combination of the Bush drawl grafted on to the mellifluous Gaelic,
from which race he had originated.

'Any admittance, Mrs Gildea, except on business, during working hours?'

'Yes, it is working hours Colin, but you happen to be business because
you're just the person I'm wanting to speak to, so come along.'

'Good for me, Joan,' and the man came along, clearing the rest of the
garden path and the veranda steps in three strides.

He gripped Mrs Gildea's hand.

'You're nice and cool up here, and you get every bit of wind that's
going along the river,' he said. 'It's a good thing you kept this
humpey, Joan--a little nest for the bird to fly home to, eh?'

'Yes, I'm glad, though it seemed a silly piece of sentiment . . . and,
as you say, I always FELT the old bird might want to fly home for a bit
some day. Well, YOU look cool enough, Colin.'

'This is temperate zone for me after the Leura. . . . But it's a hot
March because we haven't had a proper rainy season, and I'll just stand
here and catch the breeze for a minute or two before I sit down.'

He balanced himself on the veranda railing: took off his broad-brimmed
Panama hat and mopped his forehead with a silk handkerchief. Mrs Gildea
surveyed him with interested admiration.

A big man--large-limbed, bony--a typical Scotcher in that--with thin