"A noble idea," said Alice, "and well considered. Now what are you going to do?"
"Have you heard tell yet," said Sam, "of the new country to the north, they call the Darling Downs?"
"I have heard of it, from Burnside the cattle dealer. He describes it as a paradise of wealth."
"He is right. When you get through the Cypress, the plains are endless. It is undoubtedly the finest piece of country found yet. Now do you know Tom Troubridge?"
"Slightly enough," said Alice, laughing.
"Well," said Sam. "You know he went to Sydney with us, and before he had been three days there he came to me full of this Darling Down country. Quite mad about it in fact. And in the end he said: 'Sam, what money have you got?' I said that my father had promised me seven thousand pounds for