Wash-lines, on
which at the moment a row of stockings hung, stretched permanently from
corner to corner; and the whole was dominated by the big round
galvanised-iron tank.
On Boxing Day Purdy got the loan of a lorry and drove a large party,
including several children, comfortably placed on straw, hassocks and
low chairs, to the Races a few miles out. Half Ballarat was making in
the same direction; and whoever owned a horse that was sound in the wind
and anything of a stepper had entered it for some item on the programme.
The Grand Stand, a bark shed open to the air on three sides, was
resorted to only in the case of a sudden downpour; the occupants of the
dust-laden buggies, wagonettes, brakes, carts and drays preferred to
follow events standing on their seats, and on the boards that served
them as seats. After the meeting, those who belonged to the
Urquhart-Glendinning set went on to Yarangobilly, and danced till long
pastmidnight on the broad verandah. It was nearly three o'clock before
Purdy brought his load safely home. Under the round white moon, the lorry
was strewn with the forms of sleeping children.
Early next morning while Polly, still only half awake, was pouring out
coffee and giving Richard who, poor fellow, could not afford to leave
his patients, an account of their doings--with certain omissions, of
course: she did not mention the glaring indiscretion Agnes Glendinning
had been guilty of, in disappearing with Mr.
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