In some sort of justly unjust way,
he felt that he deserved it. "I can say no more, sir. I am afraid I
am helpless in this matter--as I have been in others. I see that the
evidence is against me; but it is my duty to carry my efforts as far
as I can, and I will do so." Vickers bowed stiffly and wished him good
morning. Authority, however well-meaning in private life, has in its
official capacity a natural dislike to those dissatisfied persons who
persist in pushing inquiries to extremities.

North, going out with saddened spirits, met in the passage a beautiful
young girl. It was Sylvia, coming to visit her father. He lifted his hat
and looked after her. He guessed that she was the daughter of the man he
had left--the wife of the Captain Frere concerning whom he had heard so
much. North was a man whose morbidly excited brain was prone to strange
fancies; and it seemed to him that beneath the clear blue eyes that
flashed upon him for a moment, lay a hint of future sadness, in which,
in some strange way, he himself was to bear part. He stared after her
figure until it disappeared; and long after the dainty presence of the
young bride--trimly booted, tight-waisted, and neatly-gloved--had faded,
with all its sunshine of gaiety and health, from out of his mental
vision, he still saw those blue eyes and that cloud of golden hair.

CHAPTER XVII. CAPTAIN AND MRS. FRERE.

Sylvia had become the wife of Maurice Frere. The wedding created
excitement in the convict settlement, for Maurice Frere, though
oppressed by the secret shame at open matrimony which affects men of his
character, could not in decency--seeing how "good a thing for him" was
this wealthy alliance--demand unceremonious nuptials. So, after the
fashion of the town--there being no "continent" or "Scotland" adjacent
as a hiding place for bridal blushes--the alliance was entered into with
due pomp of ball and supper; bride and bridegroom departing through the
golden afternoon to the nearest of Major Vickers's stations. Thence it
had been arranged they should return after a fortnight, and take ship
for Sydney.

Major Vickers, affectionate though he was to the man whom he believed
to be the saviour of his child, had no notion of allowing him to live
on Sylvia's fortune. He had settled his daughter's portion--ten thousand
pounds--upon herself and children, and had informed Frere that he
expected him to live upon an income of his own earning. After many
consul