ther liked the fun of it, but the old gentleman
inside, who was the only occupant, chose to think differently, and when
the coachman came up in a cab, in which he had been following us, not
much hurt, the old gentleman made me get in beside him.

"'What's your name?' he asked.

"'Allen Winter,' said I.

"Then he asked me my history. I told him that I was an orphan and had
to work for my living. Well, to make this long story short, I have never
had to work since, for he gave me twelve months at the Scotch College in
Melbourne, and during my holidays he died, leaving me the whole of his
fortune. He was an old bachelor, and his money was well invested, so I
have now an income of a thousand a year. I have been over every inch of
Australia; I know the Colonies well, and I have been round the world
twice."

"But you have not explained your interest in me," said Reg.

"No, I thought I would keep that to the last," he said, his voice
growing sadder. "I never was much of a Society man, for although I have
been through a lot, I never feel at home amongst fashionable folk, and
Australian Society is rotten--I don't like it. But I chanced to be
thrown into contact with a young girl, with whom I fell madly in love,
and whom I endowed, as every man in love does, with all the virtues. I
courted her for two years, and she professed to return my devotion. Now,
her mother had a great fondness for Society ways and fads, and we were
not the best of friends in consequence, but I thought we loved each
other too well for that defect in my character to make any difference.
The wedding-day was at last fixed. I had presented her with funds to buy
her trousseau, as they were not at all well off, when a young sprig of
English nobility visited the Colonies, and became acquainted with them.
The mother played her cards well, for that cursed snob married my girl
under my very nose, and used the trousseau I had provided. She sent me a
letter, in which she stated she had never loved me as I deserved to be
loved, and that she would offend her mother if she refused the
Englishman."

"Did you care for her very much?" asked Reg.

"Except my mother, she was the only woman I ever loved, and when she
threw me over it nearly killed me."

"She married this man?"

"Yes; and her mother had the cheek to ask me to the wedding, but,
needless to say, I did not go. I very nearly went to the devil instead."

"Now, just listen to me. Suppose that man had come