"You're new to this country, aren't
you? And he hasn't been out of it as long as I have known him."
Sylvia looked up at him in momentary confusion. Then she laughed.
"We picked each other up at Ritzen," she said.
"Ritzen!" he echoed in amazement, "What on earth took you there?"
Then hastily, "I say, I beg your pardon. You must forgive my
impertinence. But you look so awfully like a duchess in your own
right, I couldn't help being surprised."
"Well, have a drink!" said Sylvia lightly. "I'm not a duchess in
my own right or anything else, except Burke's wife. We're running
this farm together on the partner system. I'm junior partner of
course. Burke tells me what to do, and I do it."
"You'll soon lose your complexion if you go out riding in this heat
and dust," said Mrs. Merston.
"Oh, I hope not," Sylvia laughed again. "If I do, I daresay I
shan't miss it much. It's rather fun to feel that sort of thing
doesn't matter. Ah, here is Burke coming now!" She glanced up at
the thudding of his horse's hoofs.
Merston went out again into the blinding sunlight to greet his
host, and Sylvia turned to the thin, pinched woman beside her.
"I expect you would like to come inside and take off your hat and
wash. It is hot, isn't it? Shall we go in and get respectable?"
She spoke with that winning friendliness of hers that few could
resist.
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