Part 19 (1/2)

He scrambled out of his rackety old buggy and stamped into the place, pa.s.sing direct into the little room Eustace had used as a private office, where, by the chance of circ.u.mstances, he came face to face with Mrs. Burke.

His keen, grey, hawk-like eyes flashed an envenomed look at her, and were met by a glance not one whit less steadfast. For a moment he stood, his s.h.a.ggy white brows meeting in a scowl as he found himself confronted by one who even to his distorted vision possessed a charm of face and figure such as he had not seen since the days of Kitty Lambton.

Something in the eyes which met his touched a chord of memory long suppressed. So Kitty had looked when he met her for the first time after her flight with O'Guire; so she had looked the last time he had seen her when she had pleaded for mercy to her dying parents and he had taunted her and mocked her till she turned and left him with curses as deep-voiced as any he himself could have uttered.

”This is Mrs. Burke, the purchaser of Waroona Downs, Mr. Dudgeon,” he heard, and faced round on the speaker, turning his back upon her.

”Who are you?” he blurted out.

”I am the officer in charge of the bank for the time being,” Wallace replied suavely.

”Where's Eustace? He's the only man I know in the matter.”

”He is not here at present, Mr. Dudgeon. But that need not concern you.

I a.s.sume you have come to complete the sale of----”

”I only know Eustace. I'm prepared to deal with him--I don't know you and don't want to.”

”Unfortunately Mr. Eustace cannot be present. But I am in his place. I arrived from the head office this morning with the gold you demand as payment for the sale of Waroona Downs. You may have noticed it as you came in--the bags are on the counter in charge of the police escort.”

”But where's Eustace? That's what I want to know.”

He looked from Wallace to Harding savagely.

”If you are prepared to sign the transfer, Mr. Dudgeon, we can proceed with the business,” Wallace replied. ”Mrs. Burke is waiting.”

Dudgeon glanced at her covertly.

She was standing, as she stood throughout the subsequent proceedings, a silent spectator, irritating him by the mere fact that she was so absolutely impa.s.sive. When the time came for her to sign the formal doc.u.ments which made Waroona Downs hers, Wallace placed a chair at the table; but she ignored it, bending down gracefully as she signed her name in beautifully flowing characters.

Old Dudgeon's hands, knotted and stiff with many a day's toil, were not familiar with the pen. As he laboured with the coa.r.s.e, splodgy strokes which ranked as his signature, the sight of the delicate curves of the letters she had made fanned the flame of his wrath still higher. He also stood to sign, not because she had done so, but because he scorned to use a chair which belonged to his enemies. When he drew back from the table he saw how she had been standing almost behind him, looking over his shoulder as he wrote. A smile which he read as a sign of derision was on her lips and in her eyes.

He kicked the chair viciously towards her.

”Why don't you sit down, woman?” he exclaimed.

”Because I prefer to stand--man,” she replied.

It was the first time he had heard her voice, and he started at the sound, wincing as, with one quick, furtive glance, he met her eyes again.

”Is that all you want?” he asked Wallace abruptly.

”Thank you, Mr. Dudgeon, that is all. Will you take the gold with you, or leave it for safety in the bank?”

”Leave it at the bank, eh?” he sneered. ”No, thank you, Mr. Wallace, I trust you as far as I trust your bank, and you know how far that is without my telling you.”

”Very good, Mr. Dudgeon. Will you watch it while it is being carried to your buggy? There are two troopers here who have acted as my escort from the head office. If you care to take them with you as a protection----”

”I want neither you nor your troopers,” Dudgeon snarled. ”I can take care of myself and my money, too, without anyone's help.”

He watched, with undisguised suspicion, while the counted piles of sovereigns were replaced in the bags, while the bags were carried away and stacked in the rackety old vehicle. Then, when the tally was complete, he walked out of the bank, climbed into the buggy, gathered up the reins and drove away without a word or a glance for anyone.