roceeded to the address Mr.
Mitford had given them. It was a house of considerable size, standing in
a pretty garden, a quarter of a mile from the business part of the town.
They were warmly received by the Mitfords, and introduced to Mr. and
Mrs. Jackson.

"Mr. Mitford has been telling me that you want to get a house, or part
of a house, for a few weeks till you look about you and decide where you
will settle down," Mr. Jackson said. "I am a land and estate agent,
besides doing a little in other ways. We most of us turn our hands to
anything that presents itself here. I have taken a holiday for this
morning and left my clerk in charge, so I am quite at your service. You
will find it difficult and expensive if you take a whole house, so I
should advise you strongly to take lodgings. If you were a large party
it would be different, but you only want a sitting-room and three
bed-rooms."

"We could do with a sitting-room, a good-sized bed-room for my wife and
myself, and a small one for my daughter," Mr. Renshaw said; "and take a
bed-room out for a few nights for Wilfrid, as he will be starting with a
friend to journey through the colony and look out for a piece of land to
suit us."

"Then there will be no difficulty at all. You will find lodgings rather
more expensive than in England. I do not mean more expensive than a
fashionable watering-place, but certainly more expensive than in a town
of the same kind at home. House rent is high here; but then, on the
other hand, your living will cost you less than at home."

After an hour's search lodgings were found in a house at no great
distance from that of Mr. Jackson. It was a small house, kept by the
widow of the owner and captain of a small trading ship that had been
lost a year previously. The ship had fortunately been insured, and the
widow was able to keep on the house in which she lived, adding to her
income by letting a portion of it to new arrivals who, like the
Renshaws, intended to make a stay of some little time in Wellington
before taking any steps to establish themselves as settlers.

"I think," Mr. Jackson said when this was settled, "you are doing wisely
by letting your son here take a run through the colony. There is no
greater mistake than for new-comers to be in a hurry. Settle in haste
and repent at leisure is the rule. Mr. Mitford was saying that he hoped
that you might settle down somewhere in his locality; but at any rate it
will be best to look ro