ld help. And Polly
not only agreed with him, but contrived to find an advantage in the
plainer style of architecture. "Your plate will be better seen,
Richard, right on the street, than hidden under a verandah." But then
Polly was overflowing with content. Had not two of the rooms
fireplaces? And was there not a wash-house, with a real copper in it,
behind the detached kitchen? Not to speak of a spare room!--To the rear
of the house a high paling-fence enclosed a good-sized yard. Mahony
dreamed of a garden, Polly of keeping hens.

There were no two happier people on Ballarat that autumn than the
Mahonys. To and fro they trudged down the hill, across the Flat, over
the bridge and up the other side; first, through a Sahara of dust,
then, when the rains began, ankle-deep in gluey red mud. And the
building of the finest mansion never gave half so much satisfaction as
did that of this flimsy little wooden house, with its thin
lath-and-plaster walls. In fancy they had furnished it and lived in it,
long before it was even roofed in. Mahony sat at work in his
surgery--it measured ten by twelve--Polly at her Berlin-woolwork in the
parlour opposite: "And a cage with a little parrot in it, hanging at
the window."

The preliminaries to the change had gone smoothly enough--Mahony could
not complain. Pleasant they had not been; but could the arranging and
clinching of a complicated money-matter ever be pleasant? He had had to
submit to hearing his private affairs gone into by a stranger; to make
clear to strangers his capacity for earning a decent income.

With John's promissory letter in his pocket, he had betaken himself to
Henry Ocock's office.

This, notwithstanding its excellent position on the brow of the western
hill, could not deny its humble origin as a livery-barn. The entry was
by a yard; and some of the former horse-boxes had been rudely knocked
together to provide accommodation. Mahony sniffed stale dung.

In what had once been the harness-room, two young men sat at work.

"Why, Tom, my lad, you here?"

Tom Ocock raised his freckled face, from the chin of which sprouted
some long fair hairs, and turned red.

"Yes, it's me. Do you want to see 'En--" at an open kick from his
brother--"Mr. Ocock?"

"If you please."

Informed by Grindle that the "Captain" was at liberty, Mahony passed to
an inner room where he was waved to a chair. In answer to his statement
that he had called to see about raising some money, Oc