to see Mr. and Mrs. Amos again; with the rest her intercourse
was finished; and it had been of that character which leaves longing
and tender memories behind. She felt all that now. And she felt much
more. With the end of her voyage in the "Diana" came, at least for the
present, an end to her inward tranquillity. Now there were letters
awaiting her; letters for which she had wished nervously so long; now
she was near Fiji and her new life; now she dared to realize, she could
not help it, what all the voyage she had refused to think of, as still
in a hazy distance of the future. Here it was, nigh at hand, looming up
through the haze, taking distinctness and proportions; and Eleanor's
heart was in a state of agitation to which that sound little member was
very little accustomed. However, the outward effect of all this was to
give her manner even an unwonted degree of cool quietness; and Mr.
Esthwaite was in a state between daunted and admiring. Both of them
kept silence for a little while after leaving the ship, while the
wherry pulled along in the beautiful bay, passing among a crowd of
vessels of all sorts and descriptions, moving and still. The scene was
lively, picturesque, pleasant, in the highest degree.

"How does my cousin like us on a first view?"

"It is a beautiful scene!" said Eleanor. "What a great variety of
vessels are here!"

"And isn't this just the finest harbour in the world?"

"I have heard a great deal of Port Philip," said Eleanor smiling. "I
understand there is a second Bay of Naples there."

"I don't care for the Bay of Naples! We have sunk all that. We are in a
new world. Wait till you see what I will shew you to-morrow. Now look
at that wooded point, with the white houses spotting it; those are fine
seats; beautiful view and all that; and at Sydney you can have
everything you want, almost at command."

"You know," said Eleanor, "that is not absolutely a new experience to
me. In England, we have not far to seek."

"O you say so! Much you know about it. You have been in such a nest of
a place as my cousin Caxton spreads her wings over. I never was in a
nest, till I made one for myself. How is my good cousin?"

The talk ran upon home things now until they reached the town and
landed at a fine stone quay. Then to the Custom House, where business
was easily despatched; then Mr. Esthwaite put Eleanor into a cab and
they drove away through the streets for his house in the higher part of
the ci