する it. McAlister's is just above. Hurry on. So long, old chap."
Kirkham settled his comrade with his 支援する to the bank, filled his water 瓶／封じ込める, and left the ライフル銃／探して盗むs and all the remaining cartridges beside him.
"Good-bye, old chap," he echoed, wringing his 手渡す, and then started on his 疲れた／うんざりした march 負かす／撃墜する the creek.
He was ravenous, he was 疲れた／うんざりした with the constant 労働 and watchfulness of the past three days, but the knowledge that it was nearly ended, he was 近づくing his goal, and safety and 慰安 lay there, gave him fresh strength and courage, besides, Allan's life depended on him now. He could go but slowly, for it was very dark, darker than ever 負かす／撃墜する in the bed of the creek, and the 落し穴s by the way were 非常に／多数の. Every sound, too, made him start painfully, there was something 怪しげな in the croaking of the frogs, the snapping of a twig, a rustling in the bushes 総計費, a splash as he passed a water-穴を開ける; all sorts of 恐れるs and fancies 攻撃する，非難するd him. He might 落ちる and break his 脚, even a sprained ankle would 廃虚 them both; he might 行方不明になる his way; he might have done that already, and go walking on up the wrong creek until the 黒人／ボイコット-fellows overtook him and 殺人d him, as they assuredly would. He had broken his revolver on the way 負かす／撃墜する from Port Darwin; he had left his ライフル銃／探して盗む behind with Morrison; he was 非武装の, and if he did not reach McAlister's before morning he had little difficulty in foretelling his 運命／宿命. How strange and solemn it was there alone in the desolate bush. The night was 十分な of sound, too—weird, strange noises, the cry of birds and of insects, the trickling of water as it flowed gently between the 石／投石するs. Then the moon rose, and the dark 影をつくる／尾行するs, contrasting with the brilliant white light, made the bush more weird than ever. Once the water stretched 権利 across from bank to bank, and he was 強いるd to 緊急発進する up the 法外な bank and make his way through the scrub, and his 進歩 was thus slower than ever, for however 厚い the scrub, he dared not lose sight of the creek, knowing as he did it was his only 保護（する）／緊急輸入制限. His bushcraft was scanty, and many were the 恐ろしい tales he had heard of men lost in the bush. It would be 平易な enough to get lost, he knew. Once lose sight of the watercourse and he could not be sure of finding it again, but it was slow 進歩, terribly slow, and the minutes seemed racing away. Once he stepped の中で a herd of sleeping cattle that rose and snorted and dashed away through the scrub and fern, bellowing in fright. It was the first 記念品 he had had since they left the hut of the presence of civilised man, and he あられ／賞賛するd it with delight; but his heart sank again as he remembered that all the cattle within a 半径 of eighty miles probably belonged to McAlister, and the 駅／配置する was—it was eleven o'clock by his watch—surely it could not be four miles off now. He was all but dead （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域, but still he struggled on, now walking in the bed of the creek itself, now 押し進めるing his way through the scrub and undergrowth that fringed the bank. Twelve, half-past, and still no 調印する of human habitation, and he sat 負かす／撃墜する at length and gave way to despair. Not fourteen miles, and he had been walking since half-past seven. Had he 行方不明になるd his way? had he by some wonderful mischance got on the wrong creek? could he かもしれない have passed the 駅／配置する in the 不明瞭? 総計費 in the tree above a nightjar was crying, mournfully, "Mopoke, mopoke," and it seemed to him a very dirge.
"So long, old chap." How cheerfully Allan had spoken, so cheerfully, and yet the night must have had far more terrors for him lying there, helplessly waiting; and thinking of him. Kirkham rose and struggled on again.
The creek took a turn here, and as he 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd the bend he flung his hat in the 空気／公表する and gave vent to a wild hurrah, for there before his very 注目する，もくろむs in the still white moonlight lay a large waterhole—pool he would have called it—and 一連の会議、交渉／完成する it ran the welcome three-rail 盗品故買者. Now at last he had reached his goal, his 旅行 was ended—there was a singing in his ears and the whole landscape swam before his 注目する，もくろむs. With a 広大な／多数の／重要な 成果／努力 he 征服する／打ち勝つd his 証拠不十分, 緊急発進するd up the bank, crossed the 盗品故買者, and 公正に／かなり ran as 急速な／放蕩な as his failing strength would 許す に向かって the buildings which stood in the middle of the paddock. McAlister's 駅／配置する was 原始の in the extreme, and consisted of three small 厚板 huts, from the nearest of which several nondescript cattle dogs dashed out, and loudly 表明するd their entire disapprobation of the presence of a stranger. Then a man appeared in the doorway, sleepily rubbing his 注目する，もくろむs.
"Why—God bless my soul! Possum! Bounder! 負かす／撃墜する dogs, 負かす／撃墜する! Where the devil did you come from, mate?"
Kirkham つまずくd up to the doorway, and sank 負かす／撃墜する on the （法廷の）裁判 which is always at the door of an Australian hut.
"The blackfellows—the myalls—" he gasped. "They attacked our （軍の）野営地，陣営—Morrison's—and—and—I want help!"
"The h—they did! Rouse out, boys, rouse out! Hi! Some one call the boss! Now then, look alive there. You ain't gettin' ready for a funeral this trip."
Two other men appeared on the scene, and from the other hut （機の）カム McAlister and his son—two raw-boned Scotchmen—and in a few broken words Kirkham managed to tell his tale. They gave him food and drink, and while two of them went for the horses the 残り／休憩（する） 熱望して questioned him, and began making 迅速な 準備s for setting out.
"Ou, ay, a ken the watter-穴を開ける weel eneuch," said old McAlister, as Kirkham tried to 述べる the water-穴を開ける where he had left his cousin. "Bunyip's 穴を開ける we ca' it. It's no abune sax miles frae here, gin ye ride through Rum ジャングル, but I'm no sayin' ye were no wise to come by the creek, ou ay, it was the 権利 gait for ye. Come now, can ye ride 支援する and show us whaur ye left the laddie. I'm no blamin' him, but he were unco 無分別な, I'm thinkin'."
By the time Kirkham had snatched a hurried meal, the horses were saddled and the men ready, and they 始める，決める out through the bush, riding straight through the scrub, or, as McAlister called it, Rum ジャングル.
"Ye （機の）カム' no sma' 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, mate," said he. "If ye'd kenned the way ye could ha' been here in いっそう少なく than twal hours, but if ye'd 試みる／企てるd it it's no improbable ye'd ha' ended your days there;" a 声明 which Kirkham, looking at the dense scrub, believed.
A new 恐れる took 所有／入手 of him now, lest he should be unable to point out where he had left Morrison, but the men 棒 刻々と on, and in little over an hour they were looking over the creek, and the water-穴を開ける where he had spent all the day before gleamed unfamiliarly in the distance.
"I don't know—," he began.
"That's the Bunyip Waterhole, over there," said one of the men, 示すing it with his whip 扱う, "and you come half a mile 負かす／撃墜する. 井戸／弁護士席, he せねばならない be somewhere about here," and he put his 手渡す to his mouth and gave a long shrill coo-ey.
There was a moment's silence, and Ned Kirkham could hear the （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing of his own heart; then the reply （機の）カム 支援する a little way その上の 負かす／撃墜する the creek.
疲れた／うんざりした as he was, Kirkham reached the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す first.
"Allan, Allan," he said, and his 発言する／表明する was choked, "thank God you're all 権利!"
Morrison しっかり掴むd his 手渡す, and the moonlight showed the 涙／ほころびs in his 注目する，もくろむs.
"It's been such a long night," he said; "but I shall be able to dance at your wedding after all, old chap."
Kirkham smiled faintly. The 緊張する was over now, and he hardly felt able to move. Sleep was overpowering him, and he sat 負かす／撃墜する on a fallen スピードを出す／記録につける and leaned 支援する against the bank and の近くにd his 注目する，もくろむs. 薄暗い and far away he heard the 発言する／表明するs of the 救助（する） party discussing the 状況／情勢, the younger men eager and anxious to follow up their advantage and punish the 黒人／ボイコットs there and then, McAlister, with Scotch 警告を与える, pointing out that he and Morrison could certainly be of no 援助, and exhorting them to wait a little. He did not hear the end of it, he had fallen into a 深い sleep, and was only roused by a 手渡す on his shoulder.
"Rouse out there, mon. They hotheaded laddies are away after the myalls. But ye twa'll just come awa' hame wi' me."
Were it not better,
Because that I am more than ありふれた tall,
That I did 控訴 me all points like a man?
—AS YOU LIKE IT.
"I 宣言する, Phoebe, those bees of yours are getting on splendidly. Do you think you'll have any honey?"
The 蜂の巣s were only gin 事例／患者s 範囲d along the orchard 盗品故買者 on a 概略で made stand and shaded by a still rougher shingle roof, a 見本／標本 of Phoebe's 技術 in carpentering, but this 罰金 sunny day in December the bees were hard at work; the sound of their humming was in the 空気／公表する; they seemed healthy and 井戸／弁護士席; they were her very own; her little 計画／陰謀 seemed on the way to success, and she was happier, she thought, than she had ever been in her life before.
"Honey? Of course they'll have honey. As soon as I get my allowance this month I'll buy a smoker, and then I'll be able to look at them and see if I せねばならない 略奪する them, and—I wonder if I could afford a でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる 蜂の巣? That's what I せねばならない have. But it would cost at least a guinea, besides the trouble of getting it out here. I wonder if it would 支払う／賃金 to have it, I believe it would."
"Oh, but you want a new dress, and you 港／避難所't a decent hat, and your boots—Have you looked at your boots lately?"
Phoebe ちらりと見ることd 負かす／撃墜する at them.
"That's the worst of it," she sighed. "I want so many things, don't I? And I'm likely to go on wanting all the days of my life as far as I can see if I don't make the 成果／努力 on my own account. Nan, I must do something. I'll get the 蜂の巣."
"You can't dress yourself in a 蜂の巣, silly. You can't wear it on your feet."
"I'm not so sure about that." Phoebe nodded her 長，率いる sagely. Those six 蜂の巣s of bees, all her own, had done her this much good. She was beginning to have some 約束 in her own opinion. Had not they all scoffed at her when she 蜂の巣d that 逸脱する 群れている, and yet, in spite of all drawbacks, here in the third summer were there not six 蜂の巣s in 十分な working order? "If honey is a marketable 商品／必需品—" she began.
"If? But you know father says it isn't. He only laughed at you."
"I'm not sure I care much what father thinks, if he'll only let me alone."
"It seems to me," said Nancy, settling herself 負かす／撃墜する on the grass and returning to the 支配する, "you want a good 取引，協定 more than you can buy with your poor little L1 13s 4d, without thinking about 蜂の巣s or smokers or anything else."
"It would cost so little to 始める，決める me going," sighed Phoebe. "Five 続けざまに猛撃するs would be wealth, and ten 続けざまに猛撃するs would just give me almost everything that I 手配中の，お尋ね者. It is hard, isn't it? If it were one of the boys just 手配中の，お尋ね者 ten 続けざまに猛撃するs to give him a start in life, it would be 捨てるd up somehow, and I don't believe it would be such hard work either. I'm sure father puts that much into 株 and loses it often, and just says nothing about it; but because I'm a girl—"
"You're 推定する／予想するd to get married."
"No, I'm not. They're always impressing on me that no man is likely ever to want to marry me."
"But they 推定する／予想する you to get married all the same. The boys all 宣言する you might have Mr Davidson if you went the 権利 way about it."
"That old thing!" Phoebe stamped her foot on the ground and the 涙／ほころびs of mortification （機の）カム into her 注目する，もくろむs. "A ありふれた old baldheaded thing like that who hasn't got an 'h' in his vocabulary. Anybody's good enough for me, evidently. They just don't want an old maiden sister to be 扶養家族 on them. They want to get rid of me."
"Oh, shut up, Phoeb. You know he's got plenty of money, and you could just do whatever you liked. You needn't bother about him at all."
Phoebe turned on her sister in a 炎 of 怒り／怒る.
"Nancy, you せねばならない be ashamed of yourself. Oh, yes, I know—lots of women talk that way, but that doesn't make any better of it. It makes it worse. It's wicked, and if only I were a good-looking, handsome woman—"
"井戸／弁護士席, Phoebe, if you were—"
"Oh, mother, I didn't see you!"
"No, I know you didn't. You were too busy declaiming. I'll just tell you what, though, Phoebe, if you stand 十分な in the sun like that, with your hat on the 支援する of your 長，率いる, your complexion will just be 廃虚d. My mama used to say—"
"Phoeb don't care," put in Nancy, あわてて.
All the family hated to hear their maternal grandmother 引用するd. She had been dead for many years, and they were not 用意が出来ている to 受託する her opinions as gospel, and their mother did not like it if they hinted, as they not unfrequently did, that the old lady's opinions were a little out of date.
"Phoeb don't care," went on Nancy. "She thinks—"
"But she せねばならない care," sighed Mrs Marsden, seating herself on the grass beside her younger daughter, and 調査するing the 年上の one somewhat discontentedly, "and looks are so important to a woman. A man 井戸／弁護士席 sunburnt looks nice, but a woman—" Mrs Marsden shook her 長，率いる. She could not put into words what she thought of a sunburnt woman. "It looks so—so ありふれた," she got out at last.
Phoebe laughed.
"Goodness me, mother, is that all? I don't mind one bit 存在 ありふれた. It seems to me the ありふれた folks have the best of it. The girls you call ありふれた have real good times, while we, while I—"
"I'm sure I don't know what you want," sighed her mother. "I suppose you're just 同様に off as most other girls like you, and if you want more money you've only got to—there's Mr Davidson would, I'm sure, if you went the 権利 way—"
"Mother, how dare you," cried Phoebe. "You're as bad as the 残り／休憩（する）. Just because that wretched old man （機の）カム out here the last two Sundays and paid me a little attention, to go on like that. It's indecent, that's what it is. You don't know how I hate—"
"But, my dear child," Mrs Marsden began, persuasively, "I just must speak to you about that. I （機の）カム out on 目的."
"Then for goodness sake, mother, 持つ／拘留する your tongue."
"Nonsense, Phoebe," said her mother, tartly, "that's not the way to speak to me. Sit 負かす／撃墜する at once and listen to what I've got to say. I'm only speaking for your good."
Phoebe sat 負かす／撃墜する reluctantly beside her sister.
"It was impossible for us to help noticing what 広大な／多数の／重要な attention Mr Davidson paid you last Sunday. Now a man like he is is bound to mean something. He's not a young flippant—"
"He's forty if he's a day," said Phoebe, sullenly.
"井戸／弁護士席, what if he is? It's a very good sensible age, and he evidently wants to marry you, Phoebe."
"I don't care if he does," said Phoebe, still sullen. It was no compliment to be admired by Mr Davidson. "He'll just have to want, I'm afraid."
"Phoebe, how can you be so recklessly foolish? He isn't rich, but he is 公正に／かなり 井戸／弁護士席-to-do, and you would be comfortably settled in life."
"I don't like him," said Phoebe, conscious how feeble the 反対 would sound in her mother's ears, but anxious, if possible, not to shock her.
"Oh, but you'd get to like him in time. A girl always likes a man who's good to her after she's married."
"It's so rare, I suppose," said Phoebe, 激しく. "Anyhow, I'm not going to marry any man on the chance of getting to like him afterwards."
"What are you going to do, then?"
"I'm going to love the man I marry with all my heart and soul and 団体／死体."
"Phoebe!" Mrs Marsden had an idea her daughter was 引用するing from the Bible, and she thought it was sacrilegious; she was やめる sure that it was indecent for any young girl to talk like that, therefore she said again with deeper displeasure in her 発言する／表明する, "Phoebe!"
"井戸／弁護士席, mother, what's wrong now?"
"I hate to hear you speak like that. Of course a woman loves her husband, we all know that. You would love Mr Davidson once you said 'yes' to him."
"井戸／弁護士席 then, mother, I'm going to love the man I marry long before I say 'yes' to him. Love don't come just because a man asks you to marry him."
"When girls are 適切に brought up—" began perplexed Mrs Marsden.
"Then, mother, do just suppose for a change I'm 適切に brought up—I'm sure you did your best—and tell me what you want?"
"I want you to be civil to Mr Davidson, not turn your 支援する on him and leave the room like you did yesterday. It would be such a 慰安 to me, such a 負担 off my mind if I knew you were comfortably settled in life."
"Poor mother," Phoebe said, pityingly; she was so conscious of her mother's hard life, she understood her difficulties so 完全に, and she would have helped to the very 最大の of her ability, but sacrifice herself in his way she could not. "I'm sorry, mother, indeed I am, but I couldn't marry Mr Davidson, even if he asked, which he hasn't done."
"But, Phoebe," cried Mrs Marsden, 猛烈に, "what do you suppose will become of you?"
"Indeed, I don't know," said that young lady, with a 激しい sigh; "it's a thing that troubles me a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定."
"You know your father can't leave you anything. It's as much as we can do to manage now, and how the boys are to be started in life I'm sure I don't know. And you—井戸／弁護士席, you're twenty-four, Phoebe, you're no longer young, and if you don't take this chance—"
"Mother," interrupted Phoebe, 激しく, "a man at twenty-four is little more than a boy. Why must you talk as if I'm やめる old, and my life was over?"
"So it is for a woman, for an unmarried woman twenty-five is old, and her life is 事実上 over, she can't 選ぶ and choose after five-and-twenty, and you'll be that very soon. Now if you take this chance—"
"井戸／弁護士席, then, mother, if I take this chance, as you call it, I'll just tell you what'll happen. I'd be 井戸／弁護士席-dressed, to begin with; I might travel and see something of the world; I'd be much more entertaining and at my 緩和する when I wasn't wondering if people were noticing how shabby my boots were, and how very old-fashioned and unbecoming my dress, and you always say a young married woman is more attractive and entertaining than a girl—"
"Indeed she is," said Mrs Marsden, with hearty assent; "you would really have a good time, Phoebe; I'm glad you're beginning to see things in their proper light. I always say you're not bad looking, you know I do, but you want to be 井戸／弁護士席-dressed, you don't look 井戸／弁護士席 in any simple little thing like Nancy."
"And," went on Phoebe, utterly ignoring her mother's 発言／述べるs, "when I become so attractive, some one would likely 落ちる in love with me; and if he did—I'm not accustomed to that sort of thing you know—I'd be pretty sure to 落ちる in love with him, and then I should certainly run away with him and—"
"Phoebe, how dare you say such a wicked thing! I'm ashamed that a child of 地雷 should be so wicked, so 妥当でない, so—"
"That's just 正確に／まさに what I want to 避ける. I'm just telling you what would happen if I did that, as sure as the sun will rise to-morrow."
"You are talking in an unladylike, 妥当でない manner, a way in which you have no 商売／仕事 to speak to me. I can 許す you, because I know you don't understand what you are 説."
"Don't I?" said Phoebe. "I understand 完全に."
"Then you—"
"Oh, I 認める you it isn't pretty, but I must show you I do understand."
"No lady ever 会談 of leaving her husband; of loving another man; of running away with him."
"Doesn't she? She does it instead, then. At least, I should."
"Phoebe, I will not have you speak in that way to me."
"Which way? Oh, you're shocked because I talked of running away with the man I loved. I suppose you do 認める, mother, there is such a thing as love in the world."
"Every nice woman loves her husband," 認める Mrs Marsden, 慎重に, "but the way in which you talk about love, no lady, no nicely brought up—"
"Then I can't be nicely brought up," sighed Phoebe. "I can't help what you think, mother; but it's not good my shutting my 注目する，もくろむs to the world around me, and the 大多数 of the world ain't ladylike, or nicely brought up either. No, nobody ever fell in love with me, but I can't shut my 注目する，もくろむs to the fact that there is such a thing in the world, and that it is a very mighty, powerful factor indeed in the lives of men and women; and I think it would be much better to bring girls up to recognise that fact, instead of ignoring it altogether, and calling it indecent to 言及する to it."
"Where a child of 地雷 could have got such notions!" sighed Mrs Marsden, hopelessly, turning to Nancy for sympathy.
"They're true, mother, they're 権利, I feel they are. Because nobody's fallen in love with me, and nobody's likely to, because I'm plain and uninteresting, why should I 否定する that there is such a good thing for some women? There is, I know there is. And let me tell you, mother, you think it's shocking to talk of running away with the man you love, and living with him—"
Mrs Marsden shut her 注目する，もくろむs, as if it were impossible for her to conceive of such a thing—as if she preferred to shut it out from her thoughts altogether.
"Don't be afraid, I'm not 支持するing such a thing. I'm sure it's very wrong, and somebody would have to 支払う／賃金 in the end, probably the woman; but what I do say, and I stick to it, mother, mind, no 事柄 what anybody says, it's a far more decent thing to do than to marry a man for the sake of getting married, of having a house and position, and enough money, of—of—I would have more 尊敬（する）・点 for—"
"Stop, Phoebe," said her mother, interrupting 怒って, "I know where you get those ideas from. I won't have that indecent magazine article 引用するd to me again."
"The ideas are in the 空気／公表する," said Phoebe, gloomily. "I only wish I had more 適切な時期s of 審理，公聴会 about them. 井戸／弁護士席, mother, I won't say any more if you don't like it, but I had to explain to you why I couldn't marry Mr Davidson, barring, of course, the good solid 推論する／理由 that he hasn't asked me."
Mrs Marsden looked across at her eldest daughter. She was excited now, as she very seldom was, and her dark 注目する，もくろむs were 有望な; there was a colour in her cheeks, and between her parted lips her teeth showed strong, 正規の／正選手, milk-white. Truly not a bad looking young woman at all, if there was nothing girlish about her. She herself had married at eighteen, and all her fresh, girlish prettiness had faded long before she was Phoebe's age; but there was nothing faded about this young woman, 未開発の, maybe, but faded certainly not.
"井戸／弁護士席, Phoebe, you're getting on, you know, and if you won't have him what will you do? At your age you can't 推定する／予想する much."
"Oh, mother, why must I be old at twenty-four? I feel やめる young; I feel as if I could do anything; why must I be old?" and Phoebe sprang to her feet and stretched out her strong young 武器.
"Every unmarried woman is old at five-and-twenty. 'Tisn't likely she'll have any chances of marrying after that."
"There are other things in the world besides marrying, I suppose?" said Phoebe, "plenty of women don't marry; must all their lives be empty and uninteresting just because of that?"
"You said yourself the greatest good was to be loved, and you can't 推定する／予想する after five-and-twenty—"
"Oh, mother, I don't think we understand each other a bit. To love and be loved I'm sure it's the best thing; but that don't often happen. If a man loves a girl tremendously, and marries her, and then finds out afterwards, as he'd be pretty sure to do, that she married him because she wouldn't have another chance after she was five-and-twenty, he—井戸／弁護士席—I don't see how his love could last."
"A good woman always loves a man who's 肉親，親類d to her when he's her husband," said Mrs Marsden, sententiously. "You don't understand, Phoebe."
"Don't I? 井戸／弁護士席, that's not what I mean when I talk about love 存在 the best thing in the world; and I 推定する／予想する the poor man would be a bit disappointed too. He married her because she was more to him than anything else in the world; and she likes him because he's her husband, and she's a good woman, and good women always love their husbands when their husbands are 肉親，親類d to them. No, mother, my perfect love couldn't 存在する under those 条件s."
"You're talking foolishly, Phoebe. You go on about perfect love, and then you 認める you don't 推定する／予想する to get it. What do you want, then?"
"I want to be able to do without marrying. I want to be somebody, to do something in the world. 井戸／弁護士席, mother, there, I really believe I just want to be able to earn my own living."
"What nonsense you talk, Phoebe; you can't do any such thing. A lady loses caste at once if she 試みる／企てるs anything of the sort."
"Much that would trouble me if I could only earn 200 続けざまに猛撃するs a year."
"Don't speak in that トン."
"No, I won't, I beg your 容赦," said Phoebe, penitently, "but oh, I wish I was a man. I'd be young enough then, and I'd have all the world before me."
"You'd find it very hard to earn your own living."
"Very likely; but I wonder would I find it half as hard as not 収入 it; as sitting still with 倍のd 手渡すs and 審理，公聴会 every day of my life what a 重荷（を負わせる） I am, and how impossible it is to continue that munificent allowance of L1 13s 4d a month that has to 着せる／賦与する me, and find me in amusements and pocket money? No, I don't think it would be half as hard. There'd be something to look 今後 to then; something to hope for, however hard you worked, while now—" Phoebe spread out her 手渡すs. Words could not 表明する the dull hopelessness of her life.
"What do you want, Phoebe?"
"I don't 正確に／まさに know, I wish I did. I'm sure—I'm sure I wasn't put into this world to marry a man I don't care a snap of the finger for, or have my life 事実上 ended before it has 井戸／弁護士席 begun. What have I to look 今後 to?"
"As much as most girls, I suppose; you're so discontented you don't enjoy the things other girls do. Why, it isn't a fortnight since Mrs Moore's dance!"
"If you call that 楽しみ," sighed Phoebe, gloomily, sitting 負かす／撃墜する on the grass again; "I danced three times out of twenty dances, and nobody took me into supper at all. I was left alone, like a pelican in the wilderness, in the ball room."
"Now, Phoebe," remonstrated Nancy, "Charlie パン職人 asked you to go into supper. I saw him, and you were やめる rude to him."
"As if I could go in with that brat of a boy about up to my shoulder, making myself look utterly ridiculous! No, thank you. Besides, Mrs Moore told him to, I saw her."
"井戸／弁護士席, Phoebe, as I told you before, you can't 推定する／予想する to 選ぶ and choose; and if you want to be a favourite you せねばならない be civil to everybody. Now, Charlie パン職人 will speak against you and give you a bad 指名する, and you don't know what 影響（力） his word may have. There are his cousins, the young Moores; you like them, they're nice looking young fellows, and Mrs Moore's brothers—in time, you know, if people spoke 井戸／弁護士席 of you, said what a nice sort of girl that is, they would come along and talk to you and find you really could talk, and then—"
"And 一方／合間," said Phoebe, "the time is going on, and I'll soon be five-and-twenty, when no man will look at me. No, mother, there are lots of unattractive girls in the world like me; heaps of them who don't enjoy a party a bit, only they say they do because to do the other thing would be to 認める they didn't get any attention, and were 正規の／正選手 塀で囲む-flowers. 井戸／弁護士席, there isn't any sham about me. It isn't nice, but I know やめる 井戸／弁護士席 I'm not attractive and—"
"Phoebe, I wish you wouldn't be so blunt. If you're not attractive it's your own fault."
"No, it isn't. Do you think I like it? I don't know a more 哀れな feeling than sitting there knowing all the other girls are getting their programmes 十分な, and you know 井戸／弁護士席 enough yours will be empty long after supper. I'm always so ashamed of myself, I feel I want the earth to open and swallow me up. And you call that 楽しみ! I think a ball is just one long 一連の mortifications to lots of girls, only they won't own up."
"You're so strange," murmured her mother. She did not like the blunt way her daughter talked, and yet to argue with Phoebe was beyond her. "I'm sure I always enjoyed balls when I was young. I always had lots of bouquets sent me: one ball, the race ball at Ashton, where I met your father, I had three, and my programme was 十分な before I entered the room."
"How you would have hated 会合 father, if you'd only known," ejaculated Nancy, flippantly.
But Phoebe paid no 注意する, and went on, "Then you enjoyed them, and were やめる 権利 to go, but for me it's just a farce calling it enjoyment; it's all mortification, and I'm not going to any more. The young men and girls seem to get on all 権利 and enjoy themselves, and yet, whenever I hear what they're talking about, it just seems so feeble and silly."
"You're always wanting to talk 調書をとる／予約するs. It's ridiculous, as Stanley says; men don't like it."
"井戸／弁護士席, mother, don't you think we might decide comfortably that I can't get on with men, and they'd better be left out of my 未来 計算／見積りs?"
"Mr Davidson," murmured Mrs Marsden, as a sort of forlorn hope.
"If you について言及する him again," said Phoebe, decidedly, not to say rudely, "I'll just go off and see if I can't get a 状況／情勢 at the 'Shearer's 武器.' I know they want a cook there," and she turned on her mother such a 反抗的な, glowing 直面する that Mrs Marsden thought again her eldest daughter was not bad looking; and, 慰安d somewhat, 反映するd that she really was too good for Mr Davidson, and perhaps might not be やめる faded when the 致命的な five-and-twenty was passed.
"Very 井戸／弁護士席, Phoebe," she said, meekly and resignedly, "then, perhaps, you'll tell me what you do want? It's 哀れな to have you going on like this, so discontented."
"I want to earn my own living, to be やめる 独立した・無所属; I don't care how little I earn at first, if I can go on 改善するing, like a man. I want to earn enough to be sure of 存在 comfortably off in my old age; to be decently dressed, you know and be able to travel about a little, and buy 調書をとる／予約するs and have money to give away, and—"
"Anything else?" asked Nancy, sarcastically.
"井戸／弁護士席, no. That would about do me, I think," said Phoebe, ignoring the sarcasm. "If I didn't marry then, it wouldn't 事柄 a bit. I'd be a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 better off than half the women who marry because they must," and Phoebe was やめる complacent over her little 城 in the 空気／公表する, which was built on such very 不安定な 創立／基礎s.
"It's all very 井戸／弁護士席," said her mother; "it sounds all 権利 as you put it, but the thing doesn't work out in practice."
"Oh, yes, it will."
"How then?"
"I shall try with bees."
"Phoebe! What nonsense!"
"It isn't nonsense, it's sober earnest."
"But how? I really can't afford to give you more than a penny a 続けざまに猛撃する for the honey. I'm sorry, dear, because you work hard at them; but really the boys do eat it so 急速な／放蕩な, six 続けざまに猛撃するs goes no way."
"I'm not going to sell it to you, mother, dear," said Phoebe, with a superior 空気／公表する. "I wouldn't even if you gave fourpence a 続けざまに猛撃する for it."
"But, Phoebe—"
"But, mother, it's no good going in for a thing unless you go in for it on a 商売／仕事 basis. I shall sell my honey where I can get the highest price. At the grocer's or the 化学者／薬剤師's."
"Hammond would make an allowance on his 法案—"
"No, mother," interrupted Phoebe, decisively, "this is my 商売／仕事—really and truly, my 反対する in life—I wish you'd understand. For the 未来 I shall make all my old 着せる／賦与するs do. Yes, I know they're in the last 行う／開催する／段階s of shabbiness, but twenty 続けざまに猛撃するs a year won't do much に向かって 改善するing my wardrobe, so I shall just spend it on bee necessities. I shall see how I can 抽出する the honey, put it into nice clean jars, and sell it where I can get the highest price, and get cash 負かす／撃墜する, too."
"But, Phoebe—so undignified, so unbecoming in a lady—I don't know what your father will say."
"Not half as undignified or as unladylike as sitting in a ballroom in shabby 着せる／賦与するs, wondering if any one's going to have pity on you and ask you to dance, and as for father! I don't care much what he thinks. If I'm successful and 井戸／弁護士席 dressed it'll be all 権利 whatever I do. At 現在の it's all wrong, and he couldn't have a worse opinion of me."
"You know, Phoebe—"
"Oh, yes, I know, I heard him this morning. 'Your daughters marry! Phoebe marry!' in トンs of deepest contempt. You'd have thought he'd had nothing to do with our presence in this world, we don't belong to him in the least. But I don't count him in. If I 後継する he'll be all 権利 and go on as if he had prophesied it all along, and if I don't he won't be any worse than he is now. See, mother?"
"Yes, but—oh, Phoebe, I don't like it, it's so unladylike. How will you arrange about selling it? And your father will never take it in the buggy."
"I shan't ask him. Bateman, next door, I daresay will do it for me; it will only be a little at first, and when I get a lot I'll 支払う／賃金 him for it; and as for selling it, I'll just go from one shop to another till I see where I can get the highest price."
"Oh, Phoebe!" and Mrs Marsden sighed. It was so contrary to all her notions of propriety. She felt as if Phoebe was cutting herself 流浪して from all decent society by even 熟視する／熟考するing such a thing. If Mrs Marsden could have arranged the world to her satisfaction, she would have had enough money to buy herself four new silk dresses a year, with bonnets and etceteras to match, and her daughters should also have been prettily dressed in the fashion suitable to their age. They would have been pretty girls, had she had the making of them, with pretty manners, never given to slang and never, no never, given to 公表／放送 such 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の opinions as Phoebe did. They should have been able to play a little, to sing a little, to paint a little, just enough to decorate their homes, and when they reached the ages of eighteen or nineteen, certainly before they were twenty, some nice-looking, gentlemanly young man should come along as a husband, who, if he were not rich, should at least have enough to keep them comfortably.
Poor Mrs Marsden! And the reality was so unlike her 願望（する）s. She got up and 小衝突d the grass seeds from her dress.
"井戸／弁護士席, you can try, Phoebe," she said, with a 激しい sigh, "but you せねばならない 完全に understand you will utterly 削減（する） yourself off from society, more if you 後継する than if you fail."
"Oh, mother! Won't you ever understand? I've been trying all this while to show you how very little charm society, as I see it, has for me."
"井戸／弁護士席, you 削減（する） yourself off from it 完全に. And if it isn't very much here in Ballarat, it is different in Melbourne. They'll never ask you to the 政府 House balls."
"They never do now," laughed Phoebe. "We've never got beyond the garden party."
"井戸／弁護士席, but there was always the chance that they might. Your father is such a striking-looking man that I'm sure if the 知事 saw him he'd recognise at once his 権利 to be asked. But it's no good talking. It's nearly time for the children's tea. Whose turn is it to get it? Yours, Nancy. Then for goodness sake don't be late with it tonight. It always makes your father cross if he comes home and finds the children's tea going on," and Mrs Marsden went slowly 支援する to the house, hardly knowing whether to be glad or not, but very 確かな that her 使節団 had failed and that her eldest daughter was the most obstinate woman in the world.
"I wonder," said Phoebe, thoughtfully, "if they'd continue to ask us to 政府 House garden party if they knew we got the children's tea 定期的に. It's much worse than selling honey."
"Oh, it's so genteel," laughed Nancy. "Just genteel poverty. There's nothing unladylike in getting the children's tea, so long as you don't tell any one you do it. It's the telling as does it."
The thirsty land is lying scorch'd and dreary,
O'er hill and valley and outstretched plain;
The hearts of men are waxing faint and 疲れた／うんざりした;
God send Thy rain!
—ANONYMOUS.
It was some time before Allan Morrison 回復するd from his 負傷させる and the toilsome 旅行 to McAlister's 駅／配置する. The young fellows who had come to the 救助（する） had punished the 黒人／ボイコットs in a 要約 and 無差別の manner, riding 負かす／撃墜する on the （軍の）野営地，陣営 in the 早期に morning just before 夜明け and 狙撃 権利 and left, anything that （機の）カム within 範囲. That is the way they do things in the 支援する 封鎖するs when their 血 is up and there is nobody to ask inconvenient questions. And nobody at McAlister's did ask any questions when they returned at 中央の-day and 報告（する）／憶測d the myalls as "分散させるd." Morrison was too ill and Kirkham was just in that mood when he felt that nothing was too bad for the men who had so treacherously attacked them. When his cousin was 井戸／弁護士席 enough to be left, he and McAlister made an 探検隊／遠征隊 to the scene of the 災害 and 設立する, as they 推定する／予想するd, that the only trace of man's 占領／職業 was the 穴を開ける in the ground. The hut had been burnt to the ground, and a 黒人／ボイコット patch on the 国／地域 only showed where it had stood.
Kirkham went sorrowfully 支援する again. He had put his little all into the 投機・賭ける and was loth to abandon it as the 用心深い Scotchman advised.
"It's too far oot, mon, too far oot. 企て，努力，提案 a 少しの till the country's mair settled."
"Bless the man, as if it won't be too late then," said Morrison. "When all Australia is 群れているing there there won't be much show for us. No, I'm game to try again, Ned, if you are."
"We had a pretty 堅い struggle for it," said Kirkham, doubtfully, thinking of that long, 疲れた／うんざりした tramp with the blackfellows dogging them.
"Oh, we weren't careful enough," said his cousin. "I thought with poor old Webb there wasn't a chance of danger. Now we know, we should start on やめる a different basis. There really isn't much danger from the 黒人／ボイコットs if you're 用意が出来ている for them, is there, McAlister?" he asked, 控訴，上告ing to one of the old man's sons who was smoking in the doorway.
"No," he said, "no. I know the old man thinks there is, but he's a canny Scotchman. If you're sure there's gold there I wouldn't mind joining you myself. We'll find it slow work growing rich here on cattle."
That settled the 事柄. If Sam McAlister, who knew the country better than any other man, were willing to join them, Kirkham felt he could not hang 支援する. Besides he had put so much money into the 投機・賭ける he could hardly afford to give up now. He thought the 事柄 over in all lights. He needed money 不正に. His little 資本／首都 was all but expended, and this 申し込む／申し出d at least a chance of wealth. Yes, he would go.
"It's our last chance," he said, gloomily. "If we don't get gold, Allan, what the devil is to become of us?"
"I guess we'll have to ride 跡をつけるs for the first man who'll give us a billet."
"After all there's not much else left for us to do now," said Ned Kirkham, "unless we （問題を）取り上げる land and start a cattle 駅／配置する of our own."
"井戸／弁護士席, I suppose there's not much to stop us from taking up land, but, hang it all, man, how are you going to 在庫／株 it?"
Kirkham laughed.
"基金s won't run it, eh? 井戸／弁護士席, I suppose there's nothing for it but to try that blessed （人命などを）奪う，主張する again."
When they were alone Morrison asked his cousin another question.
"Look here, Ned, what about that little girl 負かす／撃墜する south?"
"井戸／弁護士席, what about her?" and Kirkham blushed through the sun tan on his cheek.
"Ain't you going to—to—提案する to her?"
"How the dickens can I when I 港／避難所't got a cent to my 指名する."
"You will have when we get that gold."
"When?" There was a slight scornful （犯罪の）一味 in his 発言する／表明する which made the other man 主張する 熱心に the 絶対の certainty of that gold, and Kirkham asked again, "What shall I do, Allan?"
"About Nancy Marsden? Why the dickens don't you 令状 to her and ask her if she'll have you? She will, I'll be bound. At least if her sister's to be 信用d."
"But about papa? There's that to be considered, you see."
"Oh, hang papa. Time enough for that when you get her answer. Man alive, if I had your chance," and Morrison drew a 深い breath.
Kirkham turned away impatiently. It was all very 井戸／弁護士席 for Allan to talk, but the chance was not his. He had nothing to 申し込む／申し出, how could he 令状? And he marched up and 負かす／撃墜する the verandah smoking furiously and trying to work out in his own mind some good way of letting Nancy Marsden know all his hopes and 恐れるs. It was impossible, he told himself forty times a day, and he told himself the same thing over again when once more they made their way to their abandoned （人命などを）奪う，主張する on パン職人's Creek and began their old work もう一度.
There were just the three of them this time, Kirkham, Morrison, and old McAlister's youngest son, Sam, a lad of three-and-twenty, who went in with them because, as he said, it was so deadly slow on the 駅／配置する, the chance of getting out of it was 価値（がある） something.
It was duller here, if possible, eighty miles beyond the 駅／配置する. They built their hut の近くに to the water's 辛勝する／優位 this time, remembering how dear that hundred yards had cost them before, and they （疑いを）晴らすd away every 痕跡 of cover for pretty nearly half a mile 一連の会議、交渉／完成する. But their former 敵s might have 消えるd from the 直面する of the earth for all they saw of them, not a 痕跡, not a 調印する of them was there, and the tame 黒人／ボイコットs on McAlister's 駅／配置する 報告（する）／憶測d that the myalls had （疑いを）晴らすd out for a hundred miles 支援する. Still Kirkham never felt やめる happy working at that （人命などを）奪う，主張する. 負かす／撃墜する below, in the heat and 不明瞭, he 推定する／予想するd to find the bucket jerked up hurriedly so that he might join the others in defending the （軍の）野営地，陣営, and he 推測するd as to what would be the end supposing the 黒人／ボイコットs did attack while two of them were below and they killed the man on 最高の，を越す. They were not profitable 憶測s by any means, and he did not know that it was any better when it was his turn to stop above ground. At first the cry of a bird or beast made him start, a splash in the water-穴を開ける と一緒に sent his ライフル銃／探して盗む to his shoulder, and at 早期に morning he would awake with the 会社／堅い 有罪の判決 he heard stealthy footsteps creeping 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the hut. But nothing happened. No myalls made their 外見, and at the end of the first week he had grown accustomed to it, and at the end of a fortnight was as careless as young McAlister himself. 場所／位置ing there on the （法廷の）裁判 at the door smoking his 麻薬を吸う after the long, hot day was done, he grew to count on that gold as a certainty. It was the one thing that could give him all he 手配中の，お尋ね者, the one thing that could send him freedom, and civilisation, and the girl he loved, and the other 味方する of the 保護物，者 was so dreary he dared only look on this one. Morrison believed in it, young McAlister believed in it, poor Tretherick had believed in it, why should not he? There seemed no reasonable 疑問, and each day saw the end approaching closer.
Young McAlister 棒 over to his father's for the mails and brought 支援する a pile of English letters for Kirkham, and one 独房監禁 letter with a Victorian stamp on it for Morrison, and when he had seen the postmark Kirkham was ready to 物々交換する his goodly pile for that letter. Morrison read it carefully, then 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd it over to his cousin.
"It 関心s you more than me, old man. She was a good girl to keep her word and 令状," and he sighed as he refilled his 麻薬を吸う.
The sun was just setting, and his long, level beams were turning the water-穴を開ける into a lake of gold. A flock of wild duck—wild duck from the far 内部の, for they were not 脅すd by the presence of man—dropped 負かす／撃墜する on it, and Kirkham watched them as he took the letter from Allan's 手渡す.
"That's a bad 調印する," said McAlister, watching them too. "There must be a 干ばつ out 支援する there. I don't know but what this 穴を開ける might 乾燥した，日照りの up."
"Oh, you be hanged, man," laughed Morrison, "it'll more than last out our time. We'll come to the wash-dirt in another week at the 率 we're going at 現在の."
Then Kirkham opened Phoebe Marsden's letter and read it. It was a kindly, friendly letter, telling Morrison all the little news about the place she thought might 利益／興味 him, but 主として, as if she knew this topic was the most 利益／興味ing of all to her 特派員, dwelling on Nancy and her doings.
"Last Friday, for a wonder," she wrote, "I went to a dance at the Moores', just because Mrs Moore wouldn't take 'No' for an answer. I can't say I enjoyed it much, my dress wasn't very nice. I daresay you will laugh at that since you are in a place where they don't think much of dress, but I'm sure you will be 利益／興味d to hear that Nan wore pink and looked sweetly pretty. Mrs Moore's brother, a Mr Sampson, a very solemn sort of lawyer, who I daresay might be awfully nice if you got to know him, seemed to take a 広大な／多数の／重要な fancy to her and 定期的に 迫害するd her for dances. His sister told me yesterday it was a 事例／患者 of love at first sight, and of course it would be a 広大な／多数の／重要な thing for Nan. But then, unfortunately—I don't know whether I せねばならない say anything, but I 推定する／予想する you know 同様に as I do where Nan's heart went to. I used to think he was fond of her, and, of course, when two people are fond of each other there's nothing more to be said; but if he doesn't care for her, why I do think she might grow to care for Mr Sampson. I suppose you think it's 早期に days yet for me to talk like this, but I only go by what his sister said, and I cannot help thinking it would be a 広大な／多数の／重要な thing for Nancy. I suppose you'll 始める，決める me 負かす／撃墜する as awfully mercenary, but she is so pretty and does lead such a dull life and I should like to see her happily married." And then she went on to tell about her brothers and the other children, and the 進歩 the bees were making; but the whole 地位，任命する might only have consisted of those few 宣告，判決s as far as Kirkham was 関心d.
His 麻薬を吸う went out as he read, the sun went 負かす／撃墜する and 不明瞭 fell upon the land, and then he 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd the letter 支援する to its owner.
"井戸／弁護士席?" said Morrison.
"I don't think it is 井戸／弁護士席," said Kirkham, and they said no more till McAlister, tired out with the day's long ride, flung himself 負かす／撃墜する on the bunk and went 急速な／放蕩な asleep. Then Kirkham asked 突然の—
"Old man, do you think she'll marry him?"
There was no need for 指名するs, the simple pronoun was enough. Morrison thought a second.
"Not just at once," he said. "But if it goes on she's bound to. Everything is in his favour."
"Hang it all! If we'd only got the wash-dirt. Old man, do you think I've the ghost of a chance?"
"Of course, a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 more than a ghost of a chance. You see what her sister says."
"Her sister. She doesn't について言及する 指名するs, she might mean you."
"ネズミs! She might mean Sam McAlister there, but she don't. Why don't you go in and 勝利，勝つ, old chap?"
"Why don't you?"
"I would if I was in your shoes, as Phoebe Marsden knows 権利 井戸／弁護士席, but I'm not."
Ned Kirkham marched slowly up and 負かす／撃墜する outside in the gloom listening to the mournful cry of the curlews, then he formed a sudden 決意／決議, went inside, lighted a candle, and sitting 負かす／撃墜する at the rough （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する wrote a letter to Nancy Marsden. Thinking it over afterwards he never could やめる recollect what he said in that letter, only he knew in 情熱的な words he told her the whole facts of the 事例／患者, told of his poverty and his hopes and implored her to have pity on him and wait for him, swore that he loved her from the first moment he had seen her and would love her, whether she would have anything to do with him or not, for the 残り／休憩（する） of her life.
Then he put a 手渡す on Morrison's shoulder and roused him from his sleep.
"井戸／弁護士席," he said, grumpily. It was no good his lying awake thinking mournfully of fair-haired girls 負かす／撃墜する south. "Oh, it's you, is it, Ned? 井戸／弁護士席, what the devil is the 事柄 now? No more myalls?"
"No, but look here, Allan. I've just been 令状ing to Nancy Marsden. And I'm going to ride into McAlister's tomorrow and send it off by the mail. I'll just be in time if I start tomorrow morning."
"Oh, you are, are you? 井戸／弁護士席, why couldn't have written before we left I'm sure I don't know. Now you'll knock up the horses and won't be fit for work yourself for a fortnight at the very least."
"Hang it all! It's a 事柄 of the greatest importance. What will all the gold in the world be to me if I lose Nancy Marsden."
"Oh, all 権利, old man, who's 論争ing the fact. Go by all means. Only don't get lost. I daresay Sam and I'll get on very 井戸／弁護士席 without you."
So at 夜明け next morning Ned Kirkham had started for the homestead, and a week later he was 支援する again wishing with all his heart he had not written.
"What will she think?" he asked his cousin, whenever he 設立する himself alone with him. "Suppose, suppose they say it's like my bally cheek? It is, you know, after all."
"For heaven's sake, man, don't worry. You're worse than forty old women rolled into one. If she won't have you she won't and there's an end of it, and if she will you'll be wearing yourself into fiddlestrings because you can't 始める，決める up housekeeping on twopence ha'penny a day. Anyway, the 事柄 will be settled one way or another, and perhaps you'll bring your 大規模な mind to 耐える on the 商売／仕事 we have in 手渡す. We せねばならない be 負かす／撃墜する to the wash-dirt some time next week if I know anything about the 調印する."
"And that'll settle the gold 商売／仕事?" asked Kirkham, anxiously.
"Y-e-s," said Morrison, dubiously. "That'll settle it in a way. But even if we don't find gold just at this 位置／汚点／見つけ出す, you know, we might by に引き続いて up the wash-dirt."
They had finished for the night, and Sam McAlister was cooking the evening meal while his two mates sat on the （法廷の）裁判 outside the hut door and smoked furiously. It was very hot, so hot and still that the only sound that broke the stillness was the loud stridulation of the cicada and the crackling of the 解雇する／砲火／射撃. Not a breath of 勝利，勝つd stirred, and it seemed to have forgotten how to rain. McAlister shook a handful of tea into the billy of boiling water, 解除するd the frying-pan 十分な of slices of salt beef off the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 and put it 負かす／撃墜する in 前線 of Morrison, and then raked the hot ashes off his damper.
"Now, Morrison," he said, "if you feel like doing the gentlemen I'll cart that pan inside and put the beef on a dish, but as your own particular girl ain't here to see I think you may 同様に eat it as it is."
"権利 you are, old man," said Morrison. "It's too hot to go inside. Here, give us over the tea. I'll sugar it," and he put his arm through the square 穴を開ける that did 義務 as window and taking a handful of sugar out of a jar that stood on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する put it into the billy. Sam McAlister brought out tin plates and pannikins and the rough meal began.
"We're just 沈むing to the level of savages," said Kirkham, discontentedly, as he 解除するd a slice of beef out of the frying-pan at his feet on to the plate on his 膝, and deftly caught with his other 手渡す the hunk of steaming damper McAlister 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd に向かって him. "What on earth would they say at home if they knew what 著作権侵害者s we've become?"
"Oh, they'd think it やめる natural. They'd be disappointed if we weren't a little different. And, hang it all, Ned, what does it 事柄? Style never troubled me much."
"Nor me," said McAlister, who was lying on his 直面する with his plate between his 武器 and his mouth 十分な of salt beef and damper, "only let's get that gold next week and Kirkham can put on all the frill he pleases. But I say, if we're much longer about it, we'll have to begin carting water to wash the dirt in."
"There's the water-穴を開ける there," said Morrison, 示すing it with his fork.
"There it won't be long," said Sam McAlister, coolly, "if this goes on. 港／避難所't you noticed it 縮むing? In another fortnight I don't believe there'll be anything but mud left."
"Good Lord! I thought it was 永久の!"
"So did I," said McAlister, "but then I didn't reckon on 天候 like this. I thought it was going to be pretty bad when I saw so much wildfowl, but the last chap left yesterday. At least I 港／避難所't seen any since last night."
"Where have they gone?" asked Kirkham, curiously.
"Left for the sea, my son, I should imagine. Anyhow all the birds I've noticed are 飛行機で行くing 西方の, and we always reckon that a 調印する of 干ばつ."
"And if there's a 干ばつ—"
"井戸／弁護士席, if there's a 干ばつ I reckon we'd better go seawards too. Anyhow, this place won't be habitable much longer."
Morrison あわてて finished his pannikin of tea and, 押し進めるing his plate aside, walked a few paces to the water-穴を開ける. As his mate had said the water was 縮むing 急速な／放蕩な. It was there truly, a patch 権利 in the middle of the 穴を開ける shimmering in the dusk, but all around it was a 縁 of mud baked hard by the 燃やすing sun. Last week it had been covered with waterfowl, but now the only living things about were the 広大な／多数の／重要な blueblack crows perched on a tree over on the other 味方する of the creek. He had noticed the absence of the duck today without 大（公）使館員ing any particular significance to it, but now as he walked up and 負かす／撃墜する he thought the 事柄 over in his own mind.
It was dark now, やめる dark, and the （疑いを）晴らす, cloudless sky was studded with golden 星／主役にするs; but he did not 要求する their light, only too 井戸／弁護士席 was every feature of the landscape impressed on his mind; then a 有望な red light shone out behind the forest and he watched the 十分な moon rise, red as 血 even when she had crept out behind the fringe of trees and was sailing out in the sky. She seemed to 示す out 特に that little patch of water gleaming out from its fringe of yellow, clayey mud, to italicise it, to impress upon him as it had never been borne in upon him before, the smallness of that 供給（する） of water which he had looked upon as 永久の. They had used it so lavishly too, and now, why Good God! There would not in another week, in another fortnight at most, be enough for them to drink, let alone washing the gold! And another week would bring them to the wash-dirt!
"井戸／弁護士席, old man," Sam McAlister's 発言する／表明する （機の）カム out from under the 影をつくる／尾行する of the hut, "one week's water and a week from the wash-dirt. What do you make of it?"
"Don't know what to make of it, Sam. Give it up. What do you think?"
"井戸／弁護士席, the 非難するd water might hang out a fortnight, an' it'll be mighty strong pea soup by then, if we only use it for drinking, but what's the good of that if we can't wash the gold?"
"We'll have to 乾燥した，日照りの blow it," said Morrison, a little いっそう少なく gloomily, "it'll be beastly unpleasant, but I don't see anything else for it."
"Lord send us the gold," said Sam, cheerfully, "and hang the unpleasantness. We'll 削減（する） a dash away 負かす／撃墜する south and who'll care what happened up in the north here."
"No, it won't much 事柄," said Morrison, and he （機の）カム and laid 負かす／撃墜する の近くに against the hut out of reach of the moonbeams, and tried to fancy that a faint 冷静な／正味の 微風 was coming up from the south.
And the next day broke hot and 猛烈な／残忍な, and the next, and the next, there was no change in the brazen sky 総計費, no breath of 冷静な／正味の 勝利，勝つd, no 約束 of rain, and each day the water shrank more and more, grew more muddy and unpalatable, and the three men worked with feverish energy. At least they would know their 運命／宿命 before the 干ばつ drove them away. It was hard work under the 炎ing sun, but they were young and eager, and before the end of the week Morrison was hurrahing like a lunatic for they had reached the long-looked-for wash-dirt, and the end was in sight.
"It's late, old chap," said Kirkham, reluctantly; "I suppose we'd better wait till tomorrow before we see what luck's got for us?"
Morrison ちらりと見ることd at the red streak in the west where the sun had just 消えるd, and rubbed his 手渡す across his moist forehead.
"I reckon so, old man."
"An' I tell you what, chaps," said Sam McAlister with 有罪の判決, ちらりと見ることing first at the muddy water-穴を開ける and then at his two mates, "（疑いを）晴らす we'll have to tomorrow if there's a forty-続けざまに猛撃する nugget in that there wash-dirt. Look at the water. If it's like that, I reckon the 残り／休憩（する） of the creek's just a bed of sand, and there ain't nary a 減少（する） of water between here and the old man's place—nary a 減少（する）, I'll take my 植民地の on that."
There was 推論する／理由 in what he said. Go they must, but if they 設立する, as they 情愛深く hoped, gold, it would be a hard wrench. Kirkham and Morrison were almost too excited to think about eating, but McAlister was of a cooler nature, and 始める，決める about making up a 解雇する／砲火／射撃 and boiling the quart マリファナ for tea, just as if the morrow might not make them owners of untold wealth.
"'Twouldn't be a bad notion," said Sam, as he opened up the last tin of beef, "to （疑いを）晴らす out 権利 now. We could say up at the 駅／配置する the place was a dead 失敗, and the 干ばつ （疑いを）晴らすd us out. Anyhow, no one's like to come along here 天候 like this. We can come 支援する after the first rain; we'll find things just the same."
"No," said Morrison, "I'm hanged if I could stand that. I'm going to see what that wash-dirt's 価値（がある） if I go all the eighty miles into your dad's 駅／配置する without one 減少（する） of water."
"All 権利," said Sam, "we'll see you through. But tomorrow we've got to go. We せねばならない have gone yesterday."
"All 権利."
Morrison and Kirkham were too anxious to talk. To Sam McAlister this was just an 出来事/事件. If they 設立する gold, 井戸／弁護士席 and good; he would have a jolly old spree 負かす／撃墜する south; but it didn't much 事柄; it would do just 同様に six months hence as now, while, if they did not find even the colour, he would be no worse off than he was before. Born in the bush and bred in the bush, he would be content to ride 跡をつけるs all the days of his life; all he 手配中の，お尋ね者 was a little more money to make a splash with, and whether he got it or no was not of very much moment.
But with the other two it was different. They were not bushmen born and bred; they longed for the 慰安s and 高級なs of civilisation; they had 火刑／賭けるd everything on this 投機・賭ける. Tomorrow—what would tomorrow bring them? If they had 後継するd—If they had failed—The tinned beef was 乾燥した，日照りの and unpalatable, so it seemed to Kirkham, and he turned away when Sam 手渡すd him the tin to help himself, and went and gazed gloomily over the water-穴を開ける, which was little more than liquid mud now. Morrison joined him.
"Old man, it's the most 悪口を言う／悪態d luck."
"It is, Ned."
"How much cash have we left?"
"Ten 続けざまに猛撃するs, all told."
"And if this turns out all 権利—God! it must turn up trumps—what'll we do till after the rains?"
"Ride 跡をつけるs for old McAlister or anybody else who'll have us. It's Hobson's choice with us."
Kirkham groaned.
"Don't lose heart, old man," said Allan Morrison, kindly. "I know it's beastly hard on you, but there's always this 穴を開ける to 落ちる 支援する upon. It won't take any 害（を与える） standing still for the next three or four months, and then—and then—"
"Suppose it's no good?"
Kirkham's 発言する／表明する was almost a whisper.
"Don't think that—don't think that for a moment; but tomorrow'll show, anyhow. We'll get a good sleep tonight."
It is doubtful whether Morrison did sleep; it is 確かな Kirkham never の近くにd an 注目する，もくろむ. It meant so much to him. Even suppose this （人命などを）奪う，主張する 約束d 井戸／弁護士席 tomorrow, only just 約束d—suppose it were a certainty, he must wait at least six months for fruition, and in six months—in six months what might not happen? If Nancy Marsden would not have him, 井戸／弁護士席 then he might just 同様に go to the devil by the quickest road; but suppose she would—suppose she would, and he had to keep her waiting a year, a whole year, without seeing her. It seemed to him his 血 ran 冷淡な at the thought. 甘い Nancy, dear Nancy, lovable Nancy, other men would come 支持を得ようと努めるing her—oh, he knew it, he knew it. She would flirt with them, trifle with them—oh, he knew that too, dearly as he loved her, and was there not danger, might she not be won to forget him? He could 持つ／拘留する her, he felt his 力／強力にする over her as long as he were by her 味方する, but was it strong enough to stretch over these wide leagues that separated them and keep her for himself? He 疑問d—he 疑問d, and yet he would hardly 認める it even to himself, and he lay on the ground and 星／主役にするd up at the 星／主役にするs, golden points in the velvet sky; he dug his 手渡すs into the hard-baked 国／地域 and prayed with all his might—not because he had much 約束, but because there was nothing else left to do—that tomorrow would at last bring him a gleam of hope.
And the night wore on slowly—slowly; and at last, just as he had fallen into an uneasy doze, up leapt the sun: the hot, 猛烈な／残忍な day was upon them again, and Morrison was 熱望して calling to him to get up and try their luck.
There are no 洗面所s in the bush; at least it is 確かな there were 非，不，無 on パン職人's Creek that morning. Kirkham jumped up fully dressed, stretched himself, ran his fingers through his hair, pulled on his butcher boots, and joined his cousin and McAlister, who were already standing over the little heap of wash-dirt they had brought up the night before. There was no question of washing it; the water left was of the consistency of 厚い pea-soup, and in 量 would hardly 十分である to give them a drink of tea each.
"We'll have to make 転換 to 乾燥した，日照りの blow somehow," said Morrison, thoughtfully.
"Do you know the way?" asked Sam McAlister, "for I'm blest if I do."
"井戸／弁護士席, I've never seen it done; but I've heard poor Tretherick tell how they used to do it up 開始する Brown way."
"開始する Brown?" asked Kirkham, thoughtfully. Not that he cared in the least where 開始する Brown was or what they did there; but his 苦悩 was so 激しい he was ashamed the others should see all that this gold meant to him.
"Yes, 開始する Brown, up Broken Hill way. 港／避難所't you ever heard tell of it? They don't ever look for water in that Godforsaken place, and they always 乾燥した，日照りの blow. 井戸／弁護士席, here goes. First of all, I think we want a nice smooth, hard piece of ground to work up this dirt 罰金 on."
Sam McAlister looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する.
"There's the ticket 権利 in 前線 of the door," he said. "We may 同様に do it there. The dust'll get into the drarin'-room an' spile the furniture, but as we're a-movin' at once that won't 事柄. Cart it along, old man."
They had no barrow, but they brought the earth along in buckets and upset it at the door; then with their spades they worked it about till it was as 罰金 as dust.
"What now?" asked Kirkham at length, pausing to wipe his hot forehead.
"We want a little more 勝利，勝つd," said Morrison, looking 一連の会議、交渉／完成する. "It ain't likely to come for the wanting," said Sam McAlister. "If we can't do without it we'll have to （疑いを）晴らす—誘発する, too. We're stoppin' too long as it is."
"Oh, I daresay we can manage. We've only got two tin dishes, 港／避難所't we? 井戸／弁護士席, we'll have to make 転換 with the frying-pan and the billy, or anything else we can lay our 手渡すs on. The idea is to put this 罰金 earth into one tin dish, and 持つ／拘留するing it high up in the 空気／公表する, 注ぐ it 負かす／撃墜する into another. If there's a good high 勝利，勝つd it せねばならない blow all the 罰金 earth away in time, and, after doing it over and over again till you're pretty 井戸／弁護士席 十分な up of the 職業, at last, you come to the gold."
