“No,” was the candid reply.
“Oh, then I shall carry you off.”
And she did.
A very pleasing time she gave them, too, for over two months. Then somebody else carried them away for another month, and as this was repeated, it may be presumed that during their stay in Sydney their keep did not cost them much.
But the matronly lady got hold of them again, and being a widow with plenty of means, she could do as she pleased. So she made up her mind to show Sandie and Willie something of Australia and Australian life.
Some men inform us that this world is all bad and vile. For my own part, I have not found it so. I still am a believer in human nature. Well, for example, persons like this matronly lady, who had taken so great an interest in our heroes, are not such raræ aves as certain pessimists would have us believe; and they obtain their own happiness by bringing about and enjoying the happiness of others.
Mrs. Maxwell was this dear lady’s name, and her eyes positively sparkled with delight when she witnessed the admiration and wonderment exhibited by Sandie and Willie on first beholding the weird and awful beauty of, for instance, the gum-tree forests.
City views, though very grand and rich, failed to impress them. Had they not seen Edinburgh and Glasgow? But the wild sylvan loveliness of the green silent country, ah! that indeed sent a thrill of pleasure to their hearts.
“As long as I live, Mrs. Maxwell,” Sandie told the lady when at long last he had to bid her adieu, “I shall never forget this visit to Australia, nor all the disinterested kindness you have shown us. Yes, we will write.”
“Good-bye, boys, and God bless you!”