And yet—­though he lived in this wretched place at which even a Kaffir might have looked askance—­he had sent her that message telling her to come to him.  This fact more than any other that she had yet encountered brought home to her the bitter, bitter truth of his failure.  Out of the heart of the wilderness, out of desolation unspeakable, he had sent that message.  And she had answered it—­to find him gone.

The slow hot tears welled up and ran down her face.  She was not even aware of them.  Only at last she faced the desolation, in its entirety, she drank the cup to its dregs.  It was here that he had taken the downward road.  It was here that he had buried his manhood.  When she turned away at length, she felt as if she had been standing by his grave.

Burke waited for her and helped her to mount again in utter silence.  Only as she lifted the bridle again he laid his hand for a moment on her knee.  It was a dumb act of sympathy which she could not acknowledge lest she should break down utterly.  But it sent a glow of comfort to her hurt and aching heart.  He had given her a comrade’s sympathy just when she needed it most.

CHAPTER II

THE VISITORS

It was after that ride to Guy’s hut that Sylvia began at last to regard him as connected only with that which was past.  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.

“How do you do, Mrs. Ranger?  We’ve just come over to pay our respects,” he announced in a big, hearty voice.  “You’ll hardly believe it, but we’ve only recently heard of Burke’s marriage.  It’s been a nine days’ wonder with us, but now I’ve seen you I cease to marvel at anything but Burke’s amazing luck.”