Untitled

New Zealand Tablet, 3 December 1914, Page 3

(By John Boyle O’Reilly.)

BOOK FIFTH. —THE VALLEY OF THE VASSE. IV. THE MEETING.

With the first warm flush of morning, Alice was away on her favorite lonely walk by the river. The day opened, like almost all days in Western Australia, with a glorious richness of light, color, and life. The grand shadowy stretches in the bush were neither silent nor humid, as in tropical countries." Every inch of ground sent .up its jet of color, exquisite, though scentless ; and all the earth hummed with insect life, while the trees flashed with the splendid colors of countless bright-necked birds.

Alice breathed in the wondrous beauty of her surroundings. Her heart, so long unresponsive, had burst into full harmony with the generous nature of the Australian bush. . Down by the river, where the spreading mahogany trees reached far over the water, she loved to walk in the early morning and at the close of the day. Thither she went this morning; and an hour later some one followed her steps, directed where to find her by Mrs. Little. That morning, as she -left the house, Mrs. Little had told-her that Mr. Sheridan was to call early, and had asked to -see her.

‘I shall be home very soon,’ Alice said, as she went out.

But she did not return soon ; and when Mr. Sheridan called, much earlier than he was expected, Mrs. Little told him where Miss Walmsley usually spent her mornings, and he, leaving his horse in the stable, walked down through the bush towards the river. The shadows and the flowers and the bright-winged birds were as beautiful as an hour before, but Will Sheridan, though he loved nature, saw none of them. He walked rapidly at first, then he slackened his pace, and broke off a branch here and there as he passed, and threw it away again. When he came to the river, and stood and looked this way and that for Alice, all the determination with which he had set out had disappeared. But Alice was-not in sight. He walked along by the river bank, and in a few.minutes he saw her coming toward him beneath the trees. He stood still, and waited for her. She walked rapidly. When within ten yards of where he stood, she turned from the river to cross the bush toward the house. She had not seen him, and in a minute she would be out of sight. Sheridan took a few paces toward her and stopped. ‘•Alice,’ he said aloud. She turned afid saw him standing, with an eager face, his hands reached out toward her. Every premeditated word was forgotten. She gave one look at the face, so little changed—she felt the deep emotion in voice and act and feature, and her heart responded impulsively and imperatively. She only spoke one word—‘Will!’ He came forward, his eyes on hers, and the eyes of both were brimming. Without a word they met. Alice put out both her hands, and he took them, and held them, and after a while he raised them one after the other to his lips, and kissed them. Then they turned toward the house and walked on together in silence. Their hearts were too full for words. They- understood without speech. Their sympathy was so deep and unutterable that it verged on to the bounds of pain, v

‘Will!’