ere of quite another nature.

Her husband's abrupt resolve to leave the colony, disturbing though it
was, did not take her altogether by surprise. She would have needed to
be both deaf and blind not to notice that the store-bell rang much
seldomer than it used to, and that Richard had more spare time on his
hands. Yes, trade was dull, and that made him fidgety. Now she had
always known that someday it would be her duty to follow Richard to
England. But she had imagined that day to be very far off--when they
were elderly people, and had saved up a good deal of money. To hear the
date fixed for six months hence was something of a shock to her. And it
was at this point that Polly had a sudden inspiration. As she listened
to Richard talking of resuming his profession, the thought flashed
through her mind: why not here? Why should he not start practice in
Ballarat, instead of travelling all those thousands of miles to do it?

This was what she ruminated while she tucked and hemmed. She could
imagine, of course, what his answer would be. He would say there were
too many doctors on Ballarat already; not more than a dozen of them
made satisfactory incomes. But this argument did not convince Polly.
Richard wasn't, perhaps, a great success at storekeeping; but that was
only because he was too good for it. As a doctor, he with his
cleverness and gentlemanly manners would soon, she was certain, stand
head and shoulders above the rest. And then there would be money
galore. It was true he did not care for Ballarat--was down on both
place and people. But this objection, too, Polly waived. It passed
belief that anybody could really dislike this big, rich, bustling,
go-ahead township, where such handsome buildings were springing up and
every one was so friendly. In her heart she ascribed her husband's want
of love for it to the "infra dig" position he occupied. If he mixed
with his equals again and got rid of the feeling that he was looked
down on, it would make all the difference in the world to him. He would
then be out of reach of snubs and slights, and people would understand
him better--not the residents on Ballarat alone, but also John, and
Sarah, and the Beamishes, none of whom really appreciated Richard. In
her mind's eye Polly had a vision of him going his rounds mounted on a
chestnut horse, dressed in surtout and choker, and hand and glove with
the bigwigs of society--the gentlemen at the Camp, the Police
Magistrate and Archd