ed, the young man rose to go, and not till
then--being wise in his generation--did he allude to the fact of his
having a private letter of introduction from his owners--Messrs. Hurry
Brothers, of London--to Mr. Scars-brook. The stiff, official manner of
the D.A.A.C.G. at once thawed, and being at heart a genial old fellow,
he expressed his pleasure, shook hands again with the young man, and
inquired why he had not presented the letter or made allusion to it
before.

Foster, who had pretty well gauged Mr. Scarsbrook mentally, modestly
replied that he did not care to obtrude private affairs at an
inopportune time. He knew that weighty affairs doubtless occupied Mr.
Scarsbrook's mind during his business hours, but had intended to do
himself the honour of presenting his letter later on, &c.

This at once impressed the D.A.A.C.G., who asked him to dinner that
evening.

"A most intelligent young man, my dear," he told Dolly shortly
after. "His attention to business before all else has given me a very
favourable impression of him."

Dolly tossed her head. "I hope I shall not be disappointed in him. Is he
young?" she asked indifferently.

"Quite; and in manners and appearance much above his position."

Dolly did like him very much--'much more than she cared to confess to
herself--and their first meeting at dinner led to many of a less formal
character, and ere a week had passed Captain Charles Foster was very
much in love with his host's daughter, and not being a man who wasted
time, was only awaiting an opportunity to tell her so.

Now Dolly, who had first flirted with and then flouted every one of
the bachelor officials in Sydney, military or civilian, who visited the
Commissary's abode, was, to do her justice, a girl of sense at heart,
and she felt that Captain Foster meant to ask her an all-important
question--to every woman--and that her answer would be "Yes." For not
only was he young, handsome, and highly thought of by his owners, but he
came of a good family, and had such prospects for his future as seldom
came in the way of men in the merchant service even in those days of
lucky South-Seamen and East India traders, who made fortunes rapidly.
And then 'twas evident he was very much in love with her, and this
latter fact considerably and naturally influenced her.

The first week passed pleasantly enough, then, to his anger and disgust,
Foster found he had a rival; and before the end of the second week he
realis