Summers looked into the girl's brimming eyes, and his face softened.

'I'm right glad,' he said simply.

Harry rode by the trap as far as the town; then there was another
parting, and he returned to Waddy like a man in a dream. That evening he
told his mother that Christina Shine had promised to be his wife. Her
answer surprised him.

'She is a brave, beautiful, genuine woman, and I would not have it
different.'

'She said you were the best woman in the world, mother, and I believe she
was right.'

'No, no, Henry; I will be content now to have you think me the second
best,' said his mother, smiling.

Chris, who was staying with a relation of Summers' in Melbourne, wrote to
say their parting should be for six months; but it did not last more than
half that time, and meanwhile two or three matters of interest had
happened in Waddy. There had been several crushings from the Native
Youth, and the yields justified the highest expectations; Frank Hardy and
Mrs. Haddon had been married, and Joel Ham had departed from Waddy under
interesting circumstances. One evening when reading the Mercury in the
bar at the Drovers' Arms, Ham looked up from his paper and addressed
several members of the School Committee who were present:

'Gentlemen,' he said, 'I'll have to get you to fill my position within a