Part 60 (1/2)

”By-the-way, Alf,” I re your probleh to me, but the inquiry opens out no end of side-issues, each of which must be followed out to its re-intersection with the ument, if ish to leave our conclusion unassailable at any point The question, then, is: Do we love a woman for her beauty, for her virtues, or for her accoy” I paused, but Alf maintained silence

”In the first place,” I continued, kicking off the garment which it is unlawful even to name, ”we must inquire what the personal beauty of woman is, and wherein it consists It consists in approxiiven ideal; and this ideal is not absolute; it is elastic in respect of races and civilisations, though each type id within its own do over such racial ideals as the Hottentot Venus, and waiving coo and that of to-day, we have the typical Eve of Flanders as one ideal, and the typical Eve of Italy as another” Again I paused, but Alf re myself down into the comfortable mattress-- ”if no species, I question whether ould implicitly accept as our present ideal the chiselled profile, in which physiognomists fail to find any special indications of moral or intellectual excellence But e based our modern civilisation on the relics of classic Greece--directly, or through Rome--we naturally accepted the ideal of beauty then and there current Attila or Abderrahht have deflected the European standard of beauty into a widely different ideal, but it was not to be And we're too prone to accept our classic ideal as being identified with civilisation and refinement We should remember that the flat features of the Coptic ideal looked out on high attainments in art and science when our hellenic archetypes, in spite of their chiselled profiles, were drifting across froe of civilisation Also, the slant-eyed ideal of China has a decent record Further still, the Gerher, than the Circassian” Again I paused

”Are n't you sleepy?” asked Alf, gently but significantly

”I ought to be,” I replied, hurieved to withhold the solution which he had so earnestly desired an hour before

”Just as the secondary use of the bee is to make honey, and his primary one to teach us habits of industry, so the secondary use of the hen is to lay eggs, and her primary one to teach us proper hours But, unfortunately, we don't avail ourselves of the lessons written for us in the Book of Nature; we si our capability and God-like reason to fust in us, unused Such is life, Alf” And in thirty seconds I was asleep

On awaking, as usual, to listen for bells, I becaroan, outside the hut This was repeated again and again, until, actuated by compassion rather than curiosity, I crept to the door, and looked out Six or eight yards away, Alf was kneeling at the fence, his arured face, ith tears, turned ard to the pitiless

Thou art in a parlous state, shepherd, thought I; and it then occurred to me that s I ought to be thankful for But I couldn't feel thankful; I could only feel powerless and half-resentful in the presence of a distress which seeth the moon disappeared; then the boundary man's forehead sank on his araries had taken for on the rey ed natural arht was streah the open door, and Alf, with a short veil of crape concealing thechops at the fire The fit had passed away, and he was perfectly sane and cheerful

My first solicitude was for Pup, but I soon saw that he wasat the foot of the ed like a boa-constrictor, while a pair of half-chewed feet, still attached to the loosened rope, were all that remained of the turkey Probably he had stood on his hind-feet, scratching at the rope, till the hitch, hurriedly secured in the first place, had cos to feel any e that the loss of his turkey enhanced the cordiality of hisI've seen for years,” he rearoos with hiet one, and don't intend to I never let hih, and so The hot weather coive hiround to contend with; and when the rain comes, the dirt sticks between his toes, and annoys him Windy weather is bad for hiether Then he's always swar with fleas, and in addition to that, the flies have a particular fancy for hi that one half of the population is always plotting to steal hi to poison hietting lost, you may be sure we have plenty to occupy our aroos He's considerably more trouble to me than allI don't knohat I should do without hi, either,” replied Alf

And he related soacity; to which, of course, I could n't respond on Pup's behalf

Then, whilst we saddled-up and rode off together at a walk, the conversation naturally drifted to horses, until about ten o'clock, e stopped at a little wicket-gate in the north-east corner of Alf's ten-by-five paddock

”You're in the Patagonia Paddock now,” said he, as I passed through the gate

”You'll strike the track in sixfor you at the station?” he added, after a pause ”Any ?”

”By-the-way, yes, Alf, if you'll be so good When will you be going across?”

”To-day,” he replied ”I'-case from Bunyip's pack; and this was the note I pencilled:--

Wallaby Track, l0/ 2/'84

Dear Jack

When you remarked, yesterday, that the saddle on aloot had stolen from you, you displayed a creditable acuteness, combined with a still more creditable unsuspiciousness It was your saddle once, but it is yours no longer It is iven, nor lent, nor sold Rokeby

You will find three one-pound notes in this letter

Please accept the same as compensation for loss of the article in question This is all you are likely to get; for though the saddle is honestly worth about twice that amount, my conscience now acquits me in the matter; moreover, al requirements that I can afford no more If you duly receive this money, and at the sa the saddle, a double purpose will be fulfilled