"
Marcella saw quite well that she was not wanted and felt immensely
relieved that there was no necessity for her to go to Wooratonga.
Haltingly and stumblingly she asked him for the money, without telling
him Louis's chain of lies at all. He took little notice of what she
said. Money means very little in Australia where things are done on a
large scale. Looking immensely relieved he said it would no doubt be
much happier for her to go to stay with her friends--and how much money
did she want?
Marcella thought ten pounds--she really did not know. But he laughed at
that and, taking her along to his bank, gave her fifty pounds. It seemed
a lot of money to her, but he waved her thanks away, telling her a long
tale about catching fresh-water oysters in the creek near his homestead.
He seemed frightened of the traffic, frightened of the people.
"I'll be very glad to get back," he said, as they stood outside the bank
watching the street cars clang by. "I've lived in the back blocks so
long that houses suffocate me and people all look like monstrosities.
I'm glad to have seen you, though. I was very fond of Rose, as a boy."
But he asked no questions about her or Andrew. He simply took for
granted all that Marcella said, and was immensely interested in his
sheep and his garden. He had recently imported a Chinese gardener who
was going to do wonderful things.
Pages:
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265