Mat was puzzled, but thinking that he must have overlooked the dish, he carefully glanced over table, sideboard, and mantlepiece; but not perceiving any roast snake, replied,—
“I do not see it, ‘mydam.’”
Mrs. Bell was just commencing, with a kindly wave of her hand, “Oh, numport,” when the squire bade her, “Stop that fooling.”
Annie meantime slyly conveyed the bill of fare over to her mother.
But the latter was not going to be shut up so soon before her guest, on this, her favourite topic, and in spite of her husband telling her either to talk English or “Blackfellow,” she continued, to Bell first,—
“Yes, my dear, I can see, having lived in Parry, not to mention Cally, that Mat does not know the divine language, but it’s never too late to learn.” Then turning to our forester: “I see you’re not quite ‘comme il faut au fait,’ but I want to hear the ’ole of your adventures, so we’ll have a little ‘cosy’ after dinner on the verandah. It is late, so come along.”
Mat said to himself, “Whatever language cosy is, it means a pipe for me,” as he followed the others out of the room.
Parson Tabor, whose age was nearly sixty, had, in his earlier days, had a hard life of it in Western Australia.
At one period of his life he had headed a little band of explorers to that country, starting from Melbourne in a small, badly-found vessel, with a small cargo of sheep, which they had intended taking the whole way by coast.
The result was disastrous. Their vessel was wrecked when off the north-western portion of the continent, their sheep drowned, and themselves only escaping ashore to find that they had come to a land in which there was scarcely any water, and inhabited by hostile blacks. Most of the party managed with difficulty to reach, at length, the settlements; and Tabor found means to return to Victoria by a coasting-vessel. But the hardships which he had endured for many months had told severely upon his constitution, and from the time of his arrival in civilized life, he had taken holy orders, and settled down as a clergyman. Upon arriving at Sydney, he had also accepted the situation of tutor in the squire’s family. Before leaving Victoria on his ill-fated expedition he had lost his wife, and it was this event, so preying upon his mind, which had caused him, by seeking a new colony, to endeavour to blot out associations connected with the old.