g all the trouble of riding such a distance to dance
only with me, was it?" Whereupon my poor, doleful friend answered, with
a deep sigh, and an accent of profound conviction, "No, indeed it was
_not_!" I leave you to imagine my discomfiture; but luckily he never
observed it, and I felt all the time that I richly deserved what I got,
for asking such a stupid question.

The music at these balls is very bad, and though the principal room in
which they are given, at the Town Hall, is large and handsome, it is
poorly lighted, and the decorations are desolate in the extreme. I am
afraid this is not a very inviting picture of what is almost our only
opportunity of meeting together, but it is tolerably correct. Visiting
appears to be the business of some people's lives, but the acquaintance
does not seem to progress beyond incessant afternoon calls; we are
never asked inside a house, nor, as far as I can make out, is there any
private society whatever, and the public society consists, as I have
said, of a ball every now and then.

My greatest interest and occupation consist in going to look at my
house, which is being cut out in Christchurch, and will be drayed to our
station next month, a journey of fifty miles. It is, of course, only of
wood, and seems about as solid as a band-box; but I am assured by the
builder that it will be a "most superior article" when it is all put
together. F---- and I made the little plan of it ourselves, regulating
the size of the drawing-room by the dimensions of the carpet we brought
out, and I petitioned for a little bay-window, which is to be added; so
on my last visit to his timber-yard, the builder said, with an air of
great dignity, "Would you wish to see the _h_oriel, mum?" The doors all
come ready-made from America, and most of the wood used in building is
the Kauri pine from the North Island. One advantage, at all events, in
having wooden houses is the extreme rapidity with which they are run up,
and there are no plastered walls to need drying. For a long time we were
very uncertain where, and what, we should build on our station; but only
six weeks after we made up our minds, a house is almost ready for us.
The boards are sawn into the requisite lengths by machinery; and all the
carpentering done down here; the frame will only require to be fitted
together when it reaches its destination, and it is a very good time of
year for building, as the wool drays are all going back empty, and we