The next morning, Waldo, starting off before breakfast with a bag of
mealies slung over his shoulder to feed the ostriches, heard a light step
behind him.
"Wait for me; I am coming with you," said Lyndall, adding as she came up to
him, "if I had not gone to look for you yesterday you would not have come
to greet me till now. Do you not like me any longer, Waldo?"
"Yes--but--you are changed."
It was the old clumsy, hesitating mode of speech.
"You like the pinafores better?" she said quickly. She wore a dress of a
simple cotton fabric, but very fashionably made, and on her head was a
broad white hat. To Waldo she seemed superbly attired. She saw it. "My
dress has changed a little," she said, "and I also; but not to you. Hang
the bag over your other shoulder, that I may see your face. You say so
little that if one does not look at you you are an uncomprehended cipher.
Waldo changed the bag, and they walked on side by side. "You have
improved," she said. "Do you know that I have sometimes wished to see you
while I was away; not often, but still sometimes."
They were at the gate of the first camp now. Waldo threw over a bag of
mealies, and they walked on over the dewy ground.
"Have you learnt much?" he asked her simply, remembering how she had once
said, "When I come back again I shall know everything that a human being
can.
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