on, had I not been bound to my
place with chains stronger than iron, and with all my firmness I could
not break them."

The robber paused for a moment, and while I wiped the moisture from his
brow I thought a tear fell upon the cloth. He soon recovered his voice,
however, and continued:--

"Owing to the position in which my father moved in society, I was
treated by my employers, the eminent bankers, B---- & Brothers, with
considerable favor; and was often invited to the house of the senior
member of the firm. Mr. B---- was a widower, but had an only child who
presided over his palace, situated away from the noise and confusion of
London, at the West End.

"Miss Julia B---- was just one year younger than myself; and both of us
being motherless was in a measure the reason why we so soon became on
intimate terms. I know not how it happened, but I had not seen the lady
more than twice before I felt that if I could not possess her, I did not
care to live. Her father, who was subject to attacks of the gout, which
frequently confined him to the house for weeks, often desired my
presence to receive his instructions, and I never left his apartment
without trying to see the object of my passion.

"You smile," the robber continued, as he caught my glance at his bearded
face, blackened skin, and hard hands. "I was not always as I am now, and
once would hardly let the sun touch my cheek, for fear it should mar its
whiteness; Many years have passed since then."

The bushranger paused and remained silent for such a length of time that
I feared his spirit was passing away; but after a while he rallied, and
continued:--

"I will not tell how I contrived, by one pretext and another, to get
speech with Julia, and how rejoiced I felt to see that my arrival was
hailed with real satisfaction by the fair girl; nor need I tell how we
had stolen interviews, and exchanged vows, and swore to be true to each
other, until one day we were surprised by Mr. B----, who, pale with rage
and indignation, ordered me from the house, and his daughter to her
room.

"I left his presence without a word, and for two days I did not go near
the banking house; but when I did, I was ordered to the presence of the
man who of all others I dreaded most to see.

"For three years I have roamed the plains of Australia, and dared death
in a hundred different ways, but I never felt so timid as when I was
called before that weak, old man, whom I could have struck s