Chapter XII.
Mr. Brandon In Edinburgh
"You must excuse any blunders I may make in my dancing, Miss Melville, for I am an old bushman, and have been out of practice for many years," said Mr. Brandon.
In spite of Elsie's being an admirable dancer, she was too much excited to do her best, and the stranger made no great figure in his first debut in that line. Miss Rennie was inwardly rejoicing that she had herself got rid of him.
"What part of Australia do you come from?" asked Elsie, in the first pause.
"From Victoria, as it is called now. It was called Port Phillip when I went there."
"Have you been long in the colony?"
"A long time—long enough for all my friends to forget me. But yet I need make no complaint; they have all been very kind; but I think I am entitled to a spell now."
"To a what?" asked Elsie, to whom the term was new.