championed, should now stand before her as the
officer, to whose energy and activity she and her sister owed so
much, seemed almost incredible.

But the surprise of Reuben was at least equal to that which she
felt. He could scarcely credit the evidence of his senses, at
seeing before him the young lady whom he had believed to be
thousands of miles away, in England. As is usual in these cases,
the girl was the first to recover from her surprise.

"And it is to you we owe so much!" she said, holding out her hand.
"Mr. Barker spoke of our preserver as Captain Whitney; but somehow
it never, for a moment, occurred to me to connect the name with
you.

"Is it not extraordinary, Alice?" she said, turning to her sister.

"The surprise to me is even greater than to you, Miss Ellison,"
Reuben said. "Mr. Barker always spoke of Mrs. Donald and her
sister, and I had not the least idea that you were in the colony.
My mother wrote to me, a year ago, telling me of the changes which
have taken place; but although she said that you had left Tipping,
she said nothing about your coming out here."

Reuben had, in fact, been much disturbed in his mind, a year
previously, by hearing from his mother that Mr. Ellison had died
suddenly. He had, it seemed, lost a large sum of money, from the
failure of a bank in which he was a shareholder, and the blow had
killed him. The estate was, when Mrs. Whitney wrote, for sale.

Reuben had written back, begging his mother to send him all
particulars that she could gather; but communication between
Australia and England was in those days very slow, and no answer
had yet been received. Another letter had, indeed, told him that
the estate had been sold. Mrs. Ellison, he knew, had died a few
weeks after he had left England.

"It is very simple," Kate Ellison said quietly; "although of course
it seems so strange to you, our being here. My sister was engaged
to Mr. Donald before papa's death and, as you know, almost
everything went owing to that bank; and as I had no reason for
staying in England, I came out here with them."

Reuben subsequently learned that Mr. Ellison had disapproved of the
engagement of his daughter with Mr. Donald, who was the younger son
of a neighbouring squire. When, after his death, Mr. Ellison's
affairs were wound up, it was found that there remained only the
six thousand pounds, which his wife had brought him, to be divided
between her daughters. Mr. Donald possessed no capit