Part 34 (2/2)

'My word! dick,' Jim says, 'it's a murder he and Aileen didn't cotton to one another in the old days She'd have been just the girl to have fancied all this sort of swell racket, with a silk gown and dressed up a bit There isn't a woman here that's a patch on her for looks, is there now, except Jeanie, and she's different in her ways'

I didn't believe there was I began to think it over in my own mind, and wonder how it ca in life, and if ever a wo whose fault it was that she'd been kept back and was now obliged to work hard, and alo and the other s to her, but she thought they ive them a chance In about ajust the sa we met Kate and her on the St Kilda beach Just as quiet and shy and --only a bit sadder, and not quite so ready to smile as she'd been in the old days She looked as if she'd had a grief to hide and fight down since then A girl's first sorrohen so happened to her love! They never look quite the saht down love, they were never the saet over it', as people call it; but that's a sort of healing over a wound It don't always cure it, and the wound often breaks out again and bleeds afresh

Jeanie didn't look so bad, and she was that glad to see Ji well-to-do ave him his share of any deceit that had been practised upon her and her sister Women are like that They'll always make excuses for men they're fond of and blame anybody else that can be blaht and me had the most to do with it--perhaps we had; but Jim could have cut loose from us any time before the Momberah cattle racket much easier than he could now I heard her say once that she thought other people were ht to have known better, and so on By the tiot to the end of her little explanation Jim was completely ashed of course It had always happened to him, and I suppose alould He was a man born to be helped and looked out for by every one he caht, and how all the swells kept crowding round to get a look at her, if she was near the bar, Kate wanted to have a ball and show her off a bit But she wouldn't have it

She right down refused and close upon quarrelled with Kate about it She didn't take to the glare and noise and excitee-looking men that filled the streets by day and the hall at the Prospectors' by night The wo to say to them All she wanted--and she kept at Jim day after day till she e, she didn't care how sether She would cook his meals and mend his clothes, and they would cohts only and be as happy as kings and queens She didn't come up to dance or flirt, she said, in a place like Turon, and if Ji at St Kilda This woke up Jiht out a miner who lived a bit out of the town He had made money and wanted to sell his improvements and clear out for Sydney It was a se, with a bark roof, but very neatly put on There was a little creek in front, and a s up the verandah posts Most arden They take a pride in having a neat cottage and everything about it shi+pshape The ground, of course, didn't belong to hiood enough, and he had a right to sell his goodwill and i, even to the bits of furniture They weren't , and the cock and hens he bought too He got sos in Turon--tables, chairs, sofas, beds, and so on; and had the place lined and papered inside, quite swell Then he told Jeanie the house was ready, and the next week they were married They werethat did duty for one It had all been carted up froether at Turon It didn't look so bad after it was painted, though it ful hot in suular, by the Scotch clergyman

He was the first s, and the htforward, earnest way of preaching Not that ent often, but a good few of us diggers went every now and then just to show our respect for him; and so Jim said he'd be married by Mr Mackenzie and no one else Jeanie was a Presbyterian, so it suited her all to pieces

Well, the church was chock-full There never was such a congregation before Lots of people had cos, and er, as free with his money and pretty lucky As for Jeanie, there was a report that she was the prettiest girl in Melbourne, and soet a look at her Certainly, though there had been a good es since we had come to the Turon, the church had never held a handsomer couple Jeanie was quietly dressed in plain white silk She had on a veil; no ornaments of any kind or sorts It was a warmish day, and there was a sort of peach-blossom colour on her cheeks that looked as delicate as if a breath of air would blow it away When she came in and saw the crowd of bronze bearded faces and hundreds of strange eyes bent on her, she turned quite pale Then the flush caht as some of the sapphires we used to pick up now and then out of the river bed Her hair isted up in a knot behind; but even that didn't hide the lovely colour nor what a lot there was of it As she caure and modest sweet face that turned up to Jim's like a child's, there was a sort of hu into a cheer

Ji built but active with it, and as fine a figure of a man as you'd see on the Turon or any other place He stood about six feet and an inch, and was as straight as a rush There was no stiffness about hiht flanked, quick on his pins, and as good a man--all round--with his hands as you could pick out of the regular prize ring He was as strong as a bullock, and just as good at the end of a day as at the start With the e'd had for the last five or six months ere all in top condition, as hard as a board and fit to work at any pace for twenty-four hours on end He had an open, ht features and darkish hair and eyes nobody could ever keep angry with Jiht to some purpose now and then, but that most people found it very hard to keep bad friends with

