nable
with those on either hand occupied, and its window commanded an
attractive view. A tangled old garden opened on a steep descent to the
quiet river, edged with willows and garnished by a great row of red
and blue boats rocking almost imperceptibly in the even flow, while a
huge placard advertised their business--

BEST BOATS ON THE RIVER TO BE HIRED HERE.

MRS. MARTHA CLAY.

To the right was an imposing bridge, and on the other side of the
water, right at the foot of the great range which in the early days
had remained so long impassable, lay the quiet old settlement of
Kangaroo.

"If you think that room will do, you are welcome to it," continued
Mrs. Clay. "Seventeen-and-six a-week without washing--a pound with."

I agreed to the "with washing" terms, so the affable jehu hauled in
what luggage I had brought, and at last I was installed at Clay's.

The only thing wanting to complete the incident was the advent of
Dawn, but she was nowhere to be seen. As it was only eleven in the
morning I sat in my room and waited for her and a cup of tea, but
neither were forthcoming. In her own words, Mrs. Clay "was never give
to running after people an' lickin' their boots." Eventually, having
grown weary of waiting for Dawn and luncheon and other things, I went
out on a tour of inspection. First find was a tall dashing girl of
twenty-four or thereabouts, dusting the big heavily encumbered
"parler" into which my room opened.

"Good morning!" heartily said she.

"Good morning! Are you Dawn?" inquired I.

"Dawn! No. But you might well ask, for it's nothing but Dawn and her
doings and sayings and good looks here! You'd think there was no other
girl in Noonoon. She won't take it as any compliment to be taken for
me."

"Well, she must be something superlative if it would not be a
compliment to be taken for you."

"Oh me! I'm only Carry the lady-help--general slavey like, earning my
living, only that I eat with the family and not in the kitchen. In the
summer they hire a cook and others, but in the winter there are only
me and Dawn and the old woman," said this frank and communicative
individual in the frank and communicative manner characteristic of the
Clay household.

Proceeding from this encounter, I went out the back way past more
gardens and irregular enclosures, where under widespreading
cedar-trees I found a boy at the hobbledehoy age chopping wood in a
desultory fashion, as th