She sat very still, her fingers
gripping each other about her knees, saying no word.
He reached her and stood looking down at her. "I followed you," he
said, "because I knew you would never get to the top alone."
She lifted her face, striving against her strange agitation. "I
wasn't thinking of going any further," she said, struggling to
speak indifferently. "It--is steeper than I thought."
"It aways is," said Burke.
He sat down beside her, close to her. She made a small,
instinctive movement away from him, but he did not seem to notice.
He took off his hat and laid it down.
"I'm sorry Mrs. Merston had to be inflicted on you for so long," he
said. "I'm afraid she is not exactly cheery company."
"I didn't mind," said Sylvia.
He gave her a faintly whimsical look. "Not utterly fed up with
Africa and all her beastly ways?" he questioned.
She shook her head. "I don't think I am so easily swayed as all
that."
"You would rather stay here with me than go back home to England?"
he said.
Her eyes went down to the lonely hut on the sand. "Why do you ask
me that?" she said, in a low voice.
"Because I want to know," said Burke.
Sylvia was silent.
He went on after a moment. "I've a sort of notion that Mrs.
Merston is not a person to spread contentment around her under any
circumstances.
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