It will be remembered that the last time he saw Annie was in the gun-room of the squire’s home, in the New Forest, and then only for a brief two minutes; but during the many years that had elapsed since then, he had secretly kept in one corner of his brave heart a remembrance of the fair young vision. Without having a very distinct idea of her features generally, he never had forgotten the soft look in her eyes, the gentle voice, and above all the beauty of her hair. He had never seen, in either man or woman, hair of that peculiar type before; in fact, he had not been able to depict its colour, when describing the young girl to Tim.
On this eventful evening Mat was confronted with a young lady, with masses of the same beautiful dark auburn hair gathered up in neat coils at the back of her head. He knew that he had only seen that colour once before in his life, and when Annie spoke, the whole scene of his boyhood came back to him.
In her sweet, soft voice, yet in cheery tones, she welcomed him to Sydney, and added slowly with a smile, and raising her eyes to his,—
“I remember you in the Forest home, Mr. Stanley.”
As she stood there, her blushing face half-hidden behind a bouquet of “stephanotis,” the perfume—he could not realize at the moment whether the scent was of the flowers or Annie’s hair—the situation, this sudden rencontre, and all the novelty of speaking in public, which he had gone through that evening, caused our hero to feel completely unnerved, so that he felt himself blushing in his turn, and murmuring some words of “pleasure at the meeting,” was turning away, when the squire came to his rescue.
“You and your brother, and those frisky natives, must come at once—to-morrow—and stay with us at our new station quite near here. We shall all be delighted to see you; and Tom, whom you taught to shoot, you remember, when I told him I was sure it was Mat Stanley who had escaped, said,—yes, by gad, Mat!—he said he’d never speak to me again if I didn’t bring you home! What do you think of that for cheek to his old governor? He would have been here to-night, but was obliged to meet a man about some cattle at an out-station.”
“Thanks,” responded Mat, who had now found his tongue. “I must speak to them at Government House first; they have been so kind to us.”
“Here’s Tom’s tutor,” interrupted the squire. “Not the one you knew in England,—wants to grasp the hands of the foresters.”
Our boys turned, and met the earnest face of the man who had so impressed them by his sermon a few days before. They exchanged friendly greetings with him; and after refusing, for the present, many kind and pressing invitations from their late audience, Mat and Tim were glad to make their escape to Captain Marvin’s snug smoking-room, where they intended to have a quiet chat; but hardly had they sat down when the Governor came in and carried them both off to supper.
Some time before they entered the dining-room a young colonial had been giving his views concerning the evening’s lecture.