Charnock hesitated about meeting Sadie at breakfast, but found her calm and apparently good-humored.  He felt embarrassed and his head ached, but she made him some strong coffee in a way he liked.  Sadie did not often sulk, and he was grateful because she said nothing about what had happened on the previous night.  Indeed, he was on the point of telling her so, but her careless manner discouraged him and he resolved instead that he would stop gambling and keep as steady as he could.  After all, Sadie was really treating him well; she might, for example, have stopped his getting liquor.  He meant to brace up and give her no more trouble.

He kept his resolve for a fortnight, and then, one morning, a man brought him a note from Wilkinson, asking him to drive over to the range.  Charnock told the man he could not go, but presently put down his pen and looked out of the open window of the office of the store.  The last of the snow had vanished some time since, and round white clouds drifted across the sky.  Flying shadows streaked the wide plain, which gleamed like silver in the sunshine, and the bleached grass rolled in long waves before the breeze.  There was something strangely exhilarating in the air and the dusty office smelt of salt-pork and cheese.  It was a glorious day for a drive, he need not stay long at Wilkinson’s, and the team needed exercise.  Moreover, Sadie was not about and would not come home until afternoon; he might get back before her.  He hesitated for a few minutes and then sent an order to the stable.

At midnight he had not returned, and Sadie sat in the office at the hotel, making futile efforts to fix her attention on a newspaper.  The guests had gone to bed and the building was very quiet, but she had kept the ostler up.  He might be needed and she could trust him not to talk.

At length she heard the sound she listened for.  A beat of hoofs and rattle of wheels came down the street.  It was their team, she knew their trot, but she wondered anxiously whether Bob was driving.  When the rig stopped she went to the door, where the ostler stood with a lantern, and caught her breath as Wilkinson got down.  There was nobody else on the seat of the light wagon, and Charnock had set off with a different rig.

“Where’s Bob?” she asked in a strained voice.

“We put him inside,” said Wilkinson.  “He wasn’t quite able to sit up.  I’d have kept him all night only that I reckoned you might be scared.”

Sadie, putting her foot on the wheel when the ostler held up the light, saw Charnock lying on a bundle of sacks.  He was in a drunken stupor.

“Help Bill bring him, in,” she said with stony calm.

Wilkinson and the other lifted the unconscious man, and staggering along a passage, awkwardly climbed the stairs.  They put him on his bed and were going out when Sadie stopped them.

“Thank you, Bill; hold the team for a few minutes,” she said and turned to Wilkinson.  “I want you to wait in the office.”