l
companion for him?

It appears that he considered himself to have 'irretrievably lost
caste.' It is a fantastic idea, and could not have any justification in
a country where an Englishman of good manners and behaviour need never
want congenial society. Gordon was abnormally proud, independent and
sensitive: an unfortunate disposition for anyone who has his way to make
in an imperfect world. Such a man constantly misunderstands himself and
is misunderstood. He takes severe, unpractical views of his own
character and of life generally. Not necessarily morose or ungenial, he
is always apt to be thought so. Gordon's conclusion that he had lost
caste is a proof of supersensitiveness, and the deep effect produced
upon his temperament by the incidents of his youth.

There is a touching and significant little story of an acquaintance
which he formed with a young lady at Cape Northumberland, and how he
ended it. We are delicately told that, having become a warm admirer of
his dashing horsemanship, the lady used to walk in early morning to a
neighbouring field to see him training a favourite mare over hurdles.
Something more than a mutual liking for horses and racing is plainly
hinted at as existing between them. But after they had met thus a few
times, Gordon asked abruptly whether her mother knew that she came there
every morning to see him ride. She replied in the negative, adding that
her mother disapproved of racing. 'Well, don't come again,' said he; 'I
know the world, and you don't. Good-bye. Don't come again.' Surprised
and wounded, the lady silently gave him her hand in farewell. 'He looked
at it as if it were some natural curiosity, and said, "It's the first
time I have touched a lady's hand for many a day--my own fault, my own
fault--good-bye."'

For a brief period after the receipt of his father's legacy Gordon
looked towards his future with some interest and confidence. He spoke of
a proposal to undertake regular journalistic work at Melbourne, and to
make an attempt at writing novels. It was at this time also that he
foresaw that he would make a name as a poet. The people of Mount
Gambier, finding him presently settled as the owner of a small estate in
the district, made him their representative in the Legislative Assembly
of South Australia. In this new character he seems to have achieved only
a reputation for drawing humorous sketches. Having delivered a few
speeches highly embellished with classical allusion