e
required. I may tell you that I intend to leave your boys enough to
start them in life, and they will have a first-class chance to get on.
I am sending Charlie out to the West, to take over a block which those
fools, Sutton and Co., got me to advance money on, and on which the man
cannot pay his interest. He will be away for some time.

Meanwhile, dear Mrs. Gordon, for the sake of old times, do what you can
for the girl. I expect she has been brought up with English ideas. I
can't get her to say much to me, which I daresay is my own fault. After
she has been with you for a bit, I will come up and stay for a time at
the station.

Yours very truly,
W. G. GRANT.

Reading this letter called back the whole panorama of the past--the
old days when she and her husband were struggling in the rough, hard,
pioneering life, and the blacks were thick round the station; the birth
of her children, and the ups and downs of her husband's fortunes; then
the burial of her husband out on the sandhills, and her flight to this
haven of rest at Kuryong. Though she had lost interest in things for
herself, she felt keenly for her children, and was sick at heart when
she thought what this girl, who was to wield such power over them, might
turn out to be. But she hoped that Grant's daughter, whatever else she
might be, would at any rate be a genuine, straight-forward girl; and
filled with this hope, she sat down to answer him:

"Dear Mr. Grant," she wrote, "I have received your letter. Hugh has
gone down to meet your daughter, but the mails were delayed owing to the
river being up, and he may not get to the railway station as soon as she
arrives. I will do what I can for her, and I thank you for what you say
you will do for my boys. I will let you know the moment she arrives. I
wish you would come up and live on the station for a time. It would be
better for you than life in the club, without a friend to care for you.
If ever you feel inclined to stay here for a time, I hope you will at
once let me know. With thanks and best wishes,

Yours truly,
ANNETTE GORDON."

CHAPTER VI. A COACH ACCIDENT.

The coach from Tarrong railway station to Emu Flat, and then on to
Donohoe's Hotel, ran twice a week. Pat Donohoe was mailman, contractor
and driver, and his admirers said that Pat could hit his five horses
in more