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Harriet Anne Patchett Martin. Coo-ee Tales of Australian Life by Australian Ladies
Coo-ee Tales of Australian Life by Australian Ladies
Table of Contents
AN OLD-TIME EPISODE IN TASMANIA
MRS. DRUMMOND OF QUONDONG
VICTIMS OF CIRCE
Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
THE BUSHMAN'S REST
THE STORY OF A PHOTOGRAPH
THE BUNYIP
THE TRAGEDY IN A STUDIO
Part I. The Dead Model
Part II. The Veiled Picture
THE END
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Harriet Anne Patchett Martin
Published by Good Press, 2021
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It was not Truca, for she had 'driven and lived' that morning, whose mauvais quart d'heure was now to come. It was her father's turn to fall under its influence, as he sat, stern and rigid, on the driver's seat, with his little girl nestling up to him as close as she was able, and that strange, fair, mysterious presence on the other side, towards which he had the annoyance of seeing all the heads of the passers-by turn as he drove on towards home.
Arrived at Cowa Cottage, the young gardener ran forward to open the gate; and here an unexpected incident occurred. As Richard's eyes rested upon the new arrival, he uttered an exclamation that caused her to look round. Their eyes met, a flash of instant recognition was visible in both. Then, like the night that follows a sudden discharge of electricity, the gloom that was habitual to both faces settled down upon them once more. Richard shut the gate with his accustomed machine-like precision. Amelia looked at the intangible something in the clouds that had power to fix her gaze upon itself. Yet the emotion she had betrayed was not lost upon her employer. Who could say? As No. 213 and No. 27, these two might have crossed each other's paths before. That the convicts had wonderful and incomprehensible means of communicating with each other, was well known to Mr. Paton. That young men and young women have an equal facility for understanding each other, was also a fact he did not ignore. But which of these two explanations might account for the signs of mutual recognition and sympathy he had just witnessed? Curiously enough, he felt, as he pondered over the mystery later in the day, that he should prefer the former solution. An offensive and defensive alliance was well known to exist among the convicts, and he told himself that he could meet and deal with the difficulties arising from such a cause as he had met and dealt with them before. That was a matter which came within his province, but the taking into account of any sentimental kind of rubbish did not come within his province. For some unaccountable reason, the thought of having Richard flogged presented itself anew at this juncture to his mind. He put it away, as he had done before, angered with himself for having harboured it. But it returned at intervals during the succeeding week, and was never stronger than one afternoon, when his little girl ran out to him as he sat smoking in the verandah, with an illustrated volume of Grimm's Tales in her hands.
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