m anything that lay beyond Billabong and its
surroundings. No one, meeting her in her home, would have dreamed that
she might be shy; but the truth was that a very passion of shyness came
over her when she thought of confronting a number of girls, all up to
date and smart, and at ease in their environment, and all, if Cecil
were to be believed, ready to look down upon the recruit from the Bush.

For Cecil lost no opportunity to point out to Norah her drawbacks, and
to hint at her inferiority to ordinary girls of her own age; "properly
trained girls" was his phrase. When he talked to her--which was
prudently when no one else was about--Norah felt a complete rustic, and
was well assured that the girls at Melbourne would very soon put her in
her place, even if they did not openly resent the presence among them
of a girl reared in the country, and in so unusual a fashion. She even
wondered miserably sometimes if Dad and Jim were rather ashamed of her,
and did not like to say so; it was quite possible, since the city boy
evidently held her in such low esteem. But then would come a summons
from her father, or Jim would appear and bear her off imperiously on
some expedition with him, and she would forget her fears--until the next
time Cecil persevered in his plan of educating her to a knowledge of
her own deficiencies. It is not hard for a boy, on the verge of
manhood, to instil ideas into an unsuspecting child; and Cecil's
tuition gave poor Norah many a dark hour of which her father and the
other boys never dreamed. It would have gone hard with Cecil had they
done so.

Between cricket-practice, occasional rides and exploring expeditions,
boating on the lagoon, and fishing in the river, to say nothing of much
cheerful intercourse, the days passed quickly--at least to most of the
inhabitants of the homestead, and when Wednesday came Norah rode across
the run with her father to see him on his way to Killybeg. The
Darrells' station was some thirty-five miles away by the usual roads;
but a short cut over the ranges reduced the journey by fifteen miles,
although it was a rough trip, and an impossible one for vehicles.
Mounted on Monarch, however, Mr. Linton thought nothing of it; and
Norah laughed at his self-accusation of old age as she rode beside him,
the lean, erect figure in the saddle giving easily to the black horse's
irresponsible bounds--for Monarch had been "spelled" for the trip, and
was full of spirits and suppressed e