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They
rose
at
five
,
got
everything
done
before
midday
,
then
collapsed
in
twitching
,
sweating
heaps
until
five
in
the
afternoon
.
This
applied
both
to
the
women
at
the
house
and
the
men
in
the
paddocks
.
Chores
which
could
not
be
done
early
were
done
after
five
,
and
the
evening
meal
eaten
after
the
sun
had
gone
down
at
a
table
outside
on
the
veranda
.
All
the
beds
had
been
moved
outside
as
well
for
the
heat
persisted
through
the
night
.
It
seemed
as
if
the
mercury
had
not
gone
below
a
century
in
weeks
,
day
or
night
.
Beef
was
a
forgotten
memory
,
only
a
sheep
small
enough
to
last
without
tainting
until
it
was
all
eaten
.
Their
palates
longed
for
a
change
from
the
eternal
round
of
baked
mutton
chops
,
mutton
stew
,
shepherd
's
pie
made
of
minced
mutton
,
curried
mutton
,
roast
leg
of
mutton
,
boiled
pickled
mutton
,
mutton
casserole
.
But
at
the
beginning
of
February
life
changed
abruptly
for
Meggie
and
Stuart
.
They
were
sent
to
the
convent
in
Gillanbone
to
board
,
for
there
was
no
school
closer
.
Hal
,
said
Paddy
,
could
learn
by
correspondence
from
Blackfriars
School
in
Sydney
when
he
was
old
enough
,
but
in
the
meantime
,
since
Meggie
and
Stuart
were
used
to
teachers
,
Mary
Carson
had
generously
offered
to
pay
for
their
board
and
tuition
at
the
Holy
Cross
convent
.
Besides
,
Fee
was
too
busy
with
Hal
to
supervise
correspondence
lessons
as
well
.
It
had
been
tacitly
understood
from
the
beginning
that
Jack
and
Hughie
would
go
no
further
with
their
educations
;
Drogheda
needed
them
on
the
land
,
and
the
land
was
what
they
wanted
.
Meggie
and
Stuart
found
it
a
strange
,
peaceful
existence
at
Holy
Cross
after
their
life
on
Drogheda
,
but
especially
after
the
Sacred
Heart
in
Wahine
.
Father
Ralph
had
subtly
indicated
to
the
nuns
that
this
pair
of
children
were
his
protégés
,
their
aunt
the
richest
woman
in
New
South
Wales
.
So
Meggie
's
shyness
was
transformed
from
a
vice
into
a
virtue
,
and
Stuart
's
odd
isolation
,
his
habit
of
staring
for
hours
into
illimitable
distances
,
earned
him
the
epithet
"
saintly
.
"
It
was
very
peaceful
indeed
,
for
there
were
very
few
boarders
;
people
of
the
district
wealthy
enough
to
send
their
offspring
to
boarding
school
invariably
preferred
Sydney
.
The
convent
smelled
of
polish
and
flowers
,
its
dark
high
corridors
awash
with
quietness
and
a
tangible
holiness
.
Voices
were
muted
,
life
went
on
behind
a
black
thin
veil
.
No
one
caned
them
,
no
one
shouted
at
them
,
and
there
was
always
Father
Ralph
.
He
came
to
see
them
often
,
and
had
them
to
stay
at
the
presbytery
so
regularly
he
decided
to
paint
the
bedroom
Meggie
used
a
delicate
apple
green
,
buy
new
curtains
for
the
windows
and
a
new
quilt
for
the
bed
.
Stuart
continued
to
sleep
in
a
room
which
had
been
cream
and
brown
through
two
redecorations
;
it
simply
never
occurred
to
Father
Ralph
to
wonder
if
Stuart
was
happy
.
He
was
the
afterthought
who
to
avoid
offense
must
also
be
invited
.
Just
why
he
was
so
fond
of
Meggie
Father
Ralph
did
n't
know
,
nor
for
that
matter
did
he
spend
much
time
wondering
about
it
.
It
had
begun
with
pity
that
day
in
the
dusty
station
yard
when
he
had
noticed
her
lagging
behind
;
set
apart
from
the
rest
of
her
family
by
virtue
of
her
sex
,
he
had
shrewdly
guessed
.
As
to
why
Frank
also
moved
on
an
outer
perimeter
,
this
did
not
intrigue
him
at
all
,
nor
did
he
feel
moved
to
pity
Frank
.
There
was
something
in
Frank
which
killed
tender
emotions
:
a
dark
heart
,
a
spirit
lacking
inner
light
.
But
Meggie
?
She
had
moved
him
unbearably
,
and
he
did
n't
really
know
why
.
There
was
the
color
of
her
hair
,
which
pleased
him
;
the
color
and
form
of
her
eyes
,
like
her
mother
's
and
therefore
beautiful
,
but
so
much
sweeter
,
more
expressive
;
and
her
character
,
which
he
saw
as
the
perfect
female
character
,
passive
yet
enormously
strong
.
No
rebel
,
Meggie
;
on
the
contrary
.
All
her
life
she
would
obey
,
move
within
the
boundaries
of
her
female
fate
.
Yet
none
of
it
added
up
to
the
full
total
.
Perhaps
,
had
he
looked
more
deeply
into
himself
,
he
might
have
seen
that
what
he
felt
for
her
was
the
curious
result
of
time
,
and
place
,
and
person
.
No
one
thought
of
her
as
important
,
which
meant
there
was
a
space
in
her
life
into
which
he
could
fit
himself
and
be
sure
of
her
love
;
she
was
a
child
,
and
therefore
no
danger
to
his
way
of
life
or
his
priestly
reputation
;
she
was
beautiful
,
and
he
enjoyed
beauty
;
and
,
least
acknowledged
of
all
,
she
filled
an
empty
space
in
his
life
which
his
God
could
not
,
for
she
had
warmth
and
a
human
solidity
.
Because
he
could
not
embarrass
her
family
by
giving
her
gifts
,
he
gave
her
as
much
of
his
company
as
he
could
,
and
spent
time
and
thought
on
redecorating
her
room
at
the
presbytery
;
not
so
much
to
see
her
pleasure
as
to
create
a
fitting
setting
for
his
jewel
.
No
pinchbeck
for
Meggie
.
At
the
beginning
of
May
the
shearers
arrived
on
Drogheda
.
Mary
Carson
was
extraordinarily
aware
of
how
everything
on
Drogheda
was
done
,
from
deploying
the
sheep
to
cracking
a
stock
whip
;
she
summoned
Paddy
to
the
big
house
some
days
before
the
shearers
came
,
and
without
moving
from
her
wing
chair
she
told
him
precisely
what
to
do
down
to
the
last
little
detail
.
Used
to
New
Zealand
shearing
,
Paddy
had
been
staggered
by
the
size
of
the
shed
,
its
twenty-six
stands
;
now
,
after
the
interview
with
his
sister
,
facts
and
figures
warred
inside
his
head
.
Not
only
would
Drogheda
sheep
be
shorn
on
Drogheda
,
but
Bugela
and
Dibban-Dibban
and
Beel-Beel
sheep
as
well
.
It
meant
a
grueling
amount
of
work
for
every
soul
on
the
place
,
male
and
female
.
Communal
shearing
was
the
custom
and
the
stations
sharing
Drogheda
's
shearing
facilities
would
naturally
pitch
in
to
help
,
but
the
brunt
of
the
incidental
work
inevitably
fell
on
the
shoulders
of
those
on
Drogheda
.
