g. 'I do love you,' she said. 'I don't care--I don't
care; I love you! Oh, how can I help myself? I have been mad, but I love
you! I don't care; I love you!'

XXI

IT was February, and the Honourable Walter Ryder lingered at the
homestead. He had broached to Macdougal an intention of buying the whole
of the next season's wool-clip at Boobyalla, and carrying it back to
England with him. He thought it might be a profitable investment. He had
talked of going, but was pressed to stay; and meanwhile the change in
Mrs. Macdougal was so marked that Lucy had often commented on it to
Ryder. A real romance had come into Marcia's life--a terrible one, she
thought it--and her poor little foolish dreams were swept away. They had
been innocent enough, those fanciful imaginings of hers, and had given
her some joy. This reality filled her with agonies of apprehension. She
was never free of terror, and found herself studying her husband's
impassive face, wondering what was behind those dull eyes, fearing the
worst always.

Ryder had been most attentive to Lucy Woodrow during the last two or
three weeks. He accompanied her and the children on their daily ride, and
he had taught Lucy to shoot with both fowling-piece and revolver. She was
a good pupil, and enjoyed the sport. Her facility gave her a peculiar
pleasure that was sweetened by his praise. He still greeted her with
studied deference, and in his transient moments of melancholy he spoke
feelingly of a life's sorrow.

'There was a wound I thought would never heal,' he told her one day; 'but
the pain is gone--the memory will go. What cannot a good woman do with
the life of a man? But how few of us learn the potency of these sweet and
tender hands until perhaps it is too late!' He bent over her hand, and,
turning away, left her abruptly.

Marcia noticed his marked attentions to Lucy, and complained tremblingly
and with tears.

'Nonsense!' he said; 'there is nothing in it. It is to divert suspicion.
I want the people about to think it is Miss Woodrow I love. They must
never know it is you, my queen!' He kissed her cheek. 'And you need have
no fear, Marcia. She is devoted to that man Done.'

But at length Ryder announced his intention of leaving. He could put off
his departure no longer than a week, he told Marcia, and a few minutes
later conveyed the news to Lucy. He was sitting in one of the windows
when she came on to the veranda.

'Have they told you I am leaving?' he aske