It was as
if a chapter in her life had closed when she turned away from that
solitary hut in the wilderness. She said to herself that the man
she had known and loved was dead, and she did not after that
evening suffer her thoughts voluntarily to turn in his direction.
Soberly she took up the burden of life. She gathered up the reins
of government, and assumed the ordering of Burke Ranger's
household. She did not again refer to Guy in his presence, though
there were times when his step, his voice, above all, his whistle,
stabbed her to poignant remembrance.
He also avoided the subject of Guy, treating her with a careless
kindliness that set her wholly at ease with him. She learned more
and more of the working of the farm, and her interest in the young
creatures grew daily. She loved to accompany him on his rides of
inspection in the early mornings showing herself so apt a pupil
that he presently dubbed her his overseer, and even at last
entrusted her occasionally with such errands as only a confidential
overseer could execute.
It was when returning from one of these somewhat late one blazing
morning that she first encountered their nearest British neighbours
from a farm nearly twelve miles distant. It was a considerable
shock to her to find them in possession of the _stoep_ when she
rode up, but the sight of the red-faced Englishman who strode out
to meet her reassured her in a moment.
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