ts, and was telling them to bring
supper, when Charles looked suddenly in, and said,--"Here they are!"

There they were, sure enough, putting the rams into the sheep-yard. Tom
Troubridge, as upright, bravelooking a man as ever, and, thanks to
bush-work, none the fatter. William Lee, one of our oldest
acquaintances, was getting a little grizzled, but otherwise looked as
broad and as strong as ever.

They rode into the yard, and Lee took the horses.

"Well, cousin," said Tom; "I am glad to see you again."

"You are welcome home, Tom; you have made good speed."

Tom and Charles went into the house, and Mary was about following them,
when Lee said, in so low a tone, that it did not reach the
others,--"Mrs. Hawker!"

She turned round and looked at him, she had welcomed him kindly when he
came into the yard with Tom, and yet he stood still on horseback,
holding Tom's horse by the bridle. A stern, square-looking figure he
was; and when she looked at his face, she was much troubled, at--she
knew not what.

"Mrs. Hawker," he said, "can you give me the favour of ten minutes'
conversation, alone this evening?"

"Surely, William, now!"

"Not now,--my story is pretty long, and, what is more, ma'am, somebody
may be listening, and what I have got to tell you must be told in no
ear but your own."

"You frighten me, Lee! You frighten me to death."

"Don't get frightened, Mrs. Hawker. Remember if anything comes about,
that you have good friends about you; and, that I, William Lee, am not
the worst of them."

Lee went off with the horses, and Mary returned to the house. What
mystery had this man to tell her, "that no one might hear but
she"?--very strange and alarming! Was he drunk?--no, he was evidently
quite sober; as she looked out once more, she could see him at the
stable, cool and self-possessed, ordering the lads about: something
very strange and terrifying to one who had such a dark blot in her life.

But she went in, and as she came near the parlour, she heard Charles
and Tom roaring with laughter. As she opened the door she heard Tom
saying: "And, by Jove, I sat there like a great snipe, face to face
with him, as cool and unconcerned as you like. I took him for a flash
overseer, sporting his salary, and I was as thick as you like with him.
And 'Matey,' says I, (you see I was familiar, he seemed such a jolly
sort of bird), 'Matey, what station are you on?' 'Maraganoa,' says he.
'So,' says I, 'you're rather young