called?"

"Yes, I remember he did, for it was sent on here from the Australian;
but why are you so inquisitive?"

"You won't mention a word of our conversation to Miss Harris, but just
tell me what size gloves you take, and how many buttons."

"Six-and-a-quarter, twelve buttons."

"Thanks! good-bye!" and he left her, well-satisfied with his enquiries.

"I thought you were never coming," said Reg, as they met at the door.
"Short, thick-set man, wearing soft felt hat, black coat, riding
breeches, and top-boots; drives a hansom with a smart grey horse; No.
1246A."

"You could not hear his name, of course?"

"I heard someone call out, 'Good-day, Dick,' as he left. What's the next
move?"

"A fashionable one. Where shall we go--Buckley and Nunn's or Robertson
and Moffat's?"

"What for--gloves?"

"Yes, six and a quarter, and twenty buttons."

"No, surely."

"Twenty did I say? No, the young lady is modest. A dozen will satisfy
her," said Hal, leading the way.

The gloves were bought and posted to Miss Kelley, and Hal told Reg all
about the courtship.

"A proud, haughty girl is what he delights in," said Reg, though he
mentally added that his Amy was not of that character.

"Our next move is to find out Dick's character and his habits, for from
the way she referred to him, I fancy Dick is of some material assistance
to him," said Hal, dodging his way through the crowded thoroughfares.
"We'd better, therefore, find his cab-rank first."

"Can you tell me--" he enquired of the first gentleman he met.

"No, got no time," said the individual addressed, as he bustled away at
the rate of ten miles an hour.

"Where are the cab-ranks?" he asked another.

"Up there, round the corner," replied this one, without stopping, and
being well out of range before Hal had understood his reply.

After trying to extract the information from about a dozen people, he
gave it up, for every man he spoke to seemed to be in a greater hurry
than his fellows. "One continued rush," said Hal, "all day long; each
trying to out-do the others in business, but it all ends in the mushroom
style, for they boom up everything to ten times its value, and when the
relapse comes matters are fifty times worse. That's Melbourne."

After several unsuccessful attempts to find a cab-rank on which was a
hansom with a grey horse, they at last saw one in Swansea Street, but to
their chagrin, before they could get to it, they saw a hansom with a
grey h