Riverside in another. It was only a little walk to Riverside, and the sisters had often gone across the paddock alone. To-night Ina seemed particularly anxious that Elsie should wait at Fermoy's for Lord Horace to escort her.
"Then I might wait all night," said Miss Valliant. "No, thank you, Ina, I shall go straight home, and you get to your bed."
"You will let me see you to your gate?" said Blake, in a low tone. Mr. Anderson stepped forward, entreating that he might be the favoured escort. Minnie Pryde, who lived quite at the end of the Point, had secured her own particular swain, who was also a lodger at Fermoys'.
"No," said Elsie, firmly. "Mr. Blake is going to take me, and you, please, look after my sister. Good-night, Ina. Good-night, Minnie. Ina, I shall come down to-morrow and see how we are going to the Garfits'."
The Garfit dance was to take place on the morrow.
Elsie and Blake were alone in the soft scented night. Many of the eucalyptus in the paddock had been left standing. Elsie said that they made her think of the Bush and of the Luya.
"And, perhaps, of your future home," said Blake.
"Perhaps," said Elsie coldly. "If it is going to be my fate to marry a bushman."
"Do you know what your fate ought to be?" said Blake. "You should marry a rich man, who would take you to Europe and place you in a position to which your beauty entitles you. You should have everything that the world can give to a beautiful woman. You should be caressed, flattered, fêted, adorned, surrounded by every luxury, and set in a fitting frame."
"Thank you," said Elsie. "You draw a pleasant picture."
"But that will not be your fate," Blake went on. "You will marry Frank Hallett, or another. You will never rise above the level of prosperous Australian Philistinism. You will never taste the finest aroma of romance and of enjoyment. You will never know the fascination of danger.
