r was unable to see him he was content to yarn
for an hour or two with Jane Haizelip, our servant-girl.

Jane disliked Possum Gully as much as I did. Her feeling being much more
defined, it was amusing to hear the flat-out opinions she expressed to Mr
Blackshaw, whom, by the way, she termed "a mooching hen of a chap".

"I suppose, Jane, you like being here near Goulburn, better than that
out-of-the-way place you came from," he said one morning as he
comfortably settled himself on an old sofa in the kitchen.

"No jolly fear. Out-of-the-way place! There was more life at Bruggabrong
in a day than you crawlers 'ud see here all yer lives," she retorted with
vigour, energetically pommelling a batch of bread which she was mixing.

"Why, at Brugga it was as good as a show every week. On Saturday evening
all the coves used to come in for their mail. They'd stay till Sunday
evenin'. Splitters. boundary-riders, dogtrappers--every manjack of 'em.
Some of us wuz always good fer a toon on the concertina, and the rest
would dance. We had fun to no end. A girl could have a fly round and a
lark or two there I tell you; but here," and she emitted a snort of
contempt, "there ain't one bloomin' feller to do a mash with. I'm full of
the place. Only I promised to stick to the missus a while, I'd scoot
tomorrer. It's the dead-and-alivest hole I ever seen."

"You'll git used to it by and by," said Blackshaw.

"Used to it! A person 'ud hev to be brought up onder a hen to git used to
the dullness of this hole."

"You wasn't brought up under a hen, or it must have been a big Bramer
Pooter, if you were," replied he, noting the liberal proportions of her
figure as she hauled a couple of heavy pots off the fire. He did not
offer to help her. Etiquette of that sort was beyond his ken.

"You oughter go out more and then you wouldn't find it so dull," he said,
after she had placed the pots on the floor.

"Go out! Where 'ud I go to, pray?"

"Drop in an' see my missus again when you git time. You're always
welcome."

"Thanks, but I had plenty of goin' to see your missus last time."

"How's that?"

"Why, I wasn't there harf an hour wen she had to strip off her clean duds
an' go an' milk. I don't think much of any of the men around here. They
let the women work too hard. I never see such a tired wore-out set of
women. It puts me in mind ev the time wen the black fellers made the gins
do all the work. Why, on Bruggabrong the women never had to