_Mrs. Stott_: "Ah, _there_ you touch my greatest sorrow. Yes. Every German I know on this concession keeps a native woman, mostly from our classes. But I fear—I fear—my nephew Phil and the clerk Stallibrass as well—my two Australian boys—are not much more moral. Their relations with the native women won’t bear investigation. That is not all ... and I have no right to be here as an accuser when I can’t answer for my own son, Edgar.... You remember you offered in 1897 to take him home with you, and have him sent to an English school or college for a year or two? I wish ... I wish ... we had consented. It was so good of you. But we thought at the time that if children can grow up into God-fearing men and women in Australia without leaving the back-blocks or the bush, why not here, where the climate is good? Then there was the question of the cost...." _Roger_: "I suppose he has got all his education from you and his father?" _Mrs. Stott_: "Yes, indeed. The main thing, besides religion, was to teach our children to read and write and do simple accounts. All they wanted besides was to read the books we ordered out.... I’m sure you can’t say we have been indifferent to literature?" _Roger_: "No—not of a certain kind ... but all of it, from what I have seen, is rather old-fashioned and goody-goody...." _Mrs. Stott_: "I don’t agree. However, I won’t stop to argue about it. It matters little, since Edgar from the age of twelve or thirteen has cared very little for reading. His passion is _sport_. And to think how I ran down big-game shooting, when it was not vitally necessary for our supplies! Of course, James is a good shot and a clever hunter, and Edgar, after he was twelve, used to go out with him. He killed an elephant to his own gun when he was only fifteen, and the tusks fetched as much as £60! He _was_ proud. Now his one idea is to be away shooting ... and trifling with these Iraku women. Oh!" (crying a little). "_Can’t_ you see how it _silences_ me? Ann talks about cutting off a member that offends and says I should expel my own son from the Mission for loose living.... I can’t do that, and besides there’s nothing proved.... But I can’t very well join her in her crusade against ... she _will_ use such plain words ... against fornication and unclean living. I suppose we shall have to send Edgar away ... back to Australia ... And then I fear much for his future. Thank goodness! He’s a total abstainer, so far.... Ought we to invite some young woman to come out here for the mission, in the hope that he might marry her and settle down?" _Roger_: "Wouldn’t be a bad idea, if you could insure her taking his fancy. I haven’t seen Master Edgar for months or taken much notice of him since he came to man’s estate. Struck me, he was growing up a nice-looking lad...." _Mrs. Stott_: "Indeed he is! It’s his good looks that are his snare.... The native women run after him so...."