into an involuntary
display of her affection for Sam when he is struck down before her eyes.

Again, the description of the kangaroo-hunt, given in the same novel, is
remembered chiefly on account of the picture of Sam and Alice in the
frank enjoyment of their first love as they loiter in the tracks of the
sportsmen, and, relinquishing the chase with happy indifference, go home
and sit together under the verandah.

Kingsley avoided the fault, common to his successors, of exaggerating
the interest which readers are supposed to take in the general aspects
of life in a new country. He had a keen sense of the value of
picturesque environment, but wisely contrived that nothing should
withdraw attention from the progress of his drama. He was ever on the
watch for opportunities to sketch in lightly and humorously small traits
of character, and to emphasise salient ones. 'She had an imperial sort
of way of manoeuvring a frying-pan,' he says, in allusion to the
cheerful adaptability of the high-bred Agnes Buckley, that fine model of
English womanhood, during her first rough experiences in Australia. When
Hamlyn comes to Baroona from the neighbouring station to spend Christmas
with his old friends, he finds the same lady 'picking raisins in the
character of a duchess.' Considered apart from the story, these
Dickensian touches might seem merely humorous exaggeration, but to those
who have traced the development of Mrs. Buckley's character, how happy
and pregnant they are!

_Robbery under Arms_ not only contains Boldrewood's most dramatic plot,
but his most skilful and sympathetic treatment of character. It is a
distinct exception to the rest of his work. In the later stories the
characters are brightly sketched, but with so casual a touch that they
leave no permanent impression with the reader. The best excite no more
than a passing admiration, whereas Kingsley's win lasting admiration and
love. There can be no surer test of art and truth: it furnishes the one
indubitable proof of clear vision, sympathy, and correct expression.
Where the weakness of some of Boldrewood's characters is not due to
deficiency of interest in them on the part of the author, it is the
result of an attempt to copy life with an accuracy which sacrifices
picturesqueness.

The attempt to preserve absolute truth in every detail of the life-story
of John Redgrave, the hero of _The Squatter's Dream_, seems distinctly a
case in point. In no other novel is th