s only child. Moreover, the voyage will do Cicely
good, for she is very fragile, and the doctor warmly
approves of the idea. So adieu, my dear child, till we
meet. I shall send a cablegram the day before our vessel
starts.

"Your affectionate aunt,
"CAROLINE GRIEVES."

Kate's face was a study when she had finished reading the letter.
Surprise she certainly felt, and a little amusement, too, to think that
she--an Australian bush-born girl--could not look after herself and her
affairs without an English aunt and an English cousin travelling many
thousands of miles across the water to aid her with their advice.

Hadn't she been for the last three years her father's right hand in the
store, and in the shearing-shed, too, for that matter? Didn't she
understand thoroughly how the books were kept? For this very reason her
father, knowing full well that the complaint from which he suffered
would sooner or later cause his death, had kept her cognisant of how the
station should be managed. And now these English relatives were leaving
their beautiful English home to give her advice upon matters that they
were totally ignorant of!

Kate sat down with the letter in her hand and laughed. Then she looked
sober. It would after all be pleasant to see some of her own relatives,
not one of which--either on her dead mother's or her father's side--did
she possess in Australia.

Yes, after all, the idea, on closer investigation, did not seem at all
disagreeable, and Kate took up the letter again and read it with
pleasure this time.

Even if she had wished to put a stop to the intended visit, she could
not have had time, for three weeks later she received the cablegram:

"_We are leaving by the steamer Europia._"

She really felt a thrill of joy as she read this. She could now
calculate upon the day they were likely to arrive. The days flew fast
enough, for Kate had not time to sit down and dream over the appearance
of the travellers. The "boss" was wanted everywhere, and she must needs
know the why and wherefore of matters pertaining to account-books,
shearing sheds, cattle-yards, stores, and everything relating to the
homestead.

"It is good you were born with your father's business head," said Phil
Wentworth, with a scarcely concealed look of admiration.

He was the manager of the station at Watakona. Mr. Hamilton had chosen
him