Chapter XIX
“Well, dear, it doesn’t really matter. It’s only till to-morrow.”
“But it’s a brutally rough place, Effie. I don’t like your being here at all, little girl.”
Randal drew the flimsy window curtains together, pinned them, and came across to the horsehair sofa.
“We’ll shut out what we can,” he said. “And that’s not much, I’m afraid. All these confounded township hotels are just a bar and a lean-to and a drunken row—’specially in this part of Queensland.”
Effie pinched his cheek with soft fingers.
“Let’s pretend we don’t hear it. We used to be so good at pretending. And now there isn’t any make-believe left———”
“Too much solid fact, eh?” demanded Randal, dropping on one knee to bring his face close beside hers on the cushion.
“Too much solid happiness,” she said softly.
“You are sure of that, Effie? Oh, are you sure? I have taken you away from so much. Remember that there will be hard work on
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