That excitement over, the lonely mistress of Moongarr went back to her own habitation.

She ate her solitary dinner and paced the veranda till darkness fell and the haunted loneliness became an almost unbearable oppression.

Vast plains, distant ranges, gidia scrub and the far horizon melted into an illimitable shadow.

The world seemed boundless as the starry sky--and yet she was in prison! She had longed for the freedom of the wild, and her life was more circumscribed than ever.

A phrase in an Australian poem, that had struck her when she had read it not long ago came back upon her with poignant meaning.