And with a gasp she let herself go at last.
"I will take you on trust," she said.
VI
When Sybil at length travelled up-country with her husband the shearing season had already commenced. They went by easy stages, for the heat was great, and she was far from strong. She knew that Mercer was anxious to reach his property, and she would have journeyed more rapidly if he would have permitted it, but upon this point he was firm. At every turn he considered her, and she marvelled at the intuition with which he divined her unspoken wishes. Curt and rough though he was, his care surrounded her in a magic circle within which she dwelt at ease. With all his imperiousness she did not find him domineering, and this fact was a constant marvel to her, for she knew the mastery of his will. By some mysterious power he curbed himself, and day by day her confidence in him grew.
They accomplished the greater part of the journey by rail, and then when the railway ended came the long, long ride. They travelled for five days, spending each night at an inn at some township upon the road.
Through dense stretches of forest, through great tracts of waste country, and again through miles of parched pasture-land they rode, and during the whole of that journey Mercer"s care never relaxed. She never found him communicative. He would ride for hours without uttering a word, but yet she was subtly conscious of his close attention. She knew that she was never out of his thoughts.
At the inns at which they rested he always saw himself to her comfort, and the best room was always placed at her disposal. One thing impressed her at every halt. The innkeepers one and all stood in awe of him. Not one of them welcomed him, but not one of them failed to attend with alacrity to his wants. It puzzled her, for she herself had never found him really formidable.
On the last morning of their ride, when they set forth, she surprised a look of deep compa.s.sion in the eyes of the innkeeper"s wife as she said good-bye, and it gave her something of a shock. Why was the woman sorry for her? Had she heard her story by any strange chance? Or was it for some other reason? It left an unpleasant impression upon her. She wished she had not seen it.
They rode that day almost exclusively through Mercer"s property, which extended for many miles. He was the owner of several farms, two of which they pa.s.sed without drawing rein. He was taking her to what he called the Home Farm, his native place, which he still made his headquarters, and from which he overlooked the whole of his great property.
The brief twilight had turned to darkness before they reached it. During the last half hour Mercer rode with his hand upon Sybil"s bridle, and she was glad to have it there. She was not accustomed to riding in the dark. Moreover, she was very tired, and when at last they turned in through an open gateway to one side of which a solitary lantern had been fixed, she breathed a deep sigh of thankfulness.
She saw the outline of the house but vaguely, but in two windows lights were burning, and as they clattered up a door was thrown open, and a man stood silhouetted for a moment on the threshold.
"Hullo, Curtis! Here we are!" was Mercer"s greeting. "Later than I intended, but it"s a far cry from Wallarroo, and we had to take it easy."
"The best way," the other said.
He went forward and quietly helped Sybil to dismount. He did not speak to her as he did so, and she wondered a little at the reserve of his manner. But the next moment she forgot him at the sight of a hideous young negro who had suddenly appeared at the horses" heads.
"It"s only Beelzebub," said the man at her side, in a tired voice, as if it were an effort to speak at all.
She realized that the explanation was intended to be rea.s.suring, and laughed rather tremulously. Finding Mercer at her side she slipped her hand into his.
He gave it a terrific squeeze. "Come inside!" he said. "You are tired."
They went in, Curtis following.
In a room with a sanded floor that looked pleasantly homely to her English eyes a meal was spread. The place and everything it contained shone in the lamplight. She looked around her with a smile of pleasure, notwithstanding her weariness. And then her eyes fell upon Curtis, and found his fixed upon her.
He averted them instantly, but she had read their expression at a glance--surprise and compa.s.sion--and her heart gave a curious little throb of dismay.
She turned nevertheless without a pause to Mercer.
"Won"t you introduce me to your friend?" she said.
"What?" said Mercer. "Oh, that"s Curtis, my foreman. Curtis, this is my wife."
Curtis bowed stiffly, but Sybil held out her hand.
"How nice everything looks!" she said. "I am sure we have you to thank for it."
"Beelzebub and me," he said; and again she was struck by the utter lack of animation in his voice.
He was a man of about forty, lean and brown, with an unmistakable air of breeding about him that put her at her ease at once. His quiet manner was a supreme contrast to Mercer"s roughness. She was quite sure that he was not colonial born.
He sat at table with them, and waited also, but he did not utter a word except now and again in answer to some brief query from Mercer. When the meal was over he cleared the table and disappeared.
She looked at Mercer in some surprise as the door closed upon him.
"He"s a useful chap," Mercer said. "I"m sorry there isn"t a woman in the house, but you"ll find Beelzebub better than a dozen. And this fellow is always at hand for anything you may want in the evening."
"He is a gentleman," she said almost involuntarily.
Mercer looked at her.
"Do you object to having a gentleman to wait on you?" he asked curtly.
She did not quite understand his tone, but she was very far just then from understanding the man himself. His question demanded no answer, and she gave none.
After a moment she got up, and, conscious of an oppression in the atmosphere, took off her hat and pushed back the hair from her face.
She knew that Mercer was watching her, felt his eyes upon her, and wished intensely that he would speak, but he did not utter a word. There seemed to her to be something stubborn in his silence, and it affected her strangely.
For a while she stood also silent, then suddenly with a little smile she looked across at him.
"Aren"t you going to show me everything?" she said.
"Not to-night," he said. "I will show you your bedroom if you are too tired to stay up any longer."
She considered the matter for a few seconds, then quietly crossed the room to his side. She laid a hand that trembled slightly on his shoulder.
"You have been very good to me," she said.
He stiffened at her touch.
"You had better go to bed," he said gruffly, and made as if he would rise.
But she checked him with a dignity all her own.
"Wait, please; I want to speak to you."
"Not to thank me, I hope," he said.
"No, not to thank you." She paused an instant, and seemed to hesitate.
"I--I really want to ask you something," she said at length.
He reached up and removed her hand from his shoulder.
"Well?" he questioned.