"The devil you do," laughed Sam McAlister. "I hope that last's a true 法案. Come on, mates, let's try our luck."
It was very hot, and it was tedious, tiring, dirty work. Soon they were covered in a 厚い 塗装 of 罰金 red dust, which got into their 注目する，もくろむs and ears, into their hair and 耐えるd, and made them cough and sneeze as they drew it in with every breath. Kirkham and Morrison held each a tin dish and 注ぐd 刻々と from one to the other, while Sam McAlister made use of the only other 利用できる utensils, the frying-pan and the billy, and 注ぐd his little 株 from one to the other. He worked very 速く, and soon not a 粒子 of his earth remained save a few hard little clods, which he piled up discontentedly.
"Say, old man," he said, "it ain't no go at all. My blessed 武器 空気／公表する nearly worked out of their sockets, and there ain't nary a 調印する."
"I reckon," said Morrison, out of the cloud of red dust that enveloped him and his cousin, "you worked too 急速な／放蕩な and chucked it all away if there was any. 平易な does it. You don't 推定する／予想する to find a nugget as big as your 握りこぶし."
"井戸／弁護士席, I'm blest," said Sam, "if I don't, I guess I'd as soon tail cattle all the days of my life as do this sort of thing for tucker."
"It won't need to be 近づく as big as your 握りこぶし to mean a good 取引，協定 more than tucker," said Morrison, and went on 刻々と at his work, while Sam proceeded to clean up the frying-pan as best he could with a 見解（をとる） to breakfast. He had had enough of 乾燥した，日照りの blowing, and 結論するd to 延期する his その上の 研究s into the mysteries of gold 採掘 till he saw the result of his companions' 実験.
The dust around them began to 沈下する a little as the earth grew いっそう少なく and いっそう少なく; at last there was only a handful of 乾燥した，日照りの little pellets of earth in the 底（に届く） of one of the dishes, and Morrison, sitting 負かす／撃墜する on the doorstep, took it between his 膝s and began working it through his fingers. It was very の近くに now; his suspense would soon be over. Begrimed with sweat and dust, Kirkham leaned up against the doorpost and looked at the little heap of earth growing momentarily いっそう少なく and いっそう少なく under his cousin's fingers.
Nothing 近づく as big as your 握りこぶし here, nothing as big as your thumb, nothing as big as your little finger. If there was untold wealth hidden in that （人命などを）奪う，主張する to the 権利 there, it certainly was not 明らかにする／漏らすing itself to these 探検者s for it, even now there was a chance of a competency, and he grew sick with 苦悩 as he watched it slowly 減らす. How could Sam McAlister whistle so deliberately as he mixed a damper with the little 減少（する） of muddy water that remained to them, how could he whistle as if there was nothing at 火刑／賭ける? How trouble to gather sticks for a 解雇する／砲火／射撃? Who 手配中の，お尋ね者 breakfast this morning? Not Kirkham, certainly, and he stooped 今後 and 選ぶd up a stick and 鎮圧するd it to little bits between his fingers. And the earth in the pan was growing いっそう少なく and いっそう少なく. It was nearly all gone now. He 神経d himself for an 成果／努力, and bent over Morrison.
"It's no go, old man." His 発言する／表明する sounded to himself hard and 緊張するd. "It's tailing cattle for the 残り／休憩（する） of our days?" Then, as the other made no answer, "For God's sake, put me out of my 悲惨!"
"There's gold here, Ned," said Morrison, 広範囲にわたる away the 残りの人，物 of the earth and showing a few 有望な specks at the 底（に届く） of the pan, "but it ain't a fortune. It shows it's 価値（がある） going on with—that's all. If we'd water, I'd be jolly 井戸／弁護士席 満足させるd. As it is, we can come 支援する after the first rain. It's a show; it's the colour—that's all."
"All our money gone, weeks of work in this God-forsaken place, and two men's lives for the colour," and Kirkham groaned aloud.
"It isn't so bad, old chap, it really isn't," said Morrison trying to speak cheerfully, though he regarded the specks of gold somewhat ruefully; "if we only had water and could stop I'd be more than 満足させるd. There's gold there, that's 確かな . Likely there's enough to make a pile for us three if we could only stop, as it is—"
"As it is," said Sam McAlister, "there won't be pickings for so much as a crow on the bones of all three of us if you don't eat your breakfast and start 権利 away for the old man's. The gold won't run away; it'll stop 権利 there, you can bet, and we'll come 支援する after the rain. Look at Kirkham there—looks as glum, don't he, as if he'd just heard his best gal had chucked him up for the parson cos he couldn't marry her 権利 away. 元気づける up, old man; if it isn't her, there'll be another gal waiting for you. After you 港／避難所't seen a woman for a year or two you won't care a damn which it is, so long as she wears petticoats and ain't your grandmother. Come on, chaps, vittels is up."
O swallow, swallow, 飛行機で行くing, 飛行機で行くing south,
飛行機で行く to her and 落ちる upon her gilded eaves,
And tell her, tell her, what I tell to thee.
Why lingereth she to 着せる／賦与する her heart with love?
延期するing as the tender ash 延期するs To 着せる／賦与する herself,
when all the 支持を得ようと努めるd are green?
—TENNYSON.
Phoebe Marsden was lying 支援する on the grass, 星／主役にするing up at the 有望な blue sky. It was getting late, and the 影をつくる／尾行するs of the trees in the orchard, the apple and cherry and plum trees, were growing longer; but the sunlight in between was 有望な and warm. It was a glorious season, and the sward was one 集まり of pink and white clover blossoms, the faint 微風 brought its perfume to her nostrils, and brought too, to her ears, the busy hum of her bees hard at work for her.
That unpleasant half hour with her mother, when she had 自由に 表明するd 見解（をとる）s on the 支配する of marriage in general, and marriage with Mr Davidson in particular, had 示すd, it seemed to her, an 時代 in her life. She had made a 広大な／多数の／重要な stride that afternoon. 失望s, troubles, mortifications, all these she knew やめる 井戸／弁護士席 might be in 蓄える／店 for her; but since that 宣言 of independence she had not as yet looked at the dark 味方する of the 保護物，者. She was going to 後継する—she would 後継する. She had 形態／調整d in outspoken words her 未来 course; daily it grew into 直す／買収する，八百長をするd form in her mind, and that was a 広大な／多数の／重要な step. She could afford to 嘘（をつく） on the grass now for half an hour, watching contentedly the 日光 and the 影をつくる／尾行する, listening to the humming of the bees. Nancy （機の）カム out and crept の近くに to her.
"Why, Phoeb," she said, "how happy you look, and やめる good-looking, too. Really, I never saw you look so good-looking before. I believe you'll 結局最後にはーなる by 存在 the beauty of the family after all."
"I'm nearly twenty-five," laughed Phoebe; and Nancy laughed too.
"After all, a woman's as old as she looks. Phoebe, I want to tell you something."
"Yes, dear." Phoebe settled her 武器 comfortably under her 長，率いる and 星／主役にするd at the blue sky, as it showed in patches through the cherry tree above her. "Yes, dear, what is it?"
"It's a letter from Ned Kirkham," said Nancy, shyly.
"I thought so, I was sure of it," said her sister. "What does he say?"
"He says—he says—" Nancy （機の）カム の近くに to her sister and put her lips to her ear, "he says he wants to—to—marry—me," she finished very slowly.
"井戸／弁護士席, I told you that, long ago."
"Ah, but you don't understand. It's so different when he says it," and she drew the letter out of her pocket and kissed it softly.
Phoebe smiled at her lazily. She envied Nancy 一般に, but now she was building 城s in the 空気／公表する for herself; albeit love was left out, the envy was not 近づく so keen.
"Dear old Nan!"
"Oh, Phoeb! What am I to say to him? What am I to say to him?"
"Why, Nan! don't you love him?"
"Of course I do. You know I do. More than anything in the world."
"Then Nan—"
"Oh, but Phoebe, he's so poor! He's put every mortal thing he 所有するs in that （人命などを）奪う，主張する. It's their only hope he says, and if the water in the creek gives out, they may not know whether there's—whether it's any good for months to come."
"What does he want you to do?"
"He wants me to be engaged to him," she whispered, "to 約束 not to marry anybody else; and then, as soon as he can, he'll 令状 to father, and come 負かす／撃墜する and marry me," and she hid her blushing 直面する against her sister's arm. "It's such a loving letter," she whispered. "Oh, he must care a lot."
Phoebe transferred her arm to her sister's neck, and raising herself up stooped over her and kissed her 情愛深く.
"I'm so glad, dear—you know I am."
"But, Phoebe, you 港／避難所't told me what I'm to say."
"Say! what is there to say? I don't suppose he'll mind much how you put it, so long as you wait for him. That's the main thing."
"If he gets the gold, he may be very rich," said Nancy, cuddling up to her sister in an ecstacy of delicious 期待.
"Yes, yes. Oh, he's pretty sure to get the gold! Mr Morrison would be sure to know all about it."
"But if he doesn't, Phoeb! Oh, he mayn't! He says himself he mayn't."
"That will be hard," said Phoebe, thoughtfully. "You'll have to （不足などを）補う your mind to wait then."
"He says he wouldn't ask me. It might be such a long time in that 事例／患者 before he had anything to 申し込む／申し出—he couldn't ask me to wait."
"Of course he couldn't," said Phoebe. "Poor fellow! I suppose he thinks it would be an awfully selfish thing to do. But you can tell him you'll wait all the same."
"It may be years and years and years," said Nancy, with 涙／ほころびs in her 発言する／表明する.
"Poor old girl! poor old girl!" kissing her gently. "Oh, I hope it won't be as bad as that."
"And he doesn't ask me to wait. Do you think he wants me to?"
"Why, of course. He'll say you're the dearest little girl in the world."
"But oh, the waiting, Phoebe! I'll get old and ugly, and perhaps he mightn't care for me when he saw me again. And suppose he never （機の）カム. Suppose I was left an old maid without any money or anything."
"He'll come, Nanny, he'll come. He loves you!—oh, I saw how he loves you!"
Nancy kissed her sister gratefully. She liked to be told Ned Kirkham loved her; but still she was not 満足させるd.
"Mr Sampson," she began, hesitating.
"Oh, I know, Nanny; but you mustn't flirt with him so. It isn't fair, when you know you love Ned Kirkham. You せねばならない let him know it, too. He's a good fellow."
"He is bald," laughed Nancy, a little hysterically. "See what Ned Kirkham has saved me from. I know he would have asked me, Phoebe, and I know 同様に as possible I would have said 'yes.'"
"Oh, Nan! When you don't love him! And you do love another man!"
"It's not much good having a lover away in North Australia, with no prospect of his ever coming 支援する that I can see," and Nancy was downhearted again.
"Oh, Nancy! it is hard, I know; but as long as there is a man somewhere in the world that you do love, you couldn't think of marrying anybody else, could you?"
"N—o—o," said Nancy, dubiously. "Still, if a man is a long way off, and you don't see him for months and months, it gets to be a sort of dream, I suppose, just like you think about travelling, or 存在 rich. You sort of understand how nice it would be if you could get it, but you ain't likely to get it, and so—"
"And so what?" asked Phoebe, for Nancy had paused.
"And so you marry the man who comes along, and get along all 権利," said Nancy.
"Oh, Nan! that seems to me a dreadful thing to say, when you know how Ned Kirkham loves you; and I 推定する／予想する he's just counting the days till he gets your answer."
"Poor boy!" sighed Nancy, "oh, if he were only here. Oh, I love him—I love him! you just don't know how I love him, Phoebe!"
"Don't I? 井戸／弁護士席, just 令状 to him and tell him that. That's all he'll want."
"Oh, Phoeb! if he were only here."
"Nanny, it's really time to get the children's tea."
"Bother the tea!"
"But Nan—"
"And if one married a poor man, life would be one succession of getting children's teas."
"But this particular tea, Nan."
"Bother!" and Nancy took out her letter and began reading it again, while her sister, lying still beside her, wondered just a little did she really care for this man. How would it be if he 設立する no gold, and she had to wait—for years, perhaps? No, though Nancy had almost cried over his letter, though she had 抗議するd, "I love him, I love him," Phoebe thought she would not give much for Ned Kirkham's chances if he did not get gold, and that soon. And she sighed, for Nancy was a dear little companion, and would make him a loving wife; but the chances were against her 存在 Ned Kirkham's wife, she thought, and she watched the 影をつくる／尾行するs grow longer and longer, and wished her sister would stop reading her lover's letter, and go in and see about the children's tea. But she made no 調印する.
Phoebe wondered if she were very selfish not to go. She had never had a love letter in her life, perhaps if she had she too would be oblivious to all mundane things. She was very sure, though, she would never have given a thought to another man had the man she loved but cared for her, while Nancy, for all her delight—
"Girls, girls," Mrs Marsden had come to the orchard 盗品故買者, "do remember the children's tea. Your father will be home in いっそう少なく than twenty minutes."
Nancy looked across at Phoebe beseechingly, she still held her letter の近くに to her 直面する, and her sister saw that there were 涙／ほころびs in her 注目する，もくろむs.
Then Phoebe rose up and went に向かって the house. It wasn't much to do for Nancy after all.
That night Phoebe could not sleep. The blind was drawn up, and she lay watching the pattern made by the waving 支店s of the big pine tree outside her window on the moonlit 塀で囲む. Such fantastic 形態／調整s those waving 支店s took, but they did not help settle her troubled thoughts.
First there was Nancy. What a queer girl she was. If any man had loved her—Phoebe—like that, she was sure she would have waited years for him, have 危険d everything, have been wild with happiness, that is, supposing he was a man like Ned Kirkham, a man she loved in return. Allan Morrison—she grew hot all over at the 明らかにする thought, though it was dark in her corner, away from the moonlight—yes, she would have loved him very dearly indeed, but he had never given her a second thought, and now he had gone away. She was glad he was gone. Somehow it was a 救済. She could not be always on the look out for him, disappointed if she did not see him, still more disappointed if, as most frequently happened, she did see him, and he had 注目する，もくろむs and ears for no one but Nancy. Yes, she was glad he was gone—very glad. In her heart was the craving natural to most of us to love and be loved, but she 押し進めるd it aside. It was a good thing she knew, but it was not for her. All her own family, and she had no one to 控訴，上告 to against them, had fully decided that no man would love her, that she was singularly unattractive, and the family 約束 cost her many a secret 涙／ほころび; but of late a new hope had taken 所有／入手 of her. If she could only earn her own living, if she could only be 独立した・無所属, what a difference it would make. Suppose she had a house of her own—one woman—it would not take much surely to make one woman, with no one 扶養家族 on her, comfortable and 井戸／弁護士席-to-do. A house of her own, where she could do as she pleased, entertain her own friends in her own way, make it dainty and pretty and nice and be her own mistress. The idea had 広大な／多数の／重要な charms for her. A woman of twenty-four せねばならない be 独立した・無所属, she ought not to be in 主要な-strings, 強いるd to 服従させる／提出する smiling to the unfavourable 批評 of her younger brothers and sisters. If she were only 独立した・無所属 she believed, she 堅固に believed she would be a better woman in every way, more attractive, too, probably; and if in years to come Allan Morrison were to come 支援する and find her a 井戸／弁護士席-to-do, 井戸／弁護士席-dressed woman, 設立するd in her own home, who knows, he might—he might—Nancy would be out of the way then, and anyhow, he had always liked talking to her. And then she drew herself up はっきりと, and laughed aloud in the night. What lengths her dreaming was carrying her. She had decided she would give up thinking of Allan Morrison, and here she was weaving him into her dreams, making him in fact the reward of her success, and as yet she had not sold a 減少（する） of honey, and did not know whether she could sell it. Very resolutely she turned her mind to ways and means.
One 続けざまに猛撃する, thirteen and fourpence, her father had given her a cheque for a month's allowance last night, with a 激しい sigh and a 発言／述べる that he did not know whether the bank would cash his cheque, but she might try. She had not much 恐れる of that; she was glad enough to get the money so soon, and the 発言／述べる was only one of his unpleasant little ways, one of the ways that made her long so ardently to earn her own living. Then there was seven shillings she had saved, goodness knows how, from last month's allowance; nearly two 続けざまに猛撃するs, and she racked her brains to think of the best way to lay it out.
Her boots must be 単独のd, that was imperative, and that would cost at least four shillings; and a smoker, that would cost, she thought, five shillings. Nine shillings gone of her little hoard. Then about a dress. A new dress she must have. She would dare to 申し込む／申し出 her honey for sale, but something told her to at least be as 井戸／弁護士席 dressed as possible. 井戸／弁護士席, she would have a new butcher blue gingham. That would 控訴 her. She knew where she could get one at ninepence a yard; twelve yards, that would be another nine shillings gone, but she would want nothing else, she would make it herself, and use up the linings and buttons off her old dresses. Yes, that would do very 井戸／弁護士席, she must only go in to Ballarat on 罰金, hot days, but she thought she could easily manage that. Then about a hat. Would a shilling sailor do? A shilling sailor with a 禁止（する）d of 幅の広い blue 略章 一連の会議、交渉／完成する it? She 審議d this question a long time, and finally decided a shilling hat would do if only she could get one with a 幅の広い brim; she must have a 幅の広い brim to 控訴 her 直面する, and then she laughed to herself to think of all the trouble she was taking to impress the people she hoped to sell her honey to. And again she thought of Allan Morrison, if it had not been for him she never would have thought of taking 苦痛s with her personal 外見 at all. Would it really make any difference whether she looked nice or not, but anyhow, her pride would not 許す her to go untidy or shabby. And there was a whole 続けざまに猛撃する of her little 蓄える／店 laid out; with the other 続けざまに猛撃する and with the money she would get for her honey should she be able to buy a でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる 蜂の巣? And how was she to get the honey out of the 徹底的に捜す? This was a knotty question, and she 審議d it 完全に, forgetting 合間 Allan Morrison and her dress difficulties, and Nancy and her unsatisfactory love 事件／事情／状勢s, till she heard the clock in the next room strike two, and すぐに decided she would give up all thought of sleep that night, その結果, of course, she fell sound asleep and never wakened till her mother stood over her, querulously complaining that it was Nancy's turn to skim the milk, and that nobody was awake though it was half-past six, and their father had been up the last hour.
Phoebe gave one ちらりと見ること at sleeping Nancy. Had she too lain awake half the night thinking of her absent lover, wondering when he would come to her? Then she got up 静かに so as not to 乱す the sleeping girl, and skimmed the milk for her.
Her father was not 特に pleased when his eldest daughter asked to be driven into town with him. He never seemed pleased to take them into town, and yet he 供給するd no other way of getting there.
Phoebe had hesitated between her last summer's worn-out print and her shabby winter dress, but the 天候 was not very warm and the winter dress had won the day. Still, she felt painfully shabby as she stepped into the buggy, and knew her father's disapproving 注目する，もくろむ was upon her. Her collar and cuffs were clean and spotless, but the 影響 of a shabby and somewhat faded purple merino trimmed with velveteen on a 有望な sunny day is not appreciably altered by the cleanest and most spotless of linen cuffs and collars. Her father thought her dowdy and shabby and unpresentable, and his looks 布告するd his opinion. And she herself felt downhearted. Her wakeful night had left her tired out, and there was not a trace of the 希望に満ちた light-heartedness of yesterday and the night before. It is to be 恐れるd if Mr Davidson had come along and 提案するd to her any time during that eight mile 運動 into town beside her silent father, he would have only have had to 約束 to dress her 井戸／弁護士席 for the 未来, to be 受託するd with alacrity. But, luckily for her, he did not come, and once 解放する／自由なd from her father's overpowering presence she really enjoyed her shopping 探検隊／遠征隊. The butcher blue gingham was bought, and bought for eightpence a yard, too, so that left her with an extra shilling, and made the 支出 of one and sixpence on a sailor hat やめる a saving. She was really pleased with her 購入（する）s, and then she went and spent the 残り／休憩（する） of her day with 肉親，親類d-hearted Mrs Moore, who seemed to like to have her sitting 静かに there, 許すd her to help make her children's 着せる／賦与するs, and never by word or 行為 reminded her that she was a dead 失敗 in the social world. Indeed, to hear Mrs Moore talk you would have fancied Phoebe was やめる an entertaining person. She told her all about her 計画／陰謀s, and her friend was 同情的な, if a little surprised.
"I don't know, Phoebe," she said, "it seems a funny sort of idea. But in one way I think you're やめる 権利. Very few women could carry it out, though. But you're very 患者 and persevering, and you're just the sort to 後継する if anybody could. It means giving up a good lot, though. Most girls would be wanting to go to parties and tennis and young men."
"井戸／弁護士席, I 港／避難所't got any 誘惑s in that line, you see." laughed Phoebe.
"井戸／弁護士席 it's a good thing, just at 現在の. There'll be plenty of time for that afterwards, when you 後継する. You're young yet."
"Am I really? This is the only place ever I feel so, then. At home I feel as old as the hills."
"Now, Phoebe, for goodness sake don't go on like that. Your mother's just foolish to go on telling you you're old. You will be young when you're forty. Half the girls in this place spend their lives by deciding they won't be able to enjoy anything after they're three-and-twenty, and then, ーするために make the most of life, they （人が）群がる so much dissipation into the five years between that and eighteen they're 一般に やめる 権利. I don't know whether English people are the same, but Australian women certainly do their best to 行為／法令／行動する up to their 直す／買収する，八百長をするd belief that a woman is old and worn out at thirty. It is all nonsense, it really is; she ought to be in her prime. They get married at eighteen, and fancy they are on the shelf if nobody has come along by time they reach your age. It's wicked, it's 前向きに／確かに wicked. I suppose in the old days the mothers all married so young and so uneducated, they bring their daughters up to think they せねばならない follow in their footsteps."
"Why, you married before you were eighteen yourself!"
"So I did. And it was a dreadful 危険. I'd have married anybody with a straight nose and curly hair. Luckily those belonged to Tom, and he looked after me and educated me, and gave me all my ideas. Indeed, anything that is 価値（がある） anything in me is 予定 to Tom. But he is just one in a thousand, and I don't think others せねばならない run such 危険s. Do you, now?"
"I'm not in the least likely to," said Phoebe.
"And a good thing too. You stick to your bees. If you go into it with your whole heart, and work at it for love, you see it will make life a different thing for you. Women don't recognise that yet, but it's true all the same."
"You do 慰安 me," said Phoebe. "Mother is afraid I'll lose caste, as she calls it, and that nobody will ever care to speak to me again."
"What nonsense! You stick to your work for the next two or three years. It doesn't 事柄 nowadays what a 井戸／弁護士席-dressed, entertaining, young woman does, every one is glad to talk to her and 落ちる in love with her too,' she 追加するd archly, as if she had divined the bitterest 減少（する） in the cup of the girl before her."
Phoebe 紅潮／摘発するd hotly.
"I'm bound to do something," she said. "It's ridiculous to talk of anybody 落ちるing in love with me, because nobody ever did, and I don't suppose anybody ever will, and you see I can't go on like this for ever. It gets harder to get anything every month, and I think father grudges the money more. Perhaps he has いっそう少なく, poor thing. Anyhow, you see it is a 事例／患者 of must with me. It won't do to be a lonely old maid 扶養家族 on my brothers."
Mrs Moore nodded her 長，率いる approvingly.
"Only," Phoebe laughed a little, "you wouldn't believe how hard it is to begin. All sorts of 予期しない little difficulties 刈る up."
"How?"
"井戸／弁護士席, there's plenty of honey in those 蜂の巣s, I'm sure. I can 削減（する） out the 徹底的に捜す by using a smoker, but how on earth am I to get the honey out of the 徹底的に捜すs?"
"How do other people do it?"
"Oh, people who sell honey usually have でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる 蜂の巣s, and then they 解除する out a でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる of 徹底的に捜す and put it in the extractor. I have a little 調書をとる／予約する which tells you all about it, beautifully, but it never seems to have struck it that anybody could be so benighted as to use old gin 事例／患者s, or that any one could be so hard up as not to be able to raise the two 続けざまに猛撃するs ten shillings for an extractor."
Mrs Moore laughed.
"Just like the cookery 調書をとる／予約するs, isn't it?" she said. "They will 固執する in telling you how to stuff a turkey with truffles, when you 港／避難所't got either a turkey or truffles, and what you really want to know is how to use up your 冷淡な 脚 of mutton. But can you get the honey out in the 徹底的に捜す all 権利?"
"Oh, yes. I think it will look 公正に／かなり 井戸／弁護士席, and I'm sure it will be very good to eat."
"井戸／弁護士席, why don't you sell it just like that for the 現在の, till you have saved up enough to buy でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる 蜂の巣s? My old fruit woman had some honey in the 徹底的に捜す in her shop the other day, and it looked so nice. I daresay she would buy it from you, or, I tell you what, I'll buy it from you myself."
"No, no," Phoebe sat up very straight. "This is to be on a 厳密に 商売／仕事 basis. I'd much rather sell to your fruit woman, thank you all the same."
"Very 井戸／弁護士席, mind you come and tell me how you get on."
"Indeed I will," said Phoebe. "That suggestion of yours is a God-send to me. You wouldn't believe how that has been bothering me. But I'll take your advice, and I will come in and see your old woman as soon as my dress is ready."
The modern majesty consists in work. What a man can do is his greatest ornament, and he always 協議するs his dignity by doing it.
—CARLYLE
Next morning Phoebe was up with the lark. She had skimmed the milk and washed the dishes, and was out の中で the bees before even her 早期に rising father appeared upon the scene.
The morning was 有望な and fresh and exhilarating, the sun had just risen, and was peeping through the trees, making every little 減少（する） of dew on the blades of grass sparkle like a diamond. She had put on a hat with a big mosquito 逮捕する 隠す, and a pair of gloves, and, having 始める，決める her new smoker going, was all 苦悩 to get her first good look at her bees. It seemed rather rough and ready to turn the 蜂の巣 upside 負かす／撃墜する, but there was no other way of doing it. She 解除するd it over on to its 味方する smartly, and was pleased to find how 激しい it was, put it 負かす／撃墜する carefully, and puffed the smoke in の中で the 徹底的に捜すs. Then she felt a little despairing. She might shake out the bees into another box; she could easily with a knife 削減（する） out all that 徹底的に捜す; but how was she to tell with her 限られた／立憲的な experience where was most honey and where most brood, and it was sheer waste to 削減（する） out the brood 徹底的に捜す. Then she put that 蜂の巣 支援する in its place and went on to the next. All were busy and 十分な. Some she thought would be 群れているing soon. There were so many bees, there was so much honey 徹底的に捜す, there must surely be a little money in them, she thought, if only she knew how to manage 適切に. Then she put 負かす／撃墜する the last 蜂の巣, let her smoker go out, and, going into the dining-room, where the family never sat, took the tablecloth off the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and 始める，決める to work on her new dress, pondering the while how best she was to manage her 蜂の巣s. Her father （機の）カム in and 不平（をいう）d at the untidiness of the yard and the lateness of the 残り／休憩（する） of the family, but she paid no attention. She was too 深い in her dreams; some day she would show him how yards could be kept tidy without a 選び出す／独身 growl, and by the time her mother （機の）カム in to fretfully complain it was twenty minutes past eight and Annie hadn't even begun to lay the breakfast （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する yet, a 発言／述べる which Phoebe knew was passed on from her father, the all important dress was 削減（する） out, and the 団体／死体 tacked ready for fitting, and she had fully decided to 削減（する） away all the outside 徹底的に捜す in her 蜂の巣s, leaving just an island of 徹底的に捜す in the middle for the bees to begin again upon. She did not know much about it, but that seemed to her a 合理的な／理性的な way. Then she cheerfully 倍のd up her work and went into the schoolroom to 勧める on the dilatory Annie, and finally to lay the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する herself. And she did it so cheerfully, too, that her mother was surprised. After all, what did it 事柄. Perhaps in a year or two she would be rich enough to have a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する of her own to lay.
In 予定 course that dress was finished. She sacrificed the cream 略章 from her only ball dress for a sash and to 削減する her hat; but what did it 事柄, she did not ーするつもりである to go to any more balls, and for the same 推論する／理由 she felt that her one pair of long tan evening gloves—they were not worn at all, that was one advantage of having no partners—would do admirably to finish her 衣装, and then she 布告するd her 意向 of going into town the first warm day.
The family were more doleful and 不満な with their lot in life than usual, for Stanley had just come home for his vacation; he had been ploughed for the December exams. The young gentleman was much aggrieved thereat, he considered it was the examiners' fault 完全に. Mr Marsden was also much annoyed. Whose fault he considered it, Phoebe would have 設立する it hard to tell, but he made the whole family 苦しむ, and her mother would have thought it unkind to be cheerful in the 直面する of such a 大災害. Nancy was abstracted and anxious, thinking, thought Phoebe, about that absent lover of hers, and so it happened that only she and the children were in their normal 条件. Indeed, she, 十分な of her new hopes, was far more contented and amiable, far more forbearing and thoughtful than the children had ever 設立する her.
"Phoebe's getting やめる good-looking," said Lydia, thoughtfully, at the breakfast （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, when the longed-for hot morning had at last arrived, and Phoebe in the new dress, with her hair carefully done up on 最高の，を越す of her 長，率いる, was 注ぐing out the family coffee. "Phoeb's getting やめる good-looking. I believe somebody might come along and 落ちる in love with her after all."
"Go on," said Stanley, his mouth 十分な of eggs and bacon, "girls must be getting mighty 不十分な then."
"Hush, Lyd," said Phoebe, looking gratefully at her にもかかわらず. "One isn't always thinking of getting married."
"That's lucky," said Stanley, "for some folks I know wouldn't have much chance."
"You're やめる 権利 there," said Phoebe, serenely. "Women have a way of 推定する／予想するing a man to keep them, don't they? And some folks at the 現在の 率 of 進歩 won't be able to do that for many a long year to come."
She felt it was very mean of her, but Stanley was always girding at her for her want of attractions, and the only way to silence him was to carry the war into the enemy's country.
"Much you know about what other women want. You only know about enough to go pottering around those bees of yours."
"Anyhow," said Phoebe, はっきりと, "when I go in for a thing I give my mind to it, and do manage to know something about my 職業. If you 適用するd that 支配する—"
"Oh, go on, I always said you were about fit to be an old market woman."
"I—" began Phoebe, beginning to be ruffled, when her father struck in crossly—
"I hate this constant 口論する人, 口論する人, 口論する人. The place is like a 耐える garden."
"Phoebe!" said her mother, fretfully. She always 非難するd Phoebe. Stanley, she knew, would not have 許すd her to 非難する him, and Phoebe 沈下するd behind the coffee-マリファナ, and was more 納得させるd than ever in her own mind that she was doing 権利 in making some 成果／努力 for herself.
And it was not 平易な.
She and her father, a silent and uncongenial pair, arrived in Ballarat by half-past nine; he went straight to the office and she left the livery stables, where they put their horse up, and wandered slowly into Sturt Street, trying to を締める herself for her first 急落（する），激減（する） into 商売／仕事. It was very hot, though it was so 早期に; there was no 勝利，勝つd, and the tall gum trees in the middle of the street cast long, わずかな／ほっそりした 影をつくる／尾行するs, and over on Warrenheip a long line of smoke rose up straight into the sky. So, a bush 解雇する／砲火／射撃; it was only what was to be 推定する／予想するd at this season; soon the country would be 乾燥した，日照りのd up, and there would be no food for her poor bees. She せねばならない begin at once, but it was so hard. There was the largest confectioner's shop in Ballarat, the Vienna Cafe, 権利 opposite, and she せねばならない begin there. They sold honey and cakes and all manner of 甘い things; they must buy from somebody—why not from her? and she crossed over and looked in the window. How could she screw up her courage? The bride cake in the window wavered and danced before her 注目する，もくろむs, and the cherries and the strawberries, and the マリファナs of jam and honey were mixing themselves up in one indistinguishable 集まり. It was such an everyday thing, a thing that was done over and over again by the 大多数 of her fellow-creatures, why was she such a fool. Mr Sampson, her sister's would-be lover, （機の）カム along, and slackened his pace as he （機の）カム up with her, and she grew crimson, feeling he must divine her errand, wondering would he 軽蔑（する） her for it as her mother had said every man would. As he （機の）カム up she turned away 突然の and entered the shop. At least she would carry herself 井戸／弁護士席, as Allan Morrison had recommended, and she approached the 反対する, 持つ／拘留するing her 長，率いる in the 空気／公表する.
"And what can I do for you, 行方不明になる?" asked the woman behind.
Poor Phoebe's 直面する grew crimson, and her heart （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 so that she could hardly hear herself speak. For a moment she hesitated. Should she ask for sixpenny-価値（がある） of buns and wait for another time till the shop was empty, perhaps? The people standing 一連の会議、交渉／完成する would hear her now. Then Stanley's scornful speeches （機の）カム into the mind, the general 不快 of her home life, and the 有罪の判決 that she was at least 都合よく dressed for once 支えるd her.
"I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to know," she said, and she was surprised to find it was easier than she had thought, "if you 手配中の，お尋ね者 to buy any honey in the 徹底的に捜す?"
"Section boxes?" asked the woman, as if it were a 事柄 of every-day occurrence with her, and Phoebe was at her 緩和する at once. "井戸／弁護士席, he does いつかs buy section boxes. He bought a lot last month."
"No, 地雷's not in boxes," said Phoebe, "I 港／避難所't started them yet. I'm just getting rid of the old honey first. It's very good," she said, boldly, "very clean and nice," and she wondered where she got her 信用／信任, "and, of course, as I want to get rid of it, I would let you have it a little cheaper."
"Have you much?"
"About two kerosene tins 十分な," answered Phoebe at a 投機・賭ける. It struck her it would be very unbusinesslike not to know how much she had for sale.
"And what might you be wanting for it?"
This was 商売／仕事, and she began to feel happy, and to feel that selling honey was not so terrible after all, but she hadn't the faintest idea of its value.
"What do you give?" she asked, and prided herself upon her smartness.
"井戸／弁護士席, it's hard to say. He 一般に buys it himself. We do give fourpence a 続けざまに猛撃する for the pure honey."
"But this is in the 徹底的に捜す," said Phoebe, hardly knowing whether that fact would 前進する or detract from its value.
"Some folks likes it in the 徹底的に捜す, and some don't," said the woman, thoughtfully, rubbing her fingers up and 負かす／撃墜する a glass 十分な of sponge cakes. "I don't know whether he'd be buying, I'm sure. I might tell him when he comes in if you'd let me know the price."
"It せねばならない be 価値（がある） eightpence a 続けざまに猛撃する," said Phoebe, and then wondered if she had spoiled her chance by asking too much.
"I dunno as he'd give that," said the woman, "特に when he ain't seen it. You might bring in a 見本 next time you're passing. Is there anything else I can do for you?"
"Not today, thank you," said Phoebe, and walked out of the shop, hardly knowing whether she had failed or not.
One thing she was glad of, she had made the 急落（する），激減（する）, it would not be so difficult to ask at the next shop.
But the next shop said no, 無条件に, they never thought of buying honey in that way, and Phoebe continued her course up the street a little いっそう少なく hopefully, and the next shop said no, and the next and the next and the next. She began to be tired and downhearted, to realise the weariness of carrying 一連の会議、交渉／完成する wares which nobody 手配中の，お尋ね者 to buy. Did nobody eat honey? It looked like it. Would she have to go home and 自白する herself beaten? Then there would be nothing at all for her to look 今後 to in life, nothing at all, all her pretty 城s in the 空気／公表する were coming 倒れるing about her ears. Stanley would be 権利, she was good for nothing, she might just 同様に （不足などを）補う her mind to be a 世帯 drudge for the 残り／休憩（する） of her days. But no, she would not give in, somebody must eat honey, somebody must buy, and she walked straight up Sturt Street and turned into every little shop on her way. It was her only chance, she would leave no 石／投石する unturned, and every little shop said no, more or いっそう少なく decidedly.
Opposite the hospital there was a grocer's shop, and she turned in there for a change. All her shyness had 完全に 出発／死d, she did not mind asking in the least, only it was so disheartening to be 辞退するd.
The shop was empty, and the man behind the 反対する （機の）カム smiling up to her.
"Do you want to buy any honey?" she asked, and waited for the usual reply.
"井戸／弁護士席, no," he said, "I don't know as I do myself. But there was a lady in only this morning asking if I could tell her where she could buy honey in the 徹底的に捜す—only this very morning. She thought maybe some of my country 顧客s, those that brings me in eggs and butter, might have some to sell."
Phoebe's 直面する 紅潮／摘発するd crimson. Here was a chance. But this "lady," who was she? She might ask in the shops if they would buy, but she could not 強硬派 her wares 一連の会議、交渉／完成する from door to door. She would not mind 令状ing to her, though, if she got her 演説（する）／住所, and her 直面する 紅潮／摘発するd and her 発言する／表明する trembled as she asked—"Who is she? Where does she live?" and she tried to speak as if it were a 事柄 of perfect 無関心／冷淡 to her, as if she had been selling honey all her life.
The grocer wiped his 手渡すs on his 黒人／ボイコット calico apron, （機の）カム 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the 反対する to the doorway and pointed up the street.
"Mrs Hanson," he said, "she's a cousin of 地雷 on the mother's 味方する," and Phoebe's spirits rose. She would not mind 取引ing with the grocer's cousin.
"Keeps a little fruit shop," he went on. "She made a bad 取引 somehow, and her man hardly manages to 停止する his end of the stick, so she's got to look pretty spry. Her 顧客s has all been asking for honey in the 徹底的に捜す it seems lately."
It was such a little bit of brightness, but Phoebe held up her 長，率いる at once. Eightpence a 続けざまに猛撃する! she would 喜んで take four-pence a 続けざまに猛撃する now, only to make a beginning and sell it. She turned to her grocer friend gratefully—
"Thank you so much," she said.
"You're very welcome, 行方不明になる. I hope you'll be able to come to 条件 with my cousin. It's a 広大な／多数の／重要な thing for a poor struggling woman like her to keep her 顧客s and be able to please them."
"Oh, my honey is good, I know," laughed Phoebe, cheerfully, and she turned out into the 炎ing 日光 again and went straight for Mrs Hanson's.
Honey! yes, three or four of Mrs Hanson's 顧客s had been asking for it lately. She didn't know what had come over them. They never did it before.
"And how much might you have to sell?"
"About two kerosene tins 十分な," hesitated Phoebe, because really she had not the faintest idea how much she had.
"But 港／避難所't you any in the 徹底的に捜す?" and Phoebe, with a （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing heart, because this really looked like 商売／仕事, and if this is the only thing you have got it is やめる as exciting selling your honey as selling your 調書をとる／予約する, explained 正確に／まさに what she had got, and finally without hesitation asked eightpence a 続けざまに猛撃する for it.
The woman shook her 長，率いる. She was a 疲れた／うんざりした, tired, fretful looking woman, and in the room behind the curtained glass door a baby kept up a perpetual 叫び声をあげるing.
"It's too much, these hard times. I couldn't get more than ninepence-ha'penny a 続けざまに猛撃する for it."
"井戸／弁護士席," said Phoebe, "I think that is very good, considering you'll have no trouble about it. And your 顧客s are asking for it."
"But I 港／避難所't seen it."
"It's good, I know," she said with 信用／信任, the 信用／信任 of ignorance. "I'll tell you what. I'll send you in a kerosene tin 十分な tomorrow, and if you don't like it, I'll take it 支援する."
"Or perhaps take a little いっそう少なく," 示唆するd the woman.
"Oh, no," said Phoebe, and she wondered where she was getting her sharpness; "I wouldn't care to sell for いっそう少なく. I'll take it 支援する if you don't like it."
"Send it tomorrow, then," said the woman, 開始 the door behind her and calling out "hush, hush," to the 叫び声をあげるing baby, and "Jane, Jane," to some unseen feminine who was 明らかに neglecting her 義務s with regard to that baby.
"Good morning," said Phoebe, and walked out of the shop with a light heart.
She had made the first step, she had 後継するd, and it seemed as if all she most 願望（する）d were within her reach. She turned 支援する now and walked 負かす／撃墜する the hot wide street, and when she met Mr Sampson held out her 手渡す and spoke to him cheerfully. Had not Lydia said she looked やめる good-looking this morning? It was the new dress, and now another new dress was やめる within her reach.
"Good morning, 行方不明になる Marsden," he said, in his stiff 木造の manner, which always made Phoebe wonder how he ever （機の）カム to be Mrs Moore's brother. "I've just met your father. He's looking for you everywhere. I think he wants to go out home."
"Oh, dear!" Phoebe started uncomfortably. "I must go at once then. Is he at the stables?"
"He was. I don't know where he is now. I shouldn't like to say," said Mr Sampson with a faint smile, and she 解釈する／通訳するd it to mean he was in a worse temper than usual.
"Good-bye, then," and 無視（する）ing the heat—it was past one o'clock now—she 始める，決める off almost at a run. It was no light thing in the Marsden family to keep the 長，率いる of the house waiting.
He was cross of course, very cross, Phoebe 推定する／予想するd no いっそう少なく. He had told her when they parted he would not be ready to leave town till five, and then suddenly finding it more convenient to go at one, his temper was ruffled because she could be 設立する nowhere.
"Come on, come on," he said when he caught sight of her, "wherever have you been? I've been sending all over the town for you. We せねばならない have started an hour ago."
And Phoebe 抑制するd the answer that rose to her lips. What was the good? Her father was angry, he would be out of temper with an angel from heaven, and she was thankful, oh, so thankful, she had at least made a beginning on her own account. And after all she too was glad to go home 早期に, she would be able now to get that honey ready for sending into town at once. So if he were silent on the way out, for once in her life Phoebe did not feel ill at 緩和する, and by the time she got home had 現実に forgotten she had committed any sin at all. Therefore it surprised her when she heard her father complain to her mother, as she （機の）カム out on the verandah to 会合，会う them, that if it hadn't been for Phoebe, he would have been out an hour sooner.
"I didn't know, you see," explained Phoebe, cheerfully, and her mother opened her 注目する，もくろむs in astonishment; "I never ーするつもりであるd to turn up till five o'clock, and if I hadn't met Mr Sampson who told me father was waiting for me, I don't believe I should."
Nancy （機の）カム out and raised her eyebrows. The idea of Phoebe talking as cheerfully as if she hadn't committed the serious offence of keeping the family tyrant waiting a good hour.
Phoebe gathered up her things あわてて and ran into their room, there was no good in stopping to hear her own delinquencies, and Nancy followed her.
"井戸／弁護士席, Phoeb, you look a good 取引，協定 more cheerful on it than I should dare do. Fancy keeping the 知事 waiting!"
"It was やめる an 事故," said Phoebe. "I hadn't the slightest idea he would be wanting to start so 早期に."
"Even though it was an 事故, I would have been 脅すd, and you don't seem to mind a bit."
"Nan, I've sold my honey."
"What!"
"I have really. Eightpence a 続けざまに猛撃する! Just think of that," and undemonstrative Phoebe suddenly 掴むd her sister 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the waist and waltzed 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the room with her.
"But, Phoebe," began Nancy, "eightpence a 続けざまに猛撃する! It's impossible."
"No, it isn't, no, it isn't. It is an 遂行するd fact. Do you wonder I don't mind much about father 存在 cross. Why, it just 控訴s me to come home 早期に. It's just what I 手配中の，お尋ね者 him to do. I'll be able to get the honey all ready now and go over and see Bateman about taking it in. Nan, you don't know how nice it feels to find your time is really of importance."
"But tell me all about it, Phoebe?"
And Phoebe, nothing loth, began at the beginning and told all her 苦悩s, changing her dress 一方／合間, and bringing the relation to a 勝利を得た 結論 as she put her new hat away and carefully 倍のd up the 略章s of her sash.
"And you see it's a beginning, Nan. Once I get into the swim and can afford でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる 蜂の巣s, I'll begin to make money."
And then with one fell 急襲する Nancy 性質の／したい気がして of her sister's 城s in the 空気／公表する.
"井戸／弁護士席, Phoeb," she said, "you are an old donkey. You are the blindest old goose I ever saw. Don't you see. Mrs Hanson is Mrs Moore's fruit woman, and she has been asking for honey there just so as to give you a helping 手渡す."
"Oh, Nancy!"
Poor Phoebe. There was no 疑問 about it. Nancy was 権利. How was it she had never thought of it before. Mrs Moore had created a fictitious 需要・要求する for her, that was all, and she could not hope it would last beyond a week or two. And here she had been hoping this was the beginning of better things. The 涙／ほころびs （機の）カム into her 注目する，もくろむs and 井戸／弁護士席d over on to her cheeks, as she thought of the decided manner in which all the shops up Sturt Street had said 'no' to her. And she had hoped to make her living by selling honey. What a fool she was!
"Now, Phoebe, don't cry," said Nancy. "I don't see it makes any difference. You can sell it all the same and get the money, which is the main thing."
"Yes, but—don't you see—that's not the 需要・要求する which I 手配中の，お尋ね者."
"Never you mind. Perhaps there will be in time. When they find how good your honey is, they will tell all their friends, and their friends will tell their friends, and that will be やめる enough for you at first. You don't want the whole 植民地 to go in for honey yet awhile. Now I'm sure that's the way you would argue yourself. Don't be a duffer."
"It's so difficult to see for yourself," said Phoebe, 乾燥した，日照りのing her 注目する，もくろむs. "Anyhow I suppose I may 同様に sell this lot, and I've got to get it ready. Do come and help me, Nancy, that's a good girl."
Phoebe's first wild excitement had passed away. Her high hopes had received a blighting blow, but still there was a joy in getting that honey and honeycomb ready for sale. She had had everything ready some time ago, and now she and Nancy went to the first 蜂の巣, used the new smoker with vigour and shook out all the bees into another box. Then Phoebe carried away the 蜂の巣 to the other end of the orchard and very carefully 削減（する） away the outside 徹底的に捜すs and laid them in a large flat earthernware milk dish. Then she carried 支援する her 蜂の巣, shook 支援する the bees again, and felt proud and elated when she looked at her honeycomb. After all she thought people must want to buy this if they only saw how nice it looked.
"Are the children 負かす／撃墜する the paddocks?" she asked, looking around anxiously. "They will want some if they see it, it looks so nice, and I will never have the heart to say no."
"You will be a silly if you don't," said Nancy, philosophically. "Those boys will gobble that dish up in no time and never even say thank you. You get the money and be 井戸／弁護士席 dressed and they will think a 取引，協定 more of you than if you gave them every mortal thing you 所有するd and looked shabby. That's the unpleasant way with brothers, I find. Shall we put that honey in the kerosene tin?"
"No, not yet. We'll carry it into the 酪農場 and look it all over first. I must take care, you know, that there isn't any food or eggs or bee-bread, or whatever they call it, の中で it."
It was very carefully looked over that honeycomb by two 始める，決めるs of ignorant, anxious 注目する，もくろむs, and yet it is to be 恐れるd that Mrs Moore and her family, who, as Nancy rightly 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd, were the real purchasers of that honey, ate more than their 株 of eggs and pollen; but as they were 非，不，無 the wiser, perhaps it didn't 事柄. When Phoebe was 満足させるd it was やめる clean and 解放する／自由なd from all objectionable 事柄, she emptied her milk dish into the kerosene tin and went out and robbed the second 蜂の巣.
It was new work to her, and even in 技術d 手渡すs it would have been a long and tedious 過程, so that Nancy had やめる lost her 利益／興味, and was tired out long before the third 蜂の巣 was robbed and the kerosene tin 十分な. Phoebe 重さを計るd it carefully on the big 規模s in the 酪農場.
"Thirty-five 続けざまに猛撃するs!" she said, triumphantly. "Only three 蜂の巣s, you see, Nan, and at sixpence a 続けざまに猛撃する that will be seventeen and sixpence, and at twopence a 続けざまに猛撃する that'll be five-and-tenpence—twenty-three-and-fourpence. My goodness, Nan!"
"I wish you wouldn't say 'my goodness,' Phoebe," said Mrs Marsden's fretful 発言する／表明する in the doorway. "When will you learn those sort of 表現s are so unladylike?"
"Never, mother, never," said Phoebe, with a touch of impatience in her 発言する／表明する, "I ain't a lady any longer. I'm a honey woman. I have sold all that honey. At least I think I have. And if they take it I'm to get over a 続けざまに猛撃する for it. What do you think of that?"
"But where, Phoebe? To who?" asked her mother, 関わりなく grammar.
"To Mrs Hanson, the fruit shop just beyond the hospital, you know," said Phoebe, somewhat unkindly enjoying her poor mother's shocked 直面する.
They were so opposite, those two. Mrs Marsden, with her strong feeling that a lady, a woman of the upper classes, demeaned herself if she stepped outside the bounds of her home, if she strove for independence in the slightest degree, could not but be shocked that a daughter of hers should have gone from shop to shop, as Phoebe 明らかに had, 取引ing like any 農業者's wife with fowls to sell, and Phoebe was utterly at a loss to understand her mother's feelings. Those sort of feelings seemed to her all nonsense when you let them stand in the way of your 慰安, and she rather delighted in shocking her mother.
"You せねばならない be pleased, mother," she laughed, "at seeing your daughter in a fair way to earn an honest living for herself. Think of my old age."
"I would so far rather see you comfortably married," and she sighed. "How is it? Other people's daughters marry and I suppose you have the same chances as they do."
Phoebe took a board and put it over her honey, and then walked out of the 酪農場 hanging her 長，率いる in the old sullen manner.
"I don't care, mother," she said. "It seems to me a far more decent thing to sell honey, even if you have to go into shops and ask them to buy, than to go on thinking of nothing else for ever and ever except marrying. Nan, keep the 重要な of the 酪農場, will you, there's a dear, so those boys won't get at the honey, and I'll go over and see Bateman about taking it into town."
Some for the Glories of This World;
and some Sigh for the Prophet's 楽園 to come;
Ah, take the Cash, and let the Credit go,
Nor 注意する the rumble of a distant 派手に宣伝する!
—Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
And that honey was a success. Phoebe thought she never had felt so proud and glad in her life as when Mrs Hanson 手渡すd over to her L1 3s—she forgot the fourpence—and asked her if she could let her have some.
"I sold it all that very day," she said, without a change in her dreary, hopeless トンs. "There was a many a askin' for it, and I 約束d to try and get them some more."
"I can let you have about as much again," said Phoebe, trying to make her トンs sound 商売／仕事-like, and to 除去する the elation from them. It was certainly not 商売／仕事 to be so pleased over selling her honey. She せねばならない try and behave as if it were an everyday occurrence; and then she 追加するd, a little 残念に, "I'm afraid that'll be all for some time."
"井戸／弁護士席, 井戸／弁護士席," said Mrs Hanson; "when you have any more you might let me have the 拒絶 of it. It's a new thing, you see, and it sorter takes."
And Phoebe walked 負かす／撃墜する the street feeling as if the world lay before her. She would change places with no woman now. She 追加するd up the cash she had in 手渡す, and 設立する it 量d to L2 4s, and therefore she walked straight to the 地位，任命する office, and sent off a postcard to Melbourne, asking for a price 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） of bee requisites. Another L1 3s would bring her cash in 手渡す up to L3 7s—more money than she had ever had in her life before, all of her own, and enough, she thought, to buy her a couple of でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる 蜂の巣s at once.
At the end of the week she sold the 残り／休憩（する） of the honey. It was more than she had counted on, a little over fifty 続けざまに猛撃するs, and その結果 brought her cash in 手渡す up to L3 17s. Now, truly, she could order でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる 蜂の巣s with a light heart. A guinea a piece she 設立する they would cost her, and before another fortnight had passed, and Christmas was at 手渡す—Christmas, which to the Marsden family was always marred by the overhanging 影をつくる／尾行する of the 法案s the New Year would bring—she had three でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる 蜂の巣s in 十分な working order. Now all she 手配中の，お尋ね者 was an extractor, and an extractor she was 解決するd to have, though an extractor which costs L2 10s, when your cash in 手渡す is 正確に／まさに 11s, and your income is a somewhat 不安定な L1 13s 4d a month, is an expensive item. Her father, she was thankful to say, had taken very little notice of the new 蜂の巣s. One day at tea, indeed, he had asked—
"Whose are those 蜂の巣s?"
"地雷," said Phoebe, trembling for what might be coming next.
"Lucky for you," said her father; "you can afford to indulge your hobbies. I never can."
She wondered would he ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れる her allowance? If he did that, then indeed she would have to give up hope; but the same thought, perhaps, passed through her mother's mind: and though she might not 認可する of Phoebe's course, still she was やめる aware she had very little 楽しみ in life, and would not have that 削減（する） off if she could help it.
"I'm sure," she said, fretfully, and yet Phoebe was 感謝する to her, she understood her 動機, "I'm sure I wish Phoebe wouldn't spend all her money on her bees. She 簡単に can't go out, she hasn't got a dress fit to wear; and as for boots and gloves—"
"I can't help it," said Mr Marsden, in the トン the family hated. "You spend every penny of my money の中で you, and more too. 井戸／弁護士席 it can't go on like this long. There must be an end to it," which speech he made on an 普通の／平均（する） at least once a week to his family, and it never failed to 減ずる them either to angry or 苦しめるd silence, によれば their dispositions.
But tonight it did not damp Phoebe's spirits. She was beginning to see her way out; and after tea she strolled out into the orchard, and sat 負かす／撃墜する opposite her nice clean white 蜂の巣s, and began to build 城s in the 空気／公表する. She had discovered, by careful reading of the quaint American "Gleanings of Bee Culture" a few numbers of which Mrs Moore had got for her, that she had received a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 too much for the messy mixture of 徹底的に捜す and honey she had sold Mrs Hanson; but everybody seemed to be 満足させるd—Mrs Moore had told her how much they had liked it, and 決起大会／結集させるd her on making her friend 支払う／賃金 three-halfpence a 続けざまに猛撃する more than she need for it and so she felt she might be pleased and 感謝する for the start it had given her. Now even though she got いっそう少なく per 続けざまに猛撃する, she thought it would be amply made up by the 増加するd 量; and, for once in her life, was 公正に／かなり 井戸／弁護士席 満足させるd with things as they were. To be sure her mother's dictum that she was やめる old troubled her a little; but at least there was this なぐさみ in it, if she was so old, there was really nothing more to hope for, and she could sit 負かす／撃墜する contentedly and wait, because a year more or いっそう少なく doesn't 事柄 when you're old. At least, that was her mood tonight; tomorrow, very likely, the waiting would seem interminably long and unbearable. But tonight—tonight, at least, the world was going 井戸／弁護士席 with her, and she lay 支援する on the grass, with her 手渡すs under her 長，率いる, and 星／主役にするd up at the golden 星／主役にするs.
To her, across the grass, （機の）カム Nancy, and sat 負かす／撃墜する beside her, 残り／休憩（する）ing her 肘s on her 膝s, and her 直面する in her 手渡すs.
"Father was 汚い at tea, wasn't he," 発言／述べるd the 年上の, without turning her 長，率いる.
"It's getting unbearable," said Nancy, with a sob in her 発言する／表明する.
"Nanny, dear."
"Phoebe, why didn't you come to the ball last night?"
"Because, you know 井戸／弁護士席 enough, I like to keep in a 公正に／かなり good temper; and I'd have been just as cross as two sticks if I'd gone there and sat 負かす／撃墜する all night. Now you see I am as amiable as possible, in spite of my papa's rude 発言／述べるs; and you went and danced all night and enjoyed yourself, and now you're done up," and Phoebe laid a kindly 手渡す on her sister's arm.
"Oh, I danced all night; but that doesn't say I enjoyed myself."
"Doesn't it? I'd enjoy myself I know, if I danced all night. And you had an admirer, too. Stanley says Mr. Sampson—Nancy, you oughtn't to flirt with him so, when you know you are engaged to Ned Kirkham."
"I'm not engaged to Ned Kirkham."
"What?" And Phoebe sat up in her astonishment.
"I only said I wasn't engaged to Ned Kirkham. You know there never was anything between us."
"Oh, Nancy, I thought—"
"Spooning doesn't make an 約束／交戦; and I never as much as let Ned Kirkham kiss me. And 存在 in love with a man doesn't make an 約束／交戦; and a man 存在 in love with you doesn't make an 約束／交戦."
"No," said Phoebe, doubtfully, she didn't やめる understand what her sister was 運動ing at; "but when you love a man, and he loves you, and is going to marry you, that makes an 約束／交戦, I suppose, doesn't it?"
"I suppose it does," said Nancy, gloomily.
"井戸／弁護士席?"
"Who said Ned Kirkham was going to marry me?"
"Why, of course he is. He's wild to do it; and as soon as ever he gets that gold—"
Nancy began to laugh—a laugh that was half strangled with a sob.
"That gold," she said; "oh, that gold! But they 港／避難所't got that gold. And they can't even begin to look for it till the rain comes. They've—they've （疑いを）晴らすd out, and are riding 跡をつけるs for some 無断占拠者 up there. They've lost all their money, and just earn a 続けざまに猛撃する a week and rations each," she went on, ひどく, as if she were afraid of breaking 負かす／撃墜する. "I got a letter last night."
"Nanny, Nanny." It gave Phoebe an 半端物 sort of little 苦痛 to think how grieved she would have been for Morrison if he had cared anything for her. But he didn't; and she could be glad about her bees, and not worry about him, but about Ned Kirkham.
"Oh, Nanny! I'm so sorry—I'm so sorry. And it means more 苦悩 and waiting, doesn't it? And it's hard for him too. You'll have to make it up to him when you're married."
"Married?" echoed Nancy, "Married? Good gracious! Do you ever 推定する／予想する us to be married? You must be a sanguine sort of a person."
"But, Nanny dear, in time, you know, it will come 権利, and 一方／合間—"
Phoebe paused, because it seemed to her the time might be wrong, and really she did not やめる know what to recommend her to do 一方／合間. She would have waited, she would have fretted and ガス／煙d her heart out with 苦悩, but she would have waited all her life for the man who loved her; but she knew Nancy was not made of the same sort of stuff.
"And 一方／合間," said Nancy, choking 負かす／撃墜する a sob; "I may 同様に marry some one else."
"Nancy, you don't know how—how indecent it seems to me to talk that way."
"Why?"
"To talk of marrying one man when you know you love another. I know you're thinking of Mr Sampson."
"井戸／弁護士席, what if I am?" said Nancy, with a trace of sullenness in her 発言する／表明する. "You know you think he is nice yourself."
"Yes, I'm sure he is; but I know you don't care, not in that way, one cent for him. Why, Nan, I like him far better than you do."
"I always knew you had a こそこそ動くing affection for him," said Nancy, with a feeble 試みる／企てる at sprightliness, which her sister checked in the bud.
"I would be more fit to marry him, anyway," she said, 厳粛に; "but I wouldn't. I don't care enough for him."
"You don't know what you would do. He never asked you. A woman feels やめる different then," said Nancy, brightening. She felt she had the whip 手渡す of her sister here, for Phoebe had to 認める she didn't know what it felt like to be asked in marriage.
"I don't know," she hesitated; "of course I know I can't speak from experience; but it does seem to me that unless you want pretty 不正に to marry him at all—at least, except for pecuniary 推論する／理由s, and that's a wrong 推論する／理由 altogether."
"My goodness! I would like mother to hear you. Wouldn't she be shocked!"
"I suppose she would; but I don't know what at."
"The idea of wanting to marry a man before he asked you."
"Nan, I'm 権利, にもかかわらず." Phoebe sat up straight, and 小衝突d the hair out of her 注目する，もくろむs. "I'm 権利, I feel I'm 権利. It will be a very good thing indeed for men and women too, when a lot of this ridiculous nonsense is 小衝突d away. A woman can't be やめる indifferent to a man all along, and then all of a sudden, the minute he asks her to marry him, be very fond of him. She can't, I tell you, or if she can, then she is not the sort of woman 価値（がある） any man's marrying. And yet that is just the sort of 存在s women in our class are supposed to be. Oh, Nan! if we could only be 独立した・無所属 and 会合，会う men on an equal 地盤, how much better it would be. Nan, dearie, if you wait for Ned Kirkham, he will know how much you love him."
"For ten years? Till I'm old and faded? He'll more likely think it was because I couldn't get anybody else, and he will bless having to take such an old thing, and wish he could have a nice, fresh young girl."
Phoebe rubbed her 手渡す across her 注目する，もくろむs. There was truth, too, in this bitter philosophy.
"But thirty-two isn't so very old. You needn't be faded." But she hesitated. Thirty-two seemed to both of them very old indeed. You cannot be brought up in the 約束 that five-and-twenty is old without feeling that over thirty is decrepid.
"Oh, it's old!" said Nancy, with 決定／判定勝ち（する）; "so it is no good discussing that. Why, you were thirteen when mother was thirty-two."
"I often think she grew old much too soon, and—"
"Phoebe, you are やめる mad on that 支配する. Anyhow, I'm not going to wait for Ned Kirkham till I'm thirty-two, so it's no good talking about it."
