CHAPTER XII.

WHEN informed of his sister-in-law's proposed excursion, and the date of departure, Mr. Ellis was seriously, if unnecessarily, distressed because he would not be able to accompany her.

"I should certainly have taken charge of you," he said, "and put you safely into the hands of your friends. But, unfortunately, I have an important business engagement that I can not postpone."

"Oh, thank you, Tom," she responded, smiling at him sweetly; "it's like your kindness to think of such a thing. But I could not have allowed you to take that trouble in any case."

"Nothing is a trouble that I can do for you," he rejoined, with his slightly old-fashioned politeness. However, I shall see that you are provided with a proper escort."

Nancy's smile fled. "O Tom, pray, pray don't!" she pleaded in terror. "I hate escorts-except you,

of course.

And it's so absurdly unnecessary. I'm

not a girl, and I shall have Caroline."

Well, at least, I will see you on board, and put you in charge of the captain."

At this Rosamond laughed awkwardly, and Nancy's cheeks crimsoned. She felt a mean and deceitful person, for the moment. She wanted to explain that she already knew the captain well, but she could not; the half-truth seemed worse than whole concealment, and she was not yet prepared to tell him all.

"do

"Dear Tom," she continued to protest, please not trouble about me! I shall be all right with Caroline. We have both been to sea before to-day, and as for Melbourne, we are as much at home there as we are here."

"I

But Mr. Ellis would recede no further. shall take you down and see you on board, Nancy. That I can do without the smallest inconvenience, because the business I spoke of is in Melbourne, fortunately, and I shall be going in any case."

There was nothing for it but to write a wild letter to Adelaide, telling Robert what had happened to circumvent their private plans.

"It's no use my going down to meet the ship, and you mustn't call on me on shore. Tom will stick to me like a leech all the time, and if I saw

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After that we shall

you in his presence I'm afraid I should betray myself. And then he would want to investigate-he would make no end of fuss, and prevent me from going with you. We must wait till sailing-time next day, hard as it will be. And don't try to see me till the gangways are up. be free and safe. I shall have you after that. I sha'n't care what Tom does-dear old fellow! it is all for my benefit, as he thinks—for I shall have you after that, and never be without you any more, I trust never, never, if it rests with me!"

So Mrs. Mackenzie, Mr. Ellis, and Caroline went to town by the same train, and the Egypt was hauling up to the pier at Williamstown at the moment when the latter two persons were counting the luggage at Spencer Street. While the numerous packages were being piled upon a cab, Nancy posted another long letter to her lover, to tell him that she was near, and to encourage him to bear manfully the trial that had been laid upon them both.

Mr. Ellis gave his sister-in-law an elaborate dinner, and took her to the theatre afterwards; it being a point of honour with him to make her enjoy herself while she was in his care. But Nancy was not lively. She accounted for it in the usual way by saying that her head ached. The

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fact was, that in this interval between the old life and the new she was feeling the parting with Rosamond and the children much more keenly than she had expected to do. For the first and last time she contemplated the enterprise before her in a slightly foreboding spirit. This mood of reaction was an inevitable consequence of the mood of sanguine exaltation which had strained her for so long.

In the morning it was quite gone, though the morning brought the first dull weather they had had for weeks.

"I think," said Tom, when they met at breakfast, "you would have been wiser to go by train, at this time of the year. You are very likely to have a rough passage."

"Oh, I don't mind that!" she answered, with a happy smile. She did not mind anything now that the great day had come.

She was to sail at two, and at twelve Tom had that particular engagement which had so conveniently fitted in with hers. So she begged him to take her early to the ship and leave her there, protesting that she and Caroline would be glad of a little time to arrange their cabins; and he reluctantly acquiesced, since he could do no better. They reached Williamstown at eleven o'clock, and

walked down the pier in a cold wind and a sprinkle of rain that again caused him to point out the advantages of the land route in winter. And there lay the long steamer, Robert's ship, whose every plank was sacred. Nancy looked at it as if it were Robert himself, with eyes that expressed a longing to put her arms round it and kiss it.

"Captain on board?" inquired Tom, as they stepped on deck.

"No, sir," answered the sailor addressed. "Not for two hours yet, sir."

Mr. Ellis looked round uneasily, and Nancy hastened to reassure him.

"We are all right now, Tom, dear. You needn't mind leaving us. Caroline knows about the luggage, and there's nothing more to do," she urged, in cooing accents. "You had better catch the eleven-fifteen, hadn't you? You can just do it if you make haste. The next one would run you late for your appointment. Good-bye, dearthank you so much for all your goodness to me -dear, dear old Tom! Good-bye! God bless you!"

To his surprise, she offered her pretty mouth. It was not her habit, nor his, in spite of their strong affection for each other, and this was distinctly a public place; but it gratified him ex