Besides the miners, there were lots of other people in church who had heard of the wedding and coht and the two Honourables, dressed up as usual, besides the Commissioner and the camp officers; and more than that, the new Inspector of Police, who'd only arrived the day before Sir Ferdinand Morringer, even he was there, dividing the people's attention with the bride Besides that, who should I see but Bella and Maddie Barnes and old Jonathan They'd ridden into the Turon, for they'd got their riding habits on, and Bella had the watch and chain Starlight had given her I saw her look over to where he and the other tere, but she didn't know hi as if he was bored and tired with the whole thing--hadn't seen a soul in the church before, and didn't want to see 'e with all her eyes at Jirew paler She hadn't rown, lissoaer and darker as she looked, and when the parson began to read the service she turned away her head I always thought she was rather soft on Ji, jolly kind of fellows that can't help being friendly with every girl he meets, and very seldom cares much for any one in particular He had been backward and forward a good deal with father before we got clear of Berrima, and that's how poor Maddie had co and set her heart upon him

It must be hard lines for a woman to stand by, in a church or anywhere else, and see the ood and all, buckled hard and fast to another woman nobody took much notice of poor Maddie, but I watched her pretty close, and saw the tears coh she let 'em run down her face before she'd pull out her handkerchief Then she put up her veil and held up her head with a bit of a toss, and I saw her pride had helped her to bear it I don't suppose anybody else saw her, and if they did they'd only think she was cryin' for cos But I knew better She wouldn't peach, poor thing! Still, I saw that more than one or two knee were and all about us that day

We'd only just heard that the new Inspector of Police had coan to talk about him and wanted to have a look at him Next to the Coest oldfield He has a tremendous lot of power, and, inside of the law, can do pretty much what he pleases He can arrest a aol for a month or two He can have him remanded from time to tienerally He can let hi All he has to say is: 'There was a mistake in theof that sort He can walk up to any man he likes (or dislikes) and tell him to hold up his hands for the handcuffs, and shoot him if he resists He has servants to wait on him, and orderly troopers to ride behind him; a handsome uniforood-looking fellow, as he very often is, he's run after a good deal and can hold his head as high as he pleases

There's a bit of risk so desperate--aheers and people of that sort, but nothingfellow of spirit would like ood fa to do in this, and have taken to the police When it was known that this Ferdinand Morringer was a real baronet and had been an officer in the Guards, you oldfields' talk rose and flowed and foamed all round him It was Sir Ferdinand this and Sir Ferdinand that wherever you went He was going to lodge at the Royal

No, of course he was going to stay at the camp! He was married and had three children Not a bit of it; he was a bachelor, and he was going to be er of the Bank of New Holland They'dman Not at all, only middle-sized; hadn't old Major Trenck, the superintendent of police, when he carowled out, 'Too short for the Guards!'

'But I was not a private,' replied Sir Ferdinand

'Well, anyhow there's a soentleman; my word, he'll put some of these Weddin Mountain chaps thro' their facin's, you'll see,' says one miner

'Not he,' says another; 'not if he was ten baronites in one; all the sa chap and shows blood'

This was the sort of talk we used to hear all round us--from the miners, from the storekeepers, fro roo, and took care to keep quiet, and do and say nothing to be took hold of All the salad to see Sir Ferdinand We'd heard of hi and the other troopers; but he'd been on duty in another district, and hadn't co and yarning in the big roo up-- one of the cae officer of police with hih the room, and everybody made up their minds it was Sir Ferdinand Jim and I both looked at him

'Wa-al!' said one of our Yankee friends, 'what 'yur twistin' your necks at like a flock of geese in a corn patch? How d'ye fix it that a lord's better'n any other man?'

'He's a bit different, sooin' to kneel down or knuckle under to him, but he don't look like any one else in this room, does he?'

'He's no slouch, and he looks yer square and full in the eye, like a hunter,' says Arizona Bill; 'but durn my old buckskins if I can see why you Britishers sets up idols and such and worshi+p 'eland again'

We didn't say any , perhaps,of a revolver shot, and if he was likely to hit him (Jim) at forty or fifty yards, in case such a chance should turn up, than about the difference of rank and such things