"What will you do, then?"
"I'm sure I don't know. Marry Mr Sampson, I suppose. Fancy 存在 Mrs Josiah Sampson! Ugh!"
"Nan! You don't care one bit for Mr Sampson, you know you don't. You are only laughing."
"Am I? 井戸／弁護士席, you'll see. He asked me last night."
"Nancy! he didn't. You ought not to have let him."
"I couldn't stop him. Anyway, he did. He couldn't speak to father today, because he had to go up to Maryborough, and won't be 支援する till tomorrow night. But I told him it didn't 事柄 in the least for a day or two. Only I thought I must just tell you."
"Oh, but Nancy, Nancy! how could you! And Ned Kirkham—what about him?"
"It's much better as it is," said Nancy, defiantly; "even for him. You can't have an 協定 like that dragging on for months and years; it is too wearing altogether. I suppose he will be 削減（する） up at first, but he will pretty soon see it in the same light I do."
"Nanny," repeated Phoebe again, with hopeless 主張, "you don't love Mr Sampson."
"Oh, don't I? How do you know that? Besides, what does it 事柄? Mother says she loves father, and I'm sure the result isn't to be envied."
"You don't know how much worse it might be if there wasn't any love."
"Phoebe, I think love is all just rot. After you have been married to a man a year or two it is all the same."
"It is not. I know it is not."
"You don't know anything about it. You must 許す I know heaps more about men than you do."
"I know that," 認める Phoebe, "and that is what makes it worse. You go and engage yourself to a man you don't care a bit about—just because you think it is time you married."
"It is time, too. Look at my dress, look at my boots, and just look at the way the other girls are growing up. Why Lydia is nearly as tall as you, and much taller than me."
"But, Nancy—"
"Now, Phoebe, I'm sure in your heart you must sympathise with me. No one 願望（する）s more heartily to get out of it than you do."
"Yes, but the road out ought not to be by marrying a man you don't care a cent about."
"It 一般に is for women."
"It ought not to be. Oh, Nan, think how you would feel if three months hence Ned Kirkham struck gold and was a rich man, and you were married to Mr Sampson."
"I would not like it, of course," said Nancy, a little unsteadily, "but that won't happen. Those sort of things only happen in 調書をとる／予約するs."
"They must happen in real life いつかs or folks would not be 利益／興味d to read about them."
"井戸／弁護士席, it won't happen in this 事例／患者. You can be very sure of that."
"井戸／弁護士席, perhaps you are 権利 to break off the 約束／交戦. You can care for each other just as much even if you are not engaged, and he can always come 支援する if he has got any money, and perhaps it would be just 同様に if you could stop caring for him. But I know you care now, Nan, I know you do, and it is wicked to talk of marrying anybody else."
"If it was you you would go on loving him and adoring him till in time he got sick of you, I suppose."
"I believe I would," hesitated Phoebe, "because it is not pleasant to own up how much you would love when no one has asked you for that love, and you know very 井戸／弁護士席 your listener thinks no one is ever likely to, I believe it is the 権利 way."
"井戸／弁護士席, I'm not built that way. I would rather leave a man in the lurch while I could than be left in the lurch myself any day."
"It is wrong. It is cruel. You don't know how 哀れな Ned Kirkham may be."
"Oh, he would be 哀れな any way, if he don't get the gold, he will go 権利 along 存在 哀れな wanting me, till at last he got to 存在 哀れな because he had got me. No, thank you. I prefer to end it before it comes to that."
"It is not 確かな to come to that."
"Pretty 確かな . Now, Phoeb, don't be silly. Which of us two do men like most? Why me, of course. I don't want to be conceited, they are all asses you know, but there isn't a 疑問 about it. They all seem to like me somehow, and I always get lots of attention, and I never consider their feelings a bit. I go 権利 on and do 正確に／まさに what I like. And you, you are always considering somebody, you—"
"No one cares for me one bit."
"Just 正確に／まさに so. Men are always that way. Oh, I know the best way to manage men."
"I think," said Phoebe, slowly, "it is your pretty 直面する and your pretty 確信して ways that take them. I don't believe men are so—so bad as to admire 感情s like that. A man must want to be loved, and 井戸／弁護士席 loved, just like a woman does, and if I were pretty and charming like you, men would like me too, and if they were real good men they would like my 感情s far better than yours."
"井戸／弁護士席, I call that very conceited of you. But as far as I can 裁判官 they like 地雷 at 現在の, and I'm going to be married while they do."
"But, Nan, why must you get married?"
"Two or three excellent 推論する／理由s, as I told you before. Look at my boots, look at my dress, look at the other girls growing up; life is a 哀れな sort of struggle for us girls anyhow, and I must get married before I'm so old nobody asks me any more."
Phoebe stood up and stamped her feet on the ground.
"They are the poorest sort of 推論する／理由s, if I could only make you see it. Oh, I know it is not very happy for you at home, but wait, wait a little, Nan. It is so irrevocable getting married, if you don't care a lot for him before you are married, the chances are you will like him いっそう少なく afterwards. He can't always have his best manners on, you know, not all his life. And, Nan, who knows, somebody might come along whom you would like very much."
It was getting dark now, the short Australian twilight had fled, and Nancy, sitting on the grass with her 肘s on her 膝s and her chin in her 手渡すs, could just ばく然と see her sister's tall form as she walked impatiently up and 負かす／撃墜する before the white beehives. She felt dull and depressed, even a little angry. Why was Phoebe, who understood so little about it, going on like this? It was a hard thing to find the man she really cared about had no money, and no prospect of money, it was a hard thing to have to 令状 to him and tell him they must part, and she 手配中の，お尋ね者 Phoebe to sympathise with her. She 手配中の，お尋ね者 to be kissed and cried over and petted a little. Then as to Mr Sampson, she fully ーするつもりであるd to marry him; he was 井戸／弁護士席-to-do, he could give her almost everything she 手配中の，お尋ね者, and it had always seemed to her that money had been, up to the 現在の, the 広大な／多数の／重要な want of her life. But still she 手配中の，お尋ね者 to be sympathised with about that too. To have to give up a young, good-looking man for a plain, middle-老年の one, at least twenty years older than herself, it was hard, and Phoebe might have been gentle with her, and petted her, and pitied her first and then pointed out Mr Sampson's many good 質s and the advantages she would 得る from the marriage. But no, here was Phoebe striding up and 負かす／撃墜する in the dark, going on as if it were a 罪，犯罪 in her to think about marrying at all.
"Phoebe," she said at last, "for goodness gracious sake stop that and come and sit 負かす／撃墜する 静かに. Just supposing I don't marry now, just to please you, what will happen. Have you any idea how dead, and dull and stale everything will be, and that may go on for years and years, for all my life, as far as I can see."
"If you had an 利益／興味 in life," mused her 年上の sister.
"There is not such a thing for a woman unless she is married. You can't give me one."
"The bees," said Phoebe, doubtfully. The bees had been so much to her during the last two or three months, but she 疑問d whether her sister took the same keen 利益／興味 in them. They were only little insects with stings in their tails to Nancy, while to Phoebe they 代表するd house and money and dresses and 影響（力） and independence 一般に. "The bees," she repeated, a little more 堅固に. "Nan, we will go on together, and go halves in everything."
The munificence of the 申し込む／申し出 was 完全に lost upon the younger girl.
"Oh, Phoebe," she burst out laughing, "what a funny girl you are. The bees, indeed! As if I 手配中の，お尋ね者 your bees. Why, I couldn't be bothered with them. No, I'll just marry Mr Sampson, and I'll be a 井戸／弁護士席-to-do young woman then, and I'll just see if I can't marry you off to some decent sort of a man before you have developed やめる into a shrivelled old maid, peddling honey for a living. If that is all you have got to 申し込む／申し出 it settles it. I will just go in and tell mother and she will be pleased, I'm sure."
Nancy rose up and shook out her skirts.
"You will understand how 権利 I am some day, Phoebe. I'm not 説 it is pleasant, but it is the only thing to be done."
"Oh, Nan, Nan. I wish I could make you see how wrong it is before any 害（を与える） comes of it."
"No 害（を与える） will come of it, never 恐れる. It is a thing that is done every day." And Nancy turned and walked slowly に向かって the house.
Sun in the east at mornin', sun in the west at night,
And the 影をつくる／尾行する of this yer 駅／配置する the on'y thing moves in sight.
—BRET HARTE.
It hadn't rained for two years on the country 'way 支援する' beyond Roebourne, at least so the inhabitants—few and far between, one to a hundred square miles or so—主張するd, and Kirkham やめる believed the 声明. He 疑問d much its having rained then. He looked upon it as a pleasing notion used to let the stranger know that it had rained within the memory of man, and その結果 might be 推定する／予想するd to do so again within the lifetime of the most impatient, かもしれない within a year or two. The stockrider over at Riley's Claypan said he knew it had rained two years ago, it had rained mighty hard, and the claypan had risen and risen till he had to leave his hut and take 避難 in the hills beyond, and that was last Christmas two years. He was 確かな of it because he'd been 強いるd to leave his pudding behind and when he got 支援する there wasn't a trace of it. There wasn't a trace of the hut either, によれば him. And "Sunny Days" was nearest 隣人 to the 孤独な 手渡す out-駅／配置する, and その結果 might be 推定する／予想するd to have some knowledge of its climatic eccentricities. But still, as Kirkham 発言／述べるd to Morrison, he was fifty miles away and that might make some difference. For his part he was very 確かな it had never rained at 孤独な 手渡す and never ーするつもりであるd to. Why it was an out-駅／配置する at all he could not tell, save that the big company who owned all the country for hundreds of miles 一連の会議、交渉／完成する kept a 確かな number of men at work and 分配するd them on paper in some comfortable 冷静な／正味の office 負かす／撃墜する in Melbourne. He was 確かな the 経営者／支配人 up here had no say in the 事柄 for the folly, nay, the cruelty of keeping a 独房監禁 man on a place which would barely support one sheep to a hundred acres must be 明らかな to the meanest capacity.
"It's not pleasant, old chap," agreed Morrison, "but it's Hobson's choice with us. And we can （疑いを）晴らす out as soon as Sam McAlister lets us know the creek is running."
Kirkham made an impatient movement with his 長，率いる. Everything depended on rain, and it looked as if it had never rained here since the 創造. But there was nothing else to be done.
When they could stop no longer と一緒に their （人命などを）奪う，主張する they had 適用するd to old McAlister for work, and he, having 非，不，無 to give, had passed them on to the 経営者／支配人 of the 広大な／多数の／重要な Western Squatting and 貿易（する）ing Company, which had finally ended in their 存在 sent to out-駅／配置するs of the company, Kirkham to 孤独な 手渡す and Morrison to an out-駅／配置する known as Merri, though he 発言／述べるd to Kirkham, he didn't suppose there was anything 特に merry about it.
"Anyhow, it's only about five-and-twenty miles off, old chap, that's one good thing," he 追加するd, but Kirkham had not been in the country long enough to look upon five-and-twenty miles as 構成するing やめる a next-door 隣人.
"It can't be more God-forsaken than this place," said Kirkham, looking 一連の会議、交渉／完成する drearily.
Certainly anything more desolate he had never conceived in his wildest dreams. There was the out-駅／配置する, a 選び出す／独身 room built of corrugated アイロンをかける, about twelve feet by twenty in size, with one door and one window, and to the north the roof 延長するd a little so as to form a sort of verandah. Beside it, a little to the left, was a windmill with corrugated アイロンをかける sails that pumped brackish water for the use of the 在庫／株, and made a patch of dull green vegetation just so far as the 影響（力） of its water made itself felt. This windmill was the 推論する／理由 of the out-駅／配置する, some one had to take 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of it, and Kirkham was now that man. That, and the hut, and the horse paddock were the only 調印するs of human habitation they had seen for miles. All around was the plain, 明らかにする and flat, grassless and treeless, with for all vegetation a sort of wiry herbage, which their 隣人, Sunny Days, 知らせるd them was dignified by the 指名する of salt bush. It only grew in patches few and far between, and Kirkham thought the sheep would have derived as much sustenance from the wire 盗品故買者 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the horse paddock, but he was told they were not in bad 条件, and if the wool on their 支援するs had become very like straggly hair that was only to be 推定する／予想するd in such a 気候. The horizon was bounded by hills, hills of a curious 激しく揺する 形式, whose jagged 最高の，を越すs 削減（する） clean against the hard blue sky, and yet were ever changing, for every now and again, from what 原因（となる） I know not, 広大な／多数の／重要な 玉石s would break off from the parent hill with a loud 報告（する）／憶測, and come 衝突，墜落ing 負かす／撃墜する its 味方するs on to the plain below. They had a weird, uncanny picturesqueness of their own, those hills, for the 激しく揺するs were of さまざまな colours, white, and pink, and 深い purple, and they changed ever and again as the sun moved across them. Morrison looked at them gratefully.
"If it weren't for the hills," he said, "this would be an almighty God-forsaken 穴を開ける."
"The hills?" echoed Kirkham, "the hills? They're uncanny. They look as if they belong to another world. I'd rather be without them."
"Oh, would you, old man. Much you know about it. Just fancy living on this plain with nothing in sight, not a stick, not a 石／投石する, not a shrub above a foot above the ground, and the plain as flat as a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, mind you. You'd be thankful for hills of any sort after a place like that, I can tell you."
"Good Lord! What do men want to live in such a country for?"
"井戸／弁護士席, we knock tucker out of it, old man. As for you and me, we're in luck to get this billet at all. And we're の近くに enough after all to make our 計画（する）s together. You can come over いつかs and いつかs I'll ride over and see you. We're our own masters anyhow, thank God, and can do pretty much as we please."
"The Australian, at least the bushman," said Kirkham, "has a curious idea of independence. He sits 負かす／撃墜する in the 中央 of a desolate waste where there isn't a chance of speaking or seeing a fellow-creature once in a blue moon, and then he thanks God he is his own master."
Morrison laughed.
"It's one way of making the best of it, old man. Anyhow, I'll stop till tomorrow, seeing there's no one to tell me not to, and see you 公正に／かなり started. And don't be downhearted when I'm gone. I guess it won't be more than six months at the most."
Kirkham looked up doubtfully at the （疑いを）晴らす, blue sky.
"If we wait for the rain," he said.
"井戸／弁護士席, if the rain doesn't come we'll still be saving the dollars. You just can't spend money here, and in a year or two we'll have enough to start in some more get-at-able place."
In a year or two! The words rang in Kirkham's ear as he watched his cousin ride off in the 煙霧 of the 早期に morning. A year or two! Allan Morrison talked as lightly of it—the long 疲れた／うんざりした waiting—as if he had two or three lifetimes at his 処分. He was accustomed to this sort of life, Kirkham thought, and besides, there was no one waiting for him, counting the 疲れた／うんざりした days, waiting, waiting, away 負かす／撃墜する south there.
It seemed to him, during that first month he spent alone, he had never before realised the bitterness of waiting. But at least he did now. Not one pang, not one 減少（する） of bitterness was he spared, for he had nothing in the wide world to do the live long day but sit on an 上昇傾向d box at his hut door and think. The windmill 手配中の，お尋ね者 so little looking after; often he had not half an hour's work in the whole day, and the 残り／休憩（する） of his time he might sit with his 手渡すs 倍のd before him. His gun stood idle in the corner; there was nothing whatever to shoot; he never saw a living thing save a 逸脱する sheep or two from one week's end to another; he had not a 調書をとる／予約する to read; he had only enough paper to 令状 an 時折の letter; his nearest 隣人, his cousin Allan, was over twenty-five miles away; and the only chance he had of communicating with his 肉親，親類d was if he should chance to ride over, or when the bullock dray should come 一連の会議、交渉／完成する with 蓄える／店s, which it did about once in two months. But there was no 直す／買収する，八百長をするd time for its coming, and if he should happen to be away they would leave the 蓄える／店s and pass on. The bullock dray would bring the mail, too, and that was something to be looked 今後 to. Indeed, it was the only thing he had to look 今後 to now, and his impatience grew and grew. He could not 急いで that mail by the smallest 成果／努力, but he walked up and 負かす／撃墜する outside his hut door on the hot evenings, up and 負かす／撃墜する, faster and faster till he was bathed in perspiration, and he knew he could not 急いで that mail. It was a little thing to wait for a letter a month or two; but here in his loneliness his whole thoughts centred on that coming letter. In the morning he watched the sun rise up over the jagged crests of the 範囲s, hot and 猛烈な／残忍な, and said to himself here was another day to be got through. He watched him cross the sky, slowly, so slowly, and 沈む into the plain on the west, one ruddy 猛烈な／残忍な golden glory, the one grand sight in the dreary day, and he only said to himself, "another day gone, another day nearer the coming mail," and he notched another notch in the door 地位，任命する which was his calendar. He had lost the day of the week; he had the vaguest idea about the date, but he never forgot that about two months from his arrival, about sixty days later, the dray with 蓄える／店s might be 推定する／予想するd to arrive, and that that dray せねばならない bring the mail. There would certainly be letters from his mother and sisters in England; could he be 平等に 確かな of a letter from Nancy? Could he? It must be in answer to his telling her of the downfall of his hopes, or rather not their downfall, but the 延期 of their realisation. What would she say? He had nothing else to think about, and he answered that question variously all day long. She would never wait, never, never; it could not be 推定する／予想するd of her, he must not be surprised if she broke off the 約束／交戦, and what would he do then? And then he knew very 井戸／弁護士席 he did not 推定する／予想する any such thing; it was surely 背信 to her even to let such a thought cross his mind. The good, 勇敢に立ち向かう, loving little girl who had written him such a tender letter, telling him not to worry, that she loved him, and would wait for him. Would she not, if she loved him, be 平等に tender now? What was he worrying about? If her letter （機の）カム in a month, or two months, what 事柄? It would come いつか, and there could be no 疑問 what would be in it. Only she would be so grieved. Yes, that was what was troubling him, she would be so grieved; the waiting would be just as 疲れた／うんざりした for her as for him, and he could not 耐える her to 苦しむ. She was 哀れな enough at home, he guessed, it was a hard enough life; but he would （不足などを）補う to her for it in the 未来, and they would want so little, so very little to make them happy. She was not accustomed to 高級な. Then he built up 城s in the 空気／公表する about their life together. He did not ask riches now, only enough to 在庫／株 a small farm, such a farm as he had despised, such a life as he had 軽蔑（する）d only a very few months 支援する. It would 満足させる Nancy, he was sure. And then he got up and paced up and 負かす／撃墜する—was he sure? It would have 満足させるd Phoebe, he had no manner of 疑問 about that; but Nancy, she might look for so much more, would she be 満足させるd? Would she? Would she? Of course she would. Had she not said she loved him? He took out her letter, worn and ragged at the 辛勝する／優位s now. "I love you, love you, love you, I love you," she wrote, with feminine reiteration, "There! I just can't help it. I wish I could. You don't know how much I wish I could, because I've always laughed at girls who have lovers at the other end of the world who they may see if they're lucky some time during the next ten years and can get married to about the millennium. It's very bad and unkind of you to make me so; you say I must love you a 広大な／多数の／重要な lot, and you needn't worry or anything like that, because I will wait because I can't help myself."
He knew it off by heart, but he liked to see it in her own 手渡す-令状ing. It 慰安d him, and if there was a strong 緊張する of selfishness in the letter, a selfishness that thought a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 more of her sacrifice than his, he never saw it. He was glad to read she loved him; he was even glad she did it in spite of herself. It made him feel so much more 確かな of her. But it made him want her too, it made the unoccupied time はう. The hut was so 明らかにする. Corrugated アイロンをかける outside glistening in the hot 日光 for twelve hours in the day, corrugated アイロンをかける inside, a 明らかにする earthen 床に打ち倒す, and for all furniture a couple of boxes, and his bed a piece of 解雇（する）ing spread on four sticks sunk in the ground. Could anything be more humble and unhomelike? And he must put up with this for the next six months at the very least. The stillness began to be overpowering: nothing broke it, there was hardly even a breath of 勝利，勝つd, and he began to 縮む from breaking it himself. He went about his small daily 仕事s softly, he never spoke aloud because the sound of his own 発言する／表明する 脅すd him; and when one day the jagged 頂点（に達する） on the hill nearest him 分裂（する） in half with a loud 爆発, he 設立する his 神経s so shaken by the 予期しない sound, that a sudden terror took 所有／入手 of him, lest he should be losing his 推論する／理由, and he saddled his horse and 棒 off there and then to see his cousin at Merri, thanking God in true Australian fashion that he was his own master. True, the dray might be 推定する／予想するd any day now, but there would be no good his waiting for it if he was mad. Besides, it would go on to Merri, he would very likely 会合，会う it on his way 支援する. For he did not ーするつもりである to stay above a day; how could he with that letter waiting for him? He would come 支援する as quickly as possible, but he would go now and 協議する Allan. So he scrawled on a sheet of paper, "Gone to Merri. 支援する tomorrow. Please leave letters." But when he would have 時代遅れの it he 設立する he had no idea what day of the month it was, only a shadowy notion of the month itself, so he 簡単に 調印するd his 指名する and laid the paper open on the box with a 石／投石する on it to keep it 負かす／撃墜する. There was no necessity to 令状 at all. The bullock driver and his mate would be sure to leave the letters in any 事例／患者; but he was so feverishly anxious about Nancy's letter, he felt that in making some 準備／条項 for its coming he was bringing it nearer to himself.
Morrison, all alone in his hut, was overjoyed to see him, and Kirkham, once in his society, hardly liked to explain the horror and 恐れる of loneliness that had driven him thither. He said it was lonely in a hesitating sort of way, and Morrison assented.
"You'll get used to it, old man, in time. What you want is a dog of sorts. You wouldn't believe what company Lassie here is," and he thoughtfully pulled the ears of the nondescript collie who laid her 長，率いる lovingly on his 膝.
"Where did you get her?" asked Kirkham.
"Last man left her behind him. I don't believe poor Lassie was ever 適切に 高く評価する／（相場などが）上がるd till now. She was just a godsend to me. Oh, you must get a dog, old chap. You speak to the bullock driver when the 蓄える／店s come 一連の会議、交渉／完成する. Perhaps he'll leave you one of his. They 一般に have two or three curs along with them, and anything is better than nothing. I can't give you Lassie, because we have got too fond of one another to part. 港／避難所't we, old girl?" and Lassie, pleased at 存在 noticed, snuggled her 長，率いる 負かす／撃墜する between his 膝s, and in wise dog fashion said "yes."
"The mail せねばならない be in soon," said Kirkham.
"Lucky beggar, you, to have the mail to look 今後 to. A packet of letters for you, I suppose, from your mother and sisters, and the adored one, she'll 令状, of course. Oh, come old chap, what are you growling at? If I could look 今後 to a pile of letters like that every two months, I'd be as happy as a king."
"Won't you get any letters?"
"Who's to 令状 to me, unless Phoebe Marsden does? She might. She's a good woman, that. I mustn't say anything against the adored one, besides, I was mighty gone on her myself not so very long ago, but upon my word I believe there's better stuff in her sister. You would never be afraid of Phoebe Marsden giving you the go by."
"I'm not afraid of Nancy," said Kirkham, coldly. "I know so 井戸／弁護士席—"
"Of course, old man, of course. You know very 井戸／弁護士席 no one admires her more than I do. Admired her so much, in fact, I'm inclined to think I was blind to her sister's good 質s. That's all I meant. Look here, old man, I don't suppose I'll ever get a paper and you're sure to get heaps. I'll come over in a fortnight or so—I can't get away before—and you might lend me some, and tell me all the news."
"All 権利," agreed Kirkham, and when he started 支援する again he 設立する he had never explained to his cousin his horror of the 広大な／多数の／重要な loneliness, and had only the vaguest notions of getting a dog.
And all the way 支援する he looked out for the dray, but there was no 跡をつける, and he must have passed it, for when he got 支援する to his hut he 設立する it had been and gone. There were the wheel 跡をつけるs coming 権利 up to the door and going out again into the wilderness, and inside were the 蓄える／店s, tea and flour and sugar, with a goodly 株 of タバコ and spices and plums, and a sight to warm the heart of a 独房監禁 man, on the box where he laid his open letter a pile of newspapers and letters. The newspapers had all been opened and 井戸／弁護士席 thumbed and read; one could hardly 推定する／予想する illustrated papers to find their way into the 支援する 封鎖するs 損なわれていない, but it was not the illustrated papers that Kirkham cared about. The letter, the letter, his letter, the letter he had 削減（する） notches in the door to keep count for, that was all he 手配中の，お尋ね者. If only that letter was there they might have taken all the 残り／休憩（する）; it would be company for weeks if only that letter were all he hoped for. He sat 負かす／撃墜する on the box with a sudden feeling of 証拠不十分; he was afraid, he was terribly afraid. Suppose, after all, there should be no letter—suppose the letter should be there and yet should not be all he wished. He rose up and walked outside the hut; he walked 権利 一連の会議、交渉／完成する it very slowly, then he crossed over to the windmill, and watched the water filling 静かに the 気圧の谷 beneath it. In some places he had heard the water from these bores 急ぐd out violently, flooding the ground 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, but this one didn't; it trickled out reluctantly; it looked as if every 減少（する） might be the last. It was hardly 価値（がある） while, he thought, to keep a man here if the directors 負かす／撃墜する south only knew. What was he waiting here for? The dray had come, the dray he had been watching and waiting for for the last two months, and the letters lay inside there, the letter from his little girl, and he was standing watching this water pumped up 減少（する） by 減少（する）, and now it was the letter that was waiting for him. How ungrateful he was! Would he 扱う／治療する Nancy herself that way had she come to him? And he turned and retraced his steps almost at a run, and, throwing the papers aside, gathered up all the letters in his 手渡すs. Such a lot there were, ten or eleven at the very least—厚い ones, too; but of course it was over eight weeks since he had had a letter from any one, and he knew 井戸／弁護士席 enough his mother and sisters would 令状 定期的に every week, and Nancy—ah, surely she would be as 肉親，親類d as his mother and sisters. She would understand so much better than they his loneliness and his longing, she would 手段 it by her own. He thought of her longing for him, thinking pitifully of him, and it brought a warm glow to his heart. Uppermost lay a letter 演説（する）／住所d in his mother's 井戸／弁護士席-known pointed handwriting; he remembered how eager he used to be to see that handwriting when he was a schoolboy, and now it held but a second place in his heart—but a very 第２位 place. What difference could it make to his mother and sisters if he were out of the world? Surely he 影響（力）d their lives hardly at all. And yet—he turned over letter after letter, and on every one was the 井戸／弁護士席-known handwriting. All that she could do for her boy the far-away mother was doing. And he grew impatient and hot and 冷淡な all over. All these letters were from his mother; where then was Nancy's? The one he was waiting for and looking for? One by one he dropped them through his fingers on to the ground, one by one, and at last he （機の）カム upon the one he was looking for, such a thin little letter, and he had waited for it so long—and only one—he looked at the 地位，任命する-示す; it was as old as his mother's last letter. She might easily have written more; if she had cared she would have written more; she would surely have understood his desolation and his longing; she would have 手配中の，お尋ね者 to 慰安 him in his bitter 失望. She must have understood, surely she understood. He turned the letter over and over in his 手渡すs; he read the 地位，任命する-示す carefully; he held it up to the light, but he could not （不足などを）補う his mind to break the 調印（する）. Suppose it should not be all he 手配中の，お尋ね者, what then? Ah, what then? It would be all very 井戸／弁護士席 to say she was not 価値（がある） caring for, but what else had he? The 猛烈な／残忍な hot sun crept in at the doorway across the hard 明らかにする 床に打ち倒す, it seemed to 強調 his desolation. He looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the hut, and it told him how little he had to 申し込む／申し出. Little—it was いっそう少なく than nothing. What 権利 had he to 推定する／予想する any girl to stick to him, and yet if she did not what would his life be 価値（がある）? He thought of her 有望な fair 直面する, of the loving letter, the worn, torn letter; and he took it out and read it once again, and called himself a brute for 疑問ing and 恐れるing, just because there was only one little letter, and it was old. A thousand things might have stopped her 令状ing. If he were going to feel like this every time he got a letter, how would he live till he should be able to marry her and have her for his own. He was a fool, and he swept the letters and papers off the box on to the 床に打ち倒す, sat 負かす／撃墜する deliberately and tore open the envelope. Only one sheet—he could hear his own heart （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing—only one sheet, but after all one can say a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 in one sheet, and all he 手配中の，お尋ね者 to read was that Nancy was true to him and would wait for him, that would take him over another two 疲れた／うんざりした long months. All he 手配中の，お尋ね者 might be said in a very few words. Slowly he drew the letter out and slowly opened it. No 長，率いるing—Ah, but the very tenderest letters have been written without any 長，率いるing, without any beginning.
"I don't know how to 令状," began the letter, and in truth there was no 長，率いるing, no date, and no 演説（する）／住所. If it cost him to read, it had cost Nancy a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 more to 令状. She had thought it over for days, she had begun it again and again, she had cried her heart out over it; but she had never for a moment swerved from her 目的. "I don't know how to 令状 and tell you how sorry I am, but I think you will know that without my telling. I'm so sorry for you; it must be such hard lines, 特に when you had counted on the gold; but I daresay you will find some more when the rain comes, and anyhow, a man stops young a good long time, and has plenty of time to make his fortune, so I hope you will be rich yet, by and by. It is never any good to despair. And about our 約束／交戦? At least it was not an 約束／交戦 ever, was it? And I believe by your letter you want it to go on still, and it is very good of you; but that would be very foolish, and I am sure you will think so by the time you get this. What is the good of our going on 存在 engaged and never seeing one another for years and years? And then when at last you did come I might be old and shrivelled, and you would think it an awful bore to have to marry me, and hate me ever after; and I wouldn't like you to do that, so I think we had better stop 権利 here. I am so sorry, indeed, indeed, I don't believe you know how sorry I am, but what else is there to be done? It is always best to look things straight in the 直面する, and you see I must like you a lot to 令状 to you just 正確に／まさに as I feel. So goodbye, and I do hope you will be happy in the 未来. I believe you will be happier than me.
"Last week I got engaged to Mr Josiah Sampson—you know him—and we are to be married in April. It was all arranged last week, and father and mother are so pleased. It looks funny to 令状 that to you, but I want you to understand everything. Goodbye." And then she ended up 突然の, "ANNIE MARSDEN."
Falser than the smiles of faithless April.
—A. COWLEY.
"You are a good girl, Nancy. Of course I am very pleased, and so is your father. It is 自然に a 広大な／多数の／重要な 慰安 to him to think one of you girls will be so comfortably 供給するd for. You have never been any 苦悩 to me, though. I always felt you would be all 権利."
"And Mr Josiah Sampson?" asked Nancy, thoughtfully.
"Your father says he is such a good fellow. And such a large practice. Of all the men in Ballarat, I don't know a better match. You are very lucky, Nancy. You'll be able to keep two servants and a man, and a pony carriage, and send to Robertson and Moffat's for your dresses, and have no 苦悩 about money. Oh, Nancy, you are lucky; and such a nice man with it all."
"You used to say he was very 木造の," 発言／述べるd Nancy, demurely.
"Ah, that was before I knew him. His manner is a little stand-off and prim, perhaps; but that wears off when you get to know him. Those gay, fascinating sort of men all the girls 落ちる in love with make just the worst sort of husbands. He will make you a good one, I'm sure he will, he looked at you so kindly, Nancy. My child, I'm sure you will be happy, and you will be spared all the little 苦悩s and worries that make a woman's life so hard. You 港／避難所't had time to realise yet what that means."
"Poor old mother," said Nancy, affectionately, "I knew you would be pleased. But think how much nicer it would be if I was 長，率いる over ears in love with him."
"No, no, don't say that. It is much best as it is. One is bound to do the loving, and it had better be the man. You will love him 井戸／弁護士席 enough after you are married. Half the 悲惨 in the world comes from the woman loving too much; besides," Mrs Marsden put on a 厳しく proper 空気／公表する, "I really don't think it is nice for a girl to talk about loving a man before she is married to him. I'm sure it isn't. I never called your father anything but Mr Marsden till we were married, and I certainly wouldn't have told him I loved him. Nice girls never do. It is the men that do that, and yet you see—"
Mrs Marsden paused to let this brilliant example have 十分な 負わせる, and Nancy stooped over her, kissed her, and fled.
"She thinks her marriage is an 巨大な success, evidently," said Nancy to her sister, when they were 小衝突ing their hair before going to bed. "Fancy that. I guess I will be happier than she has been, anyhow."
"Poor mother," sighed her eldest daughter.
"I 港／避難所't the least 疑問," said Nancy, "that at this moment she is probably thinking to herself 'Poor Phoebe,' and wondering if by any possible chance I will be able to get you married. There, there, don't 飛行機で行く into a 激怒（する）. You shall be an old maid if you want to; I 約束 you I won't stop you."
"As I've explained before," said Phoebe, 小衝突ing hard at her long, dark hair, and as her sister caught a glimpse of her glowing cheeks and 有望な dark 注目する，もくろむs, she thought once more, as she had done several times lately, they must have all been making a mistake in setting 負かす／撃墜する Phoebe as plain; "as I have explained before, I don't want to be an old maid, but I 反対する to any one looking out for a husband for me and feeling 強いるd to marry me off."
"Yes, I know. 井戸／弁護士席, anyhow, you 港／避難所't got such a 職業 before you as I have. You may be thankful for that."
"What is that?"
"I have got to—I mean, I will have to 令状 to Ned Kirkham—and—and—"
"Nan! You don't mean to say you 港／避難所't done that yet. How mean of you!"
"It's all very 井戸／弁護士席 of you to say 'how mean of you,' but how would you like to have to do it yourself?"
Phoebe made no answer to this, only went on 刻々と 小衝突ing her hair.
"Oh, of course, I know," 不平（をいう）d Nancy; "you are thinking such a thing would not ever happen to you. You would not have behaved so. But then you don't understand. The 誘惑 doesn't come to you."
"井戸／弁護士席," said Phoebe, ignoring the last 発言／述べる, "I know this much, you せねばならない let Ned Kirkham know at once you are going to be married to some one else. You せねばならない do it this very night. You are engaged to two men at once."
"I 港／避難所't any paper or 署名／調印する," said Nancy, weakly.
Phoebe shook 支援する her long hair, opened the bedroom door, and peeped out into the dark passage. All was still, and every one was evidently in bed. Then, in nightgown and slippers, she made her way softly into the dining-room, to her mother's davenport, took therefrom paper, pen, 署名／調印する, and blotting-調書をとる／予約する, and returned to her sister.
"There," she said, （疑いを）晴らすing a corner of the dressing-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, and 製図／抽選 a 議長，司会を務める up to it. "Now sit 負かす／撃墜する and 令状 before you go to bed."
"It is so late," 反対するd Nancy.
"You won't have a moment's time tomorrow. Nan, if you don't 令状, I'll just tell mother."
That 脅し settled things. Nancy sat 負かす／撃墜する, and Phoebe, getting into bed, put the pillow up against the 塀で囲む to lean upon, and settling the bed 着せる／賦与するs around her, 用意が出来ている to see that Nancy did her 義務.
"Don't look at me," 反対するd Nancy.
"I won't the minute you begin to 令状."
"What am I to say?"
"'Dear Mr Kirkham,—Last week I got engaged to Mr Sampson and am going to be married in April. I think I せねばならない tell you, because I know you think I'm engaged to you.'"
"Oh, that will never do," sobbed Nancy, "I couldn't 令状 such a horrid letter as that. Poor Ned, oh, poor Ned!"
"Put it your own way, then," said her sister. "It will be a horrid letter, anyhow, if he cares for you, and you know he does. Just 令状 what you like, only the いっそう少なく you say the better. You have got to think of Mr Sampson now."
Nancy laid her 長，率いる 負かす／撃墜する on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and sobbed heartbrokenly.
"I can't do it. I can't—I can't."
"You have got to 令状 to one or the other," said Phoebe, coldly. "It would, perhaps, be better to 令状 to Mr Sampson, but I'm sure you won't do that," and she leaned 支援する against her pillows and の近くにd her 注目する，もくろむs.
Nancy swallowed 負かす／撃墜する some sobs, mopped her 注目する，もくろむs with a towel because she had not a handkerchief handy, and proceeded to begin her letter, and Phoebe, listening to the scratch, scratch of her pen, （機の）カム to the 結論 that as soon as she had written a word she scratched it out again, and when she got to the end of the page she stood up and tore it into little bits.
"What did you do that for?" asked her sister. "It would have been written if you had left it."
"I can't 令状 it—I don't know what to say—I don't know how to put it." And Nancy had another fit of 熱烈な heartbroken sobbing.
Phoebe watched her in silence; not that she was not truly sorry for her sister, but how could she help her? She knew her 井戸／弁護士席 enough, she might cry all night, but she would keep her 約束／交戦 with Mr Sampson all the same in the morning, therefore Phoebe was 決定するd that Ned Kirkham should 完全に understand there was no hope for him.
"Nancy," she said, as Nancy's sobs died 負かす／撃墜する again, "令状 now, like a good girl. Don't you see, it can't 事柄 in the very least what you say to Ned Kirkham, so long as he 明確に understands you are going to marry Mr Sampson in April. Whether he is angry, or sad, or don't care twopence, you won't hear about it. Why, you will be married soon after he gets the letter. You will never know what he thinks."
This 事柄-of-fact way of looking at the 事柄 evoked a fresh burst of 涙／ほころびs from Nancy, but it had the 願望（する）d 影響, too. Presently she wiped her 注目する，もくろむs again, and 始める，決める to work in earnest. Phoebe watched her turn over the paper, and then she asked in muffled トンs—
"Ought I to 令状 it again, this is only a torn sheet of paper?"
"No, no, certainly not." Phoebe would be only too thankful to see that letter finished anyhow. "What can it 事柄? He will never notice."
"How shall I end it?"
"Just 調印する your 指名する, of course."
"It looks so 残虐な and 冷淡な. Just 'Nancy?'"
"No, of course not. You must put 'Annie Marsden.'"
"I don't believe he knows my 指名する is 'Annie,'" said Nancy, with another burst of 涙／ほころびs.
"Oh, yes, he does," said Phoebe. "There, now that's done. No, Nancy, you are not to 涙／ほころび it up. It will do very 井戸／弁護士席. Did you tell him you were going to be married in April? Yes. Very 井戸／弁護士席, then, the 残り／休憩（する） doesn't 事柄. Now put it in an envelope and direct it, like a good girl, and come to bed. It is after twelve o'clock."
Nancy obeyed her tearfully, and with a sigh of 救済 Phoebe straightened 負かす／撃墜する her own pillows and blew out the candle as her sister jumped into bed. In the dark she heard her sobbing to herself, but she said nothing, there was nothing to be said. If Nancy was 決定するd to marry the man she did not love, Phoebe felt she would have to 支払う／賃金 the 刑罰，罰則. It was no good her worrying. にもかかわらず, she did worry; it was no fault of hers, but she was 熱心に sensible that there was something wrong in her sister's life, and she could not but be sorry for it. Still, Nancy, sobbing muffled sobs into the pillows, would not have changed places with her; so she sighed once more for the crookedness of the world, thought thankfully that at any 率 that letter was written, and finally went to sleep.
Next day Nancy had a 頭痛, and was petted by her mother. "Poor child, no wonder, the excitement had been too much for her," and the day after she was her old cheerful self again.
"It is no good bothering," she told Phoebe, as she watched her put some fresh でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れるs into her 蜂の巣s, "I am sure I have cried rivers; it is no good crying over spilt milk. I can't have Jamie, and auld コマドリ Gray is a gude mon to me," and she held out her 手渡す, so that Phoebe might admire her diamond （犯罪の）一味.
"Oh, Nancy, is that your 約束／交戦 （犯罪の）一味? How perfectly lovely!"
"I thought you would say so. And look here," and she pointed to a new gold bangle on her other arm. "What do you say to auld コマドリ Gray now?"
"Oh, Nancy, how can you talk of him like that! It is wicked when he is so good to you."
"My dear, as I have told you before, you have the absurdest notions as to the way men せねばならない be 扱う／治療するd. As I have said more than once before, which of us two do men like best, which 治療 do they 認可する of most? For all your goodness, no man gives you gold bangles and diamond （犯罪の）一味s, and no man goes breaking his heart for you just because he can't get you."
"Nancy, you せねばならない be ashamed of yourself to talk like that."
"Ought I? I would be thinking it if I didn't say it, and so are you. I wouldn't say it to an 部外者, of course, but just to you Besides, it is good for you; it is teaching you the error of your ways before it is too late."
"It is too late already," said Phoebe, 厳粛に, putting the mat over her でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れるs and the cover on the 蜂の巣s. "I think it is wicked to do as you do. I'm sure it isn't that makes the men like you, and I'm going to do what I think 権利, even if I am a lonely old woman in the end. It is better to feel you are doing 権利."
"It depends on what you mean by doing 権利. Weren't you carefully explaining to me the other day that you thought we each of us made our own 基準 of 権利? 井戸／弁護士席, that is my 基準 of 権利, and I feel やめる comfortable, thank you."
"I don't think you do," began Phoebe, then she stopped. Where was the good of reminding this sister of hers of the night she had spent in 涙／ほころびs? If she had forgotten, so much the better; but Phoebe wondered how she could forget so soon. She was really cross, though, when more than a fortnight later Nancy, in taking a handkerchief from her drawer, drew along with it a letter, which fell on the 床に打ち倒す. Nancy あわてて put her foot on it, but not before her sister had read the 演説（する）／住所.
"Nan!" Her トン was shocked. She felt she never would understand this sister of hers, who was so tender and gentle and soft and 肉親，親類d, and yet was so utterly callous of the feelings of the man she loved. "Oh, Nan, you don't mean to say you 港／避難所't 地位，任命するd that letter yet! Nan, how could you be so cruel? I thought it had gone three weeks ago."
Nancy 選ぶd it up and turned it over in her fingers.
"I hadn't a stamp," she said. "Besides, it is a cruel letter. I'm not going to send it. He deserves something better," and the ready 涙／ほころびs 洪水d, and Nancy looked the picture of 悲惨.
But the diamond （犯罪の）一味, with a sapphire one now above it, still gleamed on her finger. Mr Sampson, when Nancy was not staying at Ballarat with Mrs Moore, was always out at "Wenoona," and Phoebe knew she had not the least 意向 of breaking her 約束／交戦 with him. She might sigh for her lost love, but she had no 意向 of giving up the fleshpots of Egypt for his sake.
"I やめる agree with you," she said, taking the letter from her limp fingers; "but since you won't give him anything better, this is the least you can do for him. It must go."
"But it isn't stamped."
"I will stamp it, and I'm going up the 郡区 now—I will 地位，任命する it."
"Phoebe—"
But Phoebe put on her hat without another word, and Ned Kirkham got his long-looked-for letter.
Oh, my 甘い,
Think, and be sorry you did this thing!
Though earth were unworthy to feel your feet,
There's a heaven above may deserve your love.
Should you 没収される heaven for a snapt gold （犯罪の）一味
And a 約束 broke, were it just or 会合，会う?
—BROWNING.
And he sat on the box and read it through. "Annie Marsden!" he repeated to himself. "But I wrote to Nancy." Oh, yes; it was Nancy then—it had always been Nancy for him—but now she was going to marry Mr Josiah Sampson it was Annie Marsden.
She—was—going—to—be—married—in—April, in—April, in—April. He said it over very slowly to himself. Annie Marsden—Nancy, his Nancy—was going to be married in April. He 重さを計るd every word deliberately. In April—in April. It might be April now for all he knew; she might be married now for all he knew, and he had counted her his. He held the letter between his fingers; he did not lay it 負かす／撃墜する. He did not open his other letters. He never thought of looking at a newspaper. He sat on there and 星／主役にするd at the opposite 塀で囲む—the hard, grey-blue corrugated アイロンをかける with the 製造者's 指名する stamped across it in 黒人／ボイコット letters, and the setting sun coming in at the open doorway was creeping slowly up it, very slowly the sunlight went, but very 刻々と, up and up. There was nothing to break the monotony. The 明らかにする earthen 床に打ち倒す, the アイロンをかける 塀で囲む, and the アイロンをかける roof—that was all the hard, cruel sunlight showed. When the sunlight reached the roof, would it go out? It had seen all there was to be seen, it had showed up in its garish golden light the desolate barrenness of this his only home, and then it would go away for a day, for another twelve hours, for another twenty-four—was it twenty-four? He tried to reckon, but somehow his brain seemed dull. Yes, it must be twenty-four, and in twenty-four hours hence that sunlight would be on his 塀で囲む in just the selfsame place, showing just the selfsame surroundings. And another twenty-four hours, and another, and another, and another. It would go on for ever, the same 疲れた／うんざりした 行列 of days, unchanging, unalterable, until some day, perhaps, the rain would come, and then they could go 支援する and work at their （人命などを）奪う，主張する. And what was six months out of a man's life, if only he got what he 願望（する）d in the end? Nothing, surely nothing. Who has not waited six months for success? And the gold was there, there for the taking. Allan was pretty sure of it, and Allan was a careful Scotchman; and once they had it—井戸／弁護士席, he would be rich, no need to stay any longer in this God-forsaken 穴を開ける. He could go where he pleased, have what he 手配中の，お尋ね者, and Nancy—Annie Marsden would be Mrs Josiah Sampson.
He let the letter slip through his fingers on to the 床に打ち倒す, and the faintest little breath of 勝利，勝つd—the very ghost of a 微風 that was springing up with the evening—caught it and turned it over and over till it reached the corner, and held it there against the 塀で囲む. Tap, tap! Then a pause. Tap, tap! It was the only sound that broke the stillness. It seemed やめる loud and echoed in his ears. With his 肘s on his 膝s and his chin on his 手渡すs, he 星／主役にするd at it and thought dully how he had longed and watched and counted the hours for that letter, and now he sat there calmly and 許すd it to 嘘（をつく） on the 床に打ち倒す. Then the fancy （機の）カム to him, and he took out the first letter—the long treasured letter—and he dropped it, too, on to the ground to see if the 勝利，勝つd would 扱う／治療する it in the same way. But it was old and worn, the paper had lost its crispness, and it lay there at his feet like an old friend, pitifully, silently reproaching him with ingratitude. All that letter had been to him, and he let it 嘘（をつく） there on the hard ground! Without a 発言する／表明する it cried out to him, till he put his 長，率いる in his 手渡すs and 激しく揺するd himself to and fro in speechless 悲惨. That bit of frayed paper had been so much to him, and yet it had meant just nothing at all to Nancy, just nothing at all. "I love you, I love you, I love you," she had written, and yet she had meant so little by the words that seemed to him so sacred and so binding. She had understood him so little that two months later she could 令状, "I might be old and shrivelled, and you would think it an awful bore to have to marry me, and hate me ever after; and I wouldn't like you to do that, so I think we had better stop 権利 here." And she hadn't even given him the chance of pleading his own 原因（となる）. She had clinched the 事柄 at once by getting engaged to another man; she had waited to 令状 to him even till she had 直す／買収する，八百長をするd her wedding-day. Oh, the cruelty of it—the selfish thoughtlessness! Thoughtfulness would be a better word, for she must have felt her 約束／交戦 would settle 事柄s. He 選ぶd up the letter at his feet and straightened out the crumpled paper, and laid his 直面する against it like a child for a moment; then he stepped across the hut, 選ぶd up the other, and 倍のd the two together, though it cost him an 成果／努力, for he felt as if he were doing the first dear letter a 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な 不正. But it had lied to him, too, in a way, it had ブイ，浮標d him up with 誤った hopes, and so he 倍のd them together and put them in his pocket. And as he did so the sunbeams stretched up to the roof, and went out suddenly and left him in the dark. He 星／主役にするd at the 塀で囲む for a minute, and then （機の）カム 支援する and stood in the doorway, and watched the golden light die out in the west. Another day was done, another long, hot, 疲れた／うんざりした day, and there was nothing for him but a succession of long 疲れた／うんざりした days like this one—no change, no hope of change, nothing to look 今後 to, and the girl he loved and 信用d had played him 誤った.
"Oh, my God, my God!" he moaned. "I would rather have seen her die."
Allan had 計器d her 正確に, and Allan had loved her too. Ah! but he had not loved her as he had done. She did not even seem to understand the wrong she was doing him. She was of the world, worldly-wise, and every one in her world and his would say she had 行為／法令／行動するd rightly. How could he complain? She was dainty and pretty and lovable. If he had been rich, if only he had had just enough to marry her, she would have been true to him. But she 手配中の，お尋ね者 to be married, she as good as told him so, and as she could not get him—井戸／弁護士席, she put up with somebody else. That is what her letter 量d to. She did care for him? In a way, yes, but not enough, or it was her mother's or the world's training.
"My God!" he muttered between his teeth; "it is damnable the way they bring women up."
Oh, she had cared for him, she had cared, but her training had been too much for her. She could not believe in a man's love, certainly not in his constancy, and therefore she would sacrifice nothing for him, would 危険 nothing for him. It was time she was settled in life, and he laughed 激しく to himself. That was the 差し控える of an old song, wasn't it? Yes, something about 'old Margery,' and he laughed again. The stupidity, the folly of it, the wickedness of it, a fresh young girl like his little sweetheart deliberately tying herself to a man she cared nothing for—he was very sure she cared nothing for him—an utterly unsuitable man, just because "it was time she was settled in life." Wasn't there anybody by to save her? No, there was no one—not one. "Father and mother are so pleased." And he went outside and walked straight ahead in 猛烈な／残忍な impotence. He could do nothing, just nothing. It seemed to him his own life was ended. The main spring was broken; there was nothing to live for now. The only thing to be done was to 鎮圧する 負かす／撃墜する this 猛烈な／残忍な 不安, this hopeless longing for what could never be his. She was to be married in April, married in April, and in all probability it was April now. So he walked on 速く across the level plain, and the crisp, 乾燥した，日照りの, salt bush crunched beneath his feet, and the 星／主役にするs, brilliant with a 熱帯の brightness, （機の）カム out as by 魔法 in the soft, dark, velvety sky. He hated that 有望な, spangled dark sky. He would have given a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 for a sky of 嵐／襲撃する-laden clouds with the moon just breaking through, or no moon at all, but the 急ぐing 勝利，勝つd and the 注ぐing rain. A 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定? But he was 破産者／倒産した; he had nothing to give—nothing at all. The woman he believed in had played him 誤った, and it would 事柄 little to him henceforward what the skies above were like; he only 手配中の，お尋ね者 to get through his life quickly and have done with it, and it はうd away so intolerably slowly. It was an age since the morning. This night already was stretching into an eternity, and he quickened his pace as if by so doing he could make the minutes 飛行機で行く. And even so, when it was all over, what then? Always the salt bush 鎮圧するing under his feet, and 総計費 and all 一連の会議、交渉／完成する as far as the 注目する，もくろむ could see the brilliant, （疑いを）晴らす sky. But he walked on and on, till at last, for very weariness, he つまずくd and lay where he fell because there was nothing in the world to get up for; he was tired, and he might just 同様に 嘘（をつく） there as anywhere else. And then he dozed a little—and when he wakened the plain was light, and the moon, a little out of 形態／調整 and old, but 猛烈な／残忍な and red and hot, was just rising over the jagged 頂点（に達する）s in the east. So he might 同様に go 支援する, and he rose to his feet and つまずくd 支援する, watching the moon rise higher in the heavens. He walked slowly now. His walking 急速な／放蕩な did not get him through life any quicker; it only 疲れた／うんざりしたd him, and there was nothing to hurry for. Then he thought of his mother, his poor mother, who had written so 定期的に to her boy. In his heart he was sore against women, against all women, but he knew she would have given all she 所有するd to make her boy happy, and the thought 慰安d him not one 手早く書き留める. His poor mother! He only wished she would be happy without him, would not worry about him. Ah! it was a cruel world. Things didn't seem to be 適切に 直す／買収する，八百長をするd up, somehow.
And when he reached his hut again he would not go inside. He was very 疲れた／うんざりした, but how could he 耐える to go in and 嘘（をつく） on his bed and think. The moonlight was coming in through the window, he knew that 井戸／弁護士席 enough, and he knew that from his bed he could just see where it fell on the doorpost, showing up so 明確に the nicks he had 削減（する） to 示す the time for the coming of the letter. And the letter had come, and there was nothing more to look 今後 to: he could not 嘘（をつく） and look at the notches he had 削減（する） when he had hope.
Now there was nothing to hope for, nothing to be disappointed and heartsick about, that was a 慰安. If no rain （機の）カム for the next two years, for the next forty years, he would not mind. He was not fit for any exertion, for any 支えるd 成果／努力, and yet he plodded on 刻々と—eastward this time—looking up every now and then at the moon as she sailed higher into the sky. Yes, there was 慰安 in that. 運命／宿命 had done her worst for him—he need 恐れる nothing more.
How the night passed he could hardly have told, only it did wear away somehow, and when the moonlight began to pale before the rosy light of morning, and the sun rose up behind the jagged 頂点（に達する）s in the east, he 設立する himself away out on the plain, watching, with 注目する，もくろむs that saw not, the glorious gold and grey of the sunrise, while he himself was an 反対する of 利益／興味 to hundreds of crows, who sat on the ground in （犯罪の）一味s 一連の会議、交渉／完成する him, and flew cawing over his 長，率いる. He laughed aloud as the sunlight shone on their handsome blue-黒人／ボイコット plumage.
"Why, they think I'm mad or lost," he said aloud, and he waved his 手渡すs at them, and made some of them move lazily and leisurely into a 支援する 列／漕ぐ／騒動. "Not yet, mates, not yet. Have a little patience, I dare say your turn will come by and by," and he turned 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and went slowly 支援する to his hut. And it 怒り／怒るd him and worried him not a little that the crows （機の）カム too.
Had they ever followed him before—had they? He tried to think. They were always there, of course, always ready to pounce on a poor sick sheep, or 涙／ほころび out the 注目する，もくろむs of an unprotected lamb, but they had never looked at him like that before, he was sure they never had. They knew—oh, the crows were wise—that he would never go away from here now, that he would die here, and then they would 選ぶ out his 注目する，もくろむs. Yes, they knew it very 井戸／弁護士席. That would be the end, only it would not be just yet, and he must get 支援する to see to the 井戸／弁護士席, for that was what he was here for. The sheep would die if they had no water.
But when the windmill was 直す／買収する，八百長をするd up, he ran hurriedly to his hut, looking furtively over his shoulder to see that the crows were not に引き続いて him, and once inside he shut the door 急速な／放蕩な and pulled a box across it, and felt a sense of 勝利 in the fact that he had 首尾よく outwitted them.
Then he lay 負かす／撃墜する on his bed and drew his 手渡す across his 注目する，もくろむs. Surely he must be mad to 恐れる the crows; he knew 井戸／弁護士席 enough they would not attack even a sheep as long as it was strong and 井戸／弁護士席, let alone a man. He must be going mad to be afraid of them. Going mad? He must be mad indeed, and he crossed the hut and took a good draught of water—there was no tea made—and tried to eat some of the damper he had made before he went to see Morrison, but it was 乾燥した，日照りの and he could not eat it; there was fresh flour now, he would make some more by and by. It did not 事柄 much, there was no hurry—nothing 事柄d now. He lay 負かす／撃墜する on the bed and tried to read his letters, but the lines of 令状ing were all blurred and danced before his 注目する，もくろむs, and when he opened the illustrated papers it was just the same, he could not read them, he could not even look at the pictures. He had not slept the night before, he told himself, that was what was the 事柄; but even now he could not 残り／休憩（する）, and he 設立する himself perpetually walking 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the hut, keeping his 注目する，もくろむs carefully away from the notches he had 削減（する） in the doorpost, because it seemed to him it would 苦痛 him to look at them, and ever now and then walking softly, so that the crows would not hear him. He せねばならない be dead, they were waiting for him, but it wasn't time yet—not やめる yet, Allan was coming 負かす／撃墜する soon, and he would want his papers and things, and to hear the news, and the crows must wait, and he laughed aloud. And the sound of his own laughter brought him to his senses again.
What was this horrible thing that was coming over him? Was he going mad? Mad! He had heard of such things. Shepherds who had lost their senses from very loneliness, from sheer want of human companionship. But that had been after years of loneliness, and it was only yesterday he had seen Allan Morrison—only yesterday he had been 十分な of hopes for the 未来. A girl's faithlessness could not make all this wide difference. Such things happened every day in his world, every day; it was ridiculous to think he would go mad for that. He would （問題を）取り上げる his life and make a good thing of it, in spite of all she had done; he would show her he would have been 価値（がある） waiting for—he would begin this very moment. Ah, but there was nothing to do, nothing whatever, but to tend the windmill once in twenty-four hours, and to watch the 疲れた／うんざりした hours go 一連の会議、交渉／完成する; nothing whatever to do, but to count the hours and watch the crows.
And so it began again, the whole 疲れた／うんざりした 一連の会議、交渉／完成する. He was afraid of the crows—they terrified him, they made him shudder, and the horror of his lonely helplessness was strong upon him. Then he would shake that off; remember, he was a strong young man, not yet thirty, with all his life still to be lived; all his life with its 広大な／多数の／重要な 可能性s, and for one moment he was 希望に満ちた and happy; but only for a moment. The thought of Nancy—pretty, dainty, laughing, loving Nancy—（機の）カム to him. He longed for the sound of her 発言する／表明する, for the touch of her 手渡す, just to take her in his 武器 for one 簡潔な／要約する moment, to make her understand, as he was sure he could, that she belonged to him and to no other man. But it might not be, and he would chafe and fret and 疲れた／うんざりした over it, till the thought of the crows （機の）カム 支援する to him in spite of himself, and he hid his 直面する in his 一面に覆う／毛布s to keep out the horrid sight, and then あわてて raised it again, because he fancied there was a crow on the 狭くする window-sill watching him, and he could not 耐える to be taken unawares.
And so it went on the livelong day. He ate nothing, he did not want to eat, only his mouth was parched, and he drank a little water now and then; and when the 不明瞭 （機の）カム he stole out into the 冷静な／正味の, soft night, and walked up and 負かす／撃墜する till at last for very weariness he dozed a little on the ground. Not for long, though. His thoughts （人が）群がるd on him too quickly to 許す him to 残り／休憩（する）. All the livelong night he seemed to be trying to arrange some 計画／陰謀 of life for himself, something that should 救助（する） him from the horror of dreary loneliness; but it grew harder to concentrate his thoughts, and when the morning （機の）カム and he saw the crows 一連の会議、交渉／完成する him looking at him with their evil 注目する，もくろむs, he ran 支援する to his hut and 閉めだした the door again, and forgot even to …に出席する to the windmill, which was his 推論する／理由 for 存在 there at all.
Up and 負かす／撃墜する his hut he walked, up and 負かす／撃墜する, and then across, and he began to look furtively at the gun in the corner, only furtively as yet, because he was not やめる mad and he knew what he was doing, and he knew that life might 持つ／拘留する many happy days for him yet, even though he could not see them; and why should he take his own life 簡単に because a girl had 証明するd unfaithful, when girls were doing that every day. There was his mother to be thought of, and his sisters, and yes, there were the crows, they were—
A loud knocking and 押し進めるing at his door brought him to a sudden 行き詰まり in his walk. Could it be possible they had grown so bold?
"Ned, old man, are you dead? What the devil—"
He took one step across the little room and drew away the box, and in stepped Allan Morrison, Lassie に引き続いて の近くに at his heels.
"Good Lord, Ned, what are you 閉めだした up in this way for? Didn't you hear me come up? I put my horse in the paddock there, and I must have been knocking a good ten minutes. I began to think you must be away. What do you have the door shut for?"
"The crows—" began Kirkham, and then hesitated. What had he been dreaming about? There was Morrison and his dog, if they had been angels from heaven they could not have been more welcome; but with them standing there and the 有望な sunlight flooding the little hut it was the 高さ of foolishness to 恐れる the crows or anything else.
"The crows?" repeated Morrison, in astonishment.
"I—I—was dreaming," hesitated Kirkham. "Come in, old man. I'm very glad to see you. I didn't think you would come so soon."
"井戸／弁護士席, you see," hesitated Morrison in his turn, "I—I—I heard from Phoebe Marsden—she is a ripper is that girl—you had got some bad news," he turned his 注目する，もくろむs away from Kirkham's worn and haggard 直面する, "and I thought perhaps, seeing you were all alone, perhaps you wouldn't 反対する to the company of a mate."
"Come in," repeated Kirkham, "do come in, and—and—sit 負かす／撃墜する—and have something. I'm afraid," he 追加するd, "I've neglected things a bit lately."
