A sudden silence fell. The dusk had deepened into a starlit
darkness, but there was a white glow behind the hills that seemed
to wax with every instant that passed. Very soon the whole _veldt_
would be flooded with moonlight.
In a very small voice Sylvia spoke at length.
"Mr. Ranger!"
It was the first time she had addressed him by name. He turned
directly towards her. "Call me Burke!" he said.
It was almost a command. She faced him as directly as he faced
her. "Burke--if you wish it!" she said. "I want to talk things
over with you, to thank you for your very great goodness to me,
and--and to make plans for the future."
"One moment!" he said. "You have given up all thought of marrying
Guy?"
She hesitated. "I suppose so," she said slowly.
"Don't you know your own mind?" he said.
Still she hesitated. "If--if he should come back----"
"He will come back," said Burke.
She started. "He will?"
"Yes, he will." His voice held grim confidence, and somehow it
sounded merciless also to her ears. "He'll turn up again some day.
He always does. I'm about the only man in South Africa who
wouldn't kick him out within six months. He knows that. That's
why he'll come back."
"You are--good to him," said Sylvia, her voice very low.
"No, I'm not; not specially. He knows what I think of him anyhow.
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