king carriage,
with his wife and Bella and Maddie all in white silk and satin, and
looking splendid. Out he gets, and takes Bella to walk up the middle of
the church. When he went in with Bella, Maddie had one look in, and it
seemed so crammed full of people that she looked frightened and drew
back. Just then up comes the Mr. Dawsons and Starlight, with the
Commissioner and a few more.

Directly he sees Maddie draw back, Starlight takes the whole thing in,
and walked forward.

'My dear young lady,' says he, 'will you permit me to escort you up the
aisle? The bride appears to have preceded you.'

He offered her his arm, and, if you'll believe me, the girl didn't know
him a bit in the world, and stared at him like a perfect stranger.

'It's all right, Miss Maddie,' says the Commissioner. He had a way
of knowing all the girls, as far as a laugh or a bit of chaff went,
especially if they were good-looking. 'Mr. Lascelles is an English
gentleman, newly arrived, and a friend of mine. He's anxious to learn
Australian ways.'

She took his arm then and walked on, never looking at him, but quite
shy-like, till he whispered a word in her ear which brought more colour
into her face than any one had seen there before for a year.

'My word, Lascelles knows how to talk to 'em,' says Jack Dawson. 'He's
given that girl a whip that makes her brighten up. What a chap he is;
you can't lick him.'

'Pretty fair all round, I should say,' says the other brother, Bill.
'Hullo! are we to go on the platform with the parson and the rest of
'em?'

The reason was that as we went up the church all together, all in a
heap, with the Barneses and the bride, they thought we must be related
to 'em; and the church being choke-full they shunted us on to the place
inside the rails, where we found ourselves drafted into the small yard
with the bridegroom, the bride, the parson, and all that mob.

There wasn't much time to spare, what with the racing and the general
bustle of the day. The miners gave a sort of buzz of admiration as Bella
and Maddie and the others came up the aisle. They looked very well,
there's no manner of doubt. They were both tallish girls, slight, but
well put together, and had straight features and big bright eyes, with
plenty of fun and meaning in 'em. All they wanted was a little more
colour like, and between the hurry for time and Bella getting married,
a day's work that don't come often in any one's life, and having about