Even a bushman's hut can look uncared for and untidy, and Morrison, as he stepped across the threshold and looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, felt that things certainly had been neglected a bit lately. That the 大多数 of his cousin's 所有／入手s should be on the 床に打ち倒す did not surprise him. A bushman's things very often have to be on the 床に打ち倒す for want of any other place to put them, but they seemed to have been kicked there, as indeed they had, for Kirkham had felt the need in his restlessness of having as much space at his 処分 as possible, and had piled up his scanty 所持品 ーするために 供給する that space. He looked 負かす／撃墜する on them guiltily, feeling that Allan must needs read in that hopeless 混乱 something of his 明言する／公表する during the last forty-eight hours, and he was ashamed now that he had come. How could he—how could any sane man, have gone on as he had done for the last two days? What would Allan think of him?
"Whew," whistled Morrison, cheerfully, as he disinterred the flour-捕らえる、獲得する, and proceeded to lug it across into its own corner again, "you have been making hay of things 一般に, old man. I suppose it was a 救済 to your feelings. One 一般に wants to do something of that sort, I notice. Paint the town red, or run amuck, as a sort of let out," and he raised the sugar 捕らえる、獲得する and put it beside the flour.
Lassie was sitting in the doorway, making ineffectual snaps at the 飛行機で行くs that buzzed around her, and Kirkham, with a sudden feeling of weariness, sat 負かす／撃墜する on the box beside her, and leaned 支援する against the 塀で囲む.
"I'm sorry I've no tucker ready, old man," he said, "but the truth is, I've been off my 料金d lately. There are no points about feeding alone."
"We'll soon mend that. You take a snooze, old chap, and I'll have something ready by the time you wake. No, now 嘘（をつく） on the bed, man. 嘘（をつく） 負かす／撃墜する and 残り／休憩（する） a bit, and I'll straighten things up. We've come over to stop for a day or two, perhaps a week."
Kirkham looked at him doubtfully. He had a horrible 疑惑 he had been making a fool of himself, and that his cousin knew it, but Morrison only tapped him on the shoulder kindly.
"Come, old man, you'd do as much for me if I were a bit out of sorts."
So he 苦しむd himself to be led, and lay 負かす／撃墜する obediently and watched Allan 追跡（する） out the 構成要素s for a billy of tea. Then he went outside to light the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, but Kirkham lay still, for he saw that Lassie still wagged her tail softly in the doorway, and he felt 安全な, and what he did not see was the 調印する that Allan made to her to stay there. And presently Allan （機の）カム 支援する with a pannikinful of strong, 甘い tea, such as bushmen drink, and Kirkham drank it gratefully. Nothing so refreshing, it seemed to him, had passed his lips for a long time, and he lay 支援する and の近くにd his 注目する，もくろむs for a moment, and before he realised it was sound asleep.
It was many hours after when he awakened with a start and a remembrance that something strange had happened to him, and as he sat up, sleepily rubbing his 注目する，もくろむs, he saw that Allan was sitting on the box in the middle of the hut smoking a 麻薬を吸う and looking over an illustrated paper by the 薄暗い light of a slush lamp. All the while he had been here Kirkham had never 設立する it 価値（がある） his while to make a slush lamp, and to his waking 注目する，もくろむs, with the smell of the strong 駅／配置する タバコ in his nostrils, it seemed to him the little 明らかにする hut had never looked so cosy and homelike.
Allan heard him stirring, and looking up from his paper peered over into the 不明瞭.
"Awake, old man? Feel better for your snooze. Another man! Come, that's all 権利. If you come outside and 下落する your 長，率いる in a bucket of 冷淡な water you'll feel 権利 as a trivet, and we'll 料金d by the light of the moon. I see her ladyship's getting up over the hills there."
Kirkham did as he was 企て，努力，提案, and the two men made an evening meal outside off fried chops and damper and 高度に sweetened tea. Morrison had killed a sheep, and the carcase hung against the corner of the hut, and the guest raked up conversation on every 考えられる 支配する, while his host ate in silence. Morrison looked at him anxiously at first, but seeing he did eat, he pulled Lassie's ears gratefully, and heaved a sigh of thankfulness as he filled his 麻薬を吸う.
Kirkham did the same, lighted it up, blew a 花冠 or two of smoke, and then laid it 負かす／撃墜する.
"What in God's 指名する made you come over here today, Allan?"
"For company, old man, and to see the papers. The divarsions over at Merri are a bit 限られた／立憲的な."
"But we'd met only a day or two 支援する."
"井戸／弁護士席, if you don't want me," laughed his cousin, "Lassie and I'll—"
"No, no, my God! I never was so thankful to see any one, only if you only knew it seemed so opportune, so—"
"You see," said Morrison, interrupting him, "I may 同様に tell you the truth, old chap. After you were gone Lassie and I got talking about you—Lassie's mighty good company I can tell you—and we （機の）カム to the 結論 that you weren't 耐えるing the loneliness 井戸／弁護士席, that your mother wouldn't be pleased with your looks at all, and we 決定するd to come over under the week and see how you were getting along. Then the mail （機の）カム, and, as I told you before, I had a letter from Phoebe Marsden—she's a ripping good girl, that I can tell you—and she told me some news I knew you wouldn't like, and said how she'd got Nancy to 令状 to you, and—and—井戸／弁護士席, you see, old chap, I thought—I mean—it's a blow, of course, it must be, after you'd been counting on her, and we sorter thought after the first—the first—"
Morrison was getting hopelessly muddled in his endeavour to 隠す his real 苦悩 and sympathy under the guise of a simple, friendly 願望（する） to 元気づける a friend up; but out of the weariness of the last two months, the horror of the last two days Kirkham understood and stretched out a 手渡す and wrung his gratefully.
"I—somehow—I think I was 定期的に off my chump last night," he said, turning his 直面する away from the flickering firelight. "I don't know what I mightn't have done if you hadn't turned up when you did."
"Oh, nonsense, old man, you were all 権利—a bit out of sorts, that's all—and then the 失望 and the loneliness. Loneliness always sort of 悪化させるs things."
But he knew very 井戸／弁護士席, and Kirkham, though he 受託するd his explanation knew very 井戸／弁護士席, too, that it had very nearly been something more serious with him than a passing "out of sorts." He shuddered when he thought of the last two days.
It is a fact that men don't confide in one another as women do, but these two were alone in the wilderness. It was night in the open 空気／公表する, and their only light was the moonlight and the glow from the dying 解雇する／砲火／射撃; their 麻薬を吸うs were alight, and one was 堅固に 納得させるd in his own mind that the other had saved him from taking his own life, and the other, though he said nothing, had more than a 疑惑 of the truth. The occasion seemed even to 需要・要求する 信用／信任s. You cannot live at high 圧力 for long; human nature won't stand it; the reaction must come at length, and after the long 疲れた／うんざりした months of waiting, the agony of bitter 失望 that had so 鎮圧するd him for two 哀れな days, it had come at last to Kirkham, bringing with it a 願望（する） to speak 自由に to the man who had helped him in his need, to see in what light an impartial 注目する，もくろむ like his would 見解（をとる） the 行為／行う of the girl who had been so much to him. 明確に he was getting better; he almost realised it himself. There is no 疑問 about it, when we can talk of our 悲しみ, even to our most intimate friend, the first sting has gone out of it, and we are on the mend.
For a few minutes the two men sat puffing on their 麻薬を吸うs in silence, then Kirkham took his out of his mouth and 発言／述べるd—
"So Phoebe wrote to you. I wonder what the dickens made her do that?"
"It is possible, mind you I don't say it's probable, but it is just possible that she had a friendly feeling for a poor beggar out here in the wilds with no one to take any 利益／興味 in him. All the girls may go for your good-looking phiz, old man, but maybe there are exceptions!" "Oh, decidedly there are exceptions, large exceptions," said Kirkham, ruefully. "The only girl I want—"
"There are good fish in the sea, old chap, as ever （機の）カム out of it. Nancy may be the more taking, but I've always 持続するd, even when I was 長，率いる over 傷をいやす／和解させるs in love with her, that there was more real grit in her sister's little finger."
"Unfortunately we don't seem to want the real grit," said Kirkham, still more ruefully. "Unfortunately we don't. I don't know though. I wouldn't like to say how much these letters Phoebe Marsden 令状s to me are 価値（がある） to me. It's good to think that somebody cares enough about you in a friendly way to 令状 to you so 定期的に. いつかs she sends me papers too, poor girl, and I know she's so hard up that even the postage must be a consideration. By Jove! that's the sort of woman, she'd stick to through 厚い and thin."
"She'd run the 危険 of you're not wanting her when you did turn up because she was old and shrivelled."
"You might take your 誓い on it."
"And suppose you didn't want her," mused Kirkham. "井戸／弁護士席, it would be mighty rough on her, but she'd not 持つ／拘留する you to your word. Oh, there's the makings of a grand woman in Phoebe Marsden."
If Phoebe could only have heard him! And it was all because she had written to him and sympathised with him when he was lonely, and the world was going against him.
"And Nancy?" asked Kirkham, with some hesitation.
"井戸／弁護士席 Nancy, old man—I've been very bad there, so I can speak with feeling—is just one of those charming little girls whom a fellow can't help getting gone on. She's got a way with her there's no resisting; but you mustn't count on her, bless you, no. She has got a vein of selfishness along with it all that makes her think of herself first. She always preferred you to me, so I ought to 耐える no grudge against her, but the little flirt had a way of insinuating that it was my own fault I wasn't the favoured one. I knew it was all rot, of course, and she cared more for your little finger than all my 団体／死体 put together; but still she did it, and it kept me dangling on a string adoring her when I might have been far better 雇うing my time finding out the good 質s of her sister. I 推定する／予想する that's why the little minx did it. Those sort of women can't 耐える to see any one preferred before them."
"Much she cared for me," said Kirkham. "Why, she didn't even wait to throw me over before she got engaged to another man. And after the way she wrote I thought—I thought—but she got engaged before breaking with me, and 令状s to tell me she's going to be married in April," he finished, 激しく.
"She couldn't （不足などを）補う her mind to 傷つける you, she 手配中の，お尋ね者 you to think 井戸／弁護士席 of her. It's the way of those sort of women. It's a charming way, too, often, but いつかs it don't work out 権利. Phoebe's evidently in an awful way about it, she's afraid you'll feel it so."
"She needn't trouble her 長，率いる," said Kirkham, with an uncomfortable feeling that he was an 反対する of pity.
"Oh, I'll 令状 and tell her you're all 権利. She says she 地位，任命するd the letter—Nancy's letter to you—so I 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う you'd never have got it at all if it hadn't been for her. She's a dainty, lovable little girl, is Nancy Marsden, but I'm not so sure she'd be 望ましい as a wife, and for a long uncertain 約束／交戦, old man, you're 井戸／弁護士席 out of it, I congratulate you."
Which might be all very true, but Kirkham was hardly equal to looking at things in that light yet. It was all very 井戸／弁護士席 for Morrison to talk, he had not been cruelly jilted. Still, by the light of the slush lamp before he turned in that night, he read all his mother's letters, and Morrison 公式文書，認めるd that he had to open all the envelopes. On the whole, he thought as he の近くにd his 注目する，もくろむs, it was a good 職業 he had come over to 孤独な 手渡す out-駅／配置する without waiting to think things over.
Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? Or loweth the ox over his fodder?
—JOB.
"Mr and Mrs Josiah Sampson request the 楽しみ of Mr and Mrs Hammond's company, ought I to say 楽しみ or honour, Phoebe?"
"政府 House cards always have 'honour'."
"But that's for a ball. This is for a dinner. How do they ask you to dinner?"
"I don't know, I'm sure. I've never been asked, and I'm not likely to be. Put whichever you think best. It can't 事柄."
"Oh, but it does. Mrs Josiah Sampson—oh—doesn't it look horrid?"
"Oh, Nancy, how can you? And Joe is so good to you."
"So he せねばならない be. Didn't I become Mrs Josiah Sampson just to please him, when I'd much rather have been Mrs Somebody else?"
"Nancy! oh Nancy, what a dreadful thing to say! And you 港／避難所't been six months married!"
"It's more dreadful to feel it, after all. Yes, I know what you are going to say. Joe is very good to me, I suppose. Everybody is always telling me he is, any way. But, after all, it is a mistake to get married. You don't feel a bit different to what you were when you were a girl, and then there is all the bother of it and 非，不，無 of the fun."
"You have got such a good husband, and plenty of money," murmured Phoebe, laying 負かす／撃墜する the 調書をとる／予約する she was reading—she had come in, as she often did, to spend a week with her sister in Ballarat—"and pretty dresses—and—and—"
"In fact everything I was always longing for," laughed Nancy, a little 激しく, as she shook out her penful of 署名／調印する all over her dainty monogrammed paper. "There, bother it, I've spoiled another sheet. Why should I trouble? I'll have the card engraved, that's the proper thing to do," and she flung herself 負かす／撃墜する on the comfortably cushioned 幅の広い window seat opposite Phoebe, and looked out discontentedly over the green lawn where the young oaks and elms were just bursting into leaf, and the sparrows were twittering cheerfully in the 有望な spring 日光.
Nancy Sampson had everything that the heart of woman could wish for. Her husband had spared no expense to make her comfortable, and whether Phoebe looked out over the garden and lawns that surrounded the dainty cottage, or whether she looked inside at the carpet 床に打ち倒すs, the rich hangings, the cosy cushions, the 有望な silver and sparkling glass, so 全く different to anything that Nancy had been accustomed to in her own scrambly home, she could only see in it all a man's ardent 願望（する） to surround the woman he loved with every 高級な, to make her happy if it was in man's 力／強力にする to make her so. It was pathetic, thought Phoebe, looking at her sister's discontented 直面する, so much love wasted and gone wrong. For Nancy was 甘い and lovable, and yet to her unlucky husband she always showed her worst 味方する. It almost seemed いつかs as if she bore him a grudge.
"I tell you what it is, Phoeb," she said, 調査するing discontentedly her pretty shoes, there was no need for her to tuck her feet out of sight now. "I'll just tell you what it is, it is really a 広大な／多数の／重要な mistake to get married. You just don't feel a bit different, only bothered いつかs; and if you have got a little fun to look 今後 to, it doesn't 事柄 in the least what your carpet is like, you don't mind if it is linoleum all 穴を開けるs, and as for frocks—" and Nancy looked disdainfully 負かす／撃墜する at her own smart silk.
"Oh, Nan! you know you always loved pretty frocks."
"I thought I did. You don't know these things till you are really married. Just think what jolly fun it used to be doing up my frocks in our old room, 捨てるing up the 略章 from all corners, and so glad when one made a thing do, and some one （機の）カム along and told one how nice one looked. It was fun. Now it don't 事柄 if I do look nice: I せねばならない, when I never get a dress under ten or twelve guineas. If I had only ten guineas a year ago, what fun we would have had spending it. It was fun then to make Joe admire me," and Nancy heaved a 激しい sigh.
"Oh, Nan, but he admires you now."
"'My dear, you look remarkably nice!' That is just 正確に／まさに what he says, and he always says the same thing, always, always, always, and he stands a good distance off, as if he were afraid of spoiling my 着せる／賦与するs, and in fact, he is just as 木造の as he ever can be."
"Oh, Nancy, Nancy," cried Phoebe, 苦しめるd. If this was the way a six months' wife talked what would be the end.
"Say something more 初めの than 'Nancy, Nancy,'" pouted that young lady.
"Why don't you run at him and put your 武器 一連の会議、交渉／完成する his neck, and tell him you want him to admire you," 示唆するd Phoebe, hesitatingly.
"Goodness me, you might just 同様に embrace the telegraph 政治家."
"Nan, dear, that is just nonsense. He is so good and 肉親，親類d and thoughtful for you that you せねばならない take that into consideration, it is a 調印する how fond he is of you, and I 推定する／予想する if you only cared to show him the way he would show his feelings a little more 率直に. Nan, it is mean of you to be so hard on him."
"Hard on him?" Nancy opened her blue 注目する，もくろむs wide. "How am I hard on him? He 手配中の，お尋ね者 me and he has got me. And I never get out of temper, at least not much, and stop at home lots of times when I would rather go out, and I look after the house 適切に, and it is as dull as 溝へはまらせる／不時着する water, and I'm bored to death. You don't know what it is like when you are not here. I think I must always have one of you here, you, or Lyd, or Nell; I would rather have you, of course. Phoebe, you must come and live with us, of course, why didn't I think of that before. Joe is really fond of you. I believe he is いっそう少なく woodeny when you are here. You 供給する him with something to talk about, and make me look at him in a better light."
"I can't live with you, Nan. You know very 井戸／弁護士席 I can't. I have got the bees to look after; I can come and stay with you いつかs if you'll have me; but I wouldn't live with you for anything. And Nanny," she got up and put her 手渡す lovingly on her sister's shoulder, "do 約束 me one thing. I 推定する／予想する you are a little out of sorts just now or you wouldn't talk of your husband like this. It is やめる 安全な with me, you know it is, but do 約束 me you won't talk like this to anybody else, not to Lyd, or Nell, or mother, or anybody. You might be sorry for it you know some day. You'll feel やめる different when your baby comes."
"I shan't. I don't want a baby. I never did want one. Hateful little things."
"井戸／弁護士席," said Phoebe, laughing. "I suppose you took that into consideration. Folks mostly do have babies when they get married, and if they don't they seem to want them."
"Oh, of course, Joe wants it, but I don't."
"Huxley says every woman is a 可能性のある mother."
"Bother Huxley! What did he know about it?"
"He seems to have known a good 取引，協定, I think," said her sister.
Nancy stretched over and 選ぶd up Phoebe's 調書をとる／予約する and turned over to the 肩書を与える page.
"Lay sermons! Goodness gracious me, Phoebe, whatever makes you read that! It looks dreadfully 乾燥した，日照りの," and she turned over the pages 速く.
"Joe told you it was 井戸／弁護士席 価値（がある） reading last night at dinner, don't you remember, so I went into his 熟考する／考慮する this morning and got it. Nan, dear, it is awfully 利益／興味ing. Your husband would be so pleased."
"Sermons? Sermons are dreadful 乾燥した，日照りの things, I never can listen to them. I always go to sleep."
"Pulpit sermons, oh, of course," with a 確かな 量 of contempt in her 発言する／表明する; "I don't often listen to them myself. They are sleepy things if one may 裁判官 by their usual 影響 on the congregation; but these are something やめる different. A man who had thought a lot and knew a lot wrote these."
"I can't read these sort of 調書をとる／予約するs," said Nancy, turning over the leaves, "they are much too 乾燥した，日照りの. Joe reads them, and once or twice he has tried to tell me about them; but I soon showed him they weren't in my line. That's the worst of Joe. Just fancy waxing やめる eloquent over a 乾燥した，日照りの old thing like that, and when one really has something 利益／興味ing to talk about, he is so mum, he is やめる a wet 一面に覆う／毛布. You can't かもしれない talk to him."
"But, Nan, if you were only to try and be 利益／興味d in the things he liked! Read this 調書をとる／予約する and talk about it and see how pleased he would be."
"What 調書をとる／予約する?"
"Why, mother!"
Both the girls started as Mrs Marsden walked into the room.
"Your carpets are so nice and 厚い, Nancy," she said. "The boys really 手配中の，お尋ね者 boots so 不正に I had to come in, though how they are to be paid for I'm sure I don't know. Your father hasn't made a five 続けざまに猛撃する 公式文書，認める this week."
"It is only Tuesday," 示唆するd Nancy, cheerfully. "Things will look up if you give them time. I suppose Phoebe's allowance for this month has gone wrong as usual."
"Your father really hasn't got the money," said her mother, taking off her bonnet and smoothing 負かす／撃墜する her glossy 黒人／ボイコット hair before the glass. "You don't know, Nancy, how thankful I am to see you so comfortably married."
Nancy gave an impatient little shrug to her shoulders, and Mrs Marsden settled herself in an armchair with a sigh.
"What is the 調書をとる／予約する Phoebe wants you to read, and who is going to be pleased? Joe?"
"It's Huxley," said Phoebe.
"Huxley, who is he? He wrote something learned, mathematics or something, didn't he?"
"I don't think he wrote mathematics," said Phoebe, doubtfully. "He might have, but I never heard of it. He is very learned and 利益／興味ing, and seems to know a lot about human nature as far as I have gone. He is rather agnostic, I think," she 追加するd, wickedly, because she knew her mother would be shocked.
"Agnostic! Then, my dear child, don't let any one see you reading his 調書をとる／予約する. It is most unbecoming and unladylike. 調書をとる／予約するs like that are only fit for men. They are only meant for men."
"I was sure you would say that. That is the way Huxley says girls are brought up. He says what is fit for their brothers is not fit for them."
"He is やめる 権利 there, then," said Mrs Marsden, complacently, and Huxley stood a thought higher in her estimation.
"Oh, he didn't mean it that way," said Phoebe, anxious to show that she had at least a learned man on her 味方する in her 見解（をとる）s on the bringing up of children, but Mrs Marsden 削減（する） her short.
"For goodness sake, Phoebe, put that 調書をとる／予約する away. An agnostic 調書をとる／予約する is a dreadful thing for a girl to read, and recommending it to Nancy too, though to be sure a married woman may read what a 選び出す／独身 girl had better not look at."
"I didn't recommend it to Nancy, Joe did. And as she wouldn't read it, I did. I was just 説 he would be so pleased if she would read it and discuss it with him."
"What nonsense!"
"It's not nonsense, mother. I heard him tell her to read the 調書をとる／予約する myself."
"He might do that, but he never meant her to read it. He might like her to take it up and say it was 乾燥した，日照りの and uninteresting, and she thought he must be awfully clever to read it; depend on it that's what he 手配中の，お尋ね者. There is nothing men hate so much as a learned woman."
"Oh, Phoeb is getting on that way," said Nancy, lazily good-natured, "and Joe doesn't hate her, he is very fond of her. I know he thinks a lot of Phoebe."
"Which of you two did he marry?" asked Mrs Marsden, solemnly. "That settles the question. Men talk a lot of what a woman せねばならない be, but they just don't know what they want themselves. They talk about the frivolity of women and how they would like them better educated and all the 残り／休憩（する） of it, but when they get a woman who せねばならない be after their own heart, you would think, they don't marry her, they pass her by and take some frivolous little girl with a pretty 直面する, just the sort they have 宣言するd they don't want, and the other girl is left lamenting; and depend on it marriage is the 実験（する）."
Nancy laughed a little 激しく, and her sister looked out of the window at the 有望な morning sunlight. It was galling to be told so often in 影響 that she was wanting in all that could make her attractive and charming, and that all her 願望（する）s after culture must be 鎮圧するd 負かす／撃墜する and hidden away if she hoped—as what woman does not hope—to be some day in the 未来 a wife and mother.
"Men are fools," she was thinking to herself, "they are—they are. It can't do a woman any 害（を与える） to know a little," and then the 慰安ing thought （機の）カム to her that かもしれない her mother was wrong. Anyway there was 慰安 in the fact that hers was a hopeless 事例／患者 from the beginning, and therefore she might as 井戸／弁護士席 do as she pleased.
"I 宣言する, mother," laughed Nancy, "you are hard on Phoeb. It really isn't fair to talk at her in that way."
"I'm not talking at Phoebe. I'm only just 説 what I'm sure you must have seen dozens of times."
"井戸／弁護士席, really," said Nancy, "I wonder what on earth we are all in such a hurry to get married for."
"I'm sure I'm very thankful you are so comfortably married. I wish the other girls were as much off my mind."
"井戸／弁護士席, Phoebe is getting やめる good-looking. Aren't you, Phoebe?"
"I?" said Phoebe, turning 一連の会議、交渉／完成する startled. "I? Oh, no one was ever so 肉親，親類d as to call me good-looking."
"井戸／弁護士席, you are. Come now, isn't she, mother?"
Mrs Marsden looked 批判的に at her eldest daughter.
"Phoebe's complexion has certainly been looking much clearer lately," she said, "and I believe she is giving up that slouch, and keeps her hair tidier and does it more becomingly. Then that dress is becoming. You gave her that dress, you see."
Mrs Marsden often felt antagonistic に向かって her eldest daughter. She did not 認可する of her ideas, though she 認める she was a good girl at home, and the last year she had been showing so decidedly that she ーするつもりであるd to go her own way that she felt aggrieved and hardly ready to 認める that that way seemed to agree with her personal 外見.
"Oh, Phoebe is やめる good-looking, I 宣言する," said Nancy, the fact seeming to 夜明け on her all once. "Go and look in the glass, Phoebe, and tell me if you don't think so yourself."
Nancy had always 願望（する）d mirrors in which to admire her pretty little self, and now she had one in every room, even in this one which was the morning room.
"Don't blush, Phoebe—yes, do, it 改善するs your looks. Now go and look in the glass and see who is the beauty of the family."
Phoebe got up slowly and shyly. That any one should even hint she was passable looking! It seemed incredible. Then she stood in 前線 of the mirror and saw 反映するd there a tall, 罰金-looking young woman 覆う？ in a 井戸／弁護士席-fitting grey tweed dress with just a touch of scarlet at her throat. And her 直面する! Could that really be her plain 直面する? Those dark 注目する，もくろむs, those 有望な cheeks, those white teeth and smiling red lips, that glossy dark hair that 栄冠を与えるd her 長，率いる—why—why—it made up a handsome woman!
She turned to her sister, the 紅潮／摘発する of 予期しない excitement and 楽しみ still on her 直面する.
"井戸／弁護士席, Phoebe, aren't you 満足させるd?"
Most women would have 否定するd their satisfaction in their own looks, but Phoebe was too honestly delighted and surprised for that. She put 支援する her shoulders so as to make herself a thought more upright, and swept 支援する to her seat with an 空気／公表する that seemed to say the world lay at her feet and she would 征服する／打ち勝つ.
"Nan," she said, suddenly, "and I'm の近くに on twenty-five!"
"井戸／弁護士席, you always said twenty-five shouldn't be old for a woman. Evidently you are going to 証明する it. If you go on like this you'll be a professional beauty by the time you are fifty. Won't she, mother? Did you ever see anybody 改善する so?"
"Phoebe certainly is 大いに 改善するd," said Mrs Marsden, hesitatingly. As she herself would have said, she never did like these large women, "and I don't know how it is," she went on "she never goes out anywhere. Just pokes about her bees all day long, and reads all sorts of 乾燥した，日照りの 調書をとる／予約するs in her spare time. It is a dull enough life, goodness knows. I wonder she doesn't take the 楽しみs that come in her way," and Mrs Marsden sighed. She was 大いに 関心d about her eldest daughter.
"Because they wouldn't be 楽しみs to me, mother, and I don't neglect anything I せねばならない do, now, do I?"
"No, but—"
"Nan," Phoebe turned to her sister with a glowing 直面する. She had just discovered that her foot was on the first rung of the ladder that leads to success, and the way looked fair and 平易な before her. "Nan, it is the bees have done it. They are getting on so 井戸／弁護士席. I've six 蜂の巣s—six でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる 蜂の巣s—and before the end of summer I believe I'll have some more. And I have an extractor and I don't have any difficulty in selling my honey now. The next lot I'm going to send to Melbourne. I wrote to the 相互の 蓄える／店 about it last week, and I'm to let them know. I'll have a bee-farm soon."
"You 港／避難所't a rag to your 支援する except what Nancy gives you," said her mother, 厳しく.
"Never mind. The bees must come first. They'll buy me dresses by and by, I know. You don't understand, mother."
"I do not, indeed," said Mrs Marsden, still 厳しく. "It wouldn't be much—still if you would spend your allowance upon yourself—L2 10s for an extractor when you 港／避難所't got a decent pair of boots!"
"Never mind, mother," said Phoebe, serenely. "It will all come 権利 in the end, you see," and she gave a little 満足させるd sigh.
Nancy looked at her mother's 直面する and laughed, perhaps a little 激しく. If Phoebe was sure she was 権利, she, Nancy, was beginning to think she might have made a mistake.
"Don't worry, mother," she said. "You have married one of your daughters very comfortably, 港／避難所't you? You can afford to let the other do as she likes. One sacrifice is enough."
"Sacrifice, Nancy? Why, Nancy what do you want?" and her mother looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the comfortable room.
"Oh, nothing, mother. That is just a way of putting it. Only Phoebe is 改善するing to such an extent under her own 管理／経営 you had better let her alone. And you are going to stop to 昼食, mother, aren't you? （犯罪の）一味 the bell, Phoebe, dear, and tell Jessie to lay another place."
"'I saw a little girl,' said the moon, 'who was weeping over the wickedness of the world. She had been 現在のd with a most beautiful doll as a 現在の. It certainly was a very pretty doll, so fair and delicate, and not made to 耐える the rough usage of this world. But the brothers of this little girl, those 広大な／多数の／重要な, naughty boys, had 始める，決める the doll high up in the 支店s of a tree, and had run away. The little girl could not reach up to the doll to help her 負かす／撃墜する, and that is why she was crying.'"
—HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN.
"First 血, first 血!" yelled Tom Marsden, bending 負かす／撃墜する from his 明らかにする-支援するd Shetland pony and poking hard at the old （種を）蒔く with the wrong end of his mother's best carpet-broom. And then, because the pony was 明らかにする-支援するd, and her only bridle was a halter, while her rider was 簡単に attired in a very scanty pair of drawers, as the broom-扱う slipped off the （種を）蒔く's fat 支援する he slipped too, and struck earth with some 軍隊, while the 追跡（する）, まっただ中に wild cries of 'first 血,' swept over him away 負かす／撃墜する the home paddock. The 追跡（する） consisted only of the old （種を）蒔く and Jack now that Tom was out of it, but he arose proud and happy, and 敏速に gave chase to his fiery steed, 補助装置d by Frank and Charlie, frantically waving their 解雇（する）s—解雇（する）s were supposed to be the insignia of beaters or syces, both of which they were in turn—yelling at the 最高の，を越すs of their 発言する／表明するs. On the 最高の，を越す of the orchard 盗品故買者 were perched Lydia and Nellie, 株ing in the excitement in a somewhat shamefaced and doubtful manner. They were a little uncertain whether they せねばならない be there at all, and they were very sure that both their father and mother would be very angry if they knew that the moment their 支援するs were turned, and they were supposed to be 安全な for the day, a mighty pig-追跡（する） was 就任するd. Decidedly they had not the least idea what excellent training their pigs were in, and how 極端に smartly they could 二塁打. It was ぎこちない, certainly, when the 追跡（する） went too の近くに to the bush 盗品故買者 at the 底（に届く） of the paddock, for, once ensconced amongst スピードを出す／記録につけるs and stumps, as every sportsman knows, a pig has the best of it, and it is difficult to dislodge him. There was a tradition in the family that the old 黒人／ボイコット and white （種を）蒔く had spent the night there on one occasion when the shades of night had overtaken the hunters all too soon, and the tea-bell had rung, peremptorily 需要・要求するing their presence at the house before they had 後継するd in dislodging her. The Marsden family, 含むing Phoebe, whom they had to confide in, went to bed that night with a 負わせる as of a fearful 罪，犯罪 on their minds, which was 追加するd to in the 事例／患者 of the boys by Pat, the man who fed the pigs, making his way to their room "at the dead of night"—ten o'clock probably—and 脅すing them with all manner of 苦痛s and 刑罰，罰則s, not excepting a thrashing from "yer pap-pa" if that pig were not in her sty before he went the 一連の会議、交渉／完成するs in the morning. Jack got up at three o'clock in the morning—he said hunters often had to do that—and "pig-sticking" went out of favour for some time, and the "war-game" took its place.
But it was such a 有望な, sunny April day—a Saturday too—and, with the 力／強力にするs that were both away, it seemed a 際立った throwing away of chances not to take advantage of their absence. There mightn't be a 罰金 Saturday with father and mother both away for goodness knows when. It was always possible to play the "war-game" 負かす／撃墜する in the far paddocks out of sight of the house. To be sure, if Mr or Mrs Marsden should happen to wander 負かす／撃墜する that way they might be astonished and shocked at the sight of four of their sons in a 明言する／公表する of nature careering 一連の会議、交渉／完成する as Zulus; but it would just have 追加するd zest to the entertainment to stalk their parents, and Tom and Jack had the firmest 約束 in their own 技術 as savage 長，指導者s, and were やめる sure they could hide their impi from the enemy の中で the scrub and undergrowth in the paddocks. Anyhow, they had not yet been discovered, but "pig-sticking" was やめる another thing. To begin with, it 要求するd the pigs, and must take place in the home paddock, which had been under cultivation, and was の近くに to the house. So the 法令 had gone 前へ／外へ that in consequence of this 合同 of favourable circumstances there would be a 権利 王室の pig-追跡（する） this sunny April afternoon. Phoebe knew of it, of course; she could hardly fail to do so with the howls and joyous shrieks of the hunters （犯罪の）一味ing in her ears, and, like her young sisters, she was doubtful what line of 行為／行う she せねばならない 可決する・採択する. 本人自身で, the savage in her would have liked nothing better than to have sat on the orchard 盗品故買者 と一緒に Lydia and Nellie, and have bestowed on the hunters her unqualified 是認; but then she, as the eldest, and so much the eldest, felt in a 手段 responsible not only for the safety of those pigs, but for the boys themselves, and again she was handicapped, for not one of the four would 支払う／賃金 the least attention to her. They did not care a snap of the fingers whether she 認可するd of the pig-sticking or not. They reckoned she would not be so "mean" as to tell of them, and, having 満足させるd themselves on that point, they cared not one 手早く書き留める about anything else. After all, she was not worrying very much today; not as much as she would have done a year ago, not 近づく as much as she would have done two years ago, when she was wont to enter frantic and ineffectual 抗議するs, and get laughed at for her 苦痛s. The boys were beginning to think Phoebe wasn't half a bad old thing though she was an old maid. And today, after looking surreptitiously over the 盗品故買者, and seeing Tom come a cropper along with the best broom into a nice soft mud-穴を開ける, she 静かに went 支援する to her work の中で the bees again. The dirt on that broom would have to be accounted for, and so might the dirt on Tom's drawers, but it was no 商売／仕事 of hers; she had some honey to 抽出する, a good 取引，協定 too considering she had been working not for honey but for bees, and she had two Italian queens that had arrived by the 地位，任命する that morning all the way from H. L. Jones' apiary at Goodna, Queensland, and if they were to do 井戸／弁護士席 they せねばならない be introduced to their new homes this very night. Her bees were 増加するing; it was wonderful the way in which they were 増加するing. They certainly amply repaid her for the care and attention she bestowed on them. She made them her first 反対する in life. Not a 調書をとる／予約する on the 支配する that she could lay her 手渡す on did she fail to read; she took in and 熟考する／考慮するd carefully the quaint American bee 定期刊行物 from Medina, Ohio, Gleanings in Bee Culture, edited by A. I. Root, and had even gone the length of 令状ing to Mr Root himself, asking his advice on さまざまな things that had puzzled her, and had received in 予定 course a 肉親，親類d and thoughtful answer beginning, "Dear Friend Phoebe Marsden."
It had given her a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 of 激励, that letter. She seemed to be working in company upon 井戸／弁護士席-worn 跡をつけるs, not feebly and wearily breaking up a new road for herself which might かもしれない lead to nowhere. Mr Root seemed to think it so natural that she should work at the bees, that she should want a little help and advice, and had written as if there was no 疑問 in his mind that she would 後継する. Here they all thought her eccentric and laughed at her; even Nancy and Mrs Moore who helped her, and would help her all they knew; but she felt they did not take her 本気で. If they had been asked they would probably have said it was a good thing that Phoebe had 設立する something to 利益／興味 her, and she might 同様に amuse herself with this fad till she got married, she might have a chance of marrying now she was grown better looking. Nothing, she was 納得させるd, would make them understand that she 手配中の，お尋ね者 to be regarded in the same light as a man. No man worked away "until he married," he worked 刻々と always for his living, and his marriage might, often did, 修正する things, but it made no 構成要素 difference to his work. No one ever thought of looking at things in that light. Why wouldn't they regard her as a man who せねばならない be helped to 伸び（る） his own 暮らし? But they wouldn't, so it was no good worrying about it; she must just work on, encouraged by Mr Root, the unknown friend in a far country, and her 静かな, undemonstrative brother-in-法律.
Yes, she was thinking to herself this afternoon as she began making the 蜂の巣s smaller and closer for the winter, what very good friends Josiah Sampson and she had become. To this silent, 静かな man, she had explained her hopes and 恐れるs as she had never explained them to her mother or sister; she had read the same 調書をとる／予約するs with him and discussed them, and if his wife 設立する his society dull his sister-in-法律 never did. They were the very best of friends. He was far more a brother to her, she thought, than her own brother Stanley, whom, she knew in her heart, despised her for an uninteresting old maid, and, with the best wish in the world to love your brother, the affection is apt to fade away if the brother tinges his with the faintest dash of contempt. Josiah Sampson was a real brother to her, thought Phoebe Marsden gratefully; that much good had come out of the marriage she had 反対するd to so 堅固に, that she had tried so hard to stop. Luckily it never occurred to her to try and analyse Josiah Sampson's feelings for her, it never occurred to her, as it might have done to a more worldly woman, that there was danger in this friendship. He was her good, 肉親，親類d brother, and she hated to hear Nancy 不平（をいう）, because she knew he was a 肉親，親類d, tender husband, immensely proud of his wife, and delighted with his month-old little boy. Perhaps, Phoebe thought—she had thought so several times—there were moments when he was just the least bit disappointed in his wife, when he thought that she need not have felt, or at least shown that she felt, that in bestowing herself on him she had done all that was necessary in a wife, but if he did feel this he never said so, and Phoebe was very content to have him as a kindly friend always 利益／興味d in her 事件／事情／状勢s, and who did not seem to think it was her 義務 to get married out of 手渡す. She wished he was coming out tonight, but he was not, only Nancy and baby, and they would not be the least 利益／興味d in the important question whether it would be advisable to move her 蜂の巣s over into the home paddock, just the other 味方する of the orchard 盗品故買者, for the winter. She was rather inclined to think it would; they would get all or most of the sunlight, and by way of 実験 she had 解除するd across a 二塁打-storied 蜂の巣 the night before. She did not suppose her father would 反対する, if he did it would have to be moved 支援する again, but if he said nothing she would move another across this very night.
She had got thus far in her reflections, almost unheeding of the shouting and yelling in the home paddock. It had gone on for over an hour, and she was just thinking she might 公正に／かなり put in a word in the 利益／興味 of the pigs and the ponies, when the 追跡（する） swept up against the orchard 盗品故買者.
"Go it, Jack, go it," shouted the beaters, waving their 解雇（する）s, and Jack leaned over and with the long-扱うd kitchen broom 目的（とする）d a 広範囲にわたる blow at the old 黒人／ボイコット and white （種を）蒔く who was galloping ahead just under his pony's nose. But the old 黒人／ボイコット and white （種を）蒔く had been there too often, and knew what to 推定する／予想する. In a flash she had hurriedly turned, and, with her fore-feet on the very alighting board of the beehive, 二塁打d under the pony's belly, and in another moment would have been 安全な away 負かす／撃墜する the paddock; but 式のs! for Jack, he, too, 完全に understood the （種を）蒔く's 策略; he gave a smart pull to the rope halter which served him for a bridle, and if it had not been for that unlucky beehive, which was 権利 in the way, the only person who would have 苦しむd would have been the （種を）蒔く. As it was the pony, too, got his fore-feet on the alighting board, gave a lurch, tried to 回復する himself, and the next moment over （機の）カム the 蜂の巣, and the pony, Jack, the old （種を）蒔く, and innumerable bees, seemed to be mixed up in direst 混乱. To Phoebe, working away 静かに on the other 味方する of the 盗品故買者, it seemed as if pandemonium had suddenly broken loose, for all the Marsden family were howling in chorus, the old （種を）蒔く was squealing at the 最高の，を越す of her 発言する／表明する as she careered away unnoticed 負かす／撃墜する the paddock, and above all was the angry buzzing of a multitude of bees.
"Phoebe! Phoebe! Phoebe!" shrieked the whole 追跡（する） in chorus, and Phoebe, in her 厚い 隠す and gloves, 緊急発進するd over that 盗品故買者 in far いっそう少なく time than it takes to tell it. Jack was up on his 脚s now, running for dear life, frantically waving his 武器 and yelping at the 最高の，を越す of his 発言する／表明する, while the pony and the （種を）蒔く were away 負かす／撃墜する the paddock, each surrounded by a sort of halo of angry bees. But around Jack they were the worst. His 支援する and shoulders, his 武器 and chest, were covered with them, and he was 涙／ほころびing up and 負かす／撃墜する, howling at the 最高の，を越す of his 発言する／表明する, mad with 苦痛 and terror.
"The horse 気圧の谷, Jack," shouted Phoebe, 急ぐing after him; "get into the horse-気圧の谷."
He did not 注意する her, perhaps he never heard her, but Lydia did, and, 存在 a young woman of ありふれた sense, flew to the horse-気圧の谷, followed by Nellie, and they pumped with such vigour that by the time Phoebe had caught up to her brother, the 気圧の谷 was 十分な and 洪水ing with icy 冷淡な water from the 井戸／弁護士席. She 小衝突d off all the bees she could, she tried to 保護物，者 him with her dress, and then, catching 持つ／拘留する of him, half-dragged, half-carried him to the 気圧の谷, 解除するd him in, still howling at the 最高の，を越す of his 発言する／表明する, and, because the water did not cover him altogether, put his 長，率いる under the spout and pumped with all her might. The other two girls fled; they were afraid of 逸脱する bees, but they need not have been; in a minute there was not a bee to be seen save the floating 死体s of the 溺死するd ones in the water. Then she 解除するd Jack out, dripping, panting, and sobbing with 苦痛, not a 痕跡 left of the 勇敢な hunter who was ready to dare anything two minutes before. There were no bees now about him, only an angry hum （機の）カム from the neighbourhood of the 蜂の巣, and the family drew 近づく to 申し込む／申し出 their sympathy and advice.
"My golly!" said Frank, "he's all over stings."
He was indeed. He had only been 着せる／賦与するd from the waist to the 膝, so the bees had had a fair field, and they had made the most of it. His 支援する was one 集まり of stings, thought Phoebe, miserably, as, taking off her gloves and 隠す, she began あわてて to 抽出する them. She knew what the 苦痛 of one was, what would this be like?
"Here's the blue 捕らえる、獲得する," said Nellie, 申し込む／申し出ing the 井戸／弁護士席-known 世帯 治療（薬）.
Jack groaned aloud.
"You'll have to send for the doctor, you'll just have to send. I'm sure I might die—o-o-oh," and he began blubbering aloud in spite of his thirteen years.
"We'll put him in a warm bath. Go and get one ready, Lyd, there's a good girl. Don't cry, Jack; oh, don't cry. I'll give you half-a-栄冠を与える if you don't cry."
But Jack was beyond 通貨の なぐさみ, though he was impecunious, and his blubbering soon rose to a howl again, and his sister, looking at the 明言する／公表する of his 支援する and chest, could hardly wonder.
"Crimini!" said Tom, "we are in for it now. The gov'll have to know. There's the old （種を）蒔く's 支援する all lumps, and she's bit Pet's 脚, and he's as lame as a crow, and the bees have stung him till his 注目する，もくろむ's all bunged up. At least," 追加するd Tom, "it will be by tonight, and so'll Jack's."
"Then for goodness sake," said Phoebe, "get the （種を）蒔く into the sty before he comes home, and perhaps he won't notice, and if Pet's not very bad—he can't be very bad, surely—put him 負かす／撃墜する in the forty acre and perhaps he'll be better by Monday. Anyhow, Tom, do, like a good boy, tidy up things a bit, put away those 解雇（する）s and the broomsticks, and get in the pig and （疑いを）晴らす up the pigsty. It's no good to make things out worse than they are."
"井戸／弁護士席, you are a oner, Phoeb," said Tom, deceiving the old gov. "I don't know where you'll go to."
"Oh, I don't care," said Phoebe, wild with 苦悩 about Jack. "Do whatever you please. I'm sure to get into a 列／漕ぐ／騒動 anyway about the bees. You can explain it all to father if you like, just how it happened. That would be the honestest way, if you dare do it, only after all one is enough to get into trouble."
"You won't tell on us, Phoebe," asked Tom, doubtfully.
"No, no, goodness me, no. Jack knocked over my beehive; that is all I'll tell. Is that bath ready, Lyd? Tom, I do believe you had better get on Kitty, and ride in and tell them Jack has been 不正に stung, and ask what we had better do."
Tom whistled disdainfully.
"Don't you wish you may catch me," said he.
"Yes, but Tom, I really mean it. Jack is in a fever already," Jack howled a little louder, "and something must be done."
"Catch me doing it."
"You have only got to say Jack's been 不正に stung all over the 支援する and chest and 長，率いる. Stand still, Jack, there are only two more stings that I can see. I must get them, and ask them what we ought to do."
"Yes, and he'll want to know what he was doing without any 着せる／賦与するs on. He'll think he was bathing in the horse-気圧の谷, and you know he said we weren't to."
"井戸／弁護士席, it's Jack, not you."
"Get out, as if that makes any difference. Somebody's got to be blackguarded, and it won't be Jack, because he's 傷つける. It'll be me, you can bet."
"井戸／弁護士席, Tom," said Phoebe in desperation, "you ought not to go pig-追跡（する）ing, and you had better just take your scolding like a man. I won't tell anything about it."
"If the gov. were only like other fellows' govs.," sighed Tom, but にもかかわらず he began rubbing Kitty 負かす／撃墜する with a wisp of straw, to hide as far as possible all traces of the violent 演習 she had been constrained to take that afternoon, and by and by Phoebe, 適用するing hot fomentations to Jack's 支援する, looked through the bedroom window and saw a very 気が進まない young horseman 始める，決める out through the 前線 gate.
"Poor Tom," she thought, "there will be a 列／漕ぐ／騒動."
And there was.
For a blow of his 選ぶ,
Sorter 洞穴d in the 味方する,
And he looked and turned sick,
Then he trembled and cried,
For you see the derned cuss had struck—"water?"—
Beg your 容赦, young man, there you lied!
It was gold,—in the quartz,
And it ran all alike;
And I reckon five oughts
Was the 価値（がある） of that strike.
—BRET HARTE.
"By the Lord, Harry! It must be gold!"
It seemed ありそうもない, certainly. All the anxious days he had spent 捜し出すing the precious metal, and never a 調印する of gold, and now, after eighteen months of 存在 in this desolate 穴を開ける, here under his very 注目する，もくろむs, was sticking up out of the ground what looked like a 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 of cleanly-melted gold. He was twenty miles to the south-east of his hut this morning, 簡単に having ridden out in this direction the night before, because he had nothing else to do, and he thought he might 同様に follow the 傾向 of the 範囲 eastward, and see what the country was like.
For eighteen months Kirkham had lived と一緒に his windmill, and never thought to 調査する. He had taken Morrison's word for it that all the country was alike, just a shade 除去するd from barren 砂漠, and therefore he had spared his horses and gone nowhere except across to see his cousin when he began to feel the loneliness very much. There had been no rain, and he himself had given up all hope of going 支援する to try his luck at the 砂漠d （人命などを）奪う，主張する その上の north. Allan might, he would not. He was waiting now, banking his L1 a week, till he should have enough 資本／首都 to rent a very modest farm 負かす／撃墜する in Victoria. But yesterday, for some unknown 推論する／理由, he had broken through his 決まりきった仕事 and come 調査するing.
And truly he had been compelled to 認める Allan was 権利; a more dreary, desolate country it would be difficult to imagine. Behind him, it was true, there seemed to stretch for several miles a lovely lake dotted with islands, grassy green with banks and high cliffs, covered with trees and bushes, all 反映するd faithfully in the pellucid waters. There were little boats on it too, boats covered with white awnings, and others with white sails, shimmering and quivering in the 炎ing sunlight. He could even see the water rippling 一連の会議、交渉／完成する these boats, though the 残り／休憩（する） of the lake lay 静める and breathless, as if overpowered by the heat of the day. Such a lovely lake, so 冷静な／正味の, so refreshing. Involuntarily he thought how delightful a header would be in its tempting waters. And then he laughed a little. He had just ridden 権利 through it. He knew 井戸／弁護士席 enough that its joys were visionary and delusive, only a taunting しん気楼. The lake was only a large flat claypan, which, when there was any to catch, would catch the drainage from the surrounding country; the islands were 激しく揺するs of green 石／投石する, and the boats with their awnings and sails were just pieces of dazzling white quartz jutting up out of the bed of the clay-pan. Where the trees and the water and the seductive look （機の）カム from, Kirkham could not tell, they were all part and 小包 of the しん気楼, he supposed. Anyhow this country was 明らかにする enough. Just this clay-pan, which would 持つ／拘留する a little water after rain, and 一連の会議、交渉／完成する it for all vegetation here and there patches of salt bush and cotton bush, and where that did not grow sand, いつかs yellow, いつかs red, often white. It was a desolate land.
Just now he had reined up his horse, because 権利 across his path stretched an outcrop of quartz, which, just in 前線 of him at least, was twenty feet high, a little to the 権利 it fell to about six feet, but though 明らかに it was but a 狭くする 禁止（する）d, it was certainly impassable for a horseman. To a man on foot it would be a 緊急発進する. It was not connected, he thought, with the 範囲s; they receded still さらに先に to the left, but at least he would have to ride along it for a mile or so before he could get 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to the other 味方する. Was it 価値（がある） the trouble? The country beyond, ten to one, would be 正確に／まさに the same; he was getting accustomed to these outcrops of quartz now, and they were all alike. The sun was 炎ing hot, he would look for a little shade under some jutting 激しく揺する, take there his midday meal, and then go 支援する. Morrison was 権利, the country was the abomination of desolation. He 棒 slowly along and then pulled up his horse suddenly. What was that? A nugget? Impossible! Impossible! He had given up thinking of gold. Could this loneliness be turning his brain? Very quickly he dismounted, slung his horse's reins over his arm, and peered over his find. There it lay in the 炎ing 日光, no 疑問 whatever about it, a square piece of metal, like the 最高の，を越す end of a 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 of gold sticking up out of the dust and 破片 that the 勝利，勝つd had worn at the 辛勝する／優位 of the quartz outcrop. Mica? No, certainly not mica. Was it possible—was it possible? His heart began to （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 wildly. Had he 設立する what he （機の）カム to this desolate land for at last? Then he took out his knife and began to dig. Gold, certainly! most certainly. The earth was very loose, it （機の）カム out easily enough, a little 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 of gold about three インチs long by an インチ through, 次第に減少するing a little at one end, but looking for all the world as if it had just come warm from the mould. Kirkham looked at it for a moment, then he flung up his hat into the 空気／公表する and shouted with all his might. Then he desisted, it was eerie shouting there all alone, and the echo of his own joyous shout （機の）カム 支援する to him weirdly. It made him feel uncanny. What good was this gold to him here alone in the wilderness? He must have some one to 株 his good luck. He 手配中の，お尋ね者 human companionship now more than ever. There must be more where that （機の）カム from. Surely there must, and his fortune was made, and if that girl had only waited one little year—one little year, how short a while it seemed to look 支援する upon, just twelve months, and he was a rich man. Was he? He hoped he was, any how. And his first idea, after he had carefully stowed his precious find in his breeches pocket, was to dig 一連の会議、交渉／完成する where he had 設立する it to see if there was any more; his next was to go straight for Allan Morrison, not only to 株 his good fortune, but to get his advice as to their その上の 訴訟／進行s.
And to communicate with Allan Morrison was a long 職業 for an impatient man. It was twenty miles to 孤独な 手渡す, and twenty-five miles その上の on to Morrison's, and he had not too much horseflesh to waste. He took his 決意／決議 at once. あわてて 集会 together all the the loose 石／投石するs within reach, he made a pile over the place where he had taken out his nugget that must attract his attention when he returned, then, taking the bearings of the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す, he 機動力のある his horse and made straight for home, feeling with satisfaction the 激しい bit of gold that 重さを計るd 負かす／撃墜する his breeches pocket. And it was the next night before he burst in on Morrison, who was smoking a 麻薬を吸う and reading a bit of an old Argus by the light of a slush lamp.
"Allan, I've 設立する gold!"
Kirkham had ridden the last mile at a gallop, so anxious was he to 株 his good luck, and now he stood panting and breathless before his cousin.
"Ned, you old idiot! I—"
But Kirkham saw the 夜明けing incredulity on his 直面する, drew the nugget out of his pocket and flung it 負かす／撃墜する on the box that served as a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, just in the rays of the slush lamp. Then he looked at his cousin anxiously. Was this only the elfin gold old fables told about, that faded to dull earth when it was shown to any one by its finder? Somehow now he could hardly believe in the reality of his own find. Then the look on Morrison's 直面する 安心させるd him.
"By all that's 宗教上の," he cried, springing to his feet, "it is gold."
"I said so," said Kirkham, and sat 負かす／撃墜する with a sigh of 救済. And then he told the story of the find, entering into the minutest 詳細（に述べる）s, and 繰り返し言うing the same 声明s over and over again, in order that Morrison might 完全に understand 正確に／まさに how 事柄s stood.
There was no sleep for them that night. So much gold for so little exertion—what 可能性s might not 嘘（をつく） in the next week? It seemed too good to be true, and yet such things had happened in the story of the goldfields of the eastern 植民地s. Men had risen up in the morning poor as church mice, and gone to be at night almost millionaires. Why should not the same good luck happen to them? It might—井戸／弁護士席, it might. And they sat there discussing what might happen till the lamp went out and left them in 不明瞭.
Not much 準備 for bed is needed in the 支援する 封鎖するs. Morrison 宙返り／暴落するd on to his 担架 in one corner, and his guest did likewise in the other; but they could not stop talking and 推測するing.
"I say, old man," said Morrison from his dark corner, "she ought to have waited, it would only have been a year, and now she's 安全に tied up to the other chap."
Kirkham laughed a little 激しく; but the world was before him, and his bitter 悲しみ and 失望 lay a year behind.
"She did it herself," he said. "I'd have stuck to her through 厚い and thin. 井戸／弁護士席, there is Phoebe left, anyhow, and you always said she was the best of the two. I wonder if she would look at me if I made myself very 甘い?"
"Go to sleep, man," said Morrison, はっきりと. "It's 井戸／弁護士席 on to morning now, and we'll find out as soon as possible that the whole thing isn't only a 城 in the 空気／公表する."
And Kirkham turned over and grinned 個人として at the 塀で囲む. The change in Morrison's トン was so 示すd, he couldn't help it. Old Allan, 現実に old Allan! He didn't like him talking as if he'd appropriate Phoebe. Was there anything between them? No, certainly not. She wrote to Allan at least once a month; but there was nothing loverlike in the letters; he had read them himself often, nice, 肉親，親類d, friendly letters, such as a 肉親，親類d, good woman might 令状 to a lonely man without 妥協ing herself in any way. But Allan didn't like the idea of his appropriating her, didn't he?
"Why, I say, old man," he said, turning over, "we may have made our fortunes, but it'll take us some time to realise, and 一方／合間 some other chap may be poaching on your manor. Why, she may be married by this time. You have been dinning into me her perfections at intervals for the last eighteen months. I'll bet some other chap will have 注目する，もくろむs to see 同様に as you, and he'll be handy."
"You be hanged," grunted his cousin; whereby Ned Kirkham 結論するd that the prospect was not a pleasing one.
And two days later they were standing in the 炎ing 日光 over the little cairn Kirkham had made.
"Here it is, I tell you, 権利 here," and he began 押し進めるing aside the 石／投石するs.
"Man," said his cousin, "it's a buck 暗礁, I tell you. No one in his senses ever 推定する／予想するd to get gold out of a buck 暗礁."
"井戸／弁護士席, I got that bit 権利 here, and seeing's believing."
Morrison sat 負かす／撃墜する on a 石／投石する, 押し進めるd his slouch hat 支援する, and wiped his damp forehead on his shirt sleeve, as he thoughtfully watched the hobbled horses as they cropped at the scanty herbage. The last water was twenty miles behind, at Kirkham's hut, and all their small 蓄える／店 was in their water-捕らえる、獲得するs.
"I don't know what to say about it, I'm sure," he said. "As you say, seeing's believing, but there mayn't be any more, I never heard of looking for gold in a buck 暗礁 before. And even if we 設立する it, there's not a 減少（する） of water within twenty miles."
Kirkham was 緊急発進するing up the outcrop to try and get a glimpse of the country beyond, and suddenly, instead of answering his mate, he gave vent to a shout of 勝利.
"Water, there's boggings of it."
But the older and more experienced man barely turned his 長，率いる.
"I've been there before," he said, "and so've you if you only think a moment. 明らかに there's boggings of water in 前線 of me, but for all that if I 設立する gold I'd have to 乾燥した，日照りの blow," and he began thoughtfully cutting up some タバコ to fill his 麻薬を吸う.
Kirkham, from his point of vantage, looked behind him, and when he saw the lovely lake lying there in the 炎ing sunlight, his 発言する／表明する （機の）カム 支援する a little 疑わしい and doubtful.
There was such a strong family resemblance between those two lakes, there was the same still, （疑いを）晴らす water, the same islands, the same green trees and bushes, even the self-same boats with their white sails and awnings were there.
"The 形態／調整 is different," he said, "やめる different. This looks like a long, 狭くする lake. It might be water."
"It might just as likely be milk and honey."
"井戸／弁護士席, I shall go over and look. The 激しく揺するs this 味方する are やめる different—sort of mossy, I think."
"Good Lord! where would they get the moss from?" said Morrison, and he rose up leisurely, for he was still trying to puzzle out in his own mind the anomaly of a nugget in a buck 暗礁. "The moss is all my 注目する，もくろむ like the water."
Then he too climbed to the 最高の，を越す of the outcrop, looked at the deceitful しん気楼, and watched his cousin 選ぶ his way carefully 負かす／撃墜する the other 味方する. But he was hardly careful enough. Before he reached the 底（に届く） his foot slipped, some of the crumbly 激しく揺する broke off, and he and the 崩壊するing fragments （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する to the solid earth together. He sat up rubbing himself ruefully.
"Are you 傷つける, old man," asked Morrison, anxiously. It wouldn't do to get 傷つける out here in the wilds.
"No, not much. The 激しく揺する is just like so much rotten 支持を得ようと努めるd, you can scoop it out with your fingers. See here," and he rubbed his 手渡す along the 辛勝する／優位 of the scar where he had fallen.
Then Allan, standing there on 最高の，を越す of the outcrop, heard a change in his 発言する／表明する that brought him 負かす／撃墜する to his 味方する more quickly than he could have thought possible.
"Old man, is this a しん気楼, too?"
"Good God, Ned, it's a mountain of gold!"
Morrison took out his knife and ran it under a cleft in the 激しく揺する, and as the 緩和するd 石／投石する fell to the ground there showed behind it specks of virgin gold; he chipped off more pieces of the 激しく揺する, and there throughout the rotten yellow 石／投石する the gold showed 自由に. There was no mistaking it. A novice must have known it. The two men sat 負かす／撃墜する each on a 激しく揺する and 直面するd each other. Was it true? Was it—could it かもしれない be true? There must be at least a hundred 続けざまに猛撃するs' of gold showing now; if the 残り／休憩（する） of the outcrop was like this—. Kirkham drew a long sigh.
"Our fortune's made, I think," said Morrison, in a low 発言する／表明する. And Kirkham, as he had done when first he 設立する the nugget, threw his hat up in the 空気／公表する, and jumped and shouted like a lunatic for very joy. The echo brought his 発言する／表明する 支援する to him, but it did not sound so weird and awful now his cousin was looking on smiling 是認.
"Come and see what the water is like," he 示唆するd, when he began to find this form of 演習 a trifle violent under such a brazen sky. "Why, what are you covering it up for, old man?"
"You don't want any one else to find it, I suppose, before you get a chance to work it."
"Any one else. Why, who's likely to come to this God-forsaken place?"
"You never can tell. It's not far off the 跡をつける to 孤独な 手渡す from the 長，率いる 駅／配置する. You 設立する it, and some one's been here before you."
"Impossible!"
"Look there."
It looked like a heap of dust and small white 石／投石するs till Kirkham stepped up and 診察するd it more closely.
"A man?" His 発言する／表明する sounded doubtful and horrorstruck. It had not happened to him to find a man dead of hunger and かわき yet.
"Poor beggar! You can bet he 設立する the 暗礁. He must have been here a long while, 裁判官ing by his bones. Two or three years at least. What's that? An axe?"
Kirkham 解除するd it up. It was lying there の中で the bones, and a little lizard, just the colour of the 国／地域, ran out startled, 動揺させるing the bones faintly as it moved の中で them.
The axe was 天候 worn and rusty. Morrison took it and looked carefully at the 木造の 扱う.
"He might have written his 指名する here," he said.
But he hadn't. 深く，強烈に there was 削減（する） into the 支持を得ようと努めるd just one 宣告，判決.
"Soak, S. by E.," and then followed 部分的に／不公平に obliterated letters, which they made out to be "J.S."
"John Smith," translated Morrison.
