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correct rumor. It’s important for me to know the truth,”

“I want to know it, too,” answered Ann. “Will you be truthful with me?”

“As far as . . . as I can be,” he returned. “One can’t always divulge all one knows.”

“No,” said Ann soberly. She hesitated for a moment, and then made up her mind. “Go now, and I’ll join you in about ten minutes,” she said.

He left the shop, and she turned again to the customer, who was still undecided as to which of two hats she should buy. The girl tried them both on again. Ann thought the less expensive one the more becoming, and said so. The buyer looked relieved.

“I didn’t want to give quite so much,” she said.

“The cheaper hat suits you best,” said Ann, “and is really just as smart.”

The purchase was completed, the girl made her way out, and Ann was free. Within ten minutes she was walking down the main street towards the Imperial. Summer had not yet merged into autumn, and it was very hot. At the end of the street, across the Puawa bridge one saw the shoulder of the big hill tawny and sun-dried against the blue sky. Men in their shirt-sleeves drove motor-lorries through the town; women in light-colored frocks were stepping out of their cars in front of the shops; some Maoris sat on the edge of the pavement eating crayfish; and there were groups of men—some in riding clothes with dogs beside them—talking together outside the tobacconists, the bars, and in front of banks. A good deal of the business of Wairiri—the buying and selling of stock or produce, engaging shepherds or drovers—was conducted in this way, in the street.