Only the great dark honest eyes lent relief to the monotony of her expression, and they were now full of something which, when read aright, spelt hopelessness of an extraordinary degree. Towards the end of the afternoon the husband mide his appear ance, and preceded by the matron stalked into his wife's presence. For a moment he stood in the doorway, dazed, bewildered perhaps by the half darkness ; then recognising his wife, he advanced towards the bed. 1 Daphne, old gal,' he said, with a little tremor in his voice, as he bent over her, 'an' 'ow's it with cc now 1 Ye looks better by a darned sight !' She gave a little sigh before she replied. 'I'm nearly well now, Bill ; better'n I 'aye been by a long chalk. Sit ye down, old man, and teil us 'ow it goes with the children an* the team.' Bill sat very gingerly on the edge of the bed, and as if but of compliment to the peculiar cleanliness of the place, fell to scrubbing his face with a flaring red cotton handkerchief. •The kids is fit, an' the team's first class !' he answered. Then with a gesture of almost awe, he assumed possession of one of the thin brown hands upon the cover e\ 1 My lass, 'ow dog poor yer'ands has got to be sure ; but they was always pretty 'ands to my thinkinV Daphne paf.ted his great brown paws and allowed a little wan smile of grati fied vanity to flicker across her face. Let the woman be ever so old and plain she is never beyond the reach of a com pliment from the man she loves, ' An' 'ow's-the roads lookin' out back?' she askf-d. ' Al, an' no mistake ; green as a leaf all the way. From here to Kidgeree Creek theie's water in every hole, an' the little wild flowers yer used to like is that thick along the track yer can hardly see the grass for 'em. I brought yer some. Out of the lining of his big cabbage tree hat he took a tiny bunch of bush blue-bells and placed them in her hand. It was a critical moment for both of them. 