"How do you know?"
"I don't know, but it may 同様に be that as anything else. I don't suppose any one'll ever know now. I wonder if his girl 負かす／撃墜する south waited long for him."
"Forgot all about him long before he turned up his toes," opined Kirkham, speaking out of the depth of his own bitter experience. "Let's bury him."
"Let him 嘘（をつく）. He's lain there 静かな enough for the last three or four years, and if we don't want to join him we'd better look for the soak he について言及するs. Don't be afraid, we will bury you, old boy," he said, touching the light skull carelessly with his foot, "if it's only out of 感謝 for 記録，記録的な／記録するing the fact of there 存在 such a thing as water anywhere within coo-ey of this place."
"South by east," said Kirkham, thoughtfully.
"権利 across your blessed lake. Here, old man, catch the horses and let's start. After all perhaps it's no good. Why didn't he make for it himself if it was any good?"
"Perhaps he left it too long?"
"Perhaps. More likely it was 乾燥した，日照りのd up, or he was 傷つける, or had blight or something. It's a foolish thing to go prospecting by yourself. You never know what may happen. South by east—that's very vague—Lord knows how many miles off that may be. We'll do ten, and if we don't come across it by then we'll have to turn 支援する."
"It's に引き続いて the 傾向 of the 範囲."
"井戸／弁護士席, it's as likely a place as not."
"It looks as if it hadn't seen water since the beginning of the world."
"What about your lake?"
Kirkham laughed a little.
They were riding 権利 through where 明らかに it had been, and the dust which was half salt rose in clouds from beneath their horses' feet. Here and there the white quartz jutted out, gleaming like the dead man's bones and here and there was the green 石／投石する, but the water had 消えるd. Only now and again it seemed to be lying （疑いを）晴らす and 冷静な／正味の in the 影をつくる／尾行する that lay at the foot of the 山の尾根. More than once Kirkham turned に向かって it, but Morrison always stopped him with a laugh.
"しん気楼, man, しん気楼. The country's one big 詐欺."
They had hardly ridden between three and four miles when the 増加するing desolation of the country made Morrison think of turning 支援する. If they took the horses much さらに先に it would be a serious question how they would get them 支援する again.
"I think—" he began, when his cousin interrupted him.
"It looks as if there might have been a water-course 負かす／撃墜する there at いつか or other, about the 創造 of the world."
"By the 力／強力にするs that be our dead friend spoke the truth, and there is a soak!"
"Did you think—"
"井戸／弁護士席, the 宣告，判決 on the axe might have referred to any place in Western Australia, but he meant this place evidently, poor beggar."
The 法外な 味方する of the hill was cleft by a rugged gorge, where water might have run 負かす／撃墜する in remote ages, and at the foot was a large patch of sand with just a 疑惑 of moisture about it; there were 現実に two or three patches of 厄介な spinifex, and the clumps of salt bush had just a shade more green about them, and looked more like ordinary vegetation and いっそう少なく like 残余s of a 先史の age.
"It's the soak, sure enough," said Morrison, dismounting and beginning with his spade to dig in the sand. He threw out a few spadefuls, and then the water began to soak in, and they sat 負かす／撃墜する and watched it until there was enough to give a good drink to both man and beast.
"We can manage now," said Morrison, with a sigh, puffing away at his 麻薬を吸う. "It's a jolly good soak, and we'll chuck the 駅／配置する just as soon as ever we can. Get two months' tucker and 工場／植物 ourselves 負かす／撃墜する here, and just see how much gold we can take out before anybody gets to know of it."
"Oughtn't we to take out a 賃貸し（する）, or something or other like that?" asked Kirkham.
"井戸／弁護士席, we ought; and there's the bounty—a thousand 続けざまに猛撃するs I think it is—for finding gold. That's yours."
"株 and 株 alike," said Kirkham.
"I guess we'll keep the find to ourselves just as long as we can, and just prospect about the place. Folks'll be coming along quick enough. It's astonishing how soon they get 勝利，勝つd of a gold find. The very birds of the 空気／公表する must carry it."
"There aren't any," said Kirkham, looking up into the hard blue sky 総計費.
"The crows, my lad, the crows—plenty of them 一連の会議、交渉／完成する your place."
"井戸／弁護士席, they're wicked enough for anything," said Kirkham; thinking of two 確かな dreary days he had spent when the crows took a 手渡す; but the 支配する was not pleasant and he went on quickly, "Allan, old man, I want to get to work at once. What's the use of fooling away time here?"
"Fair and softly, man; we don't want a big goldfield here yet awhile. There's only enough water here for you and me and the nags, and as there isn't any 料金d at all, we'll have to do without those same nags when we come here for good. If we get to work two months hence, it'll be time enough. We must get （疑いを）晴らす away from the 駅／配置する first."
"I want to make 確かな of it," said the younger man, restlessly.
"井戸／弁護士席, so do I," said his cousin, springing to his feet. "Hang it all, man, suppose we 始める，決める to work and see what we can make before sundown. We can stow the gold away somewhere if we can't take it home with us."
Kirkham was just feeling that he could stand another moment's inaction no longer, with so much wealth 明らかに within his しっかり掴む, therefore he acquiesced 喜んで, and after refilling their water-捕らえる、獲得するs and giving their horses another drink, they went 支援する a good 取引，協定 quicker than was good for those horses. But they had been 井戸／弁護士席-watered and lay 負かす／撃墜する contentedly enough in a patch of shade, whilst their human companions, with one shovel they had brought along with them, proceeded to 涙／ほころび 負かす／撃墜する the 味方する of the outcrop.
It was soft, rotten 石／投石する that （機の）カム away in 広大な／多数の／重要な chunks in which here and there they could see small nuggets dotted like currants in a plum pudding—not so 非常に／多数の perhaps, and yet 厚い enough to make them work with eager haste to get 負かす／撃墜する more of the outcrop. It was 平易な enough to do that, but the gold itself was not so get-at-able, for though they could break up the rotten 石／投石する that was half earth easily enough, the gold itself was imbedded in quartz hard as アイロンをかける, on which neither spade, stirrup-アイロンをかけるs, nor knives made any impression. But the gold was there—there in plenty, mostly, imbedded in the hard brown quartz, but occasionally in tiny minute 粒子s that Morrison laid carefully in his neckerchief, and in little nuggets of fantastic 形態／調整 変化させるing in size from a pennyweight or so to half an ounce or more, and twice they 設立する small lumps that might have been half valueless 石／投石する but appeared to them to be almost solid gold and to 重さを計る one about three and the other certainly five ounces.
They were grimed with red earth, it was in their 耐えるd and hair, it made their 注目する，もくろむs smart and their mouths gritty, the westering sun 注ぐd his beams 権利 in their 直面するs, and the sweat and the red earth mingled on their foreheads, but what did they care? They had 設立する gold. After long toil and long and 疲れた／うんざりした waiting they had 設立する what they had come out to 捜し出す. Already after little more than two hours' work there must be 近づく a hundred 続けざまに猛撃するs 価値（がある） of the precious metal lying in the neckerchief; and what were a little dirt and a little 不快 and a little weariness now?
The plain, the sand, the hot sun, the rugged 山の尾根, the mocking しん気楼, all, all were 不変の. Only the men themselves were different. They looked in each other's 直面するs triumphantly. They had 後継するd. What did the desolation of this land 事柄 to them? Here at their feet lay the 重要な that would open the door of freedom to them, or make the 砂漠 blossom as the rose. Hurray, then, for the 有望な yellow gold! And the 骸骨／概要 of the dead man who had 設立する it long before, and rejoiced perhaps as they were doing, lay unheeded and unburied の近くに beside them; and the sun sank lower and lower in the cloudless sky, and the only other living thing there, the little lizard that had made his home の中で the old prospector's bones, はうd out and 調査するd them from the 最高の，を越す of the whitened skull thoughtfully. They had forgotten all about him, and he was not afraid. And then the sun went 負かす／撃墜する below the 辛勝する／優位 of the plain, and the sudden 不明瞭 （機の）カム upon them. Morrison あわてて lighted a match and peered の中で the last fragment of stuff he had broken up till the dying match burnt his fingers, then he dropped it with a sigh of contentment. Already the 有望な 星／主役にするs were coming out 総計費, and he rose to his feet and stretched up his 武器 luxuriously.
"We're rich, Ned, old man, no manner of 疑問 about it. All that in so little time. What could we get with proper 器具s? Come on, old man, we'd best go 支援する. The sooner we make all 手はず／準備 for the working of 'Kirkham's Find' the better."
CHAPTER XVIII. THE BEES MUST GO
What is that which I should turn to, lighting upon days like these?
—TENNYSON.
Poor Phoebe! Her very worst 恐れるs were 確認するd and more than 確認するd. There was a 列／漕ぐ／騒動—not a 列／漕ぐ／騒動 that died away and was forgotten in 予定 course, but one that bore 継続している fruit. Jack was very bad, indeed for a couple of days he was in a high fever, the doctor had to be called in, and finally the fiat went 前へ／外へ that the bees must go. The bees had the entire 非難する, and Phoebe was 権力のない to defend her 所有物／資産／財産. Certainly all 調査s had wrung a very garbled account of the 事故 from Tom and the younger boys; they were very careful to leave out all account of the part the pigs and the ponies had played in the 事故, and as for Jack, when he was questioned, he became suddenly worse and could only shut his 注目する，もくろむs and groan. Something had to be scapegoat, and it was Phoebe's bees.
"I told you so—I told you so," said her father, almost, 不平（をいう）d Lydia, as if he were glad to have something to be angry about—"I told you so. I always said those bees would be a source of danger. But, as usual, no one paid any attention to me. Now I suppose you'll 許す I was 権利. Phoebe, those bees must go."
It was useless to 抗議する, useless to 宣言する that if they were let alone the bees were やめる 害のない. Jack was 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするing on his bed in a fever, and as for Phoebe's hopes and 恐れるs, her 苦悩s, and her hard work, they went for nothing with her father. A daughter せねばならない be contented and happy in his way, she had no 権利 to strike out for herself. He did not say it in so many words, but he always 行為／法令／行動するd as if those were his 見解（をとる）s.
The bees must go, and that at once.
"Don't you think he might change his mind tomorrow?" asked Phoebe, anxiously, of her mother. The bees were her little all. How could she part with them? "He's never taken any notice of them before?"
But Mrs Marsden shook her 長，率いる. She was very sorry for her daughter. She understood in a 手段 what the bees were to her, and she was very sorry to see her hopes 鎮圧するd just as it seemed to her she was about to 後継する, but it was no good ブイ，浮標ing her up with 誤った hopes.
"It's no good, Phoebe," she said; "I'm so sorry, dear, because I know what a lot you have given up to those bees, but it's not the least good in the world. Your father has never liked them, he has always been wanting to get rid of them. Whenever there is a bee wanting to sting it always seems to find out your father, and he is afraid to go into that corner of the orchard, and they are just where the jargonelle pears are he is so fond of."
"I'd get him the pears," said Phoebe, feebly.
"But he likes to get them for himself, you know, dear."
"Yes," put in Lydia, who was always Phoebe's companion, "he pretends he never eats any at all then. That's what's the 事柄. Greedy old pig!"
"Hush, Lydia, hush—that's not a nice way to talk of your father. He has the best 権利 to all the pears."
"Of course he has," said Lydia, "nobody said he hadn't. What I 反対する to is his going on as if he never had anything at all, but gave up everything to his family."
"He does, you know, but—"
"Poor Phoebe's bees?"
"I could move them 負かす／撃墜する to the forty acre," 示唆するd Phoebe. She was at her wit's end, and her trouble was out of all 割合, because it seemed to her that if she might not keep bees there was nothing left in the world for her to do. She had made this 利益／興味 for herself with such hard work and industrious care, and now it was to be taken from her with no more thought than her father would throw away a pair of old shoes. It was cruel.
"It's no good, Phoebe, he won't have them, I know he won't. He doesn't like the bees about. And—井戸／弁護士席—I daresay he doesn't like his daughter to go peddling honey to all the small shopkeepers. I daresay that has something to do with it. He said something to that 影響 the other day."
Phoebe stamped her foot 怒って on the ground, and Jack—they were in the boy's bedroom—groaned ひどく, because he 恐れるd in Phoebe's trouble his own 苦痛s were 存在 overlooked. His mother bent over him anxiously—she knew nothing about the pigs and the ponies, and she hadn't discovered her 損失d brooms—yet, therefore, she looked upon her poor little boy as a 苦しむing 殉教者; and Phoebe marched out of the room, put a shawl 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her 長，率いる, and went away 負かす／撃墜する the orchard and leaning up against the 盗品故買者, 残り／休憩（する）d her 長，率いる on her 武器 began to sob 激しく.
It might be a little thing to the 残り／休憩（する） of them, but to her it was everything. The bees must go, and then there would be nothing in the world to hope for; she would 沈む into a dreary, dull, stupid, penniless old maid, with nothing to 利益／興味 her or to look 今後 to, and all the family would 軽蔑（する） her. They wouldn't do it in so many words, perhaps, but she knew very 井戸／弁護士席 they would in their hearts. Those very boys who had brought on the 大災害 would grow into men with positions and some sort of place in the world, and would look 負かす／撃墜する in half-scornful pity on their poor old maiden sister, and never think they had helped to make her what she was. But this mournful picture of her desolate 未来 was too much for Phoebe; if she had cried before the sobs that rose 厚い and 急速な／放蕩な 脅すd to choke her now. It was such a 有望な night, with the moon at 十分な, and just a suggestion of 霜 in the keen 空気／公表する, but Phoebe never thought of that, she was too much 占領するd with the downfall of her hopes to notice anything.
So it happened that she never noticed the footsteps crossing the orchard に向かって her, and started up ashamed when a 肉親，親類d 手渡す was laid on her shoulder, and a 発言する／表明する said in her ear—
"Phoebe! My dear girl! Don't cry like that. What is the 事柄?" Phoebe raised her 長，率いる あわてて. No one but her brother-in-法律 would have spoken to her so gently. She did not relish 存在 caught in 涙／ほころびs, but perhaps she minded him いっそう少なく than anybody else in the world.
"Joe! You! I thought you were in Ballarat."
"So I was. But I got done sooner than I 推定する／予想するd, and it was very dull at home," he said, with a little sigh, that did not escape his sister-in-法律, "so I thought I might 同様に come on here."
"Yes," said Phoebe, surreptitiously wiping her 注目する，もくろむs and trying to swallow 負かす／撃墜する another sob.
"I 設立する the family in a ferment," he went on, settling his 手渡すs in his pockets and his 支援する against the 盗品故買者 so that the moonlight fell 十分な upon his 肉親，親類d, honest, if somewhat hard 直面する, and the same moon rather unkindly showed up the thin hair on the 最高の，を越す of his 長，率いる. Not that Phoebe was looking—she had turned her 支援する on the moon and was trying to 回復する her 直面する to something of its normal 条件—but even if she had noticed, she belonged to the order of woman who never sees anything amiss with the folks she cares for, and she did like her brother-in-法律 very much. There was no one she would rather have seen at this contingency, and it was always a mystery to her that his plain 直面する and thin hair was such a trouble to his wife. She supposed women felt different に向かって their husbands.
"There was a 列／漕ぐ／騒動," sighed Phoebe.
"And you are the scapegoat."
"The bees are, anyway. Father says they have got to go. Mother says he has been wanting them gone for a long time. He—he—She says he doesn't like me peddling honey to the small shopkeepers, and I—I—know, of course, the boys don't like it. They don't think their sister—"
"What rot!" interrupted Mr Sampson. "The 空気／公表するs those 青年s give themselves! They せねばならない be 井戸／弁護士席 spanked."
"Stanley," began Phoebe, feebly. She felt impelled to take her brothers' part, but still it was infinitely 慰安ing to listen to some one who 現実に seemed to think she had 権利 on her 味方する and was 存在 ill-used. Her mother, though she was unfeignedly sorry for her, was やめる 確かな in her own mind that an unmarried woman had no 権利s, and should put up with anything pleasantly, while here was Josiah Sampson—she could have put her 武器 一連の会議、交渉／完成する his neck and given him a good 抱擁する, still she faintly brought up Stanley, because by his opinion the 残り／休憩（する） of the 世帯 was guided, and she knew he 堅固に resented any sister of his selling honey by the 続けざまに猛撃する. But her new 支持する／優勝者 soon 性質の／したい気がして of Stanley.
"Stanley? When that young gentleman's a little older let's hope he'll be a little wiser. 一方／合間, he isn't through his course yet, and I'm surprised your father and mother don't 扱う／治療する his opinions for what they are 価値（がある）. He wants a good dressing 負かす／撃墜する, does that young man. Never mind what he says. Any man with a little ordinary ありふれた sense would think you were a 勇敢に立ち向かう girl, and ought to be encouraged."
"Thank you," said Phoebe, putting her 手渡す on his arm gratefully. "You don't think I'm outside the pale, then, and that every man thinks me a strong-minded 女性（の） too awful to—to—"
"My dear," said her brother-in-法律, looking up at the moon with unwinking 注目する，もくろむs, "I'm not going to tell you how attractive I think you, and how attractive many another man would think you if he only got the chance to know you as I do. Don't let your people dose you with such old-fashioned notions. Don't believe them if they do. No man 価値（がある） calling a man will look 負かす／撃墜する on a woman because, instead of drifting along with 倍のd 手渡すs, she 始める，決めるs out against many 半端物s to make a place for herself in the world. A man never thinks what a woman does so long as she's pleasant and entertaining and—"
"Mostly, I think," said Phoebe, with a faint laugh, "she's got to be good-looking."
"Oh, has she," he said, dryly. Then he turned her 直面する 一連の会議、交渉／完成する so that the moonlight fell 十分な upon it, and showed up her swollen 注目する，もくろむs and 涙／ほころび-stained cheeks. "井戸／弁護士席, you have been doing your best to spoil your good looks, young woman, but, as a 支配する, I should say if that's all that's needed you're all 権利."
Phoebe 押し進めるd his 手渡すs away and wiped her 注目する，もくろむs again.
"Thank you," she said. "I can just fancy I hear Stanley's comments on your 発言／述べるs."
"What would he say?"
"That your 賞賛 didn't 量 to much. You never looked at me while Nancy was by."
For one moment it occurred to Mr Sampson to say that if only the chance were to come again he wouldn't make such a 爆破d idiot of himself, but luckily reflection and 忠義 勝つ／広く一帯に広がるd, and he laughed a little and answered—
"井戸／弁護士席, the next man will think I was an idiot for my 苦痛s. But your people are foolish. They just 始める，決める up one 基準 of beauty, and if you don't happen to 適合する to it you're utterly damned. Nancy is a 甘い, pretty little lovable thing, with a knowledge of her own beauty that gives her 信用／信任 and 追加するs to her charm. You are cast in やめる a different mould. Whatever do your people want you to be like Nancy for? You'll be a grand, strong woman, Phoebe, when poor little Nancy—Don't envy Nancy."
"I don't; indeed, such a thing never entered my 長，率いる. Oh! but you'll be good to her, won't you, Joe? You are so good. I wouldn't like Nan not to be やめる happy."
"Is she やめる happy, do you think?" he asked, wearily, as a man who does not want an answer. "いつかs I'm afraid, Phoebe, she isn't very happy, and yet, God knows, I've done all I can for her. What else can I do? Phoebe, what can I do?"
"Joe, you are goodness itself to her. No one could be a better husband than you are."
"And yet I don't make her happy," he said sadly. "I see it all now," he went on—"now it's too late. She never cared about me, Phoebe. I don't believe she liked me half 同様に as you did. I'm sure she didn't understand me 同様に. She married me, poor little girl, because I 手配中の，お尋ね者 her to, and because—because—井戸／弁護士席, because, によれば the creed of your family, every woman has to get married. Poor little girl!"
He spoke very sadly, not looking at, hardly seeming to notice his companion, and as for Phoebe, for a moment she forgot her own troubles in 熟視する／熟考するing his. So he knew, he understood all about it, and had evidently understood for a long time. If she had only been a tactful, clever woman, she thought, she would know what to say in this contingency, might perhaps be able to straighten out this 絡まるd skein. But as it was she was so sensible of the truth of what he said, she could only 星／主役にする stupidly at him in the moonlight, wondering to herself what next, what next?
"Phoebe"—he turned to her so suddenly she started and blushed crimson—"whatever you do, don't make marriage a way out of your difficulties. For God's sake don't get married unless you're fond of the man. He won't ask you unless he's fond of you. And then—井戸／弁護士席, think of the cruel 失望 alone."
"It's a way out that hasn't 現在のd itself," said Phoebe, thankful to find the conversation one more in 公正に／かなり 安全な waters, "and I don't suppose it is likely to. But, you know, lots of men, I've heard, don't care for a woman who shows she is too fond of them. I 港／避難所't had any experience myself, as you know."
"It's a fallacy. A wrong argument altogether. There isn't a man in this world who wouldn't be thankful—I can find no words to say how thankful—to know he had the heart of the woman he loved. He wouldn't be 価値（がある） calling a man if he wouldn't. I understand what they mean. Probably he wouldn't like a woman to smother him with kisses in public, or to make him ridiculous in any way. But to tell me a man doesn't value a good woman's love; my dear girl, they're foolish who tell you to the contrary."
"Once," murmured Phoebe, who, 利益／興味ing as she 設立する the discussion, couldn't help thinking they had 逸脱するd a long way from the bees, "I heard a man say the 楽しみ was in the 追跡（する）ing."
"He せねばならない have been licked," said her brother-in-法律 敏速に, "and I 心から hope he'll get a wife who'll take it out of him."
"He's got a wife."
"Probably that accounts for it, then. She didn't come up to 期待s. Poor beggar! Married him because she 手配中の，お尋ね者 to marry some one, I suppose. Never gave a thought to his feelings in the 事柄, or that he couldn't be 推定する／予想するd to keep up the high 圧力 of courtship all his life. Look here, Phoebe, married folks せねばならない be chums. There should be no question between them of which loves the most. If they are necessary to each other that's all that's needed. Don't get married, Phoebe, unless you marry your best friend."
"I'm not likely to marry at all, as you know very 井戸／弁護士席. I'm sure your ideas are best. I'm glad to hear that's a man's opinion. But I don't see how one's to help these unlucky sort of marriages. There's always a 危険."
"Of course there is always a 危険. But it needn't be やめる such a big one. If the woman was only sure she was fond of the man, and he was sure he was fond of her, surely then they would 耐える and forbear, and make allowances for each other, and would get along splendidly."
"Yes, of course, one would think that would be the way. But my people always laugh at me when I say such things, and say I don't know anything about it, which is true enough. And then a woman is better married."
"So is a man. But they will neither of them take any 害（を与える） by waiting a little till they are sure they have met the 権利 person."
"And what is to become of the woman if she don't marry?" asked Phoebe, putting the question that was filling all her thoughts just now.
"Oh—ah—marriage isn't the end of everything. She can do without, I suppose?"
"She can't," said Phoebe, boldly. "In the 大多数 of 事例／患者s she can't. She has neither position, nor place, nor money, nor anything else unless she marries; and even if she marries a poor man she is mistress of his house, and not under 当局 as she さもなければ would be. Oh, I think if marriage 申し込む／申し出d the same 誘惑s to a man as it does to a woman they would marry in just the same way."
"You 港／避難所't."
"Nobody asked me. The 誘惑 was never brought very 堅固に before me; but I don't know what on earth is to become of me. How would a man feel if he was の近くに on twenty-six and had no prospects whatever?"
"He would be an ass if he hadn't some 事業／計画（する） for the 未来; but, of course, a woman is different."
"There you are," said Phoebe, and she stamped her foot, "just as bad as the 残り／休憩（する）. A woman must sit 負かす／撃墜する and look cheerfully 今後 to a dreary, objectless, penniless life, I suppose. I can't do it. But what am I to do? I thought the bees—"
"Still those unlucky bees," said a laughing 発言する／表明する, and Nancy, wrapped in a fur-lined coat with a dainty pink 協定 on her 長，率いる, 現れるd out of the 影をつくる／尾行する. "I guessed I should find you two out here. I suppose you have neither of you noticed that though the moonlight is very lovely, the grass is very wet and the 空気／公表する is very keen."
"Your thin shoes," began her husband. "I hope—"
"Yes," she said, はっきりと. "I have got goloshes on, of course. You must think I'm a fool, Joe. What have you been talking about all this time? Bees, I suppose."
"And love, and marriage, and the position of women, and all sorts of things."
Nancy laughed.
"I might have known you would. You always do that, Phoebe, and yet you never get any forrarder. And what did you finally decide?"
"We didn't come to any 結論," said Mr Sampson, a little sadly.
"Of course not," said his wife, triumphantly. "Phoebe never does. She is always trying to 改革（する） the world, but she never gets there."
"Circumstances are too strong for me."
"Have you decided about the bees? Father 手配中の，お尋ね者 to 注ぐ hot water on the lot and finish them off tonight, but I just took your part, Phoebe, 代表するd they were 価値（がある） a かなりの 量 of money, and you might 同様に have it. You can speak out a lot more when you're married. It's a 広大な／多数の／重要な advantage. 井戸／弁護士席, I've decided now what you are to do, Phoebe. It will be dreadfully dull living at home without any 利益／興味, and you are not really 手配中の，お尋ね者 now Nell and Lyd are growing up so 急速な／放蕩な, so you can just sell off the bees next week and come and live with us. It will be delightful for me to have you, won't it, Joe? I'll never be dull then. There, that's settled."
Phoebe looked 負かす／撃墜する at her pretty sister standing there before her, the 有望な moonlight showed up her dainty, delicate beauty, her 直面する lighted up with the certainty that she had settled a knotty point to the advantage of all parties.
"You shall never be hard up for money again, Phoebe; shall she, Joe? And then when you get married—"
Phoebe ちらりと見ることd at her brother-in-法律 and saw a look on his 直面する that told her plainly he too would welcome her. Indeed she herself could not fail to know how excellently they got on together. Then she ruthlessly interrupted her sister.
"I couldn't かもしれない do such a thing, Nancy, I couldn't. I wouldn't for worlds."
Nancy's 直面する fell, and her lip began to quiver.
"But you seemed to think it was only the bees kept you at home. You laid often as soon as you had money enough you were going to start a little place of your own. It's not father and mother you mind leaving."
"But I couldn't live with you; I couldn't かもしれない, could I, Joe?"
"Couldn't she, Joe?"
"I should be very glad to have her," he answered, 慎重に.
"You are both of you very good," said Phoebe, "but I want to be 独立した・無所属. I can't be 扶養家族 on anybody. I thought in a couple of years I would have enough to start a little bee-farm of my own, but now father—"
"How much would you want?" asked Mr Sampson, 事実上.
"I was thinking," said Phoebe, "that as soon as I had saved up L50 I might begin. Of course, I have always known there would come a time when father wouldn't stand any more, but I didn't think it would come so soon."
"L50 is very little," said the 商売／仕事 man, thoughtfully.
"It would do to begin with," said Phoebe, sadly, because now L 50 seemed as far away to her as heaven itself, and やめる as unattainable. "One woman could live on so little. A little cottage in the country with an acre, or even half an acre of land 一連の会議、交渉／完成する it, I could get it for five shillings a week, surely. Two rooms, or one even would do me. My keep would cost a very little. I believe I could do it for another five shillings."
"Phoebe, you must be mad!" said her sister, but Phoebe paid no attention.
"Then, of course, I would have to buy a little furniture, but I wouldn't want much. A （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, and a 議長，司会を務める, and a little crockery, and a fryingpan would do me until I could afford something better."
"Phoebe!"
"Then, of course, there would be the moving there and getting the place, that would cost something, and then I would have to have a little for carrying on the 商売／仕事, for jars, and packing, and carriage, &c., and for 着せる／賦与するs, but they wouldn't cost much. Yes, it would take やめる L50, because it wouldn't do to run the 危険 of 存在 left penniless."
"But you couldn't かもしれない live all alone!"
"Why not, Nan? By and by if I got on I could take Lydia into 共同, and I might afford a little servant. A girl wouldn't cost much in the country. But what is the good of talking?" and Phoebe turned away, and could have put her 長，率いる 負かす／撃墜する on her 武器 and sobbed again.
"Were you thinking of settling about here?" asked her brother-in-法律, thoughtfully.
"I'd like to, of course, to be 近づく them all, but it is so 冷淡な in the winter for bees here. They hardly do any work when there is so much wet 天候. No, I thought—but what is the good of talking now? I might just 同様に want the moon," and the 涙／ほころびs （機の）カム into her 注目する，もくろむs and blurred out the moon's 一連の会議、交渉／完成する 直面する.
"But tell me your ideas. I might 攻撃する，衝突する on some way of helping you."
"It's all nonsense," said Nancy. "Fancy preferring a two-roomed cottage and 餓死 on five shillings a week to the comfortable home I would give you. 井戸／弁護士席, you would come to me before three months were out, anyhow."
"I'm not so sure of that, Nan," said her husband, kindly, and her sister looked at him gratefully. Here was a man who understood her. "Go on, Phoebe."
"You know last spring, when Nan and I went 負かす／撃墜する to Warrnambool. That struck me as 存在 just the place. Not 近づく so 冷淡な as here, and everything was very cheap. I saw a cottage one day that would just have ふさわしい me. You remember, Nan, I pointed it out to you the day we went to Nirranda."
"That 穴を開ける! Oh, Phoebe, what nonsense you do talk! Just a ありふれた 労働ing man's cottage!"
"It would just have ふさわしい me," sighed Phoeb. "I would have made it very different looking if I had got on at all."
"It's silly to talk like that," said Nancy, impatiently. She 手配中の，お尋ね者 her sister to see the advantage of living with her, and here she was regretting a wretched little cottage she had once seen miles away 負かす／撃墜する in the Western 地区.
"Are you sure now, Phoebe," asked her brother-in-法律, 厳粛に, "that that is what you do want? You wouldn't change your mind and be lonely and 哀れな and unhappy if you had it? Women," he 追加するd, speaking out of his own experience, "are so apt to think a thing would be 'just lovely' till they've got it, and then they find out it isn't what they 手配中の，お尋ね者 at all."
"Oh, but, Joe," said Phoebe, 熱望して, "surely you know me better than that. I'm not a bit like that. Of course, every one's apt to make mistakes, but I 一般に know what I want, and 高く評価する／（相場などが）上がる it when I get it. I'm sure you know that. I always 手配中の，お尋ね者 something to do in life, and the bees gave it to me, and—and I've just been a different woman since, and—now—just when I was beginning to hope I was getting on a little—"
"Suppose we take that cottage, Phoebe, and I'll lend you the L 50 to 始める，決める up in 商売／仕事."
"Joe!" cried his wife and sister-in-法律 in a breath, and then Phoebe 追加するd, "Oh, but I couldn't take it. How could I?"
"We'll make it a 商売／仕事 事柄," said Mr Sampson, kindly. "You shall 支払う／賃金 me 利益／興味 if you like, and then you won't feel it a 重荷（を負わせる）."
"Oh! but Joe, Joe, it's too good to be true;" Phoebe's hopefulness was reasserting itself. She felt she would only be too thankful if she could be 説得するd to take the 肉親，親類d 申し込む／申し出. "Suppose I failed. I believe I could manage. I might be over sanguine, all sorts of things might happen that I have never thought of, and then where would I be? I could never hope to 支払う／賃金 off so much money."
"I take such 危険s every day," said Mr Sampson, smiling as he saw that his 申し込む／申し出 would be gratefully 受託するd in spite of protestations, "with men I don't know much about, why shouldn't I 信用 a woman I've learned to believe in?"
"I wonder at you encouraging her in such mad notions," said his wife, petulantly.
"The bees have done a lot for Phoebe, so I hear my sister say," said Mr Sampson, 支払う／賃金ing for once no attention to his wife; "and I heard your mother say 正確に／まさに the same thing this evening, though I don't think she 認可するd of them very much. She seemed to think Phoebe might give her time up to something better."
"I know," said Phoebe, "非，不，無 of them will understand, not even Nancy here," and she put her arm 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her sister, "that it isn't the bees 正確に／まさに, it is having something to do that 約束s—that—I don't know 正確に／まさに how to put it—that 約束s to earn me a living and give me a home of my own all by my own exertions. You don't know how delightful the feeling that you are getting on is. Oh Joe! would it be wrong of me to take that L50? It would mean so much to me."
"My dear girl, I'm delighted to help you."
"I'd have to start at once," said Phoebe, with the natural hesitation of a woman going into the world alone. But there was nothing else for it; unless she went, she felt the 未来 would be a dreary blank. If only her father and mother would let her go cheerfully and take a good-humoured 利益／興味 in all her 手はず／準備. That was more than she could hope for, however.
"Father will give it to you 適切に," 発言／述べるd Nancy, a little viciously. "He'll never let you go."
"If Joe will lend me L50 I'll go whether he lets me or not," said Phoebe, determinedly. "He has never in all his life told me he 認可するs of me or of anything I do, and he has very often let me know he doesn't, so I may just 同様に please myself. I can but fail, and I feel as if I had been a 失敗 always. Shall I go in and tell him now?"
Phoebe hardly felt as 勇敢に立ち向かう as her words 暗示するd. She had 恐れるd her father's cruel tongue all her life, and she dreaded it as much as ever still. But this thing must be done, and the sooner she broke it to her people the better; besides, she was angry at her father's 不正, and she would have her brother-in-法律 to 支援する her up.
"The sooner the better," said Mr Sampson, 静かに.
"I'm nearly frozen," said Nancy, crossly. "Oh, my goodness! Phoebe, you are in for it. Change your mind and come and live with us."
"I can't, Nan, indeed I can't. Come along in quickly, like a good girl. I'm sorry we kept you out so long."
Now if we could 勝利，勝つ to the Eden Tree where the four 広大な／多数の／重要な rivers flow,
And the 花冠 of Eve is red on the turf as she left it long ago,
And if we could come when the 歩哨 slept, and softly scurry through,
By the favour of God we might know as much as our father Adam knew.
—RUDYARD KIPLING.
Looking 支援する now, Phoebe can never やめる understand how it was she 召集（する）d 十分な courage to start out in life on her own account. It was not 正確に／まさに the going, it was the marching in that 冷淡な autumn evening and 発表するing to her father that she ーするつもりであるd to leave his roof for good and all. That was the step that cost so much. He sat there over the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 in the schoolroom with his 支援する to the 残り／休憩（する） of the room, and as she （機の）カム in, followed by her sister and her husband, she took her courage in both 手渡すs and 演説（する）／住所d that disapproving 支援する; in fact, if it had not belonged to a gentleman of 円熟した years and the father of a family, one might have called it a sulky 支援する.
"Father," she said, and her own 発言する／表明する sounded strange in her ears, and she said afterwards if Nancy and Mr Sampson had not been there she would have given up there and then—"father, I hear you want to get rid of the bees."
No answer. As far as the onlookers could 裁判官 the 発言／述べる had fallen on deaf ears.
"Father," said Phoebe again, a little imperiously. She felt she was 存在 不正に 扱う／治療するd, and she knew that Mr Sampson at least was sympathising with her 完全に, and now that she was getting warmed to her work she did not mind much what she said. She had stood this tyranny long enough. "Father, do you hear me?"
"You know," he said, without turning his 長，率いる, "I never 認可するd of the bees. But, of course, no one ever takes any notice of what I wish."
"I beg your 容赦," said Phoebe, 完全に angry, and repressing a feminine longing to catch her parent by those very sulky shoulders and give him a good shaking, "I take a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 of notice. I have come in to tell you that if you will let the bees stay here another week I will take them 権利 away."
Her father relapsed into a stony silence, and for all 調印する he gave might not have heard a word she said, but Phoebe knew him better. By and by he would say he knew nothing of her movements; he had never been 協議するd; as if it were 平易な to 協議する a man like that; but at any 率, said Phoebe to herself, he shall not say he has not been told. Therefore, as 簡潔に as possible, because it is not 平易な to confide your 計画（する）s to a man's 支援する, Phoebe 開始する，打ち上げるd out and told her father just 正確に／まさに what she ーするつもりであるd to do, 追加するing, what had not occurred to her before, that she was going to Warrnambool by the very next steamer, would choose her new home, and then come 支援する for the bees. She grew angrier as she went on, and by the time she had finished her little speech was feeling that anything—anything that took her out of the 力／強力にする of this father of hers she would welcome thankfully, no 事柄 how hard the work or how lowly the position. Just as she was finished, Mr Marsden, who had never given the least 調印する that he had heard her, 押し進めるd 支援する his 議長，司会を務める and rising up slowly left the room; and Phoebe, 紅潮／摘発するd and hot from the unwonted excitement, 直面するd 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to the other two.
"There now, I've done it," she said. "He is a brute, he is, and now he will go on to mother that nobody 支払う／賃金s the least attention to him, nobody cares about him in the least. As if it were possible."
"井戸／弁護士席, you have done it, anyhow," said Nancy, settling 負かす／撃墜する into the comfortable old armchair her father had vacated; "you won't be able to come 支援する here any more, that's very 確かな . You'll have to come to us when you fail."
"I'm not going to fail," said Phoebe, 製図／抽選 herself up. "If you will lend me the money, Joe, I will just start tomorrow."
"Very 井戸／弁護士席," said Mr Sampson, 簡単に. "Pack your 捕らえる、獲得する tonight and you can 運動 in with me tomorrow morning."
So it was done, and Phoebe, still hot and angry, packed her 捕らえる、獲得する, and went and 設立する her mother and told her her 計画（する）s.
As might have been 推定する／予想するd, Mrs Marsden 抗議するd. Unfortunately all the arguments she could bring to 耐える against Phoebe's 計画／陰謀 were only those that made her doubly 決定するd to carry it through. Mrs Marsden opined that it was very 妥当でない of a girl to think of living alone, and Phoebe at once began to feel she had had enough of the proprieties, and would be glad and thankful to get away from them. Mrs Marsden was 確かな if she did such a thing no one would ever marry her, and Phoebe began to feel that she must get away from people, even her nearest and dearest, who were for ever 推定する／予想するing her to get married, and 存在 disappointed that she did not. Mrs Marsden was sure all her brothers would be shocked, and Phoebe felt that their opinion was いっそう少なく than nothing to her; she must just 証明する that she was of some use in the world, and if she only had money of her own and was 井戸／弁護士席 dressed, she was very sure her brothers would change their opinion. The argument that her father would be 悩ますd counted for いっそう少なく than nothing, at that moment Phoebe wished for nothing more than to be beyond her father's reach for the 残り／休憩（する） of her life. Her mother was sure he was very fond of her, but the memory of the scene in the schoolroom was still so fresh in her mind that she 怒って felt the sooner she was beyond his reach and 完全に 独立した・無所属 the better. And finally Mrs Marsden, seeing all her talking was having not the least 影響, and 存在, poor woman, sorely troubled in her mind as to what was to become of this obstinate girl who was so very unlike her ideal woman, burst into helpless 涙／ほころびs and reproached her daughter with want of love for her who had always done the best she could for her.
"I know your father is unkind at times," sobbed Mrs Marsden, "but you せねばならない know by this time it is only his way. He doesn't mean it. He thinks nobody cares for him. If you were ill or in trouble see how good he would be."
"But I'm not ill," said Phoebe, 自然に enough, "and I'm not in much trouble except that I want to do something useful with my life for myself. Why can't he be pleasant and 肉親，親類d over that instead of waiting till I'm in trouble?"
"自然に," said Mrs Marsden, "he thinks you are very selfish, always wanting to do something for yourself. Why can't you be content to be like other girls?"
"Considering he is always rubbing it into us what a frightful drag we all are upon him, I can't think," said Phoebe, a little contemptuously, "he せねばならない complain if I do want to do something for myself and relieve him of the 重荷（を負わせる） of my keep."
"If you were only like other girls," said her mother with another 広大な／多数の／重要な sob, "you would get married, and—and—there'd be no question of—of—"
But Phoebe turned away 怒って, and her last qualm of 良心 was swept away. The sooner she was settled in her life on her own account the better.
And the next morning she started. Her father had had his breakfast and gone off to a sale out Creswick way, very 早期に in the morning, so she was spared the difficulty of 説 good-bye to him, and had only to 直面する her mother's 涙／ほころびs. But Josiah Sampson 支援するd her up manfully, and the younger girls were both 利益／興味d and excited at such an unwonted 出発 on their eldest sister's part. The idea of her going out into the world alone did not shock them as it did their mother. The ten years that stretched between her and Lydia made her seem old enough to do anything she liked in the 注目する，もくろむs of the younger girls.
And when she 企て，努力，提案 her mother good-bye, Phoebe had qualms again. She was leaving her to such a hard life.
"I'm so sorry, mother," she said. "It does seem such a shame to leave you with so much work to do, but really in the end I believe it will be better. When I'm 独立した・無所属 you won't have me on your mind in 新規加入 to your other cares."
"Oh, Phoebe," sobbed Mrs Marsden, "if I could only get you to look at things in a proper light. Your 行為／行う is undutiful, as your father says."
"I don't think it is," said Phoebe, kissing her mother again 残念に, and climbing up into the buggy beside Mr Sampson—Nancy was going to stay a day or two longer with her mother—"I don't think it is. Nobody thinks it is undutiful of Stanley to go to the University and get plucked for every second exam he goes for, instead of stopping at home and ploughing, and chopping 支持を得ようと努めるd, and feeding the pigs. Why should it be undutiful of me, who am older than he is, to try and 始める，決める up for myself, instead of doing one eternal 一連の会議、交渉／完成する of 家事?"
"Girls are different from boys," repeated Mrs Marsden for about the twentieth time this morning, and Josiah 削減（する） short その上の reproaches by 運動ing off, and Phoebe thought sorrowfully of the mother she was leaving for good and all all the way into Ballarat. But there was no turning 支援する now.
She went by train to Melbourne second class, because she had to economise in everything, and thence on board the Julia Percy, which would land her at Warrnambool 早期に next morning. Last time she had gone by train, but then she had been with Nancy, to whom expense was no 反対する; now she must consider every penny, and it would not do to consider the unpleasantness of 存在 seasick.
All her compunctions （機の）カム 支援する with 新たにするd 軍隊 that dreary night at sea, the waves as they washed against the 大型船's 味方する, the 勝利，勝つd as it howled through the 船の索具, all seemed to her to 耐える the same 差し控える. She was selfish, she was unkind, she was leaving her poor mother to 耐える her 激しい 重荷（を負わせる）s unaided, and that she should feel 猛烈に lonely was only her 予定.
But when next morning she （機の）カム on deck and 設立する the little steamer was just coming to 錨，総合司会者 against the new breakwater, and the 有望な sun was 向こうずねing cheerily on the blue water, and showing up the spires and towers and the houses of the pretty little town of Warrnambool nestling の中で its low green hills, a new feeling of delightful hope and buoyancy （機の）カム over her. The very day was a good omen. If she had felt depressed the night before, it was only natural, she was not accustomed to 行為／法令／行動する on her own 責任／義務, or to be by herself; she must learn not to mind these fits of despondency, she must look always to the goal ahead and be very sure, as she was at this 現在の moment, that in helping herself she was 間接に helping her mother far better than she could do by staying at home. Oh, but the morning was 有望な and sunny, it was a 楽しみ to be alive, and she stepped 岸に and made 手はず／準備 with a cabman to leave her small 捕らえる、獲得する at the Coffee Palace, and 問い合わせd of him the most likely place to hear of a small cottage in the country to let, the rent to be not more than five shillings a week. Cabby thought Mr Smith, of Hayes and Son, Kepler Street, would be the most likely, and so Phoebe 始める，決める off to walk the mile and a half that separates the breakwater from the town. All along the path she went by swampy Lake Pertobe, and the frogs and the crickets, hidden in the tall green flowering 急ぐs that grow up in the brackish water, croaked and called loudly and cheerfully to her that she was starting out on the 権利 road; the seagulls, wheeling 一連の会議、交渉／完成する 総計費, with snow-white breasts, called the same thing in their plaintive language; the flocks of brown 支援するd plovers 厳しく echoed it, and the wild duck and teal, and 黒人／ボイコット swan out in the middle of the still, 静める lake, tame because 安全な from the destroying 手渡す of man, seemed to 約束 her, too, peace and happiness; while the bold blue water-女／おっせかい屋s, with their 有望な red 脚s and little white tails went その上の, and impressed on her with every movement of those same tails that she was to go in and 勝利，勝つ, and never mind what anybody thought of her. On every blade of the green grass there was a dewdrop, and every dewdrop sparkled like a diamond in the 有望な sunlight, and the salt breath of the sea just fanned her cheek, and played gently with the coils of her dark hair. Truly a lovely morning, a God-given morning to encourage and 元気づける her.
But Mr Smith, of Hayes and Son, though he knew of many small cottages to let, did not seem to have one that 正確に／まさに answered her 必要物／必要条件s, and did not know of that small cottage 正確に／まさに opposite Benger's Flat 明言する／公表する School, which had been to let last spring, and which 正確に／まさに answered her 必要物／必要条件s.
For a bee farm? 井戸／弁護士席, he had dabbled a bit in bees himself, when he wasn't やめる so busy; he believed there was money in them, and he やめる thought a cottage out Mepunga way, which was where Benger's Flat was, would 控訴 admirably.
"You see, you get the ヒース／荒れ地 in bloom on the sand hills in the winter time," he said, "and heather honey is always good; then there is a 確かな 量 of pasture land, old Mapleson owned a lot of land there and laid it 負かす／撃墜する in clover—clover honey is good; and about Benger's Flat there are a good many cottages with fruit trees surrounding them; no, for bees I really don't think you could have a better locality. Unfortunately, I don't do 商売／仕事 for the Benger's Flat people, most of them go to Mr Wilson, over the way. I daresay he could 強いる you, I'll put on my hat and take you over."
And he did. And Phoebe 設立する the cottage she 手配中の，お尋ね者 was still unlet, and agreed to go out and look at it that very morning, and was shaken 手渡すs with and wished all success by Mr Smith, of whom she ever after spoke with the warmest 感謝 as having been so encouraging and 肉親，親類d; and it certainly never occurred to her that her dark 注目する，もくろむs were 有望な and eager, that her teeth were marvellously 正規の／正選手 and white, and that the きびきびした walk and the excitement had brought a 有望な colour into her cheeks; that her の近くに fitting tweed dress, if it was very plain, 始める，決める off her 人物／姿／数字 to advantage, and that Mr Smith thought this young woman, who was so keen about a bee-farm, was a very charming young person indeed, such as did not often break the monotony of the morning for hard-working land and 広い地所 スパイ／執行官s in small seaport towns.
And Phoebe 雇うd a buggy and went out and looked at the cottage at Benger's Flat, and felt her ardour a little damped after she had done so. It was 正確に／まさに opposite 明言する／公表する School No. 002; in fact it belonged to the 長，率いる teacher, which Phoebe thought was a good thing. When she （機の）カム to think of the long nights she would have to spend by herself, she felt glad to think her landlord, a schoolmaster and a house owner, should be only across the road. For she decided to take it, she had not hesitated a moment, the country 一連の会議、交渉／完成する was just the sort of country she 手配中の，お尋ね者, and the rent was 4s 9d a week. It was certainly very dilapidated and out of 修理, and to start with was only a 天候-board cottage, built in the usual style of Australian ugliness, with four rooms 開始 into one another—two of decent size, but the two behind 単に skillions—with windows reaching to the 最高の，を越す of the 塀で囲む, and 存在 met by the ugly corrugated アイロンをかける roof which 事業／計画（する）d hardly an インチ beyond the 塀で囲む, and gave the place an idiotic look, as of a 直面する that had no forehead, but no eyebrows either.
It was ugly, but it would do, for not only was it very cheap, but there was an acre of land, 盗品故買者d with a 地位，任命する and rail 盗品故買者, that went along with it. Yes, it was the very place, and Phoebe went 支援する to Wilson and Knight and took the house for six months, there and then.
Then she went and had some dinner at the Coffee Palace, and considered what should be her next move.
She would go 支援する by the Julia Percy, next day, and—井戸／弁護士席—she must not stop a day longer than was 絶対 necessary at home. As she was 反抗するing her father she felt uncomfortable in his presence, she felt she was not doing やめる 権利 in making use of his house. No, she would come 負かす／撃墜する here next week, just as soon as ever she could get her small 所持品 packed. Then she took out her purse and counted her money, 公式文書，認めるing with 狼狽 how very 速く the L10 Josiah Sampson had 前進するd her was 減らすing. Only yesterday she had got it, and already she had spent L3, and her heart sank with 狼狽. If she spent L3 in one day, how on earth was she going to 始める，決める up in 商売／仕事 on L50 and twenty beehives?
Then she was a little 慰安d by the reflection that the greater part of her expenses had been in travelling. Once settled, she would not need to spend money that way. She must just （不足などを）補う her mind to the monotony of one place and no friends. Beggars and borrowers cannot be choosers.
Then she began to put 負かす／撃墜する on a card how much, or rather how little, she would want to furnish the house, and thinking over its dilapidated 条件 a bucket and scrubbing 小衝突 （機の）カム very first on the 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）. Other things followed, just the 絶対の necessaries of life—a 担架 bedstead, a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and two 議長，司会を務めるs, a couple of cups and saucers and a teapot. How the things 機動力のある up to be sure. Five 続けざまに猛撃するs she decided she would lay out on furniture. Her house would certainly be furnished in the barest, humblest style for that, but she could not afford more, and she put on her hat again and went out to interview the storekeeper at the next corner. He was evidently accustomed to furnishing on this 規模, and soon Phoebe 設立する herself the possessor of a 担架 with bedding to match, a couple of kitchen 議長，司会を務めるs, a very good second-手渡す kitchen （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, and the minor trifles that no woman, however lowly her position in life, can do without. 自然に there was not a penny for curtains or carpet, not a drawer or cupboard of any description did it 許す of, but at least Phoebe 設立する herself 所有するd of the 絶対の necessaries at a いっそう少なく cost than she had 推定する／予想するd. She must do without the other things. If she 後継するd, 井戸／弁護士席 and good, it would be time enough to buy them then, and if she failed—but she did not like to think of possible 失敗, and she turned to the storekeeper and asked him how she could get these 蓄える／店s out to Benger's Flat next week along with herself, her beehives and all the 残り／休憩（する） of her 所持品.
That was soon settled. For the sum of ten shillings 負かす／撃墜する—he ran a cash 蓄える／店—he himself would take her, and Phoebe left his shop feeling that she had done all she could and was really starting in life on her own account.
雇用 is nature's 内科医 and is 必須の to human happiness.
—GALEN.
It was hard work to 直面する them at home again, without Mr Sampson to 支援する her. Her mother 固執するd in 扱う／治療するing her as a forgiven sinner, and her father 簡単に ignored her presence. Phoebe could not （不足などを）補う her mind which she disliked most. On the whole she was glad that she had 直す／買収する，八百長をするd the date of her 出発 so の近くに that all her time was filled up with mending her 着せる／賦与するs and packing up her small 所有／入手s.
They were so few, so very few. She looked at the little pile the night before she left, and sighed and thought how 明らかにする and dismal-looking the little house at Benger's Flat would be for many a long day to come. Lydia, who was sitting on her bed superintending the packing, put her thoughts into words.
"My word, Phoebe! How empty your house will be."
"Lydia,"—the door opened and in （機の）カム Mrs Marsden—"How can you be so vulgar. No lady ever says 'My word.'"
"Oh, bother, mother," said Lydia, 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするing her 長，率いる, "you wouldn't believe the nuisance it is 存在 ladylike. I wish the thing had never been invented. I wish I was going away with Phoebe tomorrow."
"Into the 明らかにする little house?" asked Phoebe, smiling. "井戸／弁護士席, perhaps you will come and stay with me when I'm a little settled."
"That I will," said Lydia, with energy, and her mother sighed.
"Phoebe, it's so wrong of you to go 汚染するing the younger girls."
"汚染するing? 井戸／弁護士席, mother," said Phoebe, pointing with some surprise at her meagre 所有／入手s, "if they envy me they really must have very little 楽しみ in life."
"It's not that. It is that girls nowadays are never contented at home. They are always craving for something new. Your father was only 説 so last night."
"If I come to grief," said Phoebe, smiling at her younger sister, "and see what a good 反対する lesson I'll be for these younger girls, and if I 後継する—井戸／弁護士席 you couldn't do better than let them do likewise."
"Oh, you'll 後継する, never 恐れる," said Lydia, cheerfully. "We all know now you never say you can do a thing till you are sure you can. I must say it's pretty hard lines though to start out with so little."
"I don't like it at all," said her mother, tearfully. "It doesn't seem to me you have the 明らかにする necessaries of life, and I really 港／避難所't anything to give you, Phoebe. I would, though you are so headstrong, but what would your father say. I might give you sheets and 一面に覆う／毛布s, but then your father doesn't 認可する and he mightn't—"
"It's all 権利, mother, it's all 権利. Don't give me anything. I don't want to make father cross. I've got plenty. Nancy made me a magnificent 現在の of two pairs of sheets and a pair of 一面に覆う／毛布s, to say nothing of two tablecloths and some kitchen cloths. Oh, I'm 井戸／弁護士席 始める，決める up, for I never 推定する／予想するd such magnificent 現在のs, and I bought some things which are waiting for me 負かす／撃墜する in Warrnambool."
"And when will you come 支援する?" asked Mrs Marsden.
"I can't very 井戸／弁護士席 come and see you for some time, I'm afraid," said Phoebe. "Who will look after my house and things?" and she felt やめる a glow of pride in speaking of "my house," although it was such a small one.
"I don't mean that," said Mrs Marsden, "I mean for good and all."
"井戸／弁護士席," laughed Phoebe, "I'm hoping I have relieved you of all the 重荷（を負わせる） of my keep for good and all."
"Phoebe, don't talk like that. It is unladylike 同様に as ungrateful. All ladies," and Mrs Marsden put an 強調 on 'ladies,' "live in their father's house till they are married. And when have I ever said you were a 重荷（を負わせる）?"
"Never, mother, never," said Phoebe, putting her 手渡す on her mother's shoulder kindly. "Poor little mother, but I'm not a fool, and I can't help seeing for myself how hard it is for you to get me my allowance, and if I seem to want anything beyond twenty 続けざまに猛撃するs a year, it is a terrible 負わせる on your mind. I can't 耐える to ask for even that, so I just must try and do something for myself."
"And your father says," said Mrs Marsden, "that at the end of the month you will be very glad to come 支援する to your comfortable home. Remember," she 追加するd tearfully, "we will always be very glad to have you, and I think the lesson will do you good. You will be more contented after you have 設立する out how hard it is to do for yourself."
"And if you get on, Phoebe," put in Lydia, "mind you ask me 負かす／撃墜する to stay. I'd just love it, and so would Nell. We won't mind if it is a bit like a picnic."
"Next summer, perhaps," said Phoebe. "It せねばならない be a nice place in the summer."
And the day Phoebe got to Warrnambool with her twenty beehives and all her small 所持品 it was raining in 激流s. The roads were ankle 深い in mud, the rain was washing 負かす／撃墜する the ruts in streams, and all the trees and grass were sodden with wet. And this was only the end of April, what would the country be like before the longed-for summer （機の）カム again? But it was no good repining. The best thing was to get settled in her new home as soon as possible. And the little cottage did look so uninviting—so 冷淡な, and 明らかにする, and dirty, and unhabitable 一般に. Phoebe's spirit sank to 無 when the waggon which had brought her and her 所持品 stopped at the gate.
"We'd better go 権利 up to the door, I think," she 示唆するd to the driver, "we can get to the 支援する door. And, oh, would you mind going over to the school-house for the 重要な?"
"There you are, 行方不明になる," said the driver, when five minutes later he had opened the 支援する door and brought the dray up to it. "Now what shall I do with them 蜂の巣s?"
"Put them in here, I think," said Phoebe, peering into the dirty little skillion, which looked as if it had never been scrubbed since it had been built. "It's so wet and 冷淡な, I'll keep them here for tonight, and I can see about them tomorrow. And the 残り／休憩（する） of the things I'll have in the 前線 room, please."
"権利 you are," said the man, who, with a good-natured 願望（する） to help, had all the friendly familiarity of his class, but he worked with a will and Phoebe was not going to 不平（をいう） at his familiarity. After all, she thought, was she any way better than he.
It did not take long to empty the dray, and then the carter stood in the middle of the room and, rubbing his 手渡すs together, 調査するd the 設立 with a friendly 注目する，もくろむ.
"Now if I can put things to 権利s a bit for you," he said.
"You are very 肉親，親類d," said Phoebe, "but really it's so dirty, I must try and clean it up first. The only thing I seem to have forgotten is 支持を得ようと努めるd. I wonder where I could get some to light a 解雇する／砲火／射撃."
"There's a good 支援する スピードを出す／記録につける in the yard, I see," said the carter, "I'll just bring it in. It'll last you for two or three days that. And I saw a lot of 支持を得ようと努めるd about half a mile up the road. I'll go up and bring you a little 支援する in the dray if you like. I don't suppose it'd cost much. They'll be glad enough to sell."
"How 肉親，親類d you are," said Phoebe, taking out her purse. "I'd be most 感謝する."
So he brought in the スピードを出す／記録につける which though wet enough outside was probably 乾燥した，日照りの at the 核心, and then she heard him whistling cheerfully as he went 負かす／撃墜する the road, and in order not to think she 始める，決める about ransacking the house for rubbish that would do to start a 解雇する／砲火／射撃. There were plenty of 半端物s and ends, broken boxes and rags, and by the time her new friend returned with enough 支持を得ようと努めるd to last her a week, which he proceeded to stack in one of the skillions, there was a 有望な 解雇する／砲火／射撃 on the hearth, or rather on the 最高の，を越す of the 植民地の oven, which filled the sitting-room fireplace, the kettle was beginning to sing, and Phoebe herself had got into her working dress and had 始める，決める out one end of the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する with the tea things and the bread and butter she had brought with her.
"井戸／弁護士席, that's hearty," said the man, "that looks like 商売／仕事. You'll do, I bet."
"I am much 強いるd to you for your 親切," she said. "I thought perhaps you might like a cup of tea. It is so wet."
"井戸／弁護士席, as you are so 肉親，親類d," he said, and he sat 負かす／撃墜する and partook of tea and bread and butter, while Phoebe apologised for the absence of milk, which she had forgotten.
"It's very good, thank you," he said, gratefully, "and just the thing on a day like this. If every one 扱う／治療するd me like you do I'd do 井戸／弁護士席. See here now, 行方不明になる, the boss he does a lot of 商売／仕事 along this road, and if ever you want any help and I'm along the road, just you sing out and Ned Wilson's your man."
"Indeed, I am very 感謝する," said Phoebe once again, and when she gave him the money for his "boss," 追加するd thereto a half-栄冠を与える for himself, which he returned 敏速に.
"No, no, I'm not that sort. I'm glad enough to help you and the tea's thanks enough. Now just you remember Ned Wilson, and whenever I'm along this way, I'll just give a look in and see if I can help you a bit."
And he 削減（する） short her thanks by taking his 出発 there and then, and Phoebe felt she was 公正に／かなり 開始する，打ち上げるd in her new life.
She 就任するd it with a big scrubbing match. It was not a romantic way of celebrating her start in housekeeping, but it was very necessary, for the little house was very dirty. However, she was a strong, active young woman, not afraid of work, and with a good 解雇する／砲火／射撃, lots of hot water and plenty of soap, things soon began to assume a different 面. Both of those two 前線 rooms she cleaned out 完全に, as very likely they had never been cleaned since they had been built, and then she piled up the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 to 乾燥した，日照りの them—支持を得ようと努めるd was cheap enough at any 率—and once 乾燥した，日照りの she began to arrange her scanty 所有／入手s, and when, about four o'clock in the afternoon, a gleam of sunlight broke through the 激しい clouds and the rain （疑いを）晴らすd off, she went outside and proceeded to clean her windows. She was rubbing away with a will when suddenly the little gate, which was but fifty feet from the 前線 door, opened, and a woman with a shawl over her 長，率いる and a baby in her 武器 stood beside her.
"How do you do, 行方不明になる Marsden," she said. "I'm Mrs Johnston, the school teacher's wife, and I thought I'd just come over and say we're glad to see you here. I'm afraid you 設立する the house pretty dirty, and Mr Johnston was 説 I せねばならない send the girl over to clean up a bit, but really what with four children, all babies as you may say, and the schoolroom to be kept clean—and the children do bring such lots of mud this 天候, and not one of them ever thinks to wipe their boots—she really didn't get time to spare."
"Oh, that's all 権利," said Phoebe, cheerfully. "The 前線 rooms are やめる clean now, and tomorrow I'll see about the 支援する."
"That's just what I told Mr Johnston," said Mr Johnston's wife a little fretfully. "I said you'd have a girl, and as there was only the two of you it wouldn't take much to clean up, and you with no children to be running off to every minute."
