insfield was a lady some few years the junior of her husband; was
kind and amiable, with a pleasing expression of countenance, which, if
not absolutely pretty, was certainly winning, and calculated to demand
attention. The attachment between herself and her husband had been a
very early one; and when he had left his native land to seek his fortune
in a far away home, it had been determined that as soon as he was in a
position to support her, she should join him in Australia. This plan had
been carried out; and after a short sojourn in the country he had been
enabled to send home for her. She joyfully responded to his call, and
upon her arrival was united to her faithful lover. Since their union
their life had been an uninterrupted course of domestic bliss; and they
were blessed, at the period of our narrative, with four pledges of their
happiness.

Eleanor Rainsfield, who, as already introduced to the reader as Mr.
Rainsfield's cousin, was the daughter of that gentleman's deceased
uncle, who had early emigrated, with a newly-married wife, to the
colony. He was by profession a medical man, and for many years during
his early residence in the country, pursued his avocation profitably;
but in the midst of an extending practice he lost his wife, to whom he
was fondly and devotedly attached. The effect of this blow he never
thoroughly got over, but gradually became in every respect an altered
man. From one of unflinching energy and firm determination, he
degenerated into a desponding, weak, and vacillating imbecile; and
lingered on in a mental aberration for some two years, when he died.
During the period of his distraction it is not surprising that his
practice rapidly declined, and ultimately became completely destroyed;
hence, upon his demise, his family were left perfectly destitute.

From the time of her mother's death Eleanor became the director of all
the family affairs, and the domestic responsibility gave her an
appearance of thoughtfulness and care hardly consistent with one so
young; while the effects still adhering to her, her manner seemed to
retain an habitual reserve and melancholy. At the period of her
introduction to John Ferguson she was about sixteen; her figure, though
not absolutely slender, was light and active, and of that altitude
which, in women, would be considered the medium; not so short as to
appear little, nor so tall but that she could look up to a man of
ordinary stature. Her form was well mo