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"
I
'd
like
to
take
you
to
all
the
dances
.
"
"
Thank
you
.
"
He
fell
silent
again
,
smoking
quietly
and
looking
back
across
the
roof
of
the
Rolls
at
the
stand
of
timber
where
the
irate
bird
still
twittered
querulously
.
When
only
a
small
remnant
of
the
tube
sputtered
between
his
stained
fingers
he
dropped
it
on
the
ground
and
screwed
his
boot
heel
viciously
down
upon
it
until
he
was
sure
it
was
out
.
No
one
kills
a
cigarette
as
dead
as
an
Australian
bushman
.
Sighing
,
Meggie
turned
from
the
moon
vista
,
and
he
helped
her
to
the
car
.
He
was
far
too
wise
to
kiss
her
at
this
early
stage
,
because
he
intended
to
marry
her
if
he
could
;
let
her
want
to
be
kissed
,
first
.
But
there
were
other
dances
,
as
the
summer
wore
on
and
wore
itself
down
in
bloody
,
dusty
splendor
;
gradually
the
homestead
got
used
to
the
fact
that
Meggie
had
found
herself
a
very
good-looking
boyfriend
.
Her
brothers
forbore
to
tease
,
for
they
loved
her
and
liked
him
well
enough
.
Luke
O'Neill
was
the
hardest
worker
they
had
ever
employed
;
no
better
recommendation
than
that
existed
.
At
heart
more
working
class
than
squatter
class
,
it
never
occurred
to
the
Cleary
men
to
judge
him
by
his
lack
of
possessions
.
Fee
,
who
might
have
weighed
him
in
a
more
selective
balance
,
did
n't
care
sufficiently
to
do
so
.
Anyway
,
Luke
's
calm
assumption
that
he
was
different
from
your
average
stockman
bore
fruit
;
because
of
it
,
he
was
treated
more
like
one
of
themselves
.
It
became
his
custom
to
call
up
the
track
at
the
big
house
when
he
was
in
at
night
and
not
out
in
the
paddocks
;
after
a
while
Bob
declared
it
was
silly
for
him
to
eat
alone
when
there
was
plenty
on
the
Cleary
table
,
so
he
ate
with
them
.
After
that
it
seemed
rather
senseless
to
send
him
a
mile
down
the
track
to
sleep
when
he
was
nice
enough
to
want
to
stay
talking
to
Meggie
until
late
,
so
he
was
bidden
to
move
into
one
of
the
small
guesthouses
out
behind
the
big
house
.
By
this
time
Meggie
thought
about
him
a
great
deal
,
and
not
as
disparagingly
as
she
had
at
first
,
always
comparing
him
to
Father
Ralph
.
The
old
sore
was
healing
.
After
a
while
she
forgot
that
Father
Ralph
had
smiled
so
with
the
same
mouth
,
while
Luke
smiled
thus
,
that
Father
Ralph
's
vivid
blue
eyes
had
had
a
distant
stillness
to
them
while
Luke
's
glittered
with
restless
passion
.
She
was
young
and
she
had
never
quite
got
to
savor
love
,
if
for
a
moment
or
two
she
had
tasted
it
.
She
wanted
to
roll
it
round
on
her
tongue
,
get
the
bouquet
of
it
into
her
lungs
,
spin
it
dizzying
to
her
brain
.
Father
Ralph
was
Bishop
Ralph
;
he
would
never
,
never
come
back
to
her
.
He
had
sold
her
for
thirteen
million
pieces
of
silver
,
and
it
rankled
.
If
he
had
n't
used
the
phrase
that
night
by
the
borehead
she
would
not
have
wondered
,
but
he
had
used
it
,
and
countless
were
the
nights
since
when
she
had
lain
puzzling
as
to
what
he
could
possibly
have
meant
.
And
her
hands
itched
with
the
feel
of
Luke
's
back
when
he
held
her
close
in
a
dance
;
she
was
stirred
by
him
,
his
touch
,
his
crisp
vitality
.
Oh
,
she
never
felt
that
dark
liquid
fire
in
her
bones
for
him
,
she
never
thought
that
if
she
did
n't
see
him
again
she
would
wither
and
dry
up
,
she
never
twitched
and
trembled
because
he
looked
at
her
.
But
she
had
grown
to
know
men
like
Enoch
Davies
,
Liam
O'Rourke
,
Alastair
MacQueen
better
as
Luke
squired
her
to
more
and
more
of
the
district
affairs
,
and
none
of
them
moved
her
the
way
Luke
O'Neill
did
.
If
they
were
tall
enough
to
oblige
her
to
look
up
,
they
would
turn
out
not
to
have
Luke
's
eyes
,
or
if
they
had
the
same
sort
of
eyes
,
they
would
n't
have
his
hair
.
Something
was
always
lacking
which
was
n't
lacking
in
Luke
,
though
just
what
it
was
Luke
possessed
she
did
n't
know
.
Aside
from
the
fact
that
he
reminded
her
of
Father
Ralph
,
that
is
,
and
she
refused
to
admit
her
attraction
had
no
better
basis
than
that
.
