within two hundred miles of Ocho Rios, but I think I am quite
capable of giving him a decent education."

"Little Mary won't like it, Tom. She is passionately fond of him, and
will cut up very rough over the parting, I fear."

"Poor child! But, of course, she will see him again in a few years. I
can see, that next to you, Jim is her 'dearest and best.' If I were a
married man, Ted, I would ask you for her as well. Every time she looks
at me with those big, soft eyes of hers, I see poor Mary again, and when
she speaks, hear the soft sweet voice again."

"She is a lovable child, and, look here, Tom, old man, I'll tell you
something that has made me grizzle in secret for many years--Lizzie
doesn't care for her. I don't mind her being a bit sharp with the boy
how and then, for he's a terrible young Turk at times, and I'm too easy
with him; but little Mary is such a gentle, soft sort of kid, that I
wonder how anyone could possibly help loving her. But, somehow or other,
Lizzie doesn't. Still, within the last few days--ever since you came in
fact--she has been a bit warmer in her manner."

Gerrard nodded. "Lizzie will come round to like her in time, Ted, And,
I say, old fellow, since you have been so open with me, I'm going to
say something to you that you perhaps may not like, and think I'm an
interfering ass. But, 'honest Injun,' Ted, I mean well--like a good many
other idiots do when they meddle with other people's domestic affairs."

"Go on, sonny," said the big man, quietly, "you never talk rot."

"Well, it's this. Lizzie is simply fretting her life out at Marumbah,
and I think that, in a way, you are to blame. She does not like living
in the bush, and does not seem to care for the people hereabout. I
had quite a long yarn with her the first day I came to Marumbah, and
although at first she tried to be the stiff, austere lady with me,
I wouldn't have it. Made her sit on my knee, and all that, you know,
stroked her hair, and pinched her pretty little nose."

"Tom, if I didn't know you better, I would call you a liar."

"Fact! You know as well as I do that she has always looked upon me as a
black sheep. But she is going to change her mind about me, and I'll bet
you a fiver that before I leave Marumbah, I'm going to be 'Tommy' to
her, as I was in the old, old days."

Westonley's sun-tanned face flushed with pleasure. "Tom, I'd give half
of all I'm worth to see her and you friends again. I know how bitterly
she affr