"But I don't keep a servant," said Phoebe, bravely; "I'm just doing everything myself."
"Are you, now?" Mrs Johnston 転換d the baby from one arm to the other. "井戸／弁護士席, as I said, there's no children to go messing about as soon as you've cleaned up," but Phoebe plainly saw, to her amusement, that she had fallen in Mrs Johnston's estimation by doing all the work herself.
She gave a final polish to the last of the two windows, and then 審議d whether she should ask her landlord's wife inside or not. The furniture was so meagre, and the 床に打ち倒す was so clean, while Mrs Johnston, besides 存在 批判的な, had very muddy boots; however, 歓待 伸び（る）d the day, and Phoebe, laying 負かす／撃墜する a 解雇（する） at the 前線 door, for her guest to wipe her feet on, 招待するd her inside. She saw her ちらりと見ること 一連の会議、交渉／完成する at the empty room, in which the only homely thing was the cheerful 解雇する／砲火／射撃, and then she said—
"You see, I'm beginning very 謙虚に, Mrs Johnston. It's no good getting too many things till I see how I get on. Will you have some tea? I'm sorry I have no milk, but I 港／避難所't 設立する out where to get any yet."
But Mrs Johnston, 大いに to Phoebe's 救済, for she felt she could not afford to entertain two guests in the same day, 拒絶する／低下するd the tea, and after a little humming and hawing managed to 示唆する that she should buy milk from them. They had a cow, and would be very glad to let her have, say, a quart a day. The only drawback was Mrs Johnston was evidently troubled with genteel notions, and hardly liked to 示唆する that she should have it at a price. Phoebe, luckily, had no feeling of that sort; she explained at once that she was poor, but would be very glad to buy milk, to come and fetch it herself, and to 支払う／賃金 her 1ｽd a pint. Her guest was manifestly relieved when that little 事柄 was settled, and then proceeded to tell her how she might get meat from Mr Mackenzie, the 農業者, who lived hardly a ４半期/4分の1 of a mile away, and killed at least once a week, and how the 蓄える／店 where she could buy bread and groceries was not ten minutes' walk from the school-house, and the school-house itself was the 地位，任命する-office. Then she opined Phoebe would be lonely, things 存在 so different to what she was accustomed to, and Phoebe smiled. She hadn't had time to be lonely today, at all events, and was heartily wishing her guest would go home so that she might get straightened up for the night. Unluckily, another rain squall （機の）カム up, darkening the whole sky, and Mrs Johnston drew a little closer to the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, made herself やめる at home by unloosening her dress and giving the baby, who was fretful, his tea there and then, and discoursed 一方／合間 on the people 一連の会議、交渉／完成する about and their many shortcomings.
Mr Johnston, it seemed, was a blighted man. He was a first-class teacher but the 大臣 of Education had a '負かす／撃墜する' on him; was envious of his attainments, Mrs Johnston darkly hinted, and kept him hidden away here teacher of a third-class school, and of course they both felt it for themselves and for their children, for the society was not what they had been used to. Then, having in a manner explained that they were superior people, and not to be 裁判官d in the same 部類 as the 残り／休憩（する）, she settled 負かす／撃墜する comfortably to gossip about her 隣人s, and told Phoebe the news of the 地区. The 長，指導者 item of importance seemed to be the 設立 of a creamery a mile 負かす／撃墜する the cross-road, and they did say all the 農業者s were going in for 酪農場 cows, and every one who had a little bit of ground would just be for going in for a cow. There was Mrs Simpson, Mrs Mackenzie's sister, her husband never seemed to do no good, and was always away looking for work and never finding it; she'd started a cow, and they said it was all she and the children had to live on. And then she proceeded to dilate on the charms of "young Jack Fletcher," who, it seemed, was the beau of the neighbourhood, and had a place of his own five miles その上の up, but spent a good 取引，協定 of his time with his sister, Mrs Mackenzie, and all the girls about were setting their caps at him, and 非，不，無 knew which was the favoured one; and the Benger's Flat 審議ing Society was to 会合，会う in the schoolroom tonight, the 支配する was to be, "Should Women be 許すd a 投票（する）," and, if 行方不明になる Marsden liked, she—Mrs Johnston—would take her.
But Phoebe 拒絶する／低下するd with thanks, even though Jack Fletcher was to be there, and would be sure to be so funny. He made you die with laughing. 井戸／弁護士席, next night they were going to 持つ／拘留する a Social; it wasn't very expensive, only a shilling a 長，率いる, but if a gentleman brought you, or you took something に向かって the supper—something 価値（がある）, say sixpence—you got in 解放する／自由な. She didn't go herself because of baby, but—
But Phoebe 拒絶する／低下するd that too. She never went out at night, and then, much to her 救済, the baby finished his supper, the clouds （疑いを）晴らすd off, and Mrs Johnson began to pull the shawl around her and 宣言する the time had slipped away so she really never did, and she must go home and see that the children got their tea, her girl was that careless there was no 信用ing her. And then at the door she turned 支援する again.
"If you'd like some milk tonight, 行方不明になる Marsden, will you come over for it. I don't know if the cow's milked, the girl's that careless."
So Phoebe crossed the road with her jug in her 手渡す, and smiled to herself as she thought how very shocked her mother would have been.
But the cow was not milked, though she was standing の近くに against the kitchen door waiting for the milkmaid, and when Phoebe saw the unwashed can that was waiting, she repented her of her 申し込む／申し出 to buy milk.
"Suppose," she hesitated, "as I'm rather busy, you let me milk a little into my jug here, I see your can isn't ready."
"I couldn't milk to save my life," said the schoolmaster's wife, "but you can if you like."
And again Phoebe felt she was going 負かす／撃墜する in her 隣人's estimation, but she got her milk fresh and pure, which was the main thing, and when she got home she put the finishing touches to her 世帯 手はず／準備, changed her dress, and did her hair again neatly, laid her （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, and 取調べ／厳しく尋問するd herself a chop for tea, and, when everything was （疑いを）晴らすd away, sat 負かす／撃墜する before her 有望な 解雇する／砲火／射撃 to review the events of the day and to think out her 方式 of life for the 未来.
The rain had come up again and （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 furiously against the window-pane, the 勝利，勝つd was howling dismally 負かす／撃墜する the chimney, and every now and again an extra wild gust scattered the 床に打ち倒す with hot ashes; a wild and wintry night for a girl to spend alone in a strange place, but somehow Phoebe did not feel depressed. She had been 用意が出来ている for it; she had やめる 推定する／予想するd to be 哀れな and unhappy on this her first night away from home, but, much to her astonishment, the 不景気 had not come. She was tired, it was true, but to look 一連の会議、交渉／完成する at the clean 床に打ち倒す and 井戸／弁護士席-scrubbed （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する gave her a feeling of elation. The poverty of the little house did not strike her, she only saw it as it was when she entered and as it was now. If she alone, without any help, could make so 広大な／多数の／重要な a change in such a very short time, why should she not 後継する in other things. Then it gave her 楽しみ to look in her purse. She had reckoned that coming 負かす／撃墜する here and setting up housekeeping would cost her, along with her first 旅行, nearly L15, and behold, here she was, settled in her house, with 準備／条項s enough to last her at least a week, and all she had spent was L 10 3s 9d. To be sure the house was 明らかにする, and Mrs Johnston's taste in 塀で囲む-papers—she supposed it was Mrs Johnston's taste—was enough to make the hair of even the ありふれた-place Philistine stand on end, but what 事柄? The thing that troubled her most was Mrs Johnston herself. Suppose, oh, suppose she should grow like Mrs Johnston! She might, why not? Mrs Johnston evidently considered herself superior to the 残り／休憩（する） of the folks surrounding her, and people, women 特に, grew to be like their surroundings. Perhaps she might be thankful if she were no worse than Mrs Johnston. Phoebe shivered and drew a long breath. She was poor, and must live by the work of her 手渡すs, but might it not be possible to keep still some small modicum of refinement. Like one's surroundings? Yes, it was a 法律 of nature, but it was no good repining. Things would not have been so very much better even if she had stayed at home. And she would, perhaps, in the days to come, if she 後継するd, have a chance to 改善する her mind by travel and mixing with the world; but now it was not good fretting for what she could not get. She would make the best of it. And there and then, sitting with her 手渡すs 倍のd, looking into the glowing coals, Phoebe made two wise 決意／決議s, and kept them faithfully for many a long day. One was that she would never neglect her personal 外見. There was no one to see, but it would be the first step 負かす／撃墜する. She would always do her hair neatly, she would always have a tidy dress, and always she would change her dress and make herself smart for the evening, though there should be no one to see but the kitten Mrs Johnston would give her as soon as it could leave its mother. The other was that, however busy she was, she would try and 改善する her mind by a little reading every day. Her 調書をとる／予約するs were very few and valueless, just old school prizes, but の中で them was a Shakespeare in small print and a tawdry blue and gold binding, and she 解決するd solemnly, as Phoebe was always 解決するing, to read carefully and thoughtfully at least one 行為／法令／行動する of a play every night before she went to bed. What good it would do her she hardly understood, but at least it would separate her in some undefined manner from Mrs Johnston and women of that stamp. It was good 政策 always to made the best of things, thought Phoebe, taking 負かす／撃墜する the Shakespeare from his new home on the mantelshelf and turning to "The Tempest" as the most suitable for such a night.
And when she had read for half an hour she went to bed. It was only half-past seven, but she dreaded sitting up longer lest she should begin to feel lonely. She had done a good day's work, she was tired but 希望に満ちた, and as soon as her 長，率いる touched the pillow she was sound asleep.
One line—a line fraught with 指示／教授／教育—he was 慎重な, he was 患者, and he persevered.
—TOWNSEND.
Put it what way you will it is dull work for any one to live alone, and in after days Phoebe always looked 支援する on that first winter spent in the little cottage at Benger's Flat as the dreariest time she had ever spent in her life. On the whole the first week or so was not so hard to 耐える as she had 推定する／予想するd. There was so much to do きれいにする up, putting out the bees in the little paddock, arranging her 方式 of life and settling 負かす／撃墜する 一般に. It was afterwards, when she had done everything she could do, and had to sit 負かす／撃墜する in the short winter days and wait, that she 設立する life hard, and gave way いつかs to fits of despair. If she had only had one of her sisters, or even one of the little brothers with her, it would have been all 権利, but she could not afford to ask them to come and stay with her even if her father would have 許すd it, which was improbable, and so she just had to sit still and watch her money slowly dwindle away while she waited until the bees had made enough honey for her to sell some. They worked, those bees, that was her 広大な／多数の／重要な 慰安. 負かす／撃墜する 近づく the coast, and she could always see the sea through the hollows of the sand hummocks, the 気候 is always 穏やかな, so that whenever the sun was out, and he was out very often indeed that winter, she had the satisfaction of seeing her 蜂の巣s very busy. It almost seemed as if they realised that their very 存在 depended on their activity. In June, too, the ヒース／荒れ地, pink and white, covered all the bush 一連の会議、交渉／完成する with glory, and the bees worked hard at making the best of all honey. Truly the bees could not be carrying out their part of the 契約 better. And in June, too, she 設立する a new 利益／興味—such a small thing is of importance when our lives are 狭くする. It was only that in the latter end of May she discovered that a big white 女／おっせかい屋 （機の）カム 定期的に and laid her eggs in the long grass just beside her 前線 door.
She was tidying the place up a little, and had begun to dig over the garden with a 見解（をとる） to growing a few vegetables for her own use, but now she decided she would not 乱す that little piece of grass. The 女／おっせかい屋 should have it to herself. She 結論するd that it belonged to Mrs Johnston, but that lady was above knowing her poultry by sight; she rather insinuated that it was beneath the dignity of one in her social position so to do, even if she had the time, so Phoebe 結論するd she was 害（を与える）ing nobody by feeding that 女／おっせかい屋 and encouraging her to regard the little garden as her home. By and by when 'Mrs Grey' had, in 感謝 for all the 世帯 捨てるs, given her hostess no いっそう少なく than eighteen eggs for breakfast, she 手配中の，お尋ね者 to sit, and Phoebe 交渉するd with her 井戸／弁護士席-to-do 隣人, Mrs Mackenzie, for a sitting of duck eggs, and in the beginning of July she had 追加するd to her 所有／入手s eleven golden balls of ducklings.
"My!" said Mrs Johnston, as she leaned over the 盗品故買者 one 罰金 morning when the wintry 日光 was so warm it made one think 喜んで of the coming spring, "my! but those are 罰金 ducklings of yours. How do you manage it? Jack 始める，決める a 女／おっせかい屋 in the stable and she only brought out six, and now there are only three left, and they aren't half the size yours are, though they're a week older."
Phoebe laughed.
"I've got nothing to do but look after them, you see. I 推定する／予想する that makes all the difference. I've got such a lot of vegetables now, I think I must raise some more chickens. I wonder if it 支払う／賃金s to sell them."
"Oh, you can sell them 権利 enough," said Mrs Johnston, "but 支払う／賃金ing is やめる another thing. It doesn't 支払う／賃金 to 後部 poultry. Everybody'll tell you that. I don't suppose you'd get more than two shillings a pair for fat chickens even if you sent them in direct to the Western Hotel. They're always wanting fowls there."
"That would 支払う／賃金 me," said Phoebe, with a sigh of 救済, as she saw a new source of income 開始 to her. "Why, these eleven little ducks have only cost me a shilling as yet. Ninepence for the sitting of eggs and threepence for the cabbage seed, and I 港／避難所't nearly used up all my cabbages yet."
"井戸／弁護士席, I never," said the schoolmaster's wife in surprise, "is that the way you count? I wasn't meaning that way. I was just meaning it wasn't 価値（がある） while to sell good fat ducks for so little. All the time they （問題を）取り上げる too."
"I 港／避難所't got anything more profitable to do," said Phoebe, smiling. Mrs Johnston was so limp and superior, she always made Phoebe feel intensely energetic and commonplace. "I （機の）カム here to work."
"井戸／弁護士席, to be sure," sighed Mrs Johnston, "it's what a woman always has to do, but not your way. I was just 説 to Mr Johnston only last night how strange it was you coming to live here all by yourself. He gave you a month, but it's 近づく three now, and, my word, I couldn't have believed a girl could have 改善するd the place so. It looks やめる a different place."
"I hope it'll look better by and by when the spring comes," said Phoebe, smiling, for even Mrs Johnston's 証言，証人／目撃する to any 改良 in the cottage she had 設立する so desolate was welcome.
"Yes," went on her 隣人, 開始 the gate and swinging it slowly backwards and 今後s as if she were considering the propriety of coming in, "you're just a 疫病／悩ます to me, you are. Mr Johnston's for ever throwing it in my teeth how nice this place is kept and how you're getting on. And look at our place."
The Johnston 設立 stood in the 中央 of a quagmire, as Phoebe knew 井戸／弁護士席 enough, but she hardly liked to say so to its mistress, so she prevaricated, and murmured, "You have all the children to mind, you see," which was true enough, only the children didn't get minded, but that never struck their mother.
"That's just what I tell Mr Johnston," said his wife, 熱望して; "I'm sure he has just as much time after school hours as I have."
"A 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 more," murmured Phoebe, who did not love Mr Johnston.
"There, I'll tell him you said so," said his wife; "he thinks a lot of your opinion. He thinks you're just the 権利 sort of woman."
"Does he really?" and Phoebe smiled. It was strange the first word of commendation should come from a man she so 完全に disliked as she did the schoolmaster. Then, on the strength of 開始 up a new 産業 in the sale of ducks, she became suddenly hospitable, and asked the schoolmaster's wife in to tea, an 招待 that was 熱望して 受託するd, for by now that good lady realised—though she failed to understand the 推論する／理由 why—that 行方不明になる Marsden's scones and home-made bread were excellent, and 行方不明になる Marsden's butter, although it was made from Mrs Johnston's own milk, was always fresh and 甘い as the day it was made.
"I've given over making butter," she sighed. "It's cheap enough to buy, and it's an awful bother to make, and then like enough it's not eatable."
"I make this from your milk," said Phoebe, demurely.
"Oh, I know. But as I tell Mr Johnston, you've got no one to distract you and can just have a 正規の／正選手 time for everything. Besides, I was never brought up to this sort of work, and if Mr Johnston only had his 予定—"
And again Phoebe had to listen to a tirade against the sins of the 大臣 of Education which lasted till it was time for her guest to go home.
Indeed, Mrs Johnston had spoken truly. The 改良 three months' hard work had 影響d in that 哀れな little cottage was something to be wondered at. Its mistress had never spared herself, and the more despairing and hopeless and lonely she felt, the harder she worked, partly to 達成する her end and partly to kill time and give herself no time to think. The rich 黒人／ボイコット 国／地域 was 平易な enough to work, luckily, and she dug up all her garden with her own 手渡すs, and （種を）蒔くd vegetables, cabbages and potatoes, and suchlike useful things. She mended all the 宙返り／暴落する-負かす／撃墜する 盗品故買者 that surrounded her acre of land. Nancy sent her flowers and seed, and she 工場／植物d them all, carefully tended them, and already the little flower garden looked 繁栄するing, and ivy geranium was beginning to grow over the ugly nakedness of the house. She 投資するd in a マリファナ of paint and painted the door, and then turning her attention to the 内部の spent the 残り／休憩（する） of her paint on the woodwork there, and when it was all gone, having no more money for such 高級なs, laid in a 在庫／株 of whitewash and 完全に whitened the two skillions at the 支援する. The house might be poor, and the furniture decidedly scanty, but at least it was spotlessly clean, and that seemed to lend an 空気／公表する of refinement that is wanting in many a better furnished house.
Still there was always the loneliness to 戦闘. The long, dark nights, when the rain （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 against the windows, and the 勝利，勝つd howled 負かす／撃墜する the chimney, when the clouds scurried across the sky, and the 'にわか景気 にわか景気' of the wedge-形態／調整d flock of wild geese （機の）カム borne like the call of the ghostly huntsman on the 冷淡な 勝利，勝つd. There were the wet days when the ground outside was like a quagmire, the trees 一連の会議、交渉／完成する were sodden, and the sky one even grey, and she knew that from morning till night she would not have a soul to speak to, no one to 元気づける her, nothing to break the monotony. It was a hard life for a young woman, a very hard life indeed, and probably the only thing that kept Phoebe to it that long winter was the feeling that she could not go 支援する and own herself a 失敗. Had either her father or mother been but a little more 同情的な, she would have thrown it up, gone 支援する home and 宣言するd it was utterly impossible for a woman to live alone; but as it was, she felt she must 後継する, there was nothing else for it. She could not afford to fail.
Every evening before she went to bed she read her Shakespeare carefully, but she いつかs wondered if it did not make her discontented. Where was the good of reading of the joys and 悲しみs of other women's lives, when her small joys consisted in the successful ハッチング out of a new brood of chicks, her worst 悲しみ was when a 強硬派 急襲するd 負かす／撃墜する and carried off her most 約束ing ducklings. There was nothing noble or 広大な／多数の／重要な in such a life as that, she thought; even the small 楽しみs were marred by the want of some one to 株 them with, and she must just make the best of it. Then she would get up and walk about and try to throw off the despondency that would come over her, to 推論する／理由 it away. Every man's life looked at closely is one dull 決まりきった仕事 of small 義務s. It depends upon the man himself to be happy, at any 率, thought Phoebe with a sigh; all she could do was to make the best of it, and 令状 such cheerful letters home as made the younger girls wild with envy of her independence. But to herself she never minced 事柄s. It was dull, deadly dull, and she seemed far away from everything that goes to （不足などを）補う a happy life for a woman. A woman せねばならない marry and have children—yes, that was what she was created for, that is her use in life, and Phoebe felt sad, いつかs as she sat over her lonely 解雇する／砲火／射撃, that such happiness could never come to her. She thought of no man in particular; long ago she had forgotten her fancy for Allan Morrison, it had died out as utterly as does a 解雇する／砲火／射撃 for want of 燃料, and in her hurry to get settled 負かす／撃墜する she had 完全に dropped her correspondence with him. It was a 楽しみ certainly to get letters, but she could not find the time to 令状 to a man who as the days went on got more and more of a 影をつくる／尾行する. She might never see him again; where was the good of 令状ing now he had dropped out of her life, she felt friendly enough に向かって him, she even smiled いつかs to herself as she thought what an 利益／興味 she had taken in him, but all that was passed and behind her, and only いつかs of an evening she sat over her cheery 解雇する／砲火／射撃 and read of the loves of dead and gone men and women, she sighed to think that such happiness or such 悲しみ could never come into her life. 井戸／弁護士席, it was possible, of course, but it was not very likely. She was getting on for thirty, and no man had loved her, and now she never even saw a man. It is an 否定できない fact that you cannot be loved without 存在 seen, and though our mothers used to say that if a woman was to be married she would be, for the man would come 負かす／撃墜する the chimney to do it, still Phoebe in her own mind thought there was a good 取引，協定 in propinquity, and she certainly didn't 推定する／予想する a man to come 負かす／撃墜する the chimney to marry her. After all, wasn't she happier than if she had married as Nancy had done? She was—she thought—a thousand times happier, and yet Nancy had the baby to 慰安 her, and there was no 疑問 Nancy was fond of her baby, fonder than she—Phoebe—was of any human 存在. She gave it up; where was the good of bothering, she must just make the best of things, and 一般に after a bad fit of the blues over night, she would wake up cheerful and 希望に満ちた enough next morning.
And in August, 大いに to her surprise, Nancy （機の）カム to see her—drove out one 有望な sunny day when she was watching the bees hard at work on the heather which lay between Benger's Flat and the sand hummocks, and 発表するd that she was going to stop a week at least.
"I can leave baby at night now, and nurse is most 信頼できる, so I'll leave them at the Western, and I'll come out and stop with you, and we'll play at 存在 girls again."
"Oh, Nan," said Phoebe, the prospect was so delightful, "but—"
"But you 港／避難所't got a bed. I guessed you hadn't, so I brought me bed along with me, like they did in Scripture."
"But Joe—"
"Now, Joe's all 権利. You'd mollycoddle a husband, Phoebe, if you had him. Don't you know a good wife always leaves her husband every three months for a week at least, so he can 行方不明になる her and so learn to 高く評価する／（相場などが）上がる her 適切に."
"But, Nan—"
"Now, which knows more about husbands, you or me? And here's Master Baby come to see his auntie. Isn't he a beautiful boy, Phoebe, isn't he? And doesn't he sit up strong and straight? Wouldn't you be proud of him if you were me? And not six months old yet," and the proud young mother took him out of his nurse's 武器 and 始める，決める him 負かす／撃墜する on Phoebe's （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and took off his bonnet and cloak so that his aunt might see at a ちらりと見ること all his good points. And his aunt admired him fully as much as even the most exacting mother could 推定する／予想する, and for a ４半期/4分の1 of an hour those two young women indulged in baby worship of the most 認可するd order. It was delightful to Phoebe to have her sister with her again, it was delightful to have the baby, and to 持つ／拘留する the soft warm morsel in her 武器, and to know in a 手段 it belonged to her, and she had a 権利 to admire him as much as she pleased. Then Nancy with a sigh sent her boy 支援する to Warrnambool, and 始める，決める to work to criticise Phoebe's 所持品.
"There's room for my bed in your bedroom, isn't there?" she asked, peeping in. "Yes, just. It'll be here before six o'clock. I'm going to make you a 現在の of it, and then you can ask the girls 負かす／撃墜する to stop with you. It'll be good for you and good for them."
"Nan, dear, how good you are!"
"Phoebe, dear, how 明らかにする your house is," mimicked her sister.
"It's not manners to criticise when you come to stay with a person. And I am sure," she 追加するd, laughing, "you never saw a cleaner house."
"I never did, that's true," said Nancy. "My servants don't keep things half as spotless. Did you do it all yourself? Let's look at your 手渡すs."
Phoebe held them out, laughing. Of old Nancy was wont to say Phoebe never took proper care of her 手渡すs, and they were like a cook's.
"H'm, not so bad, after all. You must have been wearing those gloves of Joe's you took away with you, after all. I never thought you would."
"井戸／弁護士席, it was rather a struggle," 認める Phoebe, "but I kept it up because I don't want to 沈む more than I can かもしれない help and I think a woman looking after the 家事, and working in the garden, and 工場／植物ing her own potatoes, and all that sort of thing, is so apt to 沈む so easily without knowing it, so I thought I'd just take care where I did know. But the gloves were a 裁判，公判 I must 収容する／認める."
"Good girl," said her sister, standing a little off and 調査するing her.
"But you know, Phoebe, you don't look half bad, far, far better than you used to do at home. There's a perky look about you as if you knew the place belonged to you."
Phoebe laughed.
"It belongs to Joe, I think. I never could have managed if it hadn't been for him."
"And as it is, do you think you can manage? Really and truly now, Phoebe?"
"Really and truly I believe I can. The bees are doing splendidly. I never saw so much honey in their 蜂の巣s at this season before. I believe I'll have plenty to 抽出する before Christmas, and then, 井戸／弁護士席, I shall have some poultry to sell before then. It all brings grist to the mill."
"It's so little," said Nancy. "It hardly seems 価値（がある） while to toil for so little."
"It costs me a mere nothing to live, you must remember, so it's all such 利益（をあげる） that if I could do it on a grand 規模 I should make my fortune. If eleven little ducks cost me 正確に／まさに four and sixpence to 後部 up to four months old, and I can sell them then at one shilling a piece, that's a good enough 利益（をあげる）, isn't it?"
"Is it?" said Nancy, dubiously. "I don't understand these things."
"It's more than one hundred per cent in four months. Oh, I think it must be good enough. I 推定する／予想する on a large 規模 it wouldn't work out, but it's all 権利 on a small one."
Nancy sighed.
"Why didn't you think of this before? What fun it would have been to 始める，決める up farming with you. Wouldn't it have been jolly, Phoebe?" and she drew her 議長，司会を務める up to the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 and stretched out her 手渡すs to the glowing coals, for the evening was の近くにing in and it was growing chilly. "We'd have got on capitally together. What an awful pity I'm married."
Phoebe thought so too, very often, but she knew, too, that Nancy was not made of the stuff that would have gone hopefully through the winter she had gone through, so perhaps things were better ordered as they were.
"You've got baby," she 示唆するd.
"Yes, thank goodness. I didn't want him, but I don't know what I'd do without him now. Joe's awfully good, you know, but somehow I don't suppose any husband could ever be like your own child."
Her sister said nothing. She 同意しないd so 完全に with her sister that she felt the best thing she could do was to 持つ／拘留する her tongue. And after all, what did she know about it?
"Do you ever hear from Allan Morrison or Ned Kirkham now?" asked Nancy, after a pause. And Phoebe knew that she, too, had been wondering if her feelings に向かって a husband would be the same if she had married the man who had won her girlish heart.
"No, never," said Phoebe. "I let it 減少（する） for a little, and then, somehow, I never wrote again, though I ーするつもりであるd to, and now I don't even ーするつもりである to, though I'd like to know how they're getting on."
"I used to think you were smitten with Allan Morrison."
"I believe I was," owned Phoebe, with a blush and a heart-whole laugh. "But if I was I've forgotten all about it long ago."
"And if Allan Morrison met you now," mused her sister, "he'd be the one to 落ちる in love, I 推定する／予想する. How is it, Phoebe, that you've grown so much better looking, under such unfavourable circumstances, too."
"Better looking, am I? I'm sure I'm glad to hear it. Perhaps it's because nobody hints I'm so plain and unattractive 一般に. It 控訴s some people to be a good lot criticised, but I don't believe it 控訴s me. And then, you know even if it's dull it's 慰安ing to think one's getting on so 井戸／弁護士席."
"It seems to be," said her sister, and relapsed into thought again.
After a while she burst out again.
"I do believe you're 権利, Phoebe, you never had a fair chance before. We all decided you were the ugly duckling, and 押すd you into the position. What's going to become of the other girls? Are they going to marry, like me, or strike out for themselves, like you?"
"Perhaps they'd better marry," said the 年上の girl, thoughtfully, "if they get a chance. It's pretty lonely living by yourself, and you never know how it may turn out."
"There's a greater 不確定 in matrimony, my dear," said the married woman a thought 激しく, "and if it wasn't for the children—井戸／弁護士席, I shall just tell them at home they had better send Lydia and Nellie to you before they let them settle 負かす／撃墜する."
"That's a 勝利 for me," said Phoebe. "You remember you said—"
"Never mind what I said. It's your looks I go on now. You look as if the world belonged to you, and I know that all your worldly 所有／入手s consist of an old 女／おっせかい屋, a few young ducks, and a lot of horrid old bees."
"It's a good 取引，協定 for an unmarried woman," laughed Phoebe. "I shouldn't have had that if I'd been a dutiful daughter."
"井戸／弁護士席, Phoebe, I'm going to fit you out a little. I shall give you some cretonne to decorate these 明らかにする 塀で囲むs with, and a sofa and a couple of 平易な 議長，司会を務めるs, and—wouldn't you like some more fowls? Honestly, now."
"Oh, but, Nan—"
"You would, Phoebe, you know you would. You would get all Mrs Johnston's waste milk, and that and a little pollard would fatten them splendidly."
"If I could get a couple of broody 女／おっせかい屋s I'd raise plenty," owned Phoebe.
"井戸／弁護士席, we'll get the 女／おっせかい屋s tomorrow."
Nancy spent her week with her sister, and it would be difficult to say which of the two young women enjoyed it most, and before she left she was as good as her word, and 供給するd her sister with the sitting 女／おっせかい屋s she had 約束d her; not only that, but after she had gone home a bulky 小包 arrived for Phoebe, which turned out to be Nancy's sewing machine.
"I want a treadle machine," she wrote, "now I have baby to work for, so you may 同様に have the old one, and mind you let me see you with decent curtains next time I come 負かす／撃墜する. I'm coming 支援する in November."
And after that life was never again so hard for Phoebe. She was lonely, certainly, but she couldn't feel やめる so lonely when she sat in her 平易な-議長，司会を務める over the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 and looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the little room which now, although it still needed a carpet, looked cosy and comfortable in the firelight, and which, she 反映するd, was her very own. The very poultry took away half the sense of loneliness; it was good to think of those 女／おっせかい屋s sitting so 刻々と on their eggs, of the chickens already hatched and growing fat and ready for the market, and there was always the thought that Nancy would come 支援する in November and be as 利益／興味d and a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 more surprised than she herself would be at her 進歩.
It was a long while to wait, but success would come; of that she was 確かな now, and that was so 広大な／多数の／重要な a step 伸び（る）d it coloured all the world rose-colour for Phoebe, and wonderful were the 城s she built in the 空気／公表する for the next three months. The summer was coming, the bees were busy, and her poultry-yard was 繁栄するing, and the garden which had been a wilderness was growing as things only do grow in the rich 国／地域 一連の会議、交渉／完成する Warrnambool. She had no time to be dull in this busy 現在の when the 未来 was 約束ing her all manner of good things, and the success would be the sweeter that she had won it with her own 手渡すs.
An 誓い from Salem Hardieker,
A shriek upon the stairs,
A dance of 影をつくる／尾行するs on the 塀で囲む,
A knife—thrust unawares—
And Hans （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する, as cattle 減少（する）,
Across the broken 議長，司会を務めるs.
—RUDYARD KIPLING.
"殺人 will out," they say, but the difficulty of hiding a 殺人 is as nothing to the difficulty of keeping to yourself a rich gold find. The 殺人d, maybe, has few friends, but is there a 選び出す／独身 soul in all the 幅の広い continent of Australia that is not 利益／興味d, and 熱心に 利益／興味d at that, in a new gold find?
Kirkham and Morrison bore away some of their richest 見本／標本s to the former's hut, and there, improvising a マリファナ, they dollied out the little pieces of quartz they had brought along with them, till at the end of a long morning they stood up with aching 武器, and with smiling 直面するs 調査するd the goodly little pile of gold that lay on an old Argus in the middle of the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. They had no means of calculating its value, but 概略で the merest novice could have told that, if all the quartz was as rich as that, a fortune lay there ready to their 手渡す.
Then they discussed ways and means, and before a month was out were 解放する／自由な of the 駅／配置する, settled と一緒に the outcrop which Morrison still contemptuously referred to as a "buckreef," and were working for their own 手渡す.
But the birds of the 空気／公表する, as Morrison had prophesied, carried the news, and one hot morning as Kirkham sat wearily on a 玉石 letting his steel shod 棒 減少（する） 定期的に into the dollypot between his 膝s, while Morrison was away refilling their water-捕らえる、獲得するs at the soak, there was a faint whirring in the 空気／公表する, a 影をつくる／尾行する fell across him, and, looking up in surprise, for 影をつくる／尾行するs come seldom or never in that land, he beheld a 見通し that made him rub his 注目する，もくろむs in bewilderment, for there の近くに beside him was a young fellow covered from 長，率いる to heel in red dust just dismounting from a bicycle also smothered in the same red dust.
"By all that's 宗教上の!" he gasped, for, little as he 推定する／予想するd to see a man in such a God-forsaken place, still いっそう少なく did he 推定する／予想する to see such a 製品 of civilisation as a bicycle.
"井戸／弁護士席, matey," said the stranger, calmly, "how goes it? A pretty good 普通の／平均（する）, eh?"
But Kirkham was too dumbfoundered for the moment to do more than stammer out—
"How the devil did you get here?"
"On the bike, to be sure. You can bet your 甘い life the bike's going to be the coming beast of 重荷（を負わせる） on these goldfields. You can get along on him, and he don't want 料金d or water."
"But—but—what brought you?" asked Kirkham, lamely, thinking of Morrison's 願望（する） that they should keep this to themselves.
"You, mate—and your chum. You don't suppose a man can go about Geraldton mysteriously buying up 蓄える／店s and 準備／条項s and then cutting away 支援する and not 説 nothing to nobody these times without attracting attention. Most of them have made に向かって Cue's Find at Lake Austin, but I reckoned they'd be rather 厚い on the ground, and I remembered you and just followed up your 跡をつけるs on the bike, and a mighty rough 跡をつける I've had of it," and he sat 負かす／撃墜する and passed his grimy を引き渡す his still grimier 直面する.
"But what have they gone to Lake Austin for?" asked Kirkham, still in the dark.
"Gold, man—same old 職業. You don't suppose you're the only person in the 植民地 has 設立する gold, do you? Why, Tom Cue—do you know Tom Cue?—広大な／多数の／重要な strapping Irishman—he 設立する gold on Lake Austin, and he's got the bounty. I heard it just the day after I lost sight of you, and so when there was talk of a 急ぐ I thought I must just 同様に make it my 商売／仕事 to see what you were after, and here I am."
Here he was, and here he meant to stay, evidently. After all, the land was 解放する／自由な to all, and this was what Morrison had 警告するd him would happen sooner or later. They had to make the best of it. But Allan himself was not pleased when he saw the stranger; however, there was no help for it; they must just peg out their （人命などを）奪う，主張する and let him 選ぶ one for himself. 井戸／弁護士席 enough they knew that he too would keep the secret just as long as he could, for, supposing the first （人命などを）奪う，主張するs turned out to be duffers, how could these first-comers 選ぶ another if the place was 侵略（する）／超過（する） with eager, anxious diggers?
But it （機の）カム to that. Long before Morrison and Kirkham had realised anything on their （人命などを）奪う，主張する diggers （機の）カム 軍隊／機動隊ing in and settled themselves 負かす／撃墜する at 不規律な intervals between Kirkham's Find and the soak, and roamed the country 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, trying every likely looking 激しく揺する with their napping 大打撃を与えるs. The soak showed 調印するs of giving out, and an 企業ing gentleman from Geraldton settled 負かす／撃墜する with a condenser by a shallow salt lake about two miles to the eastward and dispensed fresh water to the （軍の）野営地，陣営 at the 率 of a shilling a gallon, finding it more lucrative than any gold 地雷. A hotel calling itself the "Kirkham Grand Hotel" arose 権利 in the middle of the clay-pan, where in the hot 日光 the 誤った gondolas used to be seen floating calmly on the waters of the make-believe lake; and, if the only bedroom had for a roof the （疑いを）晴らす sky and for a 床に打ち倒す the 明らかにする earth, still the whisky was fiery and the brandy had a bite in it that was much 認可するd of, and the proprietor, too, was in a fair way to make his fortune. Grimy men smothered in red dust, who had not washed for a fortnight, walked the 概略で 示すd out streets, and day by day 一連の会議、交渉／完成する every corrugated アイロンをかける hut and ragged テント grew the untidy, unsightly heaps that go to make the 辞退する of a 採掘 （軍の）野営地，陣営. Empty 保存するd meat tins perhaps predominated, but there was a very fair ぱらぱら雨ing of kerosene tins that had seen better days and been worn out as buckets, and a goodly array of old boots, while as for the bones—scanty as was the meat 供給（する）—Kirkham, who was new to the beginnings of a diggings 郡区, wondered daily at those 増加するing heaps of bones.
But it was a rich find, not a poor man's diggings by any means, for 準備／条項s were ruinous in prices, and the gold was all imbedded in quartz so hard as to 要求する powerful 機械／機構 to 鎮圧する it and separate it.
All around the first-comer's ground was 存在 pegged out, and the owners thereof 設立する plenty to encourage them to go on, or rich enough 見本／標本s to 令状 their trying to float their 地雷 in the eastern or the English markets.
That was what Morrison and Kirkham decided they must do with their 地雷. It was rich, no 疑問; they had got 権利 on the 暗礁, and it was very rich; every time they （機の）カム on it the gold showed thickly, but it was so hard as to be unworkable without more 機械／機構 than they could afford. They had been lucky in the nuggets they 選ぶd out at first, but to go any その上の without more money seemed impossible. And more money they had not got, but with so much gold in sight it せねばならない be 平易な enough to raise it.
They sat there at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する in their rude little hut, and the 有望な 十分な moon outside in the （疑いを）晴らす sky 軟化するd 負かす／撃墜する the 天然のまま ugliness of the （軍の）野営地，陣営; from the Grand Hotel a little way off （機の）カム the sound of singing, and a little nearer at 手渡す the sound of 発言する／表明するs talking softly in a foreign tongue, and now and then a discontented grunt from the camels （軍の）野営地，陣営d と一緒に their Afghan drivers just at the 支援する of the hut. They were 井戸／弁護士席 enough accustomed by now to the sight of a camel train with its old-world 後見人s; they ふさわしい this 砂漠 land. No horse could live here without 存在 fed, and who but a millionaire could afford to 料金d horses with chaff at a shilling a 続けざまに猛撃する?
"It's a beastly 穴を開ける," said Kirkham, with a sigh. "I wish I'd never left Victoria."
"The gold, man, the gold! Look at the yellow boys," and Morrison turned over the 見本／標本s on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する before him.
"Gold, yes, but what's the good of it to us when it keeps us sweating here in the 中央 of filth and stench and heat and every other abomination?"
"A little patience, Ned—a little more patience, and you'll see. All the same, we can't do any more without 機械／機構."
"And 機械／機構 we 港／避難所't got, and not a red cent to buy it with all our rich gold find," said Kirkham, 激しく.
"A 地雷 like this is as good as money any day, though," said Morrison, with 信用／信任. "Jenkins over at the pub there was talking to me only this morning. The people in the eastern 植民地s are mad about the 地雷s here, and he'd have no difficulty in putting a good 地雷 like ours on the Melbourne market. That would soon raise money enough for all the 機械／機構 we want."
"And where do we come in?" asked Kirkham.
"We'll keep a fourth or a sixth 株 for ourselves, of course. And if this 暗礁 is only as rich as it 約束s to be, that'll more than make millionaires of us both. What do you say, old man? There's nothing else for it, I'm thinking."
Kirkham got up and moved uneasily に向かって the door. It was phantom gold they had 設立する after all. There was the rich 暗礁 mocking them with its 約束 of fabulous wealth, and yet day by day with aching 武器 and 疲れた／うんざりした 支援するs they only managed to dolly out 十分な gold from the hard quartz to buy their daily tucker, the flour and tea and sugar and hard 堅い mutton or unsavoury tinned meat that went to （不足などを）補う the fare of the 普通の／平均（する） digger at "Sunset," as the 郡区 had come to be called.
There were some bloated millionaires in （軍の）野営地，陣営 who could afford such 高級なs such as sardines and salmon at seven shillings a tin, but they had struck it rich on a patch of alluvial half a mile to the eastward of Kirkham's Find, and the only patch of alluvial on the diggings. As a 支配する it seemed the 広大な／多数の／重要な 大多数 were in the same predicament as the first finders. There was plenty of gold 明らかに, but 準備／条項s were so high and the quartz so hard that they were only able to get 十分な to carry on day by day till some 企業連合（する） from the eastern 植民地s or from Europe should 供給する the money wherewith to work the （人命などを）奪う，主張するs.
"It's the hardest earned money I ever got," said Kirkham, thoughtfully, looking up at the velvety sky spangled with golden 星／主役にするs. "If I could only raise enough to buy a camel I'd go out prospecting for more alluvial. That's the stuff to 支払う／賃金."
"Go on a bike, man," 示唆するd Allan Morrison, who was busy きれいにする out the wheel socket that did 義務 for a dollypot; "go on a bike. But then you wouldn't know good alluvial when you saw it."
"And I couldn't manage a bike," sighed Kirkham. "It's all very 井戸／弁護士席 on the beaten 跡をつけるs, but it must be pretty 井戸／弁護士席 impossible once you get into rough country. These fellows only ride them where they know the country's pretty 平易な going. I've a good mind to chuck the whole thing and go 支援する to Victoria and go in for the 酪農場ing 商売／仕事. I see creameries and butter factories are the 最新の things over there. Makes one's mouth water to think of it, doesn't it?"
"It's your turn for bread and milk tomorrow, old man," laughed his cousin. "I see you're hankering after the flesh マリファナs."
"Condensed milk and the heels of the dampers," 不平（をいう）d Kirkham. "I've got to loathe this place. Hark to the 列／漕ぐ／騒動 they're kicking up at the pub over there."
"Jenkins has 輸入するd a fourth-手渡す billiard （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する," said Morrison, "that's the attraction. Oh yes, and they're raffling a camel too."
"I heard," said Kirkham, "that Disney was going to raffle 'Larl.' She's a rare good camel, only a 続けざまに猛撃する a member; I'd go in for her myself if I hadn't always such beastly bad luck, that if I did 勝利，勝つ her she'd probably die on my 手渡すs."
Morrison laughed.
"You are 負かす／撃墜する on your luck, old man. There's many a man would be glad to stand in your shoes, with half a rich gold 地雷 at his 処分. Come on, old chap, suppose we take a ticket or two. We aren't so stony yet that we can't afford a little recreation."
"I don't feel up to that stinking, reeking 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 tonight," 反対するd Kirkham.
"Come on, old man," said Morrison, "any distraction will be good for you. We can't afford to have the 上級の partner getting morbid in this way. Let's look at the 基金s," and he drew a chamois leather 捕らえる、獲得する out of his breeches pocket, and peered in it at the gold-dust it 含む／封じ込めるd.
"Yes, it'll run it," he said; "good solid gold dust, 価値（がある） L3 15s an ounce if it's 価値（がある） a penny. The Union Bank opens a 支店 tomorrow, and then I 推定する／予想する we'll get a fairer price for our gold."
He put the 捕らえる、獲得する into his pocket, and then putting his 手渡す on his cousin's shoulder, 公正に／かなり 軍隊d him along in the direction of the Kirkham Grand Hotel.
Half the Kirkham Grand was of canvas, and 存在 公正に／かなり 井戸／弁護士席 lighted with kerosene lamps, the 影をつくる／尾行するs on the 塀で囲むs from outside showed a 殺到するing, 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするing 集まり of 長，率いるs distorted into all imaginable 形態／調整s, with here and there an arm above the 集まり frantically waving, as if to call attention to its owner's wants, while just at the 辛勝する／優位 of the テント, a 影をつくる／尾行する much higher than the 残り／休憩（する） showed that some one was raised up on a box or （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する high above the others.
"That's that little beast, Herman," said Kirkham. "I know the curly brim of his hat."
"He's running the raffle, I 推定する／予想する? Then we're sure of two things. One is that Isaac Herman will not lose by the 処理／取引, and the other is that there'll be an almighty big 列／漕ぐ／騒動 before it's all over."
They were in the （人が）群がる at the door now 肘ing their way in, through a motley 乗組員 made up of 見本／標本s, it seemed, from every nation under the sun, wedged tightly together, one reeking 集まり of odoriferous humanity. The kerosene lamps were 直す／買収する，八百長をするd for safety against the corrugated アイロンをかける 塀で囲む that separated the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 from the 残り／休憩（する） of the house and threw a yellow smoky light over the scene, and between them hung a large 掲示, 飛行機で行く-stained and dirty, 耐えるing this legend in big 黒人／ボイコット letters:—
"To 信用 is to 破産した／（警察が）手入れする, To 破産した／（警察が）手入れする is Hell. No 信用, no 破産した／（警察が）手入れする, No 破産した／（警察が）手入れする, No Hell. Our only 信用 is in God, Everybody else MUST PAY CASH."
This was Jenkins' creed and he がまんするd by it, and was popularly supposed to be making his pile in consequence. Tonight the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 反対する had been 押し進めるd into one corner to give plenty of space, and as it was hardly high enough, two brandy 事例／患者s were placed on one end of it, and on them, high above the swaying （人が）群がる, was perched the little Jew whom Allan Morrison had 反対するd to. In one 手渡す he held a long （土地などの）細長い一片 of paper which he waved 一連の会議、交渉／完成する his 長，率いる while he 強調d his 発言／述べるs by dabbing in the 空気／公表する with a long pencil, and his tongue never 中止するd for a 選び出す／独身 moment.
"Now, gentlemen, gentlemen," he kept 説, with a decided Hebraic twang in his 発言する／表明する, "make room there, gentlemen. Fair play's a jewel, and there's gentlemen at the 支援する wanting to come in. Make room, make room. Them as has 記録，記録的な／記録するd their 指名するs might pass out. Careful 記録，記録的な／記録する will be kept. The 製図／抽選 will come off just as soon as ever the hundred members are filled in, and the 勝利者 will be 通知するd at once. There's no necessity, gentlemen, for you to （人が）群がる here. Drinks will be 手渡すd through the kitchen window to all who 支払う／賃金 first. And we want room here for those who can't get in. Will you move, gentlemen? I have your 指名するs here," and he mopped his moist forehead with the 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）; "on my honour, I have."
Somehow this didn't seem やめる to 安心させる the company as it せねばならない have done. There were one or two laughs that were the 逆転する of complimentary. The men good-humouredly （人が）群がるd themselves a little closer together, but though many tried to get in, no one made the least 成果／努力 to get out, and the heat and the reek grew more unbearable. It was a hot night outside; inside, as Allan Morrison 発言／述べるd to his cousin, the usual sheet of brown paper that separated the Kirkham Grand from the infernal 地域s had been 除去するd for the evening. There was nothing picturesque about the （人が）群がる, as a 支配する there is nothing picturesque about the ordinary digger, and these all were 覆う？ alike, in grimy flannel shirts and still grimier moleskin breeches, the only difference 存在 that the dust which coated every man impartially was いつかs red, いつかs white, and いつかs yellow, just によれば the nature of the ground in which he was working; if he was not working at all he was likely to be red, for that colour decidedly predominated in the unmade streets of Sunset, and no man there was such a millionaire as to be able to indulge in a good square wash more than once a fortnight.
"It's lucky," murmured Morrison, as they moved slowly through the （人が）群がる に向かって the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 反対する and the little Jew, "that mirrors are 不十分な in this part of the world. Some of us, I reckon, would receive a shock if we could see ourselves."
"To say nothing of the girl we left behind us," laughed the man next him, whom popular opinion regarded as the son of an earl, but who was known on the （軍の）野営地，陣営 as Long-legged Larry. "Look at the Afghans over there. 'Pon my word, they look so eminently respectable it makes me feel a blackguard to be in the same room with them."
"Look at the Chinamen over there then," 示唆するd Morrison, "that'll 回復する your self-尊敬（する）・点. They're ten times dirtier and more dilapidated than we are."
"But the carrying 貿易（する）'s the thing," 不平（をいう）d the scion of the noble house. "Look at those Afghan chaps, neat and clean, not to say picturesque-looking, they put all us fellows to shame. They make a マリファナ of money out of the carrying 貿易（する）."
"Are you thinking of going in for it?" asked Morrison. "Now's your chance. Larl's a very good camel, and the only thing bad about her is her owner. A 続けざまに猛撃する's 価値（がある） of gold-dust will give you a chance."
"My dear chap, why don't you ask me for a chunk of ice from the 最高の，を越す of the South 政治家, or some little trifle of that sort? Gold? Bless you, I'm stony. I 借りがある two weeks' tucker at the 蓄える／店, and next week, as far as I can see, my necessities will 強要する me to part with my only spare pair of breeches to keep going."
"Gentlemen, gentlemen," cried the little Jew again, "make room there, make room there—only five tickets now left. Will any gentleman take the lot and so get a twentieth chance in this magnificent camel, the very best between here and Coolgardie. Ask my friend, Faiz Mahommed, there, if what I say is not true. He hasn't one like it の中で his lot. Have you, now?"
The Afghan, whom Larry had 特記する／引用するd as 存在 so superior to the 残り／休憩（する） of the company, smiled faintly, and the Jew went on: "Only five more tickets, gentlemen; only five more and the camel will be drawn for. Such a chance was never before 申し込む／申し出d to the gentlemen on this （軍の）野営地，陣営. The best camel in Western Australia for one 続けざまに猛撃する. Only five more tickets. Come, gentlemen, let's get the 製図／抽選 over before midnight."
"The old cheat," whispered Larry, "I've counted one hundred and twenty 指名するs, if I've counted one."
"I'll have a go in," said Morrison. "Shall we go 株, Ned, old man, as usual?"
Kirkham nodded, and Allan Morrison 肘d his way up to the 反対する, and the Jew carefully 重さを計るd out a 続けざまに猛撃する's 価値（がある） of gold dust and wrote his 指名する on the long 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）.
"And that's about all the satisfaction we'll get out of it," 示唆するd Kirkham, as he made his way 支援する to his 味方する, while the Jew went on shouting, exhorting people to come 今後 and take the four last tickets.
At last he 発表するd his 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） 十分な, and 追加するd: "The 製図／抽選 will now take place. Gentlemen, you may now order drinks; they will be 手渡すd you through the kitchen window, while I 涙／ほころび up the paper."
"Read us out the 指名するs first," 示唆するd Long-legged Larry, leaning 支援する against the corrugated アイロンをかける partition and 押し進めるing his 手渡すs 深く，強烈に into the pockets of his last pair of breeches. "It doesn't 事柄 to me the wink of an 注目する，もくろむ," he said to Kirkham; "but this thing is beastly dull, and that's bound to make things lively."
"Yes, read 'em out; read 'em out," （機の）カム from several parts of the room, and as the Jew did not at once 従う, the トンs became more 脅すing.
"Will you read them out?"
"It'll end in a 解放する／自由な fight if there's anything wrong," 示唆するd Kirkham.
"All 権利," said the Irishman, "anything to break the monotony. I'm just spoiling for a fight."
"Gentlemen," said the man on the brandy boxes, "you see these two pannikins?" Jenkins, the proprietor of the hotel, jumped on the 反対する and waved two tin pannikins over his 長，率いる. "I will now 倍の up ninety-nine （土地などの）細長い一片s of blank paper into little squares, and one piece of paper on which is written, 'Prize,' and put them into one pannikin, and into the other I will put your 指名するs, all 倍のd up, and two of you gentlemen will be 任命するd to draw them out—first out of the pannikin with the prize, and then out of the one with the 指名するs. Could anything be fairer than that?"
"Read us out the 指名するs," growled a man struggling to get inside the doorway.
"Very 井戸／弁護士席, gentlemen, very 井戸／弁護士席; anything to 強いる." For the growling of the （人が）群がる began to be 脅すing, and he began to read slowly: "Ludlow Manners, Snapping Pete—"
"That may be on his 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） now," interrupted Long-legged Larry, "but it wasn't when last I looked at it. It was 長，率いるd Lawrence Herman and James Jenkins. I don't think either Herman or Jenkins せねばならない be in it."
"You're not in it yourself," said the Jew, 怒って. "What 権利 have you to interrupt? The other gentlemen are 満足させるd."
"Oh, are they?" said a strapping young fellow, springing on to the 反対する. "Just you を引き渡す that 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）, Moses, and we'll manage this little 事件／事情／状勢 ourselves."
But the Jew, very unwisely, if all was 権利, jumped to his feet and put the paper 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） behind him, calling wildly on the people around to 保護する him from 暴力／激しさ.
Most of the men 現在の laughed, and his 加害者 good-humouredly took him by the collar of his shirt and shook him much as a friendly big dog shakes the yapping toy terrier that has been snapping at his heels, just to 警告する him that he had better mend his ways.
But the Jew did not look at it in that light. He 抗議するd 熱心に, his 発言する／表明する rising to a 叫び声をあげる; he gesticulated and clawed with his long, lean 手渡すs at his captor's 武器, he implored wildly, incoherently the onlookers to see fair play. But the onlookers were only amused, and one 示唆するd cheerfully—
"手渡す along the 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）, now, sonny," and reaching up a brawny 握りこぶし would have taken it from its owner.
But Herman was too quick for him. Whether there really was anything wrong with the 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）, or whether he was only angry at 存在 干渉するd with and 決定するd to be 復讐d, it was impossible to say; but with one 決定するd 成果／努力 he wrenched himself from his 加害者's しっかり掴む, and before any one 完全に understood what he was going to do, he was 持つ／拘留するing the light paper over the chimney of the kerosene lamp. It caught in a moment, and, 関わりなく consequences, the little man waved it like a 炎ing 旗，新聞一面トップの大見出し／大々的に報道する over his 長，率いる.
His 勝利 was momentary though. With one howl of 激怒（する） the （人が）群がる as one man realised that the only 記録，記録的な／記録する of the money, or money's 同等（の）, a hundred or more of them had paid over to Herman was gone. Some one behind cried out that it was a put up 職業, and the next minute the 反対する was 急ぐd by those nearest. 負かす／撃墜する （機の）カム the brandy boxes that had served as a rostrum, and the Jew was the centre of a swaying （人が）群がる, each man of which was bent upon 適用するing his 握りこぶし to the unlucky man's nose.
Jenkins, the gentleman who owned the 設立, put his 長，率いる through the 開始 that had been referred to as the kitchen window whence drinks would be 手渡すd, and called out—
"Gentlemen, gentlemen, it'll be all 権利. Gentlemen, take things coolly," and then, as the swaying 集まり on the 反対する （機の）カム の近くに against the 塀で囲む, a new danger struck him, and he cried 真面目に. "Take care of the lamps."
He might 同様に have spoken to the 勝利，勝つd. The men on the outside 押し進めるd hard in an endeavour to get at the 反対する of their wrath; those inside 押し進めるd out because it was getting a little too hot to be pleasant, and the next sway of the 集まり brought them 権利 up against the corrugated アイロンをかける 塀で囲む, and 負かす／撃墜する （機の）カム the two lamps on 最高の，を越す of them. Then was 混乱 worse confounded. There was not, luckily, much oil in the lamps, but what there was was in 炎上s and was 分配するd impartially over the people 一連の会議、交渉／完成する. The （人が）群がる lost its 長，率いる, if it had ever 所有するd one, and with one （許可，名誉などを）与える made for the door. Wedged together as they were, they soon put out their 燃やすing 着せる／賦与するs. But it was dark now and the men were no longer good-humoured. They were a little afraid they might not be 安全な from 解雇する／砲火／射撃; many were smarting from 燃やすs, and every one now 存在 bruised and trampled by his 隣人. Some shouted to go this way, some that, and all swore loud and 深い.
"I say, old man," said Allan Morrison, "the sooner we're out of this the better."
But it was all very 井戸／弁護士席 to wish to get out; to do it was やめる another thing, with a 集まり of 殺到するing humanity 圧力（をかける）ing 一連の会議、交渉／完成する on every 味方する, kicking, fighting, 断言するing, every man for himself, knowing little, caring いっそう少なく, how he 傷つける his 隣人. There was a sharp 叫び声をあげる as some Chinaman went 負かす／撃墜する underfoot, and then a howl of terror and 激怒（する）.
"Look out, boys; the Chinks are using knives!"
The 誓いs that went up from the （人が）群がる now had a （犯罪の）一味 of 恐れる in them, for no man likes to be stabbed in the dark. Morrison and Kirkham stood together, and the Irishman kept の近くに to them, though there was not a very jubilant （犯罪の）一味 in his 発言する／表明する as he 示唆するd—
"Let's make for the 味方する of the テント, boys, and 削減（する） our way out. It's our only chance. The man who's 負かす／撃墜する'll be trampled to death."
It was easier said than done. The （人が）群がる could not （不足などを）補う its mind for more than a second at a time which way it 手配中の，お尋ね者 to move; first it 押し進めるd one way and then another, and 悪口を言う／悪態s rose loud and 深い in the 空気／公表する. However, Kirkham and Morrison kept together, the Irishman 支援するd them up on one 味方する, and some one else whose 発言する／表明する Morrison 認めるd as that of Faiz Mohammed, the Afghan, appeared on the other, and the four managed to stand their ground and 徐々に approached the 味方する of the テント. They felt the canvas bulge out with their 負わせる before any one of them could get space enough to use his knife. Some one was 負かす／撃墜する, struggling for dear life behind them, and Kirkham cried out that he was stabbed as he felt a sharp 苦痛 in his 脚. Then above the 誓いs of the （人が）群がる they heard the sound of tramping feet outside, and the sound of the 視察官's 発言する／表明する 需要・要求するing 入り口 in the Queen's 指名する.
The Irishman, who was leaning against the 塀で囲む, d—d that 視察官's 注目する，もくろむs cheerfully.
"It's out we're fighting to get ourselves!" he shouted. "There isn't room for so much as a half-grown flea more in here. Can't you 削減（する） the canvas, you fool, and be d—d to you?"
His not very polite hint was taken. A long slit was 敏速に 削減（する） in the 塀で囲む of Mr Jenkins's Grand Hotel. Larry was the first man who 宙返り／暴落するd through it, 権利 into the 武器 of the police, who 敏速に 逮捕（する）d him for creating a 騒動 in a public place, and then the 残り／休憩（する） of the （人が）群がる （機の）カム 宙返り／暴落するing through so 急速な／放蕩な that to 逮捕（する） one would have entailed 逮捕（する）ing of the lot. They were 静かな enough as the fresh 空気／公表する struck their 直面するs, and the main 反対する of every one was to get away as 静かに as possible. There had been a 列／漕ぐ／騒動 certainly, but each man was sure he was more sinned against than sinning. The real 犯人s were Jenkins and the little Jew. Morrison and Kirkham fell out somehow, and it seemed to Kirkham that the 大多数 of the （人が）群がる fell over him. Then at last his cousin dragged him on one 味方する, and the two sat 負かす／撃墜する ruefully to 検査／視察する 損害賠償金.
"I've lost a lot of 血," said Kirkham, faintly; "my trousers are soaked and my boot's 十分な."
"井戸／弁護士席, you are an unlucky beggar," said Morrison. "持つ／拘留する on, and I'll get the little doctor to look at you."
"I'll go 支援する to Victoria just as soon as ever I'm equal to it," sighed Kirkham, and 宙返り／暴落するd off the 石／投石する insensible, just as an Irish policeman （機の）カム along and 逮捕（する）d the pair "for 存在 関心d in the 騒動 at the Grand Hotel."
A land of hops and poppy-mingled corn,
Little about it stirring save a brook!
A sleepy land—
—TENNYSON.
"Phoebe!"
"井戸／弁護士席?"
"I want to speak to you."
"井戸／弁護士席, then, Lydia, you must come in here. You know 井戸／弁護士席 enough I'm busy. I must introduce those three new Queensland queens tonight, and I want to 始める，決める those two clucking 女／おっせかい屋s. Mrs Allan has sent me some pure-bred Pekin duck eggs."
"Phoebe, you're always fussing over something or other."
"Oh, Lyd, dear, could I have got on if I hadn't? When I （機の）カム here four years ago you wouldn't believe what a desolate, 哀れな sort of place this little house was, and now look at it."
It was a moonlight night in August, soft and warm for the season of the year, which is 一般に blustery 負かす／撃墜する on the south coast, but tonight the moon was at the 十分な, and just the softest of warm north 勝利，勝つd stirred the 空気／公表する. The two young women stood in the garden looking up at the creeper-covered little cottage, and the scent of violets and wallflowers and jonquils and daffodils （機の）カム wafted to their nostrils. The cheerful firelight flickered on the curtained windows, and through the open doorway showed the cosy little room which now was more sitting-room than kitchen. It looked like a home, and a comfortable home too.
