ton was
dead. He had been thrown from his horse and died shortly after. His
widow, Lester also heard, had returned to Sydney.

So Lester made quick work. Within twenty-four hours he had sold his
business and was on his way back to Sydney.

He dashed up in a cab to his old lodgings. In another hour he would see
Nina. He had sent her a telegram from Brisbane, telling her when the
steamer would arrive, and was in a fever of excitement. And he was late.
As he tumbled his things about, his landlady came to the door with a
letter.

"There was a lady called here, sir, a week ago, and asked for your
address. I had just got your telegram saying you were coming back
to-day, and she said she would write, and this letter came just now."

Lester knew the handwriting. It was from Nellie. He opened it.

"I know now how I have wronged you. My husband, before he
died, told me that he had deceived me. My life has been a
very unhappy one, and I want to see you and ask for your
forgiveness. Will you send me an answer to-night?--Nellie!"

Lester held the letter in his hand and pondered. What should he do?
Answer it or not? Poor Nellie!

He sat down to think--and then Nina Charlton opened the door and flung
her arms around his neck.

"I could not wait," she whispered, "and I am not afraid _now_ to say I
love you."

That night Lester wrote a letter to the woman he had once loved. "I am
glad to know that Charlton told you the truth before he died," he said.
"But let the past be forgotten."

*****

He never told Nina of this. But one day as they were walking along the
"Block" in George Street, she saw her husband raise his hat to a tall,
fair-haired woman with big blue eyes.

"Is that she, Jack?" murmured Nina.

Lester nodded.

"She's very lovely. And yet I felt once that I could have killed
her--when you and I sat together watching the big tree fall. But I
couldn't hate _any one_ now."

THE EAST INDIAN COUSIN

Nearly eighty years ago, when the news of Napoleon's downfall at
Waterloo had not yet reached England's colonies in the Far East, a
country ship named the _Nourmahal_ sailed from Madras for the Island of
Singapore. The object of her voyage was not known except, perhaps, to
the leading officials of the Company's establishment at Madras; but it
was generally believed that she carried certain presents from the Indian
Government to the then Sultans of Malacca, Johore, and Pahang.
Sir Stamford