elected for the task of reporting upon him.

"It's only a nominal thing, old man," Frere said to his former comrade,
when they met. "That parson has made meddling, and they want to close
his mouth."

"I am glad to have the opportunity of showing you and Mrs. Frere the
place," returned Burgess. "I must try and make your stay as pleasant
as I can, though I'm afraid that Mrs. Frere will not find much to amuse
her."

"Frankly, Captain Burgess," said Sylvia, "I would rather have gone
straight to Sydney. My husband, however, was obliged to come, and of
course I accompanied him."

"You will not have much society," said Meekin, who was of the welcoming
party. "Mrs. Datchett, the wife of one of our stipendiaries, is the only
lady here, and I hope to have the pleasure of making you acquainted with
her this evening at the Commandant's. Mr. McNab, whom you know, is in
command at the Neck, and cannot leave, or you would have seen him."

"I have planned a little party," said Burgess, "but I fear that it will
not be so successful as I could wish."

"You wretched old bachelor," said Frere; "you should get married, like
me."

"Ah!" said Burgess, with a bow, "that would be difficult."

Sylvia was compelled to smile at the compliment, made in the presence of
some twenty prisoners, who were carrying the various trunks and packages
up the hill, and she remarked that the said prisoners grinned at the
Commandant's clumsy courtesy. "I don't like Captain Burgess, Maurice,"
she said, in the interval before dinner. "I dare say he did flog that
poor fellow to death. He looks as if he could do it."

"Nonsense!" said Maurice, pettishly; "he's a good fellow enough.
Besides, I've seen the doctor's certificate. It's a trumped-up story. I
can't understand your absurd sympathy with prisoners."

"Don't they sometimes deserve sympathy?"

"No, certainly not--a set of lying scoundrels. You are always whining
over them, Sylvia. I don't like it, and I've told you before about it."

Sylvia said nothing. Maurice was often guilty of these small
brutalities, and she had learnt that the best way to meet them was
by silence. Unfortunately, silence did not mean indifference, for the
reproof was unjust, and nothing stings a woman's fine sense like an
injustice. Burgess had prepared a feast, and the "Society" of Port
Arthur was present. Father Flaherty, Meekin, Doctor Macklewain, and Mr.
and Mrs. Datchett had been invited, and the dining-room was resplend