“Did anyone ring up this morning-or call?” she asked, reaching for the cigarettes.

“No, Miss Borradale. Oh-but then, of course, he wouldn’t count. A swagman came about eleven asking to see Mr. Borradale. Cook told him to go and camp till the winddropped, as she wasn’t going to have Mr. Borradale disturbed a day like this.”

“Poor man,” Stella said feelingly. “Did cook give him anything to eat?”

The maid shook her head.

“Oh, well, Mary, bring tea and toast. I will slip along to Mr. Borradale and see what he would like.”

Stella found her brother standing before the windows gazing out upon the red fog which now completely masked the orange-trees but a few yards distant. Her quick glance found his dressing-gowned figure instantly, noted the unusual orderliness of this most masculine room, its quiet furnishing, the occupant’s day clothes neatly folded and hung over a chair-back. Like all other rooms in the house today, the air in this was stale and clammy. At her entry Martin turned.

“Hullo, old girl! Just plain hell outside, isn’t it?”

“Just that, dear,” she agreed. “I am going to have tea and toast for lunch in consideration for cook and her difficulties-especially her temper.”

“That will suit me. Might I have it here? I don’t feel like dressing yet. Anyone telephone?”

“No. A swagman called at eleven, and cook told him to wait till the storm had died down. He wanted to see you.”

“Oh! Wants a job, I suppose.” Martin sighed. “Well, thank the Lord I’m not a swagman.”

Assured that her brother had recovered from the exertions of the previous evening, Stella returned to her room and suggested to the maid that a tray be taken to Mr. Borradale.

The afternoon was worse than had been the morning. When many women would have reviled the country and the temporarily uncomfortable conditions, Stella Borradale felt concern and sympathy for the stockmen in their rough huts, the team of dam-sinkers in their unprotected tents, and the two boundary-fence riders who patrolled the netted frontiers of this nine-hundred-thousand-acres kingdom called Wirragatta.