an openness to conviction, or a willingness
to receive after proper proof; not a determination to believe
without investigation. He also pointed out to me what I was less
prepared to hear, that the charity spoken of does not mean, as I
supposed it to express, conscientiousness, but love and
good fellowship, in action and speech; in fact, more in accordance
with the sense in which the word is commonly understood. This will
show you the evil of coming to conclusions on insufficient data.
Depend upon it, you must always hear both sides of a story before
you can get at the truth.

I am going out to dinner this evening expressly to meet two of the
finest girls in Melbourne. Some of my cautious friends say that I
am running a great risk, and that I shall never recover from the
effects. I cannot say that I feel much frightened. If anything
serious should happen, and the consequences are not immediately
fatal, I shall add a few lines to-morrow. Look sharp about
photographs. I begin to suspect you are ashamed to show your faces
in this remote region. Give my love to H., C., etc., and accept the
same from

Your ever affectionate brother,

WILLIAM J. WILLS.

P.S. 19th.--The elements interposed to save me from the danger I
wilfully determined not to avoid. It rained so heavily last evening
that the syrens stayed at home.

. . .

In the month of May 1860, I went to Melbourne for a few days,
and spent many pleasant hours with my son. I found him contented and
happy. His appointment to the Exploring Expedition, so long the
yearning desire of his heart, he appeared to consider as a fait
accompli. He was in comfortable lodgings, and had established an
intimacy with a gentleman of superior literary acquirements,
personally acquainted with many London celebrities of our day. I
remember the delight with which he came to my hotel and said: "You
must dine with me to-day; I want to introduce you to a person you
will much like. His greatest fault is one you possess yourself, a
turn for satire, which sometimes makes him enemies." On the same
morning he had announced to his friend with beaming eyes, "My
father is here;" and when the next day that same friend wished to
engage him to an evening party, he replied: "You forget that I have
a wild young father to take care of." Alluding again to this, in a
letter to his mother, on the 17th of May, he says: "You must excuse
a brief epistle this time. The Doctor has been in town for a few
da