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"
She
's
too
young
,
Mary
,
she
's
not
yet
seventeen
,
"
said
Paddy
quickly
,
remembering
another
parental
shortcoming
;
none
of
his
children
had
been
taught
to
dance
.
"
What
a
pity
,
"
said
Mary
Carson
.
It
was
a
splendid
,
sumptuous
,
brilliant
,
glorious
party
;
at
least
,
they
were
the
adjectives
most
bandied
about
.
Royal
O'Mara
was
there
from
Inishmurray
,
two
hundred
miles
away
;
he
came
the
farthest
with
his
wife
,
sons
and
lone
daughter
,
though
not
by
much
.
Gilly
people
thought
little
of
traveling
two
hundred
miles
to
a
cricket
match
,
let
alone
a
party
.
Duncan
Gordon
,
from
Each-Uisge
;
no
one
had
ever
persuaded
him
to
explain
why
he
had
called
his
station
so
far
from
the
ocean
the
Scots
Gaelic
for
a
sea
horse
.
Martin
King
,
his
wife
,
his
son
Anthony
and
Mrs.
Anthony
;
he
was
Gilly
's
senior
squatter
,
since
Mary
Carson
could
not
be
so
called
,
being
a
woman
.
Evan
Pugh
,
from
Braich
y
Pwll
,
which
the
district
pronounced
Brakeypull
.
Dominic
O'Rourke
from
Dibban-Dibban
,
Horry
Hopeton
from
Beel-Beel
;
and
dozens
more
.
They
were
almost
to
the
last
family
present
Catholic
,
and
few
sported
Anglo-Saxon
names
;
there
was
about
an
equal
distribution
of
Irish
,
Scottish
and
Welsh
.
No
,
they
could
not
hope
for
home
rule
in
the
old
country
,
nor
,
if
Catholic
in
Scotland
or
Wales
,
for
much
sympathy
from
the
Protestant
indigenes
.
But
here
in
the
thousands
of
square
miles
around
Gillanbone
they
were
lords
to
thumb
their
noses
at
British
lords
,
masters
of
all
they
surveyed
;
Drogheda
,
the
biggest
property
,
was
greater
in
area
than
several
European
principalities
.
Monegasque
princelings
,
Liechtensteinian
dukes
,
beware
!
Mary
Carson
was
greater
.
So
they
whirled
in
waltzes
to
the
sleek
Sydney
band
and
stood
back
indulgently
to
watch
their
children
dance
the
Charleston
,
ate
the
lobster
patties
and
the
chilled
raw
oysters
,
drank
the
fifteen-year-old
French
champagne
and
the
twelve-year-old
single-malt
Scotch
.
If
the
truth
were
known
,
they
would
rather
have
eaten
roast
leg
of
lamb
or
corned
beef
,
and
much
preferred
to
drink
cheap
,
very
potent
Bundaberg
rum
or
Grafton
bitter
from
the
barrel
.
But
it
was
nice
to
know
the
better
things
of
life
were
theirs
for
the
asking
.
Yes
,
there
were
lean
years
,
many
of
them
.
The
wool
checks
were
carefully
hoarded
in
the
good
years
to
guard
against
the
depredations
of
the
bad
,
for
no
one
could
predict
the
rain
.
But
it
was
a
good
period
,
had
been
for
some
time
,
and
there
was
little
to
spend
the
money
on
in
Gilly
.
Oh
,
once
born
to
the
black
soil
plains
of
the
Great
Northwest
there
was
no
place
on
earth
like
it
.
They
made
no
nostalgic
pilgrimages
back
to
the
old
country
;
it
had
done
nothing
for
them
save
discriminate
against
them
for
their
religious
convictions
,
where
Australia
was
too
Catholic
a
country
to
discriminate
.
And
the
Great
Northwest
was
home
.
Besides
,
Mary
Carson
was
footing
the
bill
tonight
.
She
could
well
afford
it
.
Rumor
said
she
was
able
to
buy
and
sell
the
King
of
England
.
She
had
money
in
steel
,
money
in
silver-lead-zinc
,
money
in
copper
and
gold
,
money
in
a
hundred
different
things
,
mostly
the
sort
of
things
that
literally
and
metaphorically
made
money
.
Drogheda
had
long
since
ceased
to
be
the
main
source
of
her
income
;
it
was
no
more
than
a
profitable
hobby
.
Father
Ralph
did
n't
speak
directly
to
Meggie
during
dinner
,
nor
did
he
afterward
;
throughout
the
evening
he
studiously
ignored
her
.
Hurt
,
her
eyes
sought
him
wherever
he
was
in
the
reception
room
.
Aware
of
it
,
he
ached
to
stop
by
her
chair
and
explain
to
her
that
it
would
not
do
her
reputation
(
or
his
)
any
good
if
he
paid
her
more
attention
than
he
did
,
say
,
Miss
Carmichael
,
Miss
Gordon
or
Miss
O'Mara
.
Like
Meggie
he
did
n't
dance
,
and
like
Meggie
there
were
many
eyes
on
him
;
they
were
easily
the
two
most
beautiful
people
in
the
room
.
Half
of
him
hated
her
appearance
tonight
,
the
short
hair
,
the
lovely
dress
,
the
dainty
ashes-of-roses
silk
slippers
with
their
two-inch
heels
;
she
was
growing
taller
,
developing
a
very
feminine
figure
.
And
half
of
him
was
busy
being
terrifically
proud
of
the
fact
that
she
shone
all
the
other
young
ladies
down
.
Miss
Carmichael
had
the
patrician
features
,
but
lacked
the
special
glory
of
that
red-gold
hair
;
Miss
King
had
exquisite
blond
tresses
,
but
lacked
the
lissome
body
;
Miss
Mackail
was
stunning
of
body
,
but
in
the
face
very
like
a
horse
eating
an
apple
through
a
wire-netting
fence
.
Yet
his
overall
reaction
was
one
of
disappointment
,
and
an
anguished
wish
to
turn
back
the
calendar
.
He
did
n't
want
Meggie
to
grow
up
,
he
wanted
the
little
girl
he
could
treat
as
his
treasured
babe
.
On
Paddy
's
face
he
glimpsed
an
expression
which
mirrored
his
own
thoughts
,
and
smiled
faintly
.
What
bliss
it
would
be
if
just
once
in
his
life
he
could
show
his
feelings
!
But
habit
,
training
and
discretion
were
too
ingrained
.
