ed, "and you at length discovered it. She
is not a suitable wife for you, and I think too highly of your honor to
suppose that you would blast her prospects for life and make her your
mistress. Your residence here is short, and when you felt disposed to
return home, would you desire to present the girl to your friends as a
specimen of Australian beauty? Come, Fred, consider all things, and
remember that you cannot accuse yourself of her ruin, even if she is not
disposed to remain with her husband."

"You are right," he said; "passion blinded me for a moment, but now I
can see that, your advice is good. Let us talk no more on the subject,
but hope for her happiness."

But we did talk on the subject frequently and earnestly; and as Mary's
career was much as I supposed that it would be, I will follow it and
give the reader the sequel.

Mr. Herrets removed his wife to his tent, and after the first week of
his marriage paid but little attention to her comfort or her wants. A
coldness soon sprang up between them, and then bitter quarrels ensued.
The husband, while grasping for gold in the bowels of the earth, little
thought that his neighbor was paying court to his wife, and that she
received those attentions with eagerness. Women in Ballarat commanded a
premium, for there were but few, and those principally of the lowest
class. A few of the highest officers under government had their wives
with them, but the husbands guarded them with more than Oriental
jealousy, and it was a rare sight to see them in the street or at
windows. There was little cause for wonder, then, that a man, whose good
looks were a passport, should have ingratiated himself into the
affections of Mrs. Herrets, and that one day they should leave Ballarat
in company. We were in the store one afternoon, about a month after the
marriage, when Mr. Herrets rushed in.

"Is she here?" he demanded, his face looking like a demon's.

"Who here?" I asked, calmly, although I suspected his errand.

"My wife," he shouted. "Darn her, I don't know where she is. She is
playing some of her pranks, and I'll fix her for it."

He rushed out of the store frantically, and uttered a profusion of oaths
as he dashed through the streets, making inquiries of every one that he
met respecting his wife. Some laughed at him, while others, after
questioning him until they had arrived at the facts, would gravely shake
their heads, and express an entire ignorance of the woman's where