What
he had done before he could do again! As he lit a pipe and walked
to and fro, he felt that this new state of things lent a certain
savour to life - took from it a certain sensation of finality not
altogether agreeable, which his recent great achievements in the
financial world seemed to have inspired. After all, what could
Da Souza do? His prosperity was altogether bound up in the success
of the Bekwando Syndicate - he was never the man to kill the goose
which was laying such a magnificent stock of golden eggs. The
affair, so far as he was concerned, troubled him scarcely at all
on cool reflection. As he drew near the little plantation he even
forgot all about it. Something else was filling his thoughts!
The change in him became physical as well as mental. The hard face
of the man softened, what there was of coarseness in its rugged
outline became altogether toned down. He pushed open the gate with
fingers which were almost reverent; he came at last to a halt in
the exact spot where he had seen her first. Perhaps it was at that
moment he realised most completely and clearly the curious thing
which had come to him - to him of all men, hard-hearted, material,
an utter stranger in the world of feminine things. With a pleasant
sense of self-abandonment he groped about, searching for its
meaning.
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