any other form of companionship.

Vandeloup turned away his face to conceal the sneering smile that
crept over it. His wife, indeed! as if he were going to encumber
himself with marriage before he had made a fortune, and even then it
was questionable as to whether he would surrender the freedom of
bachelorhood for the ties of matrimony.

'Of course,' he said, in a reassuring tone, still keeping his face
turned away, 'we will get married in Melbourne as soon as we
arrive.'

'Why can't papa marry us,' pouted Kitty, in an aggrieved tone.

'My dear child,' said the Frenchman, getting on his knees and coming
close to her, 'in the first place, your father would not consent to
the match, as I am poor and unknown, and not by any means the man he
would choose for you; and in the second place, being a Catholic,'--
here M. Vandeloup looked duly religious--'I must be married by one
of my own priests.'

'Then why not in Ballarat?' objected Kitty, still unconvinced.

'Because your father would never consent,' he whispered, putting his
arm round her waist; 'we must run away quietly, and when we are
married can ask his pardon and,' with a sardonic sneer, 'his
blessing.'

A delicious thrill passed through Kitty when she heard this. A real
elopement with a handsome lover--just like the heroines in the story