knew that big, handsome Jack Harrington had asked her to be his
wife; and so on and so forth, as only the skilled woman of thirty,
whose hopes of marriage are slipping by, knows how to talk and lie to
an "eligible" man unused to women's ways. And Harrington kissed Myra's
somewhat thin lips, and said--and believed--that he was the happiest man
in Australia. Then Mrs. Lyndon came in, and, in the manner of mothers
who are bursting with joy at getting rid of a daughter whose matrimonial
prospects are looking gloomy, metaphorically fell upon Harrington's
neck and wept down his back, and said he was robbing her of her dearest
treasure, &c., &c. Harrington, knowing nothing of conventional women's
ways, believed her, and married, for him, the most unsuitable woman in
the world.

A week or so after his marriage he received a letter from Dr. Parsons
enclosing the cheque he had given him for Nellie Alleyne:--

"Dear Harrington,--Girl won't take the cheque. Has a billet--cashier in
a restaurant. Says she is writing to you. She's true gold. You ought to
marry her and take her away with you to your outlandish parts. Would ask
her to marry me--if I could keep her; but she wouldn't have me whilst
you are about. Always glad to see you at my diggings; whisky and soda
and such, and a hearty welcome."

And by the same post came a letter from the girl herself--a letter that,
simply worded as it was, sent an honest glow through his heart:--

"Dear Mr. Harrington,--I shall never, never forget your
kindness to me; as long as I live I shall never forget Dr.
Parsons tells me that you live in Queensland--more than a
thousand miles from Sydney, and that you are going away
soon. Please will you let me call on you before you go away?
I shall be so unhappy if I do not see you again, because in
a letter I _cannot_ tell you how I thank you, how deeply
grateful I am to you for your goodness and generosity to me.
"Yours very sincerely,

"Helen Alleyne."

Harrington showed the letter to Myra, who bubbled over with pretty
expressions of sympathy and wrote and asked her to call. Nellie did
call, and the result of her visit was that when Harrington took his
newly married wife to Tinandra Downs, she went with her as companion.
And from the day that she entered the door of his house, Helen Alleyne
had proved herself to be, as Dr. Parsons had said, "true gold." As the
first bright years of prosperity vani