Phoebe looked at it 静かに and proudly. The ivy geranium that covered all the 塀で囲むs was just coming into bloom—in November it would be one glory of pink and red blossom—and the banksia rose that climbed over the arched porch at the door was putting out a bud here and there. This was her home, and she had made it herself. She was a proud and happy woman, and the younger sister, with a 急ぐ-woven basket of eggs on her arm, seemed to divine her thoughts.
"Phoebe, you're very proud of your home."
"井戸／弁護士席, now, Lydia, wouldn't you be if you were me? If you only knew what a place this was when first I （機の）カム here, and you know what it was like when first you saw it, and it had 大いに 改善するd in a year's time."
"Nan used to come out and see us and say it was an awful 穴を開ける, and she didn't know how you managed to put up with it, and then at other times she used to wish she wasn't married so she could join you."
"Poor Nan!" sighed Phoebe; "I never could have done it if it hadn't been for her and Joe. They were good to me."
"It's 'Poor Joe!' I think," laughed the younger girl. "Nan's so 甘い and good-tempered and charming, and yet she always manages to lead her poor husband such an awful life. They're not a bit ふさわしい to each other, you know. I don't believe they've got an idea in ありふれた."
"They're both awfully fond of the children," said Phoebe, with a sigh. After five years Nancy's unsatisfactory marriage still continued to trouble her.
"Joe せねばならない have married you," said Lydia, thoughtfully. "We used to say so when we were children, and I think so still."
"Oh, no," said Phoebe; "I'm very fond of Joe, and I do 高く評価する／（相場などが）上がる his good 質s. Really I don't believe I've ever been such 広大な／多数の／重要な friends with any man, but I wouldn't have liked to marry him. You せねばならない be in love with a man to marry him. But Joe's been very good to me. I don't know what I would have done without him."
"He says it's because you're a clever woman you've 後継するd."
"He lent me L50. Clever or not, I couldn't have done anything without that."
"How did you do it, Phoebe?"
"Not by wasting my time as we are doing now. Come along and 始める，決める this 女／おっせかい屋. I put a box in the cow byre for her this morning."
"When did you first begin to 後継する, Phoebe?" asked her sister, as they put the 女／おっせかい屋 on her eggs in a box and covered her over with a 解雇（する）. "Didn't you ever feel as if it was hopeless?"
"Oh, often. The first three months I was so lonely and wretched and poor I'd have given up any day if anything else had 申し込む／申し出d, but there was nothing else, you know, unless I'd gone home, and I couldn't do that."
"You'd have been the family drudge," said Lydia. "I always think we were a bit hard on you."
"Poor mother," sighed Phoebe. "It seemed such a shame to leave her."
"It was the 権利 thing," said her younger sister, emphatically. "Look at you now. How many fowls do you sell a week?"
"Ten pairs," said Phoebe. "You see, I sell 定期的に to all the 主要な／長／主犯 hotels in the town. I remember the first pair of ducks I sold to the Western Hotel. I thought my fortune was made, and then I had a fit of the worst sort of blues when I thought I'd never, never be able to keep up a 正規の／正選手 供給（する）. But I 設立する it wasn't so hard, after all. The 広大な／多数の／重要な thing is to look after your fowls yourself. And the creamery coming so の近くに was a godsend to me. Skim milk at twopence for ten gallons, and what could you have better than milk and potatoes to fatten fowls on? And I only 支払う／賃金 sixpence a week to the man for fetching it here. It's all in his way, you see."
"And the bees?" said Lydia.
"Oh, the bees are my 主要な支え, of course. It was my first 広大な／多数の／重要な success when I discovered, after I had struggled on for seven 疲れた／うんざりした months, that I had thirty-two 蜂の巣s to start next season with, and yet the season was so good I took 810 lbs of honey. I sold it at 4d a 続けざまに猛撃する then, I remember, and made L11 （疑いを）晴らす out of it. That did 元気づける me up; I knew I should get on then. I couldn't get that for it now."
"But then you have so many more 蜂の巣s?"
Phoebe laughed happily.
"I've got about ninety now, and if I only get twopence a 続けざまに猛撃する for my honey that means about L25. Really, Lydia, I was 追加するing up my accounts the other day, and what with bees and poultry and milk and eggs, I make about L80 a year. I'm going to 支払う／賃金 off the last instalment of my 負債 to Joe next month, and then I shall be やめる （疑いを）晴らす."
"And you only had an acre of land to start with?"
"That didn't last long. As soon as the creamery started I rented the ten-acre paddock from Mr Mackenzie and went in for a cow, and many anxious nights I spent wondering if I'd ever be able to make the rent. I'm sure there せねばならない be grey hairs and wrinkles on my 直面する."
"There aren't, then. You look remarkably 井戸／弁護士席 and good-looking. But, Phoebe, you are a good-looking woman, you know; no one would ever take you for thirty. Do you always ーするつもりである to live like a 修道女, or do you ever ーするつもりである to get married?"
Phoebe blushed in the moonlight. The 女／おっせかい屋s were 始める，決める now, and Lydia was 持つ／拘留するing the smoker while her sister introduced the new queens.
"Marry? I'm not in the least likely to marry. I must be a 正規の／正選手 country bumpkin by now, and I'm thirty."
"井戸／弁護士席," said Lydia, wonderingly, as Nancy had done four years ago,
"I don't know how it is, but you really are good-looking, and I used to think you were ugly when I was a little girl. Wouldn't you like to be married?"
"There, now that's done we can spend the 残り／休憩（する） of our evening with 静かな minds over your new frock. Lydia, dear, when I started out on my own account I decided I'd try and not think of the nice things that were 完全に out of my reach, only work for those I could get, and be as glad as possible when I got them. It's a little hard at first, but on the whole it has answered."
"It's made you good-looking," said the younger girl, thoughtfully.
"Thank you. Come along in now, like a good girl. What was it you 手配中の，お尋ね者 to tell me when you （機の）カム out?"
"Only," hesitated Lydia, and Phoebe noticed with surprise a hot blush creep up her sister's 直面する, "only—that poor Mrs Simpson is ill again, and I 約束d, if you didn't mind, to 運動 her milk to the factory for her tomorrow."
"Why can't her little boy do it for her?" asked Phoebe.
"Poor little chap, you know he's 傷つける his 膝 and the doctor won't let him get up, and the only person to look after both of them is little Polly, who isn't ten years old yet."
"You seem to know a good 取引，協定 about the Simpsons," said Phoebe, suspiciously. "I've been here over four years, and I know いっそう少なく about them than you do in as many weeks."
"井戸／弁護士席, of course," hesitated Lydia, "you've always been so busy about your own 事件／事情／状勢s you 港／避難所't had time to think about your 隣人s'."
"Neither will you if you want to get on. Lydia, dear, I'm sorry, but if you join me it means hard work. You see, we must always keep ahead of our 支出 and have something to put by, because we don't want to be as poor as this all our lives."
"There's plenty of time."
"Yes, for you, and I do hope you'll have good times yet; but it won't do, Lydia, to mix ourselves up and be too intimate with the people about."
"Phoebe"—Lydia was on the 瀬戸際 of 涙／ほころびs, her sister saw with surprise—"you're as bad as mother. I was sure you'd think all that sort of thing rot. I'm sure you've said often enough that it is all foolishness, and that you didn't want to be any better than other women who sold honey and fowls. You used to say you just hated the word 'lady.'"
Phoebe's chickens were coming home to roost, and she didn't half like it. It was all very 井戸／弁護士席 for her to preach democratic doctrines; she didn't やめる like to see her young sister putting them into practice. She was sure of herself, but would a young girl like Lydia know where to draw the line?
"I wouldn't like you to get too intimate with the women 一連の会議、交渉／完成する," she said, anxiously. "I know all their good 質s, but, Lydia, you must see for yourself there's a 欠如（する） of refinement—of—of—. If you want to be a lady"—Phoebe was as 厳しい as her mother "you must not be too intimate with the people about."
"It couldn't do any 害（を与える） to 運動 poor Mrs Simpson's milk to the factory," said Lydia, a trifle sullenly. "Besides, I 約束d."
"約束d!" echoed her sister in surprise. "When did you 約束? Who on earth did you 約束?"
Lydia looked 負かす／撃墜する in 混乱 and fingered the corner of her apron irresolutely.
"I 約束d Jack Fletcher," she blurted out at last defiantly.
"Jack Fletcher!" Oh, this was dreadful!
"Come inside, Lydia," said Phoebe 静かに, "and we can talk it over."
Lydia laid 負かす／撃墜する her basket on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, and, 製図／抽選 a 議長，司会を務める up to the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, opened her workbox and began to sew furiously.
"Really, Phoebe," she said, as she watched her sister 選ぶ up the basket she had thrown 負かす／撃墜する and hang it up against the 塀で囲む, "it's a 広大な／多数の／重要な fuss all about nothing. I met Mr Fletcher at the 蓄える／店 this afternoon, and he was speaking about his sister, 説 how unlucky it was she was so 不正に off and so delicate, and he didn't know how she would get her milk to the factory tomorrow, so of course I said it wouldn't be a bit of trouble for me to 運動 it there. I knew you'd done it several times, so I didn't think you'd mind me doing it. Where is the difference?"
"Why can't Mr Fletcher 運動 his own sister's milk to the factory?" asked Phoebe, not unnaturally.
"Oh, Phoebe," said Lydia, 熱望して, "so he would. He was coming over himself to do it, but it's dreadfully out of his way, and they're all so busy ploughing on the farm."
"You seem to know a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 about Mr Fletcher. I didn't even know you knew him."
"I have seen him at the 蓄える／店," said Lydia, uneasily. Phoebe made a mental 公式文書，認める that she would order her own 蓄える／店s for the 未来. "And I told you how 肉親，親類d he was the day I met the 暴徒 of wild cattle and was 脅すd to death."
"And so you 約束d to look after his sister for him?"
"Yes," said Lydia, defiantly.
And that evening Lydia's dress was finished in silence.
Next morning the day broke 有望な and sunny, but Lydia did not take Mrs Simpson's milk to the factory. Phoebe hurried through her work, and telling her sister she would do it herself, as she felt responsible to their mother for her good behaviour, and she was やめる sure that mother would not be pleased if she heard of her 運動ing milk cans to the factory, she went 負かす／撃墜する to the sick woman's, harnessed up her tumbledown cart, and 始める，決める off.
It was a 有望な, warm morning, and the glowing 日光 was rich in its 約束 of summer. The luscious grass was 膝-深い in the paddocks, the little nameless birds of the bush were twittering in every shrub, the jackasses were making merry in the trees, and the bold 黒人／ボイコット and white magpies were undisturbedly 追跡（する）ing for worms in the moist earth の近くに by the road as she passed. But she did not see the glories of the spring this morning. She could not help thinking of the 失望 on Lydia's 直面する when she told her to make the butter and 料金d the sitting 女／おっせかい屋s, and that she—Phoebe—would see about Mrs Simpson's milk. The 失望 was so out of all 割合. It couldn't be any 楽しみ to 運動 this 宙返り／暴落する-負かす／撃墜する old cart, even though the morning was perfect. What could it be? And then Lydia's 直面する and 発言する／表明する as she said "Jack Fletcher" （機の）カム up uneasily before her mind's 注目する，もくろむ. Why should Lydia blush and stammer when she について言及するd one of the 農業者s of the 地区, and why, oh why, should she call him by his Christian 指名する in a way that seemed to intimate a 広大な／多数の／重要な degree of familiarity between them—between Lydia and a working 農業者, a man whom she had always put upon the same level as her first friend, Wilson, who had carted out all her scanty 所持品 four years ago, and had been her friend ever since, faithfully fetching and carrying for her and taking her fowls 定期的に into town once a week in his empty cart. But she never spoke of him as "Ned Wilson" in the トン that Lydia had used. This Fletcher, this 農業者 man, せねばならない be to Lydia just as the man she bought 蓄える／店s from—to be intimate with him, to call him Jack Fletcher when she spoke of him, what could she be thinking of? She had thought this sister so very different from Nancy, she had thought she would not hanker after men and men's society, but would be content with the dull, monotonous 一連の会議、交渉／完成する that made up her own life, brightened by the thought that some day they would have a little money and be やめる 独立した・無所属. She had thought Lydia more like herself; she would never have dared ask her to 株 her life if she had not. Nancy had been bad enough, but there had always been a man of some sort dangling after her, but they had been men of her own 階級 in life, even if they had been most ineligible; never a man like this 農業者, the brother of the woman who lived 負かす／撃墜する the road, a dirty slattern, with a house like a pigsty. She did not know this Fletcher man very 井戸／弁護士席 herself, but his slatterly relations were enough to stamp him.
"I would not," thought Phoebe indignantly to herself, "have that Mrs Simpson into my house even as a charwoman."
And it was this woman's brother that Lydia had blushed and bridled about, as if she had 設立する him very charming. Lydia, plain Lydia, whom she had thought so like herself there was no chance of her marrying, and so she had brought her here to save her from a dreary life that led to nothing, and here she was "carrying on" with one of the 農業者s 一連の会議、交渉／完成する. And what was she to say to her mother if anything （機の）カム of it? This was not a 満足な question, and 捜し出すing for an answer only made her feel helpless and angry, and she whipped up the old grey horse into a trot and turned the corner はっきりと に向かって the factory, and then saw that another cart 十分な of milk cans was 存在 driven in her direction by a young man somewhat more smartly got up than the generality of those who （機の）カム to the factory at this hour of the morning. She saw a 黒人／ボイコット slouch hat waved evidently to her, and then caught a glimpse of a large sky-blue necktie and an 早期に red carnation in the button-穴を開ける of his tweed coat, before she realised that this was the man who was troubling her, this was Jack Fletcher.
And when he （機の）カム up and saw her 直面する under the sun bonnet instead of the one he had evidently 推定する／予想するd, it was most 確かな that he was disappointed.
"It's very good of you, 行方不明になる Marsden," he said, clumsily, and Phoebe said to herself crossly '明言する／公表する School twang,' "to bring my poor sister's milk. I drove up to see if I can help you."
"No, thank you," said Phoebe, coldly. "I'll just get my cans emptied and 運動 home; I'm busy this morning."
"Get into line, then," he said. "They're very slow this morning. There's a new 経営者／支配人, and he's short 手渡すd."
There was a goodly array 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the factory of carts, buggies, and all manner of 乗り物s that could by any 可能性 be made to 持つ／拘留する a 向こうずねing milk can, and such a motley 乗組員 of drivers—men, mostly old men past other work, women and children—all chattering good-naturedly together as they waited their turn. Butter was up a penny a 続けざまに猛撃する, there had been plenty of rain, the season 約束d 井戸／弁護士席, and the 有望な 日光 追加するd to this put every one, even the tiny children, that their mothers had brought because they were too small to be left behind, in good spirits. Here all the news of the 地区 was 小売d, here all the gossip, and here, too, all the 法廷，裁判所ing was done. At least the gossips considered the courtship had 前進するd a 広大な／多数の／重要な 行う／開催する／段階 when the young man brought his milk and met the young woman who brought hers 早期に in the morning. As a 支配する men had other and more important 義務s than 運動ing the milk to the factory, and Phoebe's heart sank as she 公式文書，認めるd the significance of the 調印する.
She waited in silence まっただ中に all the cheerful bustle and chatter, trying to work out what would be the end of it all, and then an old Irishwoman in a little cart beside her lent over and caught 持つ／拘留する of the skirt of her sunbonnet.
"Ah, begorra, but it's a spoil sport ye are, 行方不明になる Marsden! And him coming away from his ploughing at this time in the mornin', all for the sake of a glimpse of her purty 直面する."
That did not make Phoebe feel any more 甘い tempered, and it is to be 恐れるd she would not have answered やめる amiably had she been called upon to answer at all, but luckily a small girl child, who had evidently been sent to the factory with the family milk, drawn in a small go-cart by a 少しのd of a pony, seeing the Irish lady 占領するd in conversation, took the 適切な時期 to make a sudden dash and get ahead of her in the line. But however much Mrs O'Grady might like a gossip, she was not going to be done out of her just turn.
"An' me wid all the childer waitin' for me at home," said she. "Out 'av the way, ye little snipe," and she bent 負かす／撃墜する from her place of vantage in her own cart and 解除するd the small girl out of hers by the 支援する of her dress, setting her 負かす／撃墜する, 叫び声をあげるing at the 最高の，を越す of her 発言する／表明する, on the other 味方する of the line from her own 乗り物; then she proceeded to 辛勝する／優位 that cart out, and triumphantly took her own place again, while the 追い出すd girl, sniffling and 公約するing vengeance between her sobs, had to go 支援する to the end of the line.
Mrs O'Grady was so 勝利を得た she forgot to 新たにする the conversation, and Phoebe was left in peace, till ten minutes later she 設立する herself slowly 運動ing the old white horse underneath the 壇・綱領・公約, whence hung a chain and hook to hitch her cans on to. She was still troubled and anxious about Lydia, and she bungled somewhat with the chain. Then the 発言する／表明する above startled her. It was a familiar 発言する／表明する with a 公式文書，認める of refinement in it she had not heard for some time, an English 発言する／表明する that told of public school and college training, but it spoke very impatiently for all that.
"Now then, now then," it said, "my girl, what are you thinking of? I can't かもしれない 運ぶ／漁獲高 them up hitched on that way; it'll never 持つ／拘留する. Make haste, now, we're late as it is this morning."
She didn't make haste. In her surprise she dropped the hook and stood upright in her cart, her 直面する turned up に向かって the 穴を開ける in the 床に打ち倒す, whence （機の）カム that familiar 発言する／表明する. Surely she had heard it often enough in the old days at home. She looked up, and a pair of familiar dark 注目する，もくろむs, and a very unfamiliar 耐えるd, met her gaze. Who could it be?
"Now then, do look alive. Do you think I can stop here all day," went on the man above impatiently, and then suddenly his トン changed, "Why, good Lord, surely it can't be."
"Ned Kirkham!" cried Phoebe. "Impossible!"
>At length I saw a lady within call
Stiller than chisell'd marble, standing there;
A daughter of the gods, divinely tall,
And most divinely fair.
—>TENNYSON.
Ned looked 負かす／撃墜する from his vantage point and saw a 直面する, a handsome 直面する he called it, でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れるd in a pink sunbonnet, dark 注目する，もくろむs 始める，決める rather 深く，強烈に in the 長，率いる, dark hair growing low 負かす／撃墜する on the forehead, cheeks glowing with health, and a large mouth, parted in a welcoming smile, and showing a 列／漕ぐ／騒動 of perfect milk-white teeth. Phoebe Marsden? Could this handsome woman かもしれない be Phoebe Marsden, whom he remembered to have thought plain and 肉親，親類d, but somewhat uninteresting, a sort of amiable 年上の sister, who made a nice setting for his dainty little lady-love. And then he thought of Nancy again for the first time for many a long month, and then looked 負かす／撃墜する at the smiling 直面する below, and knew in a flash that no man was ever so 完全に cured as he.
"行方不明になる Marsden," he said in a moment, when he had 回復するd from his astonishment, "who'd ever have thought of 会合 you here? I—"
"I'm very glad to see you indeed," she said cordially. "But, oh, there are such a lot of milk cans waiting behind me."
"Yes, of course, I mustn't talk now. Hitch yours on; that's 権利. What did you say? Mrs Simpson?" and there （機の）カム into his トンs just a faint trace of 失望, for he had admired the 直面する that had looked up to him from the shabby cart, and even though a man does not want to marry a good-looking woman himself, a third party, in the 形態／調整 of a husband, is いつかs apt to 複雑にする friendly relations with her.
"Oh, I'm not Mrs Simpson," said Phoebe, smiling as she saw his mistake; "it's Mrs Simpson's milk. That's all. When will you be done? I'd wait a little, and we could have a 雑談（する）."
"I'll not be done till after twelve," he said, ruefully, looking at the long line of carts that were still coming. "At least I 港／避難所't been since I've been here."
"井戸／弁護士席, come 負かす／撃墜する to my house this evening, when your work is done, will you?" asked Phoebe. "Lydia's with me, she's grown up now, and we'll be so delighted to see you. It's just opposite the Benger's Flat school-house. Any one'll show you where that is. Come to tea; we'll put it off till seven to 控訴 you."
"Thank you," he said, gratefully. It was a long time since any lady had asked him to tea, and he laughed when Phoebe said smilingly she had joined the working classes, and had forgotten what it felt like to have dinner at night.
"You'll remember," she 追加するd, "opposite Benger's Flat 明言する／公表する School."
"行方不明になる Marsden?" he asked, with a little 強調 that やめる escaped Phoebe.
"Why yes, of course," said she. "Who else should it be?" and she gathered up her reins and drove off, while he was surprised to find that he was やめる pleased to know that this good-looking, strong-minded young woman in a pink sunbonnet was still unmarried.
It never occurred to Phoebe that Ned Kirkham might be married, not for one moment. In fact she drove 支援する in the 有望な sunlight cheerfully happy. All her 苦悩 had 消えるd, and she even smiled to herself as she saw that Jack Fletcher was hanging 一連の会議、交渉／完成する 明らかに trying to screw up his courage to 演説（する）／住所 her. He didn't bring it up to the sticking point evidently, and she drove on without taking any notice of him. She didn't mind now if he did admire Lydia, and even if Lydia had been a little taken with him. What 事柄? Ned Kirkham was coming to tea, and once Lydia talked on friendly 条件 with an educated Englishman, she would never give a second thought to a ありふれた 農業者 like Jack Fletcher. And then Phoebe, 存在 a woman, went a little その上の, and began matchmaking in her own mind. Why not? Lydia was not 正確に／まさに what you would call pretty, it was true, but she had a good honest, healthy, happy looking 直面する any man might be pleased to own for his wife's, and for the 残り／休憩（する） she was tall and upright and her 人物／姿／数字 was good. More ありそうもない things had happened, and Ned Kirkham had been very fond of Nancy. Why shouldn't he grow to like Lydia? 井戸／弁護士席, there was no 害（を与える） in building 城s, and one thing was 確かな she would have no 競争相手s about here. Poor? 井戸／弁護士席, they were all poor. Ned Kirkham would never have taken the position of 経営者／支配人 of a butter factory if he hadn't been poor, but after all there were worse things in the world than 存在 poor. And by the time she reached home Phoebe was やめる jubilant at the thought that she would have them living so の近くに, and had やめる decided on the 構成要素 and colour of her sister's wedding dress.
She felt so cheerful herself, and had so 完全に put the ineligible Jack Fletcher in the background, that she was やめる surprised to find that Lydia was very grumpy; and Lydia herself was a little astonished to find her 年上の sister in such spirits that they were not even damped by the 知能 that the 女／おっせかい屋 which had been sitting so 井戸／弁護士席 for over three weeks, had 砂漠d her nest within two days of the ハッチング out of a brood of young ducks.
"Oh, 井戸／弁護士席, it can't be helped," said she, cheerfully. "Better luck next time. I'll buy an incubator just as soon as ever I can afford it. I'm sure it would be cheaper in the end. Who do you think I saw, Lydia? You'll never guess. Ned Kirkham. Just fancy, he's the new 経営者／支配人 at the factory, and he's coming to tea."
Lydia did not 表明する herself overjoyed at the news.
"He was one of Nancy's young men, years ago, wasn't he?" she said, indifferently, wondering very much in her own mind whether her sister had seen Jack Fletcher, and if so whether he had spoken to her and what he had said, but Phoebe never について言及するd the 農業者. She wouldn't if she had thought of him, but she never thought of him.
"I must just go 一連の会議、交渉／完成する all the 蜂の巣s," she said, "all the fruit trees in the cottages are coming into blossom; a day or two of warm 天候 and they'll all be out. Things are very 早期に this year, and I must see that the bees are all 権利. I think they are, but I'd better be sure. And Lydia, we must have a nice tea for Mr Kirkham. Do you think we can spare a little cream? We might have nice poached eggs, what can be nicer than fresh eggs nicely poached, and 取調べ／厳しく尋問するd chops—there are some chops still, aren't there?"
"Only three," said Lydia, ungraciously; she did not want to entertain Mr Kirkham.
"Oh, three will be enough. We don't want any meat for lunch, do we? And, oh, Lydia, you must make some nice scones. I want to have a nice tea. Now, where's my 隠す? I must really go to those bees."
Phoebe's tea was a success. In all her life perhaps before she never remembered to have enjoyed herself more. It was not only that she was pleased to entertain Ned Kirkham, but he was so pleased to be entertained, so overjoyed at seeing her again, and so nice and attentive to both the young women that even Lydia's sulky 失望 gave way before his geniality. But to Phoebe most of his conversation was directed. They had so much to say to each other, old times to talk over, old reminiscences to discuss. They had not been 広大な／多数の／重要な friends in the old days—but yet those old days were a 広大な／多数の／重要な 社債. Kirkham was lost in 賞賛 for this happy looking, 独立した・無所属 young woman who received him in her kitchen as it if had been a palace, and yet contrived to make that same little kitchen so cosy and comfortable; he forgot she and her sister must have cooked and spread that dainty meal, and when it （機の）カム to （疑いを）晴らすing away, he turned to and helped them as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"You don't know how delightful all this is to a lonely man like me," he said as, the last cup put away in the cupboard, they drew their 議長，司会を務めるs up 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the 解雇する／砲火／射撃. "You should just see the way we lived in Western Australia. Really the game isn't 価値（がある） the candle."
"But you 港／避難所't been in Western Australia for a year," said Phoebe. "At least I thought you said so."
"Been tied by the 脚 in the hospital at Perth for the last thirteen months. That を刺す I got in my 脚 was too much for me. I got it 毒（薬）d somehow and it wouldn't 傷をいやす／和解させる."
"Poor thing," said Phoebe, sympathetically. "And what ever made you think of coming here?"
"井戸／弁護士席, when I did get 井戸／弁護士席, the doctor said I'd better not think of going 支援する to the fields till the hot 天候 was over, and though it's a mighty 罰金 thing to own a gold 地雷 価値（がある） thousands of 続けざまに猛撃するs, somehow until that gold is got out I'm very short of cash, so I had to look out for something to do. I tried for something in my own profession, and got the 管理／経営 of this butter factory just because I was a civil engineer. It sounds a small thing, doesn't it?"
Phoebe smiled, and Ned Kirkham thought she looked splendid when she smiled.
"It's not a bad place to live in at all," she said. "I've grown very fond of it, and I've lived here four years now. Every one around is so nice and 肉親，親類d, and then the country is splendid. You don't know how delightful it is to live in rich country like this. You scratch the 国／地域 and things grow beautifully. Of course we're all poor—but no, we're not poor. How can people be poor when there's food in 豊富, rich and good and cheap, like it is here. Now don't laugh at me. I know Lydia thinks I'm a little mad on the charms of the Warrnambool 地区, but I've got to know it 井戸／弁護士席 and to love it, and now I've got Lydia to keep me company it's delightful living here."
"Don't you want to see the world?" asked Kirkham, smiling at her enthusiasm. "You remember you used to be 広大な／多数の／重要な on the necessity of seeing the world long ago."
"Oh, don't I? But that'll come in time. You see I'm getting on. I started with renting an acre of land, and now I rent eleven. I've been at it four years, and each year my 利益（をあげる）s are greater. Oh, I daresay a millionaire with a gold 地雷 at his 支援する will laugh at my 利益（をあげる）s; but it takes very little to keep a woman, いっそう少なく in 割合 to keep two women, and already, you see, I've had to take a partner."
"Is 行方不明になる Lydia your partner?" asked Kirkham. "How nice for her."
"Nice for me, you mean. I really never was made to live alone. I used to feel so lonely at night. It's all very 井戸／弁護士席 when you're busy in the daytime, but at night, however much you read, you want some one to talk things over with. When Lydia gets married I shall have to take Nellie, and when she gets married I'm sure I don't know what I'll do. I'll hope Nancy's little girl will be grown up by then. Lydia, you mustn't get married for a long time."
Lydia blushed in the most unaccountable manner, and Kirkham said—
"明らかに you don't 熟視する／熟考する matrimony on your own account."
"井戸／弁護士席, no," said Phoebe, laughing, "that's hardly likely. There's bound to be an old maid in every family, and I was 定期的に 削減（する） out for the position. I don't mind now, though, that I can earn my own living, and have a home of my own. It was dreadful when I thought I'd have to be a governess or companion."
"You are a 勇敢に立ち向かう woman, 行方不明になる Marsden."
"Why? Because I've 始める，決める the 優先s so dear to the soul of my little world at 反抗, and come to be a small 農業者 all by myself. I don't think it's done me any 害（を与える）, do you? and I'm ever so much happier than I was at home. Last summer Nancy and Lydia kept house for me for a week, and I went home and saw my father and mother for the first time for three years. Mother was getting over her shocked feelings, and I think felt rather thankful than さもなければ that I had gone my own way, and father was 絶対 civil to me. That comes of 存在 独立した・無所属."
"I say again you are a 勇敢に立ち向かう woman. I must 令状 to old Allan and tell him I've met you. He thinks such a lot of you. There's no one like Phoebe Marsden."
Phoebe smiled a little. It was curious to think that Allan Morrison thought a lot of her now—now that he had faded away into a vague dream, and Lydia spoke out her thoughts.
"It's all very 井戸／弁護士席 to talk like that now," said she, laughing, "but we children used to say you were both of you gone on Nancy and Phoebe was nowhere."
Kirkham 紅潮／摘発するd and moved uneasily in his 議長，司会を務める, and Phoebe said,
"Oh, Lydia!" in トンs that might have belonged to her own mother.
"We were both of us fools in those days," said their guest, 回復するing himself, a little surprised to find that he had not only 完全に got over his love for Phoebe's sister, but that he was devoutly thankful to think she had not married him; and he thought too with a feeling 国境ing on the shame of those dreary days out in the lonely north of Western Australia, when a letter from Nancy Marsden was his heart's 願望（する）. And now he was glad, he was thankful she had 扱う／治療するd him as she had. Would he ever dare 信用 his own feelings again?
Then he stole a ちらりと見ること at Phoebe sitting knitting beside the 解雇する／砲火／射撃. He could hardly believe it possible that any woman could have 改善するd so. She was 井戸／弁護士席-dressed too. In these days of blouses it is 平易な for a woman who has clever fingers to look 井戸／弁護士席-dressed at small cost, and Phoebe at last 実行するd her aunt's prophesy and was a good-looking woman.
Her skirt was an old, a very old 黒人／ボイコット one that she had had a long time, but by the lamp light it looked all 権利; and her blouse was made of rich orange brocade that had once been a ball dress of Nancy's. It never had ふさわしい Nancy, who was wont to revel in much variety of 衣料品 now that she could afford it, and when someone 流出／こぼすd a glass of ワイン 負かす／撃墜する the 前線, she packed it off to Phoebe, who made herself a blouse out of it with many inward 疑惑s that it was too gorgeous for everyday evening wear. This was a 広大な／多数の／重要な occasion, and so she had put it on, and 調査するing herself in her looking-glass, was very 井戸／弁護士席 pleased with the result. The 有望な orange ふさわしい her dark hair and 注目する，もくろむs, and her rich dark glowing complexion. The 十分な sleeves showed off her shapely 手渡すs, and could she but have known how very much her guest was admiring her 外見, it would have been a delightful sensation to the woman who had been an ugly duckling all her life.
But she did not know. She only felt that they were spending a delightful evening, that Ned Kirkham's stories of his experiences and life in Western Australia were most entertaining, and when she went to bed that night it was with the 静める 有罪の判決 that Lydia must certainly have 完全に forgotten all about the 望ましくない Jack Fletcher, after spending an evening with so charming a companion as Ned Kirkham.
So 納得させるd was she of this, the next morning when the question arose as to who should take Mrs Simpson's milk to the factory, she unhesitatingly 許すd Lydia to do it. There was so much to be seen to about her little farm, the 女／おっせかい屋s never behaved so 井戸／弁護士席 as when she …に出席するd to them herself, and it would be nice for Lydia to 会合，会う Ned Kirkham again in so 合法的 a manner. She would have enjoyed having a 雑談（する） with him again herself; but, of course, it was more important for Lydia to 会合，会う him. She was more 始める，決める on the match than ever now she had so 完全に 新たにするd her 知識 with her old friend. And as for her own people, she knew very 井戸／弁護士席 they did not 推定する／予想する much from Lydia. They would be pleased if she married any one at all decent; if Kirkham's gold 地雷 turned out to be a success it would be a brilliant match, and Phoebe, as she fed the sitting 女／おっせかい屋s and the young ducks, and chose the young cockerels that were to go into Warrnambool next day, was contentedly happy in the prospect that lay before her younger sister. Life would be 公正に／かなり smooth for these younger ones, 非，不，無 of the difficulties that had lain in her way would 嘘（をつく） in theirs. Lydia would marry Ned Kirkham and be supremely happy, and Nellie would come and live with her till some one （機の）カム and married her—and Nellie was so pretty, just like Nancy, she need have no 苦悩 about her 未来. Every day she—Phoebe—was doing a little better, every day made her own 未来 a little more 保証するd, her own and その結果 her sisters', for it was not likely she would 許す them to 苦しむ as she had 苦しむd when she could help it. It rained a little this morning—it was not as 有望な and warm as the morning before—but she went about her work cheerfully, and when Lydia （機の）カム home she was cheerful too.
"I saw Mr Kirkham," she 発表するd, "and he was so delighted to see me, and said he didn't believe he'd ever spent such a delightful evening as he did last night. He must have had some dreadful dull times if that pleased him. And they knock off about twelve on Sunday, so I just asked him to come to dinner and stay all the afternoon. You don't mind, do you? He's a handy sort of man, and I daresay can help us with anything we have to do. Do you think he'll be horrified at seeing me milk?"
"I think he'll think you're a nice sensible girl to work so hard," said her sister. "But you needn't milk, Lydia, I'll do that."
"Perhaps Mr Kirkham will do it for us. Now Phoebe, be sure and give the young man something decent to eat. It's rather taking him into the family, isn't it? because if he comes to dinner, he'll certainly stay tea, and if he stays tea it would be sheer waste of time to go home and not spend the evening."
Phoebe laughed.
"I'm sure he's very welcome to stay if he likes. It must be dull work keeping bachelor house by himself up at the butter factory. And I'm sure that Thompson girl must be a very 一時しのぎの物，策 sort of a housekeeper."
"井戸／弁護士席, we'll ask him here as often as he likes to come, won't we, Phoebe? Oh, I wonder what Nancy would think of her old lover now. I wonder would she like him better than she does Joe."
"Lydia, you shouldn't say such things even in joke."
"Joke, my dear sister"—Lydia was in the wildest spirits—"I'm not joking. Nancy used to be very fond of Mr Kirkham, very fond indeed. Oh yes, we younger girls weren't so innocent but that we could see that. And then I suppose he was poor and a long way off, and so she took Joe just to get married. Nell and I used to bet about it; but we always knew she'd marry the richest man. Nancy can't 耐える to be uncomfortable. I shall 令状 and tell her all about Mr Kirkham."
"Don't, Lydia, don't. That's all past and gone ages ago. Don't rake it up again. I'm sure Mr Kirkham has やめる forgotten her, and she him, of course."
"I'm not so sure about that last," said Lydia. "Anyhow, she wouldn't like to think he had forgotten her, and now preferred you, or even me. How could she, how could she?" went on the girl, getting excited. "I'd stick to the man I loved through 厚い and thin, no 事柄 what the 残り／休憩（する） of the world might say."
"やめる 権利, Lydia," said Phoebe, applauding a noble 感情 under the mistaken idea that Lydia was putting Ned Kirkham into the hero's place, and imagining her mother and father 反対するing to her marrying the humble 経営者／支配人 of a butter factory, 反して it was a very different person that was in Lydia's mind. It was all very 井戸／弁護士席 to make Kirkham a hero—Phoebe was doing that herself unconsciously—but she would have thought it a very different 事柄 to put Jack Fletcher in the place.
Ghosts! O breathing Beauty
Give my frank word 容赦!
What if I—somehow, somewhere—
誓約（する）d my soul to endless 義務
Many a time and oft? Be hard on
Love—laid there?
Nay, 非難する grief that's fickle,
Time that 証明するs a 反逆者,
Chance, change, all that 目的 warps,—
Death who spares to thrust the sickle
Laid Love low, through flowers which later
Shroud the 死体!
—BROWNING.
And next Sunday Ned Kirkham （機の）カム to dinner and stayed the 残り／休憩（する） of the day, as Lydia had prophesied he would; and he （機の）カム again in the course of the week, and again on the に引き続いて Sunday, till before October （機の）カム with his 日光 and his roses, Kirkham was the 設立するd friend of the little 世帯. It made such a difference to have a man about the place, as Lydia said to her sister one day. He seemed to know so much about the ways of the world; he made so many suggestions—such helpful suggestions; he broadened the women's lives altogether, as a man is bound to do who takes an intelligent 利益／興味 in the women he 会合，会うs and does not regard them as created 単に for his amusement.
Phoebe wondered how she had ever got on before, and looked 支援する with something of pity for herself to the dull days when she had neither Kirkham nor Lydia to keep her company.
She never did anything now without 協議するing both Ned Kirkham and her sister; and if she always leaned に向かって the former's opinion, no one but her sister noticed it. They were pleasant days in that 早期に summer time, when the days were long and 有望な, and everything went so 滑らかに and so happily for Phoebe, and she went so content to bed that often for the first time for four years she forgot her solemn 決意／決議 for the 改良 of her mind, and did not read those 一時期／支部s from the classics that had become a habit with her. How could she, when life was pleasant and she so happy. There was so much to think of in her everyday life, she 設立する she paid no attention to the page before her. Suppose she crossed her fowls with Indian game, as Kirkham had 示唆するd, suppose she went in for growing big （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する poultry, and bred for 輸出（する）, as he was 勧めるing her to do; if she were to take in that other twenty acres from Mrs Mackenzie, would she ever be able to make it 支払う／賃金? Ned Kirkham said she would. He seemed to think she was a wonderful 経営者／支配人, and 手配中の，お尋ね者 to lend her the money to 在庫／株 it, but of course she wouldn't take that; the sale of her honey would give her やめる enough to buy pure-bred eggs, and that was all she would need. No, she wouldn't have his money, not even when he was her brother-in-法律. She had taken Joe's without a qualm when she had far いっそう少なく chance of 支払う／賃金ing it 支援する; but she wouldn't take Ned Kirkham's. That he would be her brother-in-法律 she never for a moment 疑問d. He （機の）カム to the house just as often as he could; there must be some attraction, there couldn't be any fun in making all the 閉じ込める／刑務所s and doing all the carpentry about the place during his spare Sunday afternoons, and discussing her 未来 in so 利益／興味d a manner unless he cared for Lydia. Of course he （機の）カム to see Lydia, and Lydia in her eldest sister's opinion was just the luckiest girl in the world. She had liked Kirkham, and sympathised with him when he was engaged to Nancy; but now she told herself she had learnt to 高く評価する／（相場などが）上がる him at his real 価値（がある）—she thought a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 more of him now than she did then. He was so 肉親，親類d, so considerate, so thoughtful, no man had ever taken such an 利益／興味 in her 事件／事情／状勢s before, and if he would do that for his sweetheart's 年上の sister, what would he not do for his wife? いつかs when she wakened in the night and listened to Lydia's 正規の／正選手 breathing in the bed opposite, she could find it in her heart to be jealous of her younger sister. She envied her this 広大な／多数の／重要な happiness that was coming to her just on the threshold of her life. There would never be a care for Lydia, she was sure of that, once she was Ned Kirkham's wife. Why—why—why had not such happiness come in her way? Why had not some man, some man like Ned Kirkham, met her and loved her and let her, too, drink of the ワイン of life? And then she sat up in bed and 厳しく told herself that she was very ungrateful, life had held a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 more for her than ever she had 推定する／予想するd it would, why should she 不平（をいう） if she did not have everything? She was 後継するing, 後継するing beyond her wildest dreams. She might now look 今後 to 存在 mistress of a big farm; she would certainly be 独立した・無所属, she might even travel, and she had good, 肉親，親類d friends. Joe Sampson was her friend, Ned Kirkham was her friend, there was Nancy and Nancy's children, there was Lydia, her 信頼できる 同盟（する）, there was Nellie, who would so 喜んで take Lydia's place when Lydia got married; why should she fret when she had so much more than ever she had hoped for? And she was 独立した・無所属—above all things, she was 独立した・無所属; it 慰安d her 大いに, that, and she worked harder than ever, and was happy, in spite of the fact that the one 栄冠を与えるing happiness of a woman's life was 否定するd her.
But it would come to Lydia, and Lydia was just wildly happy these summer days; and her sister, looking at Ned Kirkham, thought it was no wonder. Any woman might be proud of such a sweetheart. She was on such friendly 条件 with him too, she never seemed to mind what she said to him; and Phoebe, coming in from her fowl yard one Sunday afternoon, 確かな that she would see Kirkham in her little room, was surprised to hear that Lydia was chaffing him about his old affection for her sister Nancy.
How could she—how could she? Phoebe would not have について言及するd her 指名する for worlds; but Lydia had no such scruples.
"I'd like to see the 会合 between you two," she said. "Nell and I used to be dreadfully 利益／興味d long ago, when you used to come over. You can't think what an 利益／興味 we took in you."
"That was very 肉親，親類d of you," he murmured, uncomfortably, looking uneasily at Phoebe, who felt very angry that her sister should have the bad taste to について言及する such a 支配する.
"Oh, I don't know, it was all experience for us youngsters. You see Phoeb never had any lovers. She is built that way, I don't believe she'd know if she did have one. Some one else would have to explain it to her if he didn't do it himself; but Nan was やめる different. Some one was always dangling after her pretty 直面する, and she 推定する／予想するd it of them."
"Did I dangle?" asked Kirkham. "What a fool you must have thought me."
"Did you dangle? Of course you did. Oh, no! Nellie and I didn't think you a fool. We admired you immensely, and were very much in love with you ourselves. I wonder what you'd think of Nan now as a matron. She's coming 負かす／撃墜する next week, she and the children."
"She isn't," said Phoebe, unbelieving, for Nancy had got in the habit of spending the month of February in Warrnambool, and had never been known to come at this season, when she considered the strong 勝利，勝つd that blow in the 早期に summer ruination to her complexion.
"Oh, yes she is! I understood by her last letter she was coming, though you didn't. And here's a postcard Cox"—Cox was the schoolmaster and postmaster who had 後継するd Mr Johnston only the year before—"has just brought over. He said it escaped him somehow last night, and it says, 'I have taken rooms at the "オゾン." Doctor says little Phoebe wants a 徹底的な change. Coming 負かす／撃墜する on Wednesday.' There now. I believe—"
But Phoebe was afraid of what Lydia believed, and あわてて changed the conversation with some 完全に irrelevant 発言／述べる that deceived neither of her listeners.
"I'll be glad to see Mrs Sampson again," said Kirkham, looking Phoebe straight in the 直面する, "though your sister does chaff me unmercifully about my old 証拠不十分 in that ４半期/4分の1."
For once in her life Phoebe could not honestly say she was glad to see her sister. They were such a happy little party, and she wondered what 影響（力） Nancy would have on them. Of course she would want all Kirkham's attention, and Nancy was an attractive woman, a woman who had seen a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 more of the world than either Phoebe or Lydia. Phoebe had stood no chance beside her in the old days: what chance would poor Lydia have now? And Nancy would have no scruples. Phoebe felt that. She would not mean to be unkind, but she could not 耐える to be 削減（する） out, and she would lay herself out to charm her old love, to show him how much he had lost in losing her, how infinitely superior she was to both her sisters. It troubled Phoebe 大いに. She was surprised herself when she discovered how much it troubled her, and the brightness went out of that sunny October afternoon for her.
And before the next Sunday had arrived Nancy had joined them, that is to say she left her three children in Warrnambool under the care of their nurse and spent the greater part of the day with her two sisters.
It was all very 井戸／弁護士席 when the 天候 was 罰金, then Nancy liked wandering about with Phoebe, watching her …に出席する to the 女／おっせかい屋s and look after the bees, but if it rained at all or was very 風の強い, she was not やめる so content, and was always inclined to quarrel with her sister because she could not sit over the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 with her.
"My goodness!" said Nancy, poking up the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 viciously just a day or two after her arrival, "that yard is just a quagmire. Look at my nice clean boots."
"Do be careful, Nan," remonstrated Lydia, "you're spoiling the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 and I have got the dinner to cook. What can you 推定する／予想する the yard to be like after a 注ぐing wet night like last night. You shouldn't go in to it."
"What on earth does Phoebe go pottering about in it for, then?" asked Nancy, querulously. "Why can't she come and sit 負かす／撃墜する like a Christian?"
"She's got her living to make," said Lydia, "and 地雷 too. The chicks have to be …に出席するd to all the more because the morning is wet and 冷淡な."
"She might wait till it's drier."
"The chicks can't wait," said Lydia, soberly. "It's just …に出席するing 定期的に to little things like that and never sparing herself that has got Phoebe on."
Nancy 調査するd her muddy boots discontentedly.
"It's a beastly life. I can't think how you put up with it."
"It's a lovely life," said Lydia, with fervour. She was 肘 深い in a 水盤／入り江 of flour and was making scones in honour of Nancy, but she stopped short and put her floury fingers up to her 直面する because she felt herself blushing. Nancy 攻撃するd 支援する her 議長，司会を務める and looked at her 刻々と.
"My 良心, young lady," she said, "who is he?"
"Nan! what nonsense you talk!"
"It isn't nonsense," said Nancy, 厳粛に. "I lived in the country myself when I was your age so I know all about it, and I never saw anything lovely about it."
"Ah, but it wasn't like this," said Lydia, fervently, "you see this is all for our very selves. It all belongs to ourselves, and you don't feel that you are slaving away as a servant and 存在 looked 負かす／撃墜する on and despised by all the boys just to save twopence in some 不明確な／無期限の manner, and perhaps never saving it at all."
"Phoebe has 感染させるd you with all her absurd notions."
"The notions have turned out very 井戸／弁護士席 in Phoebe's 事例／患者, you must 収容する／認める."
"She'd have done better to come to me."
"She wouldn't, indeed she wouldn't. You don't understand how happy we are here."
"Who is he? Ned Kirkham? He used to be a susceptible 青年 in the old days, but that must be nearly six years ago. Perhaps he's changed."
"You're sure to see him to 裁判官 for yourself on Sunday if not before. I thought he would have been here last night, but I 推定する／予想する you 脅すd him away."
"I—Phoebe tells me he's your admirer, and has implored me not to 干渉する."
Lydia laughed merrily and showed a 列／漕ぐ／騒動 of even white teeth that やめる redeemed her 直面する from plainness.
"Phoeb is an old goose," she said, "a blind old bat. Ned Kirkham does not come here to see me. And it really doesn't 事柄 one bit I'm sure how you behave to him."
"He won't look at me, I suppose you think." And Lydia put her lips together and nodded her 長，率いる.
にもかかわらず Kirkham had thought a good 取引，協定 about Nancy, and it was her presence that had kept him away. She had dealt cruelly with him, and he did not care one cent about her, but still he felt the awkwardness of 会合 her. Once it was over he supposed it would be all 権利, but the difficulty was to get it over. And he 手配中の，お尋ね者 to go 負かす／撃墜する to Benger's Flat 不正に, he 手配中の，お尋ね者 to sit 負かす／撃墜する in the lamplight opposite Phoebe in her orange brocade blouse, and watch her busy fingers knitting stockings, he 手配中の，お尋ね者 to make her raise her dark 注目する，もくろむs and lay her knitting 負かす／撃墜する in her （競技場の）トラック一周 and look him straight in the 直面する as she always did when she was 特に 利益／興味d in anything he said. Those comfortable, cosy, happy evenings, he 行方不明になるd them terribly; he wondered if Phoebe 行方不明になるd him, he rather thought not, she was 利益／興味d in so many things, and she often left him alone with Lydia, still perhaps she would 行方不明になる him a little even though she had both Lydia and Nancy to keep her company. On Sunday, then, he would go. Seven days since he had had a 雑談（する） with Phoebe, he would go Nancy or no Nancy, besides—perhaps Phoebe would think he was staying away on Nancy's account, would think he cared for her still, was afraid to 会合，会う her. And when he had fully しっかり掴むd this very unpleasant idea, he 敏速に saddled his horse, and, though it was only Saturday evening, 棒 straight 負かす／撃墜する to Benger's Flat.
And when he 設立する himself opposite the cottage, though the lights in the window were beckoning him with a friendly 手渡す, he could not （不足などを）補う his mind to go in. A sudden shyness 掴むd him, not of Nancy, he didn't care about her, but of 会合 her before her eldest sister. He 手配中の，お尋ね者 so much that Phoebe should think 井戸／弁護士席 of him, he 手配中の，お尋ね者 to be very sure that she should 完全に forget that 哀れな episode in his life when he had loved so passionately another woman. No, he could not go in and 直面する them all tonight, and he turned his horse's 長，率いる and 棒 straight 支援する, though he swore at himself for a fool as he did so.
And next day was Sunday, and by half-past twelve he was opposite the little cottage half hesitating once more. It was a little 早期に perhaps, he would ride up the road and come 支援する again, so he 棒 on very slowly, not on the 栄冠を与える of the road but at the 味方する, and his horse's hoofs made no sound on the 厚い grass. There were trees on either 味方する of the road which 迎撃するd his 見解（をとる） and hid him from any one in 前線, but through the 介入するing leaves he caught a glimpse of something pink and 診断するd at once a pink sunbonnet. Phoebe Marsden's pink sunbonnet, perhaps, though what she should be doing 負かす／撃墜する the road he failed to guess, but it did surprise him to find that his heart was （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing unpleasantly 急速な／放蕩な at the thought of 会合 her here. Why, he had not been as foolish as this for many a long day: he had thought never to be so foolish again. He did not quicken his pace, but he 棒 straight on instead of turning when he （機の）カム to the corner, and then to his surprise, and for a moment his びっくり仰天 also, he saw coming 負かす／撃墜する the road a young woman in a pink sunbonnet with her 長，率いる uncommonly の近くに to a young man's shoulder, and it certainly looked as if the young man's arm was around her waist. That was what it looked like, but Kirkham had not time to make sure, for before almost he had time to think what he should do next, that young woman drew herself あわてて away, and beneath the sunbonnet he saw Lydia Marsden's blushing 直面する. It was an assignation evidently, there was Jack Fletcher's horse hitched to the rail of the 盗品故買者 の近くに at 手渡す, and there was Jack Fletcher himself, standing sheepishly by looking as if he didn't know what to do with his 手渡すs.
And he, Kirkham, had been fool enough to think it was Phoebe! In his 救済 and delight he laughed aloud.
"井戸／弁護士席, 行方不明になる Marsden," he said, dismounting. "How are you, Fletcher?" Neither of them spoke for a moment, Lydia looked as if she were going to cry, and then Fletcher spoke out.
"Look here," he said, "we must have an end of this. I'm not going fooling 一連の会議、交渉／完成する 小道／航路s keeping company with you any longer. I'll just go straight up and tell your sister we're going to be married."
"Oh, dear," said Lydia, half pleased, half 脅すd. "What do you think she'll say, Mr Kirkham?"
"How do I know, my dear girl?" Kirkham felt やめる fatherly. "Give you her blessing probably."
"She might me angry at me not telling before," mused Lydia, "but—but—" she blushed crimson again, "there wasn't anything to tell."
"There's plenty now, then," said Fletcher, "and I'll go up and tell it."
"Oh, no, no, please," said Lydia. "I must tell her first, I must really. It wouldn't be 肉親，親類d of me not to. I'll tell her tonight, and you can come and see her tomorrow morning. That'll be best, won't it, Mr Kirkham?"
Kirkham assented, seeing they both looked at him, and Fletcher, muttering something about its 存在 hard to be done out of a Sunday, finally 許すd himself to be 説得するd by Lydia, and stooping gave her a sounding kiss on the cheek before 開始するing his horse and riding away.
"Now mind, my girl," he said cheerfully over his shoulder as he 棒 away, "I'm coming straight up from the factory to see your sister and tell her all about it. Not a minute longer will I wait."
Lydia watched him 負かす／撃墜する the road, and then as the trees hid him from sight, turned shyly to Kirkham, who was watching her with a mischievous gleam in his 注目する，もくろむs.
"So that's what you do when you go 負かす／撃墜する to 慰安 the sick and afflicted. I suppose it's Mrs Simpson is the excuse as usual."
"It is Mrs Simpson. I don't know why you should hint that it isn't. She's got a tiny baby there, and I go 負かす／撃墜する to wash it and dress it for her. She isn't fit to manage by herself."
"And does Fletcher go 負かす／撃墜する to wash and dress the baby too?"
"How can you be so horrid?" Lydia stamped her foot 怒って. "Of course he goes to see his sister. It's only natural. And if he—if I—if—"
"I やめる understand. Am I to tell 行方不明になる Marsden how I caught you this morning?"
"If you do—" they were walking 負かす／撃墜する the road に向かって home now, and Kirkham had his horse's reins over his arm—"if you do I'll—I'll—I'll find a way to 支払う／賃金 you out. Be nice now, Mr Kirkham, leave me to tell Phoebe in my own way. She—she will look 負かす／撃墜する on Jack Fletcher, just because he's only a 農業者, and his manners aren't polished. I don't think that 事柄s a bit, do you, as long as I love him and he loves me? That's the main thing, isn't it? And Phoebe—Phoebe—you'd have thought Phoebe would have been different—but she will look 負かす／撃墜する on Jack Fletcher, just because he's a ありふれた 農業者, as if we were any better ourselves. We're not half as good. We peddle eggs and honey and fowls and milk, and it is hard Phoebe should look 負かす／撃墜する on my Jack, when I—when I l-o-o-ve him so," and Lydia put her handkerchief up to her 直面する and began to cry.
"Don't—don't—don't. There's a good girl," said Kirkham, alarmed. "Don't cry. Phoebe'll be as nice as possible once she understands your heart's 始める，決める on it."
"I'm sure she ought," said Lydia, suddenly wiping her 注目する，もくろむs and looking at her companion mischievously, "she's just been preaching nothing but the beauty of love matches for the last three months. She's been dinning into my ears for the last month that there's nothing so good in this world as to marry the man you really love, and it doesn't 事柄 much really によれば her whether you are rich or poor so long as you are companions and friends."
"So she is really 責任がある this?"
"Of course she is," and Lydia, who at 底（に届く） was wildly happy in spite of a little natural 苦悩 lest her people should not 適切に 高く評価する／（相場などが）上がる her Jack, began to laugh. "Oh, dear, Phoebe is a blind old bat."
"Why?" asked her companion. He was 用意が出来ている to （問題を）取り上げる the cudgels against all comers on Phoebe's に代わって.
"Why? Because—because—what do you think? She's 現実に got it into her silly old 長，率いる that you come here to see me. There now; what do you think of that?"
Kirkham looked at her 厳粛に. The idea was very unpleasant to him; more unpleasant than he cared to own. He turned it over in his mind for a few moments, and then, looking Lydia 厳粛に in the 直面する, said solemnly—
"No, I did not come to see you."
"I knew you didn't," said Lydia; "I never thought such a thing for a moment. Don't look so glum. Phoebe's one of those very modest sort of people who never think any one could かもしれない care to talk to her, so she 始める，決める my charms 負かす／撃墜する as the attraction that brought you here. I knew better. It might be you （機の）カム just because it was dull, but it certainly wasn't to see me."
"I didn't come because I was dull."
"It doesn't 事柄 much what you （機の）カム for, it wasn't to see me in the 現在の, or for the hope of seeing Nancy in the 未来, only make Phoebe see my 約束／交戦 in the 権利 light, and—"
"And what?"
"Oh, you'll have your reward, whatever you want most. I suppose you've come to dinner as usual?"
"If I may stay," said Kirkham, meekly, and they walked on together in silence.
Ned Kirkham was troubled, much troubled. It grew upon him as he walked 負かす／撃墜する the road by Lydia's 味方する in silence. He began to think what this meant for him. No, he had certainly not come 負かす／撃墜する to the cottage to see Lydia, certainly not. Lydia was a nice girl, and he liked her; he 疑問d not for a moment but that Jack Fletcher had won a treasure, that he was doing wisely for himself in taking to wife Phoebe Marsden's sister, but he, Ned Kirkham, had never thought of her in that light before. To him she was—井戸／弁護士席, she was Phoebe Marsden's sister, that was all. And Phoebe Marsden, what was she? He asked himself the question over and over again as they 近づくd the cottage. She was—井戸／弁護士席, he hardly dared think what she was. He had always thought 高度に of her, and that, after all, is the very best 創立／基礎 for love, though many a woman does not think it. And now he loved her, oh yes, he loved her! As he had loved his sister, aye, a thousand times more so he loved Phoebe Marsden. He had been wild and mad about Nancy, he would never be that about Phoebe, never; somehow he knew that Phoebe was a better woman than Nancy had ever been, and so his love was a higher and better thing, an older man's love, but 非，不，無 the いっそう少なく better 価値（がある） having because of that. Was there a woman in all the world to compare with Phoebe? he asked himself. And then what did this pearl の中で women think of him? She 現実に thought—he said the words over very slowly to himself—she—actuallythought—he—（機の）カム—法廷，裁判所ing— her—sister—Lydia,—Lydia,—who—was—a—good—girl,—but—not—worthy —to—tie—her—年上の sister's shoe. So she liked him, just liked him, while his whole soul was crying out for the love he knew she could give to some man. Was it Allan Morrison; had it been Allan Morrison all these years? Should he ask Lydia? He looked at her, but no, she was puzzling out her own 事件／事情／状勢s. She evidently was not much 利益／興味d in her sister, and only so much in him as to be able to laugh at the absurd idea that he should have come 負かす／撃墜する to the little cottage for her sake. And she had only thought of him as a lover for her sister, that was all. The bitterness of the thought grew upon him as he walked, till by the time they had reached the wicket-gate he had more than half made up his mind to turn 支援する. He did not say so to Lydia, though. He swung the gate open for her, and as it creaked on its hinges the door of the house opened, and Phoebe herself stood on the step welcoming him. Phoebe, tall and handsome and gracious, in a plainly made cream serge dress that hung in straight 倍のs to her feet. It was her first indulgence to herself, that cream serge dress. She had always, ever since she had begun to take an 利益／興味 in her personal 外見, felt sure that a cream serge would 控訴 her, a cream serge with an orange sash and an orange 略章 at her throat and in her hair, and now that 繁栄 had 公正に／かなり 夜明けd upon her she had 扱う／治療するd herself to one, and had put it on this first 罰金 warm Sunday of October. She did not think that Kirkham would notice her, but still she would like to look nice in his 注目する，もくろむs she said to herself, and she put a little 屈服する of orange 略章 の中で the dark glossy coils of her hair, because her glass told her it was so becoming, and now she stood in the doorway, a handsome picture でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れるd in nodding yellow banksia roses and red ivy geranium, and she looked so unlike the Phoebe of olden days, that even Lydia exclaimed—
"My goodness, Phoebe, you are a swell! You've got 'em all on, as Stanley says."
Phoebe coloured up to her 注目する，もくろむs; she wondered was she too 罰金, and wished she had not put that 略章 in her hair, but the man before her only thought she was a perfect woman, and realised more 激しく that she was not for him. Of course not, of course not, this handsome woman with the true, honest dark 注目する，もくろむs, who carried her 長，率いる as if she had been a princess of the 血 王室の, of course she was not for him; he had wasted days and weeks and months 法廷，裁判所ing her sister, he had nearly died of her faithlessness, and he had passed her by; even now for the last three months he had come 定期的に to the house, and had so comported himself that she had 裁判官d he had come to see her other sister. 自然に she did not think he was good enough for her, and oh, she was 権利 enough; where was a man good enough for her?
"Aren't you coming in, Mr Kirkham?" she said, and her 注目する，もくろむs 軟化するd as she looked at him, though he did not see it. "We've been 推定する／予想するing you. Nancy wants to 新たにする her old 知識, and you see I've been tempted to put on my best bib and tucker in your honour, and I'm afraid—I'm afraid Lyd thinks I've made myself look ridiculous. One forgets how to dress out here in the country."
"You look lovely," burst out Kirkham, and the colour 深くするd on Phoebe's 直面する, for she saw something in his 直面する that told her he meant it. She—she, Phoebe Marsden, who had never had a compliment from a man in her life, to be told in this outspoken way that she looked lovely—she, a woman over thirty! Oh, he must be very much in love with Lydia indeed! And there （機の）カム a jealous pang 井戸／弁護士席ing up in her heart. Why, oh why could such happiness not have come to her. Then she 鎮圧するd it 負かす／撃墜する. What a mean woman she must be who could grudge her sister her happiness.
"Now, you mustn't be turning Phoebe's 長，率いる," said another 発言する／表明する with a trace of nervousness in it, a laughing 発言する／表明する he had loved 権利 井戸／弁護士席 in days gone by. "We're all of us growing too old for that sort of thing, Mr Kirkham."
