She lay silently crying, while Hugh, his castles in the air having crumbled around him, was trying in a dazed way to frame a letter to Mr.Grant.
His thoughts were anything but pleasant.

What a fool he had been, talking to her like that! Making it look as if he had only proposed to her because he ought to protect her good name! Why hadn't he spoken to her before--in the tree, on the ride home, any other time?
Why hadn't he spoken differently?
To him the refusal seemed the end of all things.
He thought of asking Mr.Grant to give him the management of the most out-back place he had, so that he could go away and bury himself.

He even thought of resigning his position altogether and going to the goldfields.

Red Mick and his delinquencies seemed but small matters now; and, after what had passed, he must, of course, see that Miss Grant was not dragged into the business.

So he sat down and began to write.
The letter took a good deal of thinking over.