Kingdom of the Heart: An Australian Outback Romance by Lucy Walker

Author:Lucy Walker [Walker, Lucy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wyndham Books (Small Town & Rural Romance)
Published: 2021-06-30T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

When the remnants of the party returned to the veranda there was no Judith. Mary went in search of her and found her lying down on a settee on the back veranda.

‘Judith? What happened?’

‘I don’t know. I just felt faint. I didn’t faint though. I got here first. Please don’t tell anyone.’

‘Do either of the Lawes drive?’

‘Yes, Ron can drive.’

‘Then you must let him take the wheel. My dear, you must let me tell Mrs. Lawes. She can at least keep an eye on you. You’re a long way from help at Wongong.’

‘Oh, there’s always Mr. Allen … and his telephone,’ Judith said. In her heart she knew she would rather die than ask for his help.

Not so, however, Mary Spencer.

When she saw that Judith was feeling better she went in search of Andrew.

‘Judith would hate you to know it, Andrew … but the day has been a bit much for her. Let her car go in front of yours so you can keep in touch if she is unwell.’

‘I’ll do better than that,’ he said unexpectedly. ‘Just excuse me a minute, Mary. I’ll go and have a word with Ron Lawes.’

Mary felt a weight roll off her shoulders. She was certain Andrew knew that Rex’s engagement had been a blow to Judith but he was too chivalrous to say anything more about it. But he was going to act. His hardness did not go to the lengths of being downright cruel to the girl.

Twenty minutes later Judith’s car, with the Lawes sitting in front and Ron at the wheel, rolled through the main homestead gate of Samson Downs.

When Judith came out ready for departure, Andrew briefly told her, ‘I’ve sent the car home. You’re coming with me. As you’re driving west the light is in your eyes at this hour of evening.’

Everyone was standing around. Judith could not protest. To have done so would have made a scene. She simply looked at Andrew in silence.

Everyone thought this was a splendid idea but Judith longed to ask him wasn’t he afraid that Beryl Carlton would get to hear of it and think she was compromising him? Come to think of it, why wasn’t he afraid of being compromised himself?

Perhaps his last words to the Spencers were intended either to warn or inform her.

‘I’ll be in on Friday, John. I’m lunching with Beryl at noon which is a bit early, but it will give us the early afternoon … if you can bear to miss the siesta.’

It was a long drive through the late afternoon and early evening. Judith did not ask Andrew why he had dismissed her car. She was afraid of being told the truth … that she looked ill. At all costs she was determined to appear strong and healthy before this man who did not think she was fit or able to lead a station life.

She talked in a distant and desultory way about the bush, the state of the track, and the affairs of the day.

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