And then Phoebe was 小衝突d aside, just as in the old days she used to be 押し進めるd aside, and Nancy took her place. The same Nancy, and yet not the same. Nancy, with the freshness of her 青年 gone, Nancy, with the golden gleam gone from her hair, with the 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd cheeks a little hollow, with the 有望な blue 注目する，もくろむs a little faded, with the pretty mouth a trifle fretful, and yet the same Nancy, but the years had not dealt kindly by her. She was so young a woman, not yet thirty; she had no 権利 to look faded, and yet she did. Where was the pretty, dainty girl this man had loved so passionately? Here she stood before him, the ghost of her old welcoming smile on her lips, and behold all her daintiness and prettiness were gone, and the smile was but a ghost, the veriest ghost, and he had loved her, loved her with all his heart. And this was Nancy, this woman. He could not smile 支援する at her as the thoughts （機の）カム 急ぐing through his brain, he only stood still slowly swinging the gate backwards and 今後s, 答える／応じるing to her 迎える／歓迎するing neither by look nor word.
"井戸／弁護士席, Mr Kirkham," said Nancy, pettishly, "you are a nice one. Is this the way you 迎える／歓迎する an old friend?"
"Don't be a goose," whispered Lydia at his 肘 reassuringly. "Never mind if you were in love with her and have got over it. What does it 事柄? She's been married for the last five years, and it won't do you any 害（を与える） to answer her civilly, even if she did jilt you. You せねばならない be thankful."
He was, that was just it, and he was ashamed of the feeling; but when Phoebe looked over her sister's shoulder and said, smiling, "Aren't you coming in, Mr Kirkham?" he let the gate go with a bang that was bad for its hinges, and walked up to the house, and entering, took his seat の中で the women and talked to them like a man in a dream.
Why did she love him? Curious fool! be still.
Is human love the growth of human will?
—BYRON.
It was an uncomfortable dinner that midday Sunday's dinner, for not one の中で the whole four was at 緩和する. Phoebe was anxious and troubled, she hardly knew why. It had never troubled her before that she had to serve the dinner in the room it was cooked in, never troubled her that either she or Lydia had to see to everything, and Kirkham had come to meals with them 得点する／非難する／２０s of times in the last three months. It could not be his presence, and Nancy—Nancy （機の）カム to Warrnambool for a month at least every year, and spent the greater part of her time with her sister, so it could not be her; why should the two together make an uncomfortable party. And Lydia would not talk; she was silently puzzling out her own 事件／事情／状勢s, but Phoebe did not know that, and Nancy would talk, would talk in the way that had been so fascinating six years ago, and Phoebe wondered how she could be so silly. Nancy's conversation had never sounded so frivolous in her ears before, and it made her ashamed, too, to see how she laid herself out to attract their guest, and how he seemed not to be attracted. She would have joined the conversation if she could, but something tied her tongue. She had one or two feeble 発言／述べるs about the chickens or the bees, and to her fancy it seemed Kirkham 熱望して 答える／応じるd, but Nancy waived the topic aside, and made her feel that to talk about bees or chickens was foolish to a man who must be 利益／興味d in weightier 事柄s, though Nancy's doings certainly did not seem to 利益／興味 him much, neither her travels, nor her 楽しみs, nor her babies, each of which she tried in turn. He answered stupidly, "yes," "no," and "indeed," as the 事例／患者 需要・要求するd, and relapsed into a troubled silence. Then Phoebe tried to lead the conversation 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to Western Australia, and the unsatisfactory 地雷 at Sunset, and asked whether there was any news, whether they had 後継するd in floating the company yet?
He turned to her cheerful and 警報.
"I got a letter from old Allan on Thursday," he said. "I really believe the most of it's taken up with messages to you. I ーするつもりであるd to bring it over. Did I? No, what a fool I am. I'll bring it tomorrow or next day; you really せねばならない see it. Allan had just got my letter telling him I'd met you, and he wants to change billets with me. I believe he's やめる wild that I've the good luck to be here."
Phoebe blushed in the most school-girl manner, remembering uncomfortably how pleased she would once have been to hear that, and wondering if Nancy was remembering too.
But Nancy only saw that Kirkham preferred her 年上の sister to her, and felt this must be 治療（薬）d as soon as possible.
"And what about the company?" she asked, in a トン that 需要・要求するd attention.
"The company," he repeated. "Oh, yes, I suppose it's getting along all 権利 but I don't understand these things, and I'm beginning to lose 利益／興味, and disbelieve. For years I've been 追跡（する）ing a phantom, and even when I've got the gold I seem to be no nearer wealth."
"But you 設立する hundreds and thousands of 続けざまに猛撃するs' 価値（がある） of gold, didn't you?" asked Nancy, curiously.
"I 設立する gold, certainly. They were the richest 見本／標本s ever I saw, but—oh, gold-採掘 is a most unsatisfactory thing. I'm far better off now with a couple of 続けざまに猛撃するs a week 経営者／支配人 of a butter factory."
"But I thought you had a very rich （人命などを）奪う，主張する," 固執するd Nancy.
"井戸／弁護士席, I'm part owner of one. They say it's rich, but old Allan and I just slaved like niggers for our 明らかにする tucker. I 保証する you we got very little besides."
"How was that?"
"井戸／弁護士席, food's very dear there, to begin with. When water's a shilling a bucket you can imagine the price other things run to."
"You didn't often wash, I suppose?"
"Couldn't afford it, though we did own a gold 地雷. No, I'm inclined to think a 地雷's a mistake."
"But what's happening now?" 固執するd Nancy. "I thought you'd have been a rich man before this. It seems a long while since I heard you'd 設立する gold."
"It is a long while," said Kirkham. "You see, first we thought to work it ourselves, and nearly broke our 支援するs dollying out the quartz. We paid our way, certainly, but I can't say much more for it. Then we tried to float the 関心 in England, and no one would have anything to say to us; then some blackguard took it up in Melbourne and bolted with the 株主s' money; and when at last we got 持つ／拘留する of a decent man, or a decent man got 持つ／拘留する of us, it took us a long while, and cost us a small fortune to get the 機械／機構 to such an out-of-the-way place, and now it's there—"
"Yes, now it's there?" asked Nancy, 熱望して.
"We 港／避難所't got enough gold to 支払う／賃金 for it yet. I'm terribly afraid, and so is Allan, evidently, that the 暗礁 is going to pinch out altogether. We've never come across such rich 見本／標本s as we took out the day we discovered the 地雷. It gets 定期的に いっそう少なく the harder we work at it, though at first we counted it far and away the best 地雷 on the field. Plenty of other men have made their fortunes there."
"Why did you come away?"
"Because of my 脚. You see, I'm a little lame still. I was stabbed. They're a rough lot there, Mrs Sampson, and it didn't 傷をいやす／和解させる 適切に. For about a year I do believe I was trying to get 井戸／弁護士席 and couldn't. Then it took a bad turn, and I had to come away. There was nothing else for it."
"Where did you go to?" asked Nancy, but Kirkham noticed the pitiful look in Phoebe's 注目する，もくろむs, though she had made him tell the tale of his troubles a dozen times over, and must have known it by heart.
"To the hospital at Perth. By Jove! it was a 疲れた／うんざりした time; thirteen solid months of it, and I had a 狭くする squeak of losing my 脚. However, it's all 権利 now, thank heaven!"
"And I suppose you'll go 支援する when the 冷静な／正味の season comes again?"
For a moment Phoebe started. The thought that he might go away again had never occurred to her, and now that it did she listened with an 切望 that was lost on neither of her sisters for his answer. But to him the question seemed natural enough.
"I don't think so," he said. "Gold-採掘 never had much charm for me, and a closer 知識 with it has not 入り口d me. There's not a bit of the gambler about me; that's been 完全に knocked out of me. I only want a 平和的な, 静かな life like this," and involuntarily he ちらりと見ることd at Phoebe.
"You were 十分な of making your fortune when you went away," said Nancy. "Farming was too slow for you."
"Ah, I'm a wiser man nowadays," and Nancy winced. "We're getting older, Mrs Sampson, and—"
"And seeing the hollowness of the world."
"Learning how good a place the world may be."
"Oh, don't be a prig. That sounded dreadful."
"Did it? Perhaps it did. But it's true, にもかかわらず. I never thought I could have spent such a pleasant time, and be so 完全に happy as I've been these last three months, and yet see how lowly my position is, and how little prospect I have of bettering it."
"You've learned contentment from Phoebe," said Lydia suddenly rousing herself from her dreams and taking part in the conversation.
"行方不明になる Marsden, I have a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 to thank you for."
"You needn't thank me," said Phoebe, 真面目に. "I'm very happy now, but you'd never guess how 哀れな I used to be at first. I thought I never could 持つ／拘留する out. Oh, dear, it just seems like a bad dream."
"And you are happy now?" asked Kirkham.
"I am very happy now," and she wondered why he did not look やめる pleased. And he thought sadly to himself that she was やめる content with her life, and that he counted for nothing in it unless she would be a little pleased if he would marry her sister. Would she say she was happy when she heard that Lydia ーするつもりであるd to marry Jack Fletcher? Would she let him come and see her once Lydia was gone? would she take any 利益／興味 in him どれでも? did he want her to take any 利益／興味 in him unless she gave him everything? And that she would not do. She was perfectly content to lead a 選び出す／独身 life, perfectly content with her independence, and he sighed ひどく and swore inwardly at the new style of woman, which only showed that he, like the ordinary man in love, was やめる incapable of seeing what was very 特許 to the other two women.
Lydia smiled at it with sympathy in her heart; besides this should make Phoebe more friendly に向かって her Jack, and Nancy was angry. There are some women so built that they cannot give up their old loves. Once a man has loved them he must not turn his 注目する，もくろむs in another direction, and the more Kirkham sought to talk to Phoebe, the angrier her married sister grew. True, she had been married for the last five years; she had three babies over in Warrnambool, a husband in Ballarat, but that did not 妨げる her looking upon Ned Kirkham as her 私的な 所有物／資産／財産. He had been hers six years ago, he should be hers still. She had loved him as much as she was 有能な of loving any man, and if the years had worn that love away, still she could not 耐える to see her place taken by the sister whom she had always regarded as singularly unattractive. She did not love Kirkham now, but most certainly her husband did not fill the place that should have been his in her heart, and therefore she had room for the 賞賛 of other men, and a flirtation, to which the tender memories that hang 一連の会議、交渉／完成する dead years would have 追加するd a keen zest, was just to her mind. She had been so sure of Kirkham's 賞賛, so sure that she had only to beckon and he would be on his 膝s again, that to find him with 注目する，もくろむs and ears for no one but Phoebe, to find that even when she 主張するd on his talking to her he still watched her 年上の sister, was a bitter pill indeed.
So it was an uncomfortable afternoon for all of them, Lydia 含むd, for she could not help going over in her own mind that uncomfortable interview with Phoebe which must come some time before next morning. And at last, when five o'clock （機の）カム, Phoebe rose up rather thankfully, and said she must go and milk the cow. Nancy looked a little shocked that she should について言及する the fact that she milked her own cow before Kirkham, but he jumped up with alacrity, and said reproachfully—
"But I thought it was a 取引 that I should always do that for you?"
"Oh, not tonight. We've a 訪問者 to entertain," she said, smiling; "you mustn't neglect her."
Nancy pouted, and looked as if she felt aggrieved at her charms 存在 無視（する）d in this way, but Kirkham 公正に／かなり turned his 支援する on her, and would have gone with Phoebe but that Lydia stopped him.
"Now, Mr Kirkham," she said, and there was a （犯罪の）一味 of 控訴，上告 in her 発言する／表明する he could not ignore, "you must let me milk the cow this evening—you really must. No, Phoebe isn't going to run off in her Sunday go-to-会合 gown in that way; she can't milk cows in a cream serge, but she can come 負かす／撃墜する and talk to me while I do it. I 特に want her; I've got something important to say to her," and there was an anxious quiver in Lydia's 発言する／表明する that made her sisters look at her wonderingly.
It is rather a trying thing for a girl to tell her own people she is going to be married even when she is やめる sure they will all 認可する 高度に. And Lydia was not at all sure of Phoebe's 是認, but the result of her afternoon's cogitations had been the 決定／判定勝ち（する） to get it over as soon as possible; and if possible, if Phoebe said anything about it 率直に, to get Ned Kirkham to speak for her; but the 成果／努力 to speak 自然に, to tell them she had something to say before them all, sent the 血 to her 直面する, and made her tremble all over. Nancy saw her emotion, and wonderingly chaffed her about it; while Kirkham, who was in the secret, felt such a thrill of 感謝 that she was going to 始める，決める him 権利 with Phoebe, that he turned やめる cheerfully to Nancy, and said they could really take care of each other for half an hour if these 独立した・無所属 young women 主張するd upon doing their own work without masculine 援助. He couldn't やめる have said how the 布告／宣言 of Lydia's 約束／交戦 would その上の his own courtship, but he felt sure it would. And Phoebe, seeing the pleased look on his 直面する, thought with a sigh, "Oh, yes, of course, it was only natural, he was 産する／生じるing to the old fascination."
It did not take Lydia long to put on the clean print she always milked in, and then, with her stool and her bucket under her arm, she called on Phoebe to join her. The cow-byre was clean and 乾燥した，日照りの, and Phoebe leaned up against one of the 地位，任命するs and looked over the green grass where the 影をつくる／尾行するs were lengthening in the evening sunlight. So fair and rich the land lay before her, so 有望な the evening, there was such a consciousness of all things done 井戸／弁護士席 in her heart, that she could hardly find it in her to be anxious because Kirkham and Nancy were left alone together, and as for 存在 jealous of Lydia—of all the good that was coming to her—井戸／弁護士席—井戸／弁護士席, how glorious would this evening have been had she but stood in her younger sister's shoes. But it was mean to be jealous of Lydia—mean, worse than mean—she would 征服する／打ち勝つ this feeling and be glad, as glad as she せねばならない be. Then she looked 負かす／撃墜する at Lydia slowly and thoughtfully squirting the milk into the bucket, watched her thoughtful, troubled 直面する, with the unwonted 紅潮／摘発する upon it, and asked suddenly—
"What did you bring me out here for, Lydia? What did you want to say so 特に?"
Lydia stopped and looked stupidly into the bucket 十分な of 泡，激怒することing milk, while the red cow tried to 解放する／自由な her tail from the rope that gently held it against the 地位，任命する.
"井戸／弁護士席, Lydia, what is it?"
"Phoebe, oh, Phoebe!"—the quiver in her 発言する／表明する was almost a sob—
"Phoebe, don't be angry, but—but—I'm going to be married."
So it had come—it had come, and the 影をつくる／尾行するs seemed to envelope all the landscape. All this joy for Lydia, and she, Phoebe, was alone in the 冷淡な as usual. A breath of 勝利，勝つd （機の）カム up and gently fanned her cheek and blew the 略章 at her neck across her 直面する. Alone—in all her life Phoebe Marsden had never felt so utterly lonely as she did at this moment when her sister was telling her that what she had planned the day she 設立する out who the new 経営者／支配人 at the butter factory was, was 遂行するd. It was mean spirited, cruel of her, but she could not help it, and just for one moment such a wave of 熱烈な jealousy swept across her she could have cried aloud for the 苦痛 of it. Then she 鎮圧するd it 負かす／撃墜する bravely, stepped 今後, and, laying her 手渡す on her sister's shoulder, stooped and laid her cheek against hers.
"I'm so pleased, dear, so glad," she murmured. "I hope you will be happy; I know you will be happy, the happiest woman in the world."
Lydia had not 推定する／予想するd her news to be received in such fashion, and that and the 救済 at having got the telling over brought a sob in her throat. Then the absurd mistake her sister was making flashed across her mind, and strangled that sob with a burst of laughter, and the result was such an 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の sound that the red cow gently 解除するd her hind 脚 as a 思い出の品 that she 手配中の，お尋ね者 …に出席するing to, and kicked over the bucket of milk. Lydia 押し進めるd away her stool and rose to her feet, and Phoebe looked at her wonderingly, neither of them noticing that the precious milk was trickling away の中で the sand and 石／投石するs that made the 床に打ち倒す of the cow-byre.
"Lydia, Lydia," remonstrated Phoebe, "don't do that. What's the 事柄?"
"You—you 港／避難所't," gasped Lydia, between laughter and 涙／ほころびs, "asked me who the man is."
"Who should he be," said Phoebe. "Why, of course, dear, I don't need to ask. I've seen it coming this long while. It's Ned Kirkham, who else could it be? Why, you never even see another man."
"Phoebe, I believe you were born blind, you must have been," and the laughter 征服する／打ち勝つd, though the 涙／ほころびs were still in Lydia's 注目する，もくろむs. "Ned Kirkham, indeed! He doesn't care that for me," and she snapped her fingers contemptuously.
Phoebe looked at her dumbfoundered. And then suddenly the sun （機の）カム out once more, the grass looked green and 有望な, in the garden the birds twittered cheerfully their evening hymn, the quacking of the ducks the other 味方する of the hedge sounded cheerful and contented, and the crowing of her Indian game cock though a 井戸／弁護士席-mannered rooster has no 権利 to be crowing at five o'clock in the evening—had a joyous （犯罪の）一味 of 勝利 in it that she had never noticed before.
What a lovely evening it was! what a perfect evening! What more could any woman 願望（する） than to stand and gaze at the lengthening 影をつくる／尾行するs and the 有望な 日光 on the rich land, to drink in the breath of the roses and the woodbine, and that other heavier, sweeter perfume that （機の）カム from the golden blossoms of the kangaroo acacia hedge の近くに at 手渡す. It was so good to be alive. Never before had she realised the joy of it, and in all the 幅の広い 植民地 of Victoria for one 簡潔な／要約する moment there was not a more contented woman than Phoebe Marsden. She turned away her 直面する, there was something there she would not like her sister to read. And then （機の）カム the reaction. What was this she was rejoicing over? Lydia was not going to marry Ned Kirkham. Then—then—
"Lydia," she cried, はっきりと. "Who are you going to marry?"
Lydia hung her 長，率いる, and then she raised it boldly. Why should she be ashamed of her lover?
"Jack Fletcher, of course. You must have known. Who else would I be likely to marry?"
"Mr. John Fletcher! A ありふれた 農業者!"
For once Phoebe was her mother's own daughter, and her トンs showed the 狼狽 she felt.
"Of course he's a ありふれた 農業者, that's what makes it such a rise in the world for me."
"Lydia!"
"井戸／弁護士席, it is a rise in the world for me, isn't it? He's a rich 農業者 and I'm only a farm servant."
"Oh, Lydia!" said Phoebe, 傷つける; "I did the very best I could for you. It wasn't much, I know, but I thought it would be better than staying at home."
"So it is," said Lydia, gratefully, "a thousand times better. I'm very 感謝する, Phoebe, and, you see, I have met Jack Fletcher."
"But, Lydia, you can't marry him. He isn't in the same 階級 of life as you. His father was—was—" Phoebe hesitated because she didn't know what the paternal Fletcher's calling had been, but Lydia had no hesitation.
"His father was a most respectable pork butcher," she said. "I'm not going to marry his father."
"And your father was a University man!"
"And a very disagreeable one too," snapped Lydia. "What's the good of talking, Phoebe? I'm going to marry Jack Fletcher. I don't care what his people are. I'm sure 地雷 aren't up to much. Look at Stanley—not a 十分な-blown doctor yet, and I don't believe he ever will be. I shall be better off than ever I was in my life, and then there's Jack—He—he—Phoebe, you don't know how I love him, or you wouldn't be angry." And Lydia laid a pleading 手渡す on her sister's arm.
"But Lydia, you don't know him. It's all fancy. You don't know what life will be like with a man of that class."
"Don't talk in that contemptuous way. Know him? Of course I know him. I never knew any man so 井戸／弁護士席 before."
"But where—when—"
"When did I 会合，会う him? Oh, everywhere. When didn't I 会合，会う him? First I met him at the 地位，任命する office, and then next day at the 蓄える／店 when I went to order the flour—do you remember?—and he walked home with me, and then wherever I went I met him. And then I got to 推定する／予想する to 会合，会う him, and Mrs Simpson was ill, and I used to take her milk to the factory for about a month, and always he brought his own milk instead of sending a boy, just for the 楽しみ of 会合 me." And Lydia bridled and blushed with happiness, just as if there were no such things in this world as social differences to be considered.
"I remember," sighed Phoebe, "I remember. I was afraid at first, and then I forgot. I thought you could never—I thought it would be やめる 安全な."
"It's been a delightful time," sighed Lydia.
"What?" asked her sister, はっきりと. "You 港／避難所't been 会合 this man in the 小道／航路s and the 蓄える／店s? Lydia, it's just like a servant. Oh, Lydia! And I thought—I thought, even if we were 独立した・無所属 and earned our own living, we could behave like ladies and not let men despise us." And there were 涙／ほころびs in Phoebe's 発言する／表明する, she was so ashamed and shocked.
"They don't despise us," said Lydia, beginning to laugh. "They love us. They want to marry us."
"Don't," said Phoebe, pleadingly. "Mr Fletcher! Oh, what shall I do? Whatever shall I say to mother?"
"井戸／弁護士席, you needn't be so scornful of my poor Jack," said Lydia. "You don't know what a good fellow he is. A man who is as good to his sister as he has been to poor Mrs Simpson must make a good husband. And what about Ned Kirkham?"
"Lydia, how can you? Oh, it would have been all 権利 if you'd only married Ned Kirkham. What are you going to do about Ned Kirkham?"
"What's Ned Kirkham got to do with me?" asked Lydia, laughing 完全な.
"What does he come here for if he doesn't come to see you?"
"He doesn't come to see me, certainly."
"Nonsense, Lydia! You are throwing away your happiness. You can't look at the other when he is by."
Phoebe looked so 苦しめるd and anxious that Lydia walked up to her, put both her 手渡すs on her shoulders, and 押し進めるd her 負かす／撃墜する on to the milking-stool.
"My dear old sister, you've been very good to me, so I'll 許す you making rude 発言／述べるs about my young man. You'll like him 井戸／弁護士席 enough when you get to know him. Now, really, you are the blindest old bat that ever was seen. Do you—do you—honestly now—think that Ned Kirkham comes here for the sake of my 甘い society?"
"Oh course," said Phoebe, looking up in her 直面する. "What else on earth should he come for? Who else is there?"
"What about you?"
"Me!" Phoebe blushed to the roots of her hair. "I'm—I'm so old—I've known him so many years—that's ridiculous."
"He's three or four years older than you, I think, and if he comes to see me, why on earth does he spend so much time talking to you?"
"I'm your sister," murmured Phoebe, 混乱させるd and blushing, hardly sure whether too be pleased or 悩ますd at the turn things were taking.
"Fudge and fiddlesticks! No girl 価値（がある） her salt would be 支持を得ようと努めるd through her sister, and no man 価値（がある） his salt would do it. Phoebe, did you ever have a lover?"
"No," said Phoebe, growing hot all over.
"Then you've got one now, only you don't know it, and for goodness gracious' sake don't go and try and palm him off on somebody else. And now you have got one you'll understand he's not to be given up for any one or what any one says. Oh, gracious! just look at the milk. I'll finish milking, and you can go in and give that unlucky young man a 残り／休憩（する） from Nancy's frivole."
"Ah me! for aught that ever I could read,
Could ever hear of tale or history,
The course of true love never did run smooth."
—SHAKESPEARE.
Phoebe went 支援する to the cottage feeling absurdly happy, but as she thought she せねばならない be 悩ますd, there was such a troubled look on her 直面する Nancy noticed it, and asked at once—
"井戸／弁護士席, what was this desperate secret?"
"Lydia says she's going to be married."
"Bless my soul! Did the man come 負かす／撃墜する the chimney?"
"No, he didn't," said Phoebe, feeling it would be a 救済 to tell and find out what these two thought of it. "It's—oh, dear! I don't know whatever mother will say—it's a Mr Jack Fletcher here, a 農業者 who lives out Saidlow way, just the other 味方する of the factory."
"Jack Fletcher!" burst out Nancy, and she began to laugh. "Why, that's the man your 価値のある friend Mrs Johnston used to be so keen on, isn't it? Don't I remember 審理，公聴会 her 持つ／拘留する 前へ／外へ on his charms? Jack Fletcher! Oh, my goodness, 井戸／弁護士席, Phoebe, a pretty pass your precious independence has brought us to. How will you like having Mrs Simpson for a sister-in-法律?"
"Nancy," said Phoebe in 抗議する, and she looked appealingly at Ned Kirkham.
"Fletcher is a very decent, honest man, I believe, Mrs Sampson. Every one here has a good word for him."
"Oh, yes, decent and honest. I know the sort. Just the character you give to a servant. Not the sort of man one thinks of marrying."
"She will marry him," said Phoebe. She knew Lydia 井戸／弁護士席 enough to be sure of that. "She says she's no better than he is."
"井戸／弁護士席, I suppose she isn't, if you look at it in that light. But whose fault is that? Yours, Phoebe. If it hadn't been for your wild nonsense about 存在 独立した・無所属 she never would have met him. Why on earth couldn't you stay at home like an ordinary girl?"
"She's been very happy," 抗議するd the 犯人, 謙虚に, because she really didn't know what to think about Lydia, "and I've been very happy too, and it's been a help to them at home to get rid of us, and—"
"I would have taken you," said Nancy, "so that's no excuse. There's something wrong about this way you are living. I've always thought so, and now I'm sure of it. You two young women live alone here without a chaperon, without a servant even, and you go 捨てるing 知識 with young men—'walking' with them, as servants say—just like servants. Fancy 会合 a young man about the 小道／航路s and fields and doing your 法廷，裁判所ing that way, just like the ありふれた people!" And Nancy looked 厳しく virtuous, and Kirkham wondered if she remembered those many stolen interviews with him in the 小道／航路s about Bandara.
Phoebe had 明らかに forgotten this weak point in Nancy's 推論する／理由ing, for she looked genuinely 苦しめるd and as ashamed as if she herself had committed this 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な offence against the 支配するs of good society.
"I never thought of such a thing happening when I asked Lydia 負かす／撃墜する here," she said perplexedly. "I have lived here so long and—no—nothing—I mean—"
"You mean nobody's made love to you," said her sister, "You know 井戸／弁護士席 enough nobody ever did, so that doesn't count for much."
It was an unkind speech to make, 特に before a man, but Phoebe forgave Nancy on the 得点する／非難する／２０ of her natural irritation at Lydia's 約束／交戦; only by the hot 紅潮／摘発する on her 直面する Kirkham saw the taunt had gone home.
"I was so sure," she said, "that Lydia was just like me."
"She is like you, very," interposed Kirkham, あわてて, "and the consequence is the first decent man who comes across her 倒れるs 長，率いる over ears in love with her, and 明らかに goes to a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 of trouble to get the chance to tell her so."
The 紅潮／摘発する on Phoebe's 直面する 深くするd at the 暗示するd compliment, but Nancy said scornfully—
"Such a man! I'm ashamed of the whole thing. Phoebe never could be got to see, Mr Kirkham, that there are 確かな 支配するs of good society which must be 従うd with, and that any woman who steps outside them is sure to be looked 負かす／撃墜する upon and held in contempt by any decent men, let alone the women."
"Lydia doesn't seem to have 設立する it so any way," said Kirkham, wondering if he ever had been in love with this woman, or if it was all a dream.
"No decent man would marry her—no man in our own class," said Nancy, in her 怒り／怒る 完全に forgetting poor Phoebe's feelings.
"Phoebe, I must go 支援する. There's the buggy outside been waiting for me ever so long. Come in while I put on my hat. I want to speak to you."
Lydia （機の）カム in at that moment, smiling and happy, but Nancy swept past her without speaking, and Lydia only made a grimace at Kirkham and 示唆するd he should come outside and help 料金d the chickens, and inside Nancy gave Phoebe what she called a 厳しい talking to.
"Phoebe, you'll have to give up this sort of life."
"I won't," said Phoebe, きっぱりと.
"井戸／弁護士席, I told you before—and so did mother and father too, for that 事柄—no decent man will ever look at you."
"No man ever did," said Phoebe; "we agreed on that 支配する long ago. So what's the good of me giving up my life for the good opinion of a very doubtful man?"
"Look at the 捨てる you've got Lydia into."
"I'm sorry," said Phoebe, sitting 負かす／撃墜する on her little white bed and 残り／休憩（する）ing her chin in her 手渡す. "I'm very sorry indeed. I never would have been on friendly 条件 with a man of that sort, and so it never occurred to me that Lydia would; and then when I began to think she would—"
"Yes, 井戸／弁護士席?"
"Ned Kirkham made his 外見, and then I felt やめる 安全な and forgot all about Jack Fletcher, because I felt sure Lydia would not look at him when the other man was by."
"You made pretty sure of the other man," said Nancy, with a slight contemptuous 強調 on her words.
"He was always here," said Phoebe. "What else could I think?"
"正確に／まさに," said Nancy, who was hot and angry, not 正確に／まさに about Lydia's ill-starred 約束／交戦, but at the way the world in general had 扱う／治療するd her this afternoon, and was bound to visit her displeasure on somebody, "any man would come and make 解放する／自由な in a house run on such 解放する／自由な and 平易な 原則s as this; but marriage, marriage is やめる a different thing. He has never thought of marriage. Did he look a bit 削減（する） up or disappointed when you told him Lydia was going to be married? Not he. He never thought of either of you in that sort of way. It is not to be 推定する／予想するd. It's all very 井戸／弁護士席 to spend his spare time here, but marriage is a very different thing. And let me tell you, Phoebe"—Nancy looked 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な and 厳しい indeed—"when a man will come and make 解放する／自由な in a woman's house, be on such intimate 条件 as Ned Kirkham is with you and yet never think of marrying, it's a bad 警戒／見張り for the woman. He thinks very lightly of her indeed. You don't know what he thinks," and Nancy paused and looked solemnly at her sister. "You must give up such a life."
Nancy's words were not without 負わせる, for Phoebe was ready to 認める to herself that she knew little enough about the ways of men, and still いっそう少なく about the usages of good society. The latter troubled her little, but she could not help feeling that she cared a very 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 about the good opinion of at least one man. That he should think lightly of her was intolerable. However, the day had gone by when she would have taken Nancy's opinion without question. There might be a modicum of truth in what she said, and the thought was gall and wormwood to her, but she was not going to 認める that to her sister.
"You see what I mean, Phoebe," and Nancy carefully skewered her big hat on with a long bonnet pin, and arranged her 隠す daintily in Phoebe's glass, flattering herself in her own mind that the six years that had passed over her 長，率いる had left no trace, and she was as fresh and fair as ever.
"I see," said Phoebe, calmly, "but I don't agree with you in the least. You're やめる wrong. Mr Kirkham thinks very 高度に of both Lydia and me, and it has never occurred to either him or anybody else that we are making too 解放する／自由な with him. I dare say he doesn't want to marry Lydia, I 推定する／予想する I made a mistake there; but that doesn't say he doesn't like her very much indeed."
"尊敬（する）・点s you both, like Joe does my housemaid!"
Nancy was very angry indeed, she thought it was at Phoebe's 独立した・無所属 方式 of life, and would have been truly astonished had any one told her that the intimacy between her sister and her discarded lover was displeasing to her.
"Joe thinks very 高度に of Ellen," said Phoebe, coolly. "No woman need be ashamed if a man thinks of her like that."
"Oh, 井戸／弁護士席, if you like to put yourself on a par with the servants," said Nancy, "I wash my 手渡すs of the whole 商売／仕事."
"I think you'd better. Come, Nan, dear," she 追加するd, "don't let us quarrel after all these years. If Mr Kirkham thinks of me as a servant, I can't help it. If I went 支援する home, I should be a servant in reality in all but 指名する."
But Nancy 辞退するd to be won over, and for the first time in her life Phoebe was glad to see her gone. She （機の）カム 支援する to her bedroom—Kirkham and Lydia had not 再現するd—and indulged in a few feminine 涙／ほころびs. Suppose this thing that Nancy said was true, suppose Kirkham thought of her and Lydia as he would of a decent housemaid? To be sure there was no shame in it, nothing to be ashamed of whatever; but—but—井戸／弁護士席, somehow the thought brought the 涙／ほころびs into her 注目する，もくろむs—it might not be the 事例／患者, of course. Nancy was not invariably 権利, but he had seemed to think that Jack Fletcher was not a bad match for Lydia, and his good word for him, which she had 設立する so 慰安ing when Nancy was 現在の, returned to her now in the most disquieting manner. Perhaps Nancy was 権利, and he did look upon such a match as most suitable, and the very thought brought fresh 涙／ほころびs to her 注目する，もくろむs. It could not 事柄 to her, she told herself, in the very least what Ned Kirkham should think of the 約束／交戦; and then she cried on, and told herself she was a fool and せねばならない be ashamed of herself crying like a baby for nothing. The little farm was doing very 井戸／弁護士席, she was 栄えるing beyond her highest hopes, and if Lydia had engaged herself to the wrong man, at any 率 she loved him dearly; and had not she herself always preached that love must come before all else, was the very first requisite for a happy marriage. What was she crying for? She sat up, wiped the hair out of her 注目する，もくろむs, washed her 直面する, and gave her mind to discovering what was making her so 哀れな. Because Lydia was going to marry Jack Fletcher? Certainly not. It was not human nature to cry one's 注目する，もくろむs out because one's sister will marry the man she loves, and the man she loves is a most respectable 農業者, whose father was a 高度に 尊敬（する）・点d pork butcher. No; there was certainly nothing to cry about there, though she might rather dread her mother on the marriage; but, 事実上, her mother's opinions made no difference to either her or Lydia. She must 現実に be crying because—because—Lydia had 示唆するd as the most natural thing in the world that Ned Kirkham （機の）カム to see her, to do more than see her, to 支持を得ようと努める her, and just as she was beginning to realise the 十分な delight of the suggestion, Nancy had dashed it aside, and had made her feel as if this man must needs look 負かす／撃墜する upon her, must look upon her as Joe himself regarded his housemaid. The hot colour 機動力のある into her cheeks as she thought of Kirkham, as the 十分な significance of her thoughts （機の）カム over her. She was not shocked at Lydia's 約束／交戦, she was glad, thankful—she 注ぐd some water into the 水盤／入り江 and sponged her 直面する—she had fancied she 手配中の，お尋ね者 to marry Ned Kirkham; she had schooled herself to hope she would, and what did it all come to? She had been thankful to hear from her own lips that she loved another man, and then Lydia's words about Ned Kirkham had filled her, for one 簡潔な／要約する moment, with such a 見通し of 入り口ing delight as took her breath away.
And Nancy with one word had swept this 見通し aside. It was too much. She あわてて gulped 負かす／撃墜する another sob, as she thought of it. And after all Nancy was not やめる fair. He could not despise them. He wouldn't, in any 事例／患者, she was sure of that, but at 現在の he had no 権利. If she was only a 農業者 in a very small way, he, in spite of that gold 地雷, was only 経営者／支配人 of a butter factory, and socially there was not a pin to choose between them. Besides, why was she bothering her 長，率いる about social distinctions? She had given up such things when she started for herself. Why should they trouble her now? It was because—she （機の）カム to the glass now and smoothed 支援する her hair, and she 紅潮／摘発するd rosy red as she caught sight of her own reflection—it was because—she could not hide it from herself any longer, she wondered how she had hidden it so long—there was but one man in the world for her. It was for his footstep she listened, for his 賞賛する she worked; it was the sound of his 発言する／表明する, the touch of his 手渡す, that 始める，決める her heart dancing—and—and Lydia had said he cared, and Nancy had said he 軽蔑（する）d.
She heard his footstep in the next room, she heard his laughing 発言する／表明する chaffing Lydia about her 約束／交戦, and she could not 召集（する） courage to 直面する them. She was afraid lest the secret she had but now discovered must be written on her 直面する. Perhaps, かもしれない—she grew hot at the thought—she had betrayed herself long ago, and it was a secret to neither of them. The horrid thought stayed her 手渡す on the door 扱う, and she heard Lydia say—
"Wherever can that sister of 地雷 be? Phoebe, don't you 提案する to have any supper to-night?" and she 押し進めるd open the door and 明らかにする／漏らすd her standing hesitating there.
"Why, Phoebe, whatever is the 事柄? You 港／避難所't been crying, have you? Has Nan been pitching into you? Poor old Nan," and Phoebe wondered why Lydia should pity her sister.
"Come along in, Phoebe. Now that our rich sister has gone we may be 許すd to 追求する our humble course in peace. I've just been pointing out to Mr Kirkham, Phoebe, what 高度に respectable 農業者s we are, in 事例／患者 he didn't know it before."
Lydia was in wild spirits. The 救済 at having got the 告示 over was very 明らかな, and Kirkham, too, seemed to 株 her happiness. Nancy's 出発 was evidently a 救済 to him too, and he stole 時折の ちらりと見ることs at Phoebe, as if wondering why she did not 答える／応じる to her sister's sallies. It was comfortable without Nancy, so homelike; so 平易な to talk that insensibly she 回復するd herself and began to think, as she always did think, that it really didn't 事柄 what the outside world thought as long as they were happy together. There was that disquieting 発見 she had made, though she hardly dared look Kirkham in the 直面する lest he should read it in her 注目する，もくろむs, and suppose he did not care, as Nancy said he did not; or suppose he did, as Lydia hinted.
It made her 紅潮／摘発する to think either, and as Kirkham sat and watched her, he could not but see that something was troubling her. He 始める，決める it 負かす／撃墜する rightly enough to Nancy's 干渉, and was やめる surprised to find how vigorously in his own mind he 非難するd the 狭くする 見解（をとる）s and vapid conversation of the woman he had only a few years 支援する counted the only woman in the world for him. He had never given a thought to Phoebe then, and now he watched her all the evening and wondered ばく然と what on earth he could do to help her, and asked himself, with a little anxious 沈むing at his heart, whether she would ever care enough for him to look to him for help.
And Lydia chatted on cheerfully and watched them both, and laughed when she thought thankfully that they were in the same 深い waters that she and her Jack had 現れるd from only this morning. They seemed so old to her, she remembered them grown up when she was a child, she could not help a slight contempt for them. Why were they going on like this, making each other 哀れな, 許すing Nancy to make them both so uncomfortable, when the way lay straight before them? She had given Phoebe a hint. Why could not the old stupid take it? She would make another 成果／努力 on their に代わって, anyhow, since they seemed so incapable of helping themselves.
"Phoebe," she said, "what about those duck eggs? I put them in a nice comfortable nest in a バーレル／樽, 負かす／撃墜する in the corner under the lilac bush. Will you 始める，決める the 女／おっせかい屋 tonight?"
Phoebe ちらりと見ることd 負かす／撃墜する at her pretty dress, dubiously. As a 支配する she did not shirk her 義務s, but tonight she felt very like letting that 女／おっせかい屋 go till a more convenient season. Love had never come to her before, not like this; and even if it （機の）カム unrequited, it was an 時代 in her life, and she could not regard it lightly. She didn't feel a bit like sitting a 女／おっせかい屋.
"It won't do your dress any 害（を与える）," went on Lydia, 事実上. "The nest's as clean as possible, and so's the Plymouth 激しく揺する 女／おっせかい屋. You've only got to catch her by the wings and carry her 負かす／撃墜する. Mr Kirkham'll do it for you. Won't you, Mr Kirkham?"
"Of course I will," said Kirkham, cheerfully, rising to his feet, やめる oblivious of the fact that up to やめる lately he had cordially detested the 商売／仕事 女／おっせかい屋.
"Oh, no, I won't trouble you," hesitated Phoebe. "I can do it myself. Men hate 女／おっせかい屋s."
"井戸／弁護士席, let me come and look on then," 示唆するd Kirkham, and they left the room together, while Lydia 成し遂げるd a wild war dance all by herself in the little kitchen, by way of working off her over-wrought feelings.
There is no life on earth but 存在 in love!
There are no 熟考する／考慮するs, no delights, no 商売／仕事,
No intercourse or 貿易（する） of sense or soul
But what is love! I was the laziest creature,
The most 無益な 調印する of nothing,
The veriest drone, and slept away my life
Beyond the dormouse, till I was in love.
And now I can outwake the nightingale,
Outwatch an usurer, and outwalk him too;
Stalk like a ghost that haunted '一区切り／（ボクシングなどの）試合 a treasurie,
And all that fancied treasure—it is love!
—BEN JONSON.
It was a lovely night, soft and warm, and the brilliant moonlight turned the ありふれた-place surroundings of the little farm into something romantic and not of this world. The lilac was all gone long ago, but the 空気／公表する was 激しい with the scent of the roses that climbed over the garden 盗品故買者, and beneath their feet as they walked they 鎮圧するd the tall grass, and it gave off a scent like new-mown hay. It was very ありふれた-place to catch a 女／おっせかい屋, but Phoebe did not find it so when Kirkham caught it for her and carried it 負かす／撃墜する to the バーレル／樽 and stood and watched while she covered over the バーレル／樽 with a 解雇（する）, in 事例／患者 that 女／おっせかい屋 should not be やめる pleased with her new ４半期/4分の1s.
Then she rose up and stood beside him, and forgot to thank him for his help. She leaned 支援する a moment against the rose-covered 盗品故買者, and looked up at the 十分な moon sailing out in the （疑いを）晴らす, dark sky.
"What a glorious night!"
She was a perfect woman, thought the man before her, as he looked at her up-turned 直面する—those dark 注目する，もくろむs were beautiful, that 会社／堅い mouth and chin; those white even teeth told of strength of will and 軍隊 of character, and yet the little tender smile on her lips showed she was a very woman still, a woman to be 支持を得ようと努めるd and won, a woman 井戸／弁護士席 価値（がある） the winning. A tender, loving woman. What fairer jewel could any man 願望（する） to place in his 世帯? But was she for him? And he thought of the years he had wasted over her younger sister, and 悪口を言う／悪態d himself for a fool.
"It is a perfect night," he said. "It's a shame to go in."
"But Lydia?" And the colour 深くするd on her cheeks, because he had in a manner asked her to stay outside with him. "And Lydia said—and Nancy said—"
Kirkham laughed.
"Oh, Lydia's all 権利. She can only think on one 支配する. Lydia! And I remember her a long-legged girl, who was the 疫病／悩ます of your life because she wouldn't do her hair. Do you remember? And now she's going to be married?"
"Oh, dear," sighed Phoebe. "Whatever am I to do?"
"They 港／避難所't left much for you to do except say, 'Bless you, my children.'"
"Oh, Mr Kirkham," said Phoebe, anxiously looking him straight in the 直面する and forgetting her own particular trouble, "do tell me what you think of it all. They will be so angry at home, and—and—yet what am I to do? He is a good fellow, I'm sure of that, isn't he?"
"Yes, he is a good, honest fellow who will make any woman a good husband. She will be やめる 安全な with him, and if he isn't very polished—"
Phoebe groaned.
"He sucks up his gravy with his knife," she said.
Kirkham laughed at her lugubrious 直面する.
"His 原則s are sound. What's the good of bothering about his manners?"
"And Lydia is very fond of him, and I've always held it's the best thing in the world to marry for love."
"It is indeed," said her companion, fervently.
"But," went on Phoebe, judiciously trying to 重さを計る every word, "would she be in love with him if she had had a chance of seeing any one better? Would she be in love with him if she waited five years?"
"Probably not," said Kirkham, out of the depth of his own experience.
"Then—then—isn't it wicked to let her marry this man when she knows so little about him? Put it what way you will there are social distinctions in the world. They think at home I'm very 幅の広い in my 見解（をとる）s, but I wouldn't like to marry him. If I 後継する in stopping Lydia now, won't she thank me with all her heart five years hence?"
"Oh, 行方不明になる Marsden, don't you want to know too much?"
"Would you like to marry the person you were madly in love with in the days of your 青年?" asked Phoebe in desperation, forgetting for the moment to whom she was speaking, and how very apposite was her question. Then she remembered, and he saw her 直面する go crimson in the moonlight.
"No, I would not," he said 厳粛に, though his colour too 機動力のある to his forehead. "You must know 井戸／弁護士席 enough," and he laid his 手渡す on her arm and 設立する to his surprise that she was trembling, "that I am more thankful than words can say that I could not marry the woman I was wild to have five years ago."
"That is to say," and she held up her 長，率いる and drew her arm away, "there is no such thing as love in the world."
"That is to say," and Kirkham's 発言する／表明する sank low, almost to a whisper, so earnest was he, "that a man is いつかs made to realise very 激しく what a 爆破d idiot he has made of himself."
"You—you—I don't understand."
"Don't you?" Kirkham gripped her arm hard now and drew her に向かって him. "Oh, Phoebe, don't you understand. Are you going to punish me because I—because I loved your sister five years ago?"
"You did love her," whispered Phoebe, but there was a glow of happiness at her heart she could hardly have explained to herself. What did it all mean? What did it mean? Her heart was （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing so wildly it almost 窒息させるd her, and she was afraid lest he should find it out.
He took his 手渡す off her arm for a moment and held out both his own. Involuntarily she turned に向かって him, it was the slightest movement but it told him all he 手配中の，お尋ね者 to know, and the next he had her の近くに in his 武器.
"My dear, my dear, my darling, I cared for her in a way it is true enough, but not like this, not as I love you. She would have 非，不，無 of me, thank God. I am older and wiser now, and I've learned—I've learned—Oh, Phoebe, Phoebe, won't you love me a little?"
But Phoebe's 長，率いる was on his shoulder, he whispered the words in her ear, his lips were on hers, and there was no need of an answer.
And the moon climbed up and up in the （疑いを）晴らす dark sky, and the evening crept slowly on while those two leaned up against the garden 盗品故買者 and gave no 注意する to anything but the love that had come to both of them after so many years. A flight of wild swans flew 総計費 crying mournfully on their way south, an フクロウ across the road hooted at intervals in a most ill-omened manner, and the Plymouth 激しく揺する 女／おっせかい屋 scuffled 一連の会議、交渉／完成する until she got first her 長，率いる and then her whole 団体／死体 outside the 解雇（する） that covered the バーレル／樽, gave vent to her feelings in a 脅すd cackle which should have brought a 井戸／弁護士席-規制するd 女／おっせかい屋 mistress to her 味方する, and, as it failed to rouse Phoebe, took 事柄s into her own 手渡すs and scuttled off 負かす／撃墜する the garden where she 設立する a 残り／休憩（する）ing place, after the manner of ill-行為／行うd 女／おっせかい屋s, on some addled 女／おっせかい屋 eggs which Lydia would have buried that morning had not her love 事件／事情／状勢s 干渉するd.
What 事柄, what 事柄? Such joy comes but once in a lifetime to a woman. Just for one 簡潔な／要約する hour let these two forget all else but their two selves. It had come to them at last, the greatest joy on earth, the joy of loving and 存在 loved. Would it stand the 実験（する） of years? Ah, 井戸／弁護士席! They were very sure of that.
"Do you love me?" asked Kirkham, for the twentieth time turning her blushing 直面する up so that he could look into her dark 注目する，もくろむs.
"You know, oh, you know."
"Will you love me always?"
"Always, always."
Then she looked up at him smiling a little though there were 涙／ほころびs in her 注目する，もくろむs.
"It is I who せねばならない ask that question," she said. "I never was in love with your cousin."
"And I never loved any one like this, never, never. You'll believe me, won't you, darling?"
Oh, yes, she would believe him; when love comes to a woman like Phoebe Marsden, there is no question in it, no 疑問, no 保留（地）／予約s. It was all pure delight to her to stand here in the moonlight, her lover's 武器 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her, her 長，率いる on his shoulder. There was no need of words between them, though it seemed to her that all her life would hardly be long enough to say to him all she had to say.
And it was getting so late.
"I せねばならない go in," said Phoebe, raising her 長，率いる. "Whatever would Nancy say?"
"A little longer," pleaded Kirkham, "what does it 事柄 what anybody thinks now?"
"And we 港／避難所't settled anything about Lydia," sighed Phoebe, contentedly nestling her 長，率いる a little closer to his, "I （機の）カム out 特に to 協議する you about Lydia."
"What can we say when we're doing 正確に／まさに the same thing ourselves?" and he kissed her hair gently.
Phoebe laughed and sighed.
"Oh dear, oh dear, if she feel, just half what I do I wouldn't dare help the smallest bit to separate them."
And he kissed her hair again.
"You're not helping me at all," she said.
"Darling, you'll have to say, 'Bless you, my children'; I told you so before."
"Oh, if she should change, if she should change and some day see him with my 注目する，もくろむs."
"If she marries him," said Kirkham, "she'll never do that. If she doesn't mind these little things that jar on you now, she won't in her married life."
"And he's a good honest fellow?"
"He's a good honest fellow."
"They will be so shocked at home."
"特に about the pork butcher. What will they say about us?"
"I don't think they could think much worse of me," Phoebe laughed a little contented laugh. "They'll be やめる delighted to think I'm doing anything so reasonable as—as—"
"Marrying a poor devil like me."
"What about the gold 地雷?" She 解除するd her up her 手渡す and touched his cheek gently.
"Oh, the gold 地雷? I'm afraid we mustn't count on the gold 地雷. Darling, you're going to marry the 経営者／支配人 of a butter factory."
"It's a rise in the world for me," said Phoebe, demurely, "I'm the woman that 供給（する）s the Western Hotel with poultry."
"明確に we can't 干渉する with Lydia."
Then they both laughed happily, and Lydia's 運命／宿命 was decided as far as the Western 地区 was 関心d.
Lydia was very sure no one had any 関心 in it except herself, and she was so happy and so wild with excitement she hardly knew how to pass the evening. If only she had known, she thought, that those two silly old things were going to spend the whole of the evening over setting a 女／おっせかい屋, Jack should certainly have spent the evening with his sweetheart. But at any 率 she 約束d herself good times for the 未来, and when the clock 手渡す began to creep up higher she thoughtfully put out some cake and began to make some cocoa. There was a mischievous smile on her 直面する when at last the other two made their 外見, looking—井戸／弁護士席, as folks 一般に do look who have been kissing in the garden.
"井戸／弁護士席, you two—I hope you've been long enough," said she. "Now, did your 女／おっせかい屋 sit?"
"The 女／おっせかい屋?" It seemed to Phoebe she had gone out into another world to 始める，決める that 女／おっせかい屋, so long ago was it. "Oh, yes, of course. She's sitting all 権利. Those Plymouth 激しく揺するs always do."
"井戸／弁護士席, I'm glad to hear it," said Lydia, "for it really looked to me as if you did not know much about it. Might one be permitted to ask what you've been doing ever since. Three mortal hours by this clock."
Phoebe's happy 直面する grew rosy red, and she looked 負かす／撃墜する and 新たな展開d her dress between her fingers.
"What," asked Kirkham, coming to the 救助（する）, "were you doing this morning when I met you in Byer's 小道／航路?"
It was Lydia's turn to blush, but she was equal to the occasion. She caught her sister 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the waist and kissed her.
"Phoebe! I'm so glad."
That night, after Kirkham had taken his 出発, and the two girls were undressing, Lydia laid 負かす／撃墜する her hair 小衝突 with a sigh and said, "Oh, dear, this has been an exciting day, hasn't it? Phoebe, dear, if any one had told you years ago that you would marry Ned Kirkham! Why, he was Nancy's lover, wasn't he? Nell and I used to think you せねばならない marry Allan Morrison."
"Oh, Lydia!" and Phoebe blushed because she remembered that long ago leaning に向かって Allan Morrison when he had given no thought to her. "He was always Nancy's."
"Was he? He'd have ふさわしい you. Ned Kirkham's very nice, but you know, Phoebe, dear, you really are marrying the wrong man."
"Am I? People always do, you know. Plenty of people will tell you you are, Lyd." Then she put her 長，率いる 負かす／撃墜する on the pillow and hid her 直面する. "And I'm so happy, so happy, I didn't think there was such happiness possible in this world. The wrong man indeed! Oh, I hope, I only hope I'll make him as happy as he deserves."
And Lydia laughed because that 味方する of the question only occurs to an older woman.
We might have been—but these are ありふれた words,
And yet they make the sum of life's bewailing,
They are the echoes of those finer chords,
Whose music we 嘆き悲しむ when unavailing.
We might have been!
—L. E. LANDON.
The mail was 予定 at Sunset. Allan Morrison could hardly have said why he was so anxious for that mail. There was no one 負かす／撃墜する south cared much about him; only his cousin, Ned Kirkham, wrote to him 定期的に because he understood the loneliness of life on a 採掘 （軍の）野営地，陣営, and would do all in his 力／強力にする to help his old mate. His letters were 冷静な／正味の and refreshing, there was no 干ばつ there, no want of water, only talk of green fields 膝-深い in spring grass, of milk and cream and butter, of evenings and Sundays spent with two happy, busy women—such tales of home and 慰安 as made the lonely man's heart long with a 広大な／多数の／重要な longing for the time when these things should be his. And it would not be long now. He and Sam McAlister, who had joined him when Kirkham went east, were 熱望して looking 今後 to the first 鎮圧するing. If it anything like （機の）カム up to their 期待s he would leave the 地雷 to Sam, be off to the coast by the very next coach, and to the eastern 植民地s by the very next steamer. And it would be 権利 this time, he had very little 疑問 of it. They had got the 暗礁 and it 約束d splendidly; such a show of gold he had not seen since that first day, when he and Ned Kirkham had ridden over and Ned had pointed out to him where he had 設立する a nugget in a "buck-暗礁," and they had gone mad over that first 約束 of untold wealth. 井戸／弁護士席, it had been a long time coming, a long time; there had been more 失望s than he had thought possible, and he was not a man in the first 紅潮／摘発する of his 青年, who 推定する／予想するd to find everything to his 手渡す. But now, now it was all 権利, the 暗礁 was there, the 機械／機構 was there, he could hear from his seat at his hut door the sound of the 激しい stampers as they rose and fell 刻々と. Soon the first 鎮圧するing, the first 合法的 鎮圧するing at 'Kirkham's Golden 穴を開ける' would be over and he would be 解放する／自由な to go away for the long-looked-for 残り／休憩（する）. Where would he go to? Oh, he had little 疑問 about that. Of course he would go and see old Ned running his butter factory, where else should he go? He would 嘘（をつく） on the long grass, and let the 冷静な／正味の 勝利，勝つd play on his sunburned 直面する, he would watch the cows 料金d 膝-深い in it, the 酪農場 folk coming up with their carts and buggies and their 向こうずねing milk cans, the bonny, 有望な-直面するd, rosy children, the light-hearted girls, the happy women with their babies in their 武器. How he yearned for it all after the desolation, and the heat and the dust and the 飛行機で行くs, and the 失望 that had been his 部分 for so many 疲れた／うんざりした months. But it was almost at an end now. Not another week of it. He looked out across the plain and saw a small red cloud of dust, which he knew was the 後継の mail coach. Should he go 負かす／撃墜する and get his mail first or should he go and see the result of the 鎮圧するing? 総計費 was the brassy sky, and the 勝利，勝つd from the north was like a breath from a furnace, for it was the month of November, and all the 鉱夫s were getting 控除s, and would be 解放する／自由な to go eastwards to visit wife and children, or sweetheart, without 恐れる of their （人命などを）奪う，主張する 存在 jumped. How he hated it all, red plain and brassy sky, those wretched テントs and 一時しのぎの物，策 houses, the untidy, desolate, 採掘 （軍の）野営地，陣営; the heaps of mullock and the heaps of 石／投石する; the poppet 長，率いるs that were rising all over the place, the unwashed men in dirty shirts and ragged moleskins; the picturesque Afghans, the camels that looked as if they had stepped out of Bible history—how he hated it all. He would go east to the 冷静な／正味の little town on the south coast of Victoria, nestling there の中で the soft green hills, where 干ばつ and want and greed of gold were unknown, and see if he too could not find there the peace that had come to Ned Kirkham. It read like a pretty idyll, the tale of his 会合 and his intimacy with the two Marsden girls. What more could the heart of man 願望（する）, thought this lonely man, than to be a 信用d friend in such a dainty, happy little 世帯 as Kirkham 述べるd in his letters? What more? 井戸／弁護士席, likely a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 more, but all in good time, there was no hurry. He thought of the days when Nancy would have 非，不，無 of him, and smiled to himself. How much he had loved her! How he had schooled himself to see his cousin 勝利，勝つ her. It had been such hard work, and yet what a fool he had been, for behold her 年上の sister was 価値（がある） a dozen of her. Kirkham had discovered that for himself now. He evidently thought a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 of Phoebe, and of Lydia too. And Allan Morrison leaned against his rather ricketty doorpost, and watched the red cloud of dust come closer and closer, and wondered idly would Kirkham marry Lydia? Could he love her when he had loved Nancy so madly? But that was five years ago, or was it six? Yes, there was nothing I like propinquity. Kirkham would probably marry Lydia, and they would have plenty of money, if that counted for anything. And Phoebe? Fancy Phoebe remaining unmarried all these years, and developing into a 罰金, handsome, tender-hearted woman. He thought a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 about Phoebe, he had always 尊敬（する）・点d her, placed her in a place apart from other women; in his heart believed in her, hoped 広大な／多数の／重要な things from her, and behold here was Ned Kirkham 令状ing to say that Phoebe Marsden had more than 実行するd his old time hopes of her. He thought of that Sunday afternoon they had walked 支援する from church together, and he had longed to be with Nancy, and yet could not help seeing how superior was the girl who 定評のある that she always アイロンをかけるd her sister's dresses for her. She was a good girl, Phoebe Marsden, and she had grown into a splendid woman. Ned Kirkham seemed to speak of her as something infinitely superior to ordinary womankind, something to be looked up to and admired. Would this pearl の中で women look at him?
And there at this hot and 炎ing noon-day, with the north 勝利，勝つd covering everything in his rough hut with red dust, Allan Morrison puffed away at his 麻薬を吸う, and in the curling smoke saw 見通しs of the 未来 that should be his. He saw it all 明確に now. She was 価値（がある） all a man's love, the best he had to give, and she should have it. He would go 支援する and 支持を得ようと努める her as never surely was woman 支持を得ようと努めるd before. He would make 修正するs for his former blindness. His past had been so dreary, so devoid of home life, of all tenderness and love. But the 未来 should be—that 未来, that 未来—He could sit here no longer and wait with idle 手渡すs, he would go 負かす／撃墜する to the 殴打／砲列, they must know the result of the 鎮圧するing now.
And as he stepped out into the hot and dusty roadway, Sam McAlister, 急ぐing along as if the 温度計 had been at 氷点の, almost carried him off his feet.
"Good Lord, boss, carry me out and bury me! It's ten ounces to the トン if it's a ha'penny! Whoop! Hurroo!" and Sam McAlister 成し遂げるd a wild war dance 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the hut that brought the frying-pan and all the tin pannikins clattering about his heels. Then, streaming with perspiration, he flung himself upon the 担架 and 熟視する／熟考するd with a 満足させるd sigh his own dust-covered butcher boots.
"Oh, Lord!" he said, as he drew a grimy を引き渡す a still grimier forehead, "we're millionaires after all. I suppose you're off east, boss?"
"Yes," said Morrison, rising to his feet and stretching his 武器 above his 長，率いる with the 空気／公表する of a man who has borne much, and now that success has come, looks 支援する, wondering at his own strength. He could not do it again. He has 後継するd, but he could never go through those 疲れた／うんざりした days again. Oh, to lay his wealth at Phoebe Marsden's feet, to feel the touch of her 冷静な／正味の 手渡す, to see the love light in her 注目する，もくろむs. He might have won her years ago, a woman 価値（がある） winning, a woman 価値（がある） waiting for, and working for, but he had let the time pass him by. But now he was 解放する／自由な to 支持を得ようと努める again, he was an older, wiser man, the foolish days of his 青年 were gone by, but not, thank God, his capacity for loving. Such a tender, loving husband she shall have if she will only take him. And why not? Why not?
"You'll be off, boss, pretty soon, I suppose?" said Sam McAlister.
"Tonight, man, tonight," said Morrison, impatiently.
The man on the bed opened his 注目する，もくろむs and felt in the pocket of his breeches.
"Here's a letter for you," he said, throwing it at him, "I called for the mails as I passed. Catch."
Morrison caught the thin foreign envelope and saw the 演説（する）／住所 was in Kirkham's 手渡す. What did he say of Phoebe? And with eager fingers he tore it open.
"Congratulate me, old man," it began. "I'm engaged to the best woman in the world. You always said so, and I've been finding out all these months how 権利 you were, only you see I know more about it than you do by now, for I'm going to marry Phoebe Marsden before Christmas."
"Lucky beggar you are," 不平（をいう）d Sam McAlister, "I suppose I'll have to stick in this beastly hot 穴を開ける and look after things till you get 支援する?"
"You can go if you like, Sam," said Morrison, 静かに. "There's no particular hurry about me."
This 場所／位置 is 十分な of FREE ebooks - 事業／計画（する） Gutenberg Australia