uch a letter it was--so
saintly, so unhappy, so mysterious! When I could get leave I went to
England. She--they--had gone, and none knew whither; or, if any of her
friends knew, none would speak. I searched for her everywhere. At last I
came to Australia, and I am here, no longer searching, but waiting, for
there is that above us!" His lips moved as if in prayer. "And this is
all I have left of her, except memory," he said, tenderly touching the
portrait.

Warmly, yet with discreet sympathy, the young man rejoined: "Sir, I
respect, and I hope I understand, your confidence." Then, a little
nervously: "Might I ask her name?"

The reply was spoken to the portrait: "Barbara--Barbara Golding."

With Louis Bachelor the young squatter approached Wandenong homestead in
some excitement. He had said no word to his companion about that Barbara
Golding who played such a gracious part in the home of the Osgoods. He
had arranged the movement of the story to his fancy, but would it occur
in all as he hoped? With an amiability that was almost malicious in its
adroit suggestiveness, though, to be sure, it was honest, he had induced
the soldier to talk of his past. His words naturally, and always,
radiated to the sun, whose image was now hidden, but for whose memory no
superscription on monument or cenotaph was needed. Now it was a scrap
of song, then a tale, and again a verse, by which the old soldier was
delicately worked upon, until at last, as they entered the paddocks of
Wandenong, stars and telescopes and even Governments had been forgotten
in the personal literature of sentiment.

Yet John Osgood was not quite at his ease. Now that it was at hand, he
rather shrank from the meeting of these ancient loves. Apart from all
else, he knew that no woman's nerves are to be trusted. He hoped fortune
would so favour him that he could arrange for the meeting of the two
alone, or, at least, in his presence only. He had so far fostered this
possibility by arriving at the station at nightfall. What next? He
turned and looked at the soldier, a figure out of Hogarth, which even
dust and travel left unspoiled. It was certain that the two should meet
where John Osgood, squatter and romancer, should be prompter, orchestra,
and audience, and he alone. Vain lad!

When they drew rein the young man took his companion at once to his
own detached quarters known as the Barracks, and then proceeded to the
house. After greetings with his family he sough