The Foot of Time: A Novel of Australia and the South Seas: (1933)

88
THE FOOT OF TIME
must have been unfaithful to her. The Indian child,
the murder, the awful circumstances which had
brought the revelation.
"Whatever will father say?" Edith mused, more
to herself than to him.
"I ought to have told you before I asked you to
marry me," Bruce confessed, a great fear at his
heart.
But Edith's reply put fresh heart into him on
that score.
"I'm glad you didn't, Bruce."
"Are you?"
"Yes. You see, after all, you are you, aren't
you? I haven't been asked to marry your sinful
parent. It's Mrs. Swinton I feel so sorry for."
"Yes; and, Edith, I hardly know how to tell you,
but Mother feels deep inside her. Something seems
to tell her that we haven't seen the end of it all
yet. Men like father take more than divorce to
put aside. You see, he accepted the inevitable at
the time, and I expect he thought well into it before
he did, because he probably felt it unavoidable,
but—"
"Do you mean your mother thinks one day he
will turn up again?"
"Just that. No day ever goes by without her being
in some curious way ready for him—expecting
him, even. If he knew he had me, mother knows
he would roll in like—like an overwhelming
avalanche."
"But why, Bruce?"
"Because mother knows he loves her with all his
THE FOOT OF TIME 89
lack of convention, and that nothing on this earth
will ever take that away from him, and she feels
the same about him."
"He's been a long time coming back, Bruce."
"I know, but he's coming. It's in the air. Even
I feel it. It gives me the creeps. You see, I have
never seen him. It must feel odd to see your father
for the first time when you are grown up."
"Do you know what he looks like?"
"Mother won't let me see any photo of him—I
don't know why. Perhaps she fears I may meet and
kill him. You see, he has almost ruined mother's
life. But I know what he looks like. Mother says
he is the most magnificent looking man ever put
into an unhappy, sinful world."
Edith looked at her lover. "Yes, I can understand
that, Bruce," she said.
"Then—you will marry me—you still love me—
you do not mind?"
"Of course I mind, silly; but—well, I gave you
my promise, didn't I? I never break promises. Besides,
I couldn't in this case even if I wanted to.
Perhaps you are like your wicked dad. People have
to love you even if they hate you."
The boy wondered whether he might kiss her
again yet.
"Bruce," Edith suddenly ejaculated, paling somewhat,
"you don't think—I mean, that sort of awfulness
doesn't—isn't hereditary, is it? Tell me it
doesn't run in families. If you had that sort of
free thought in your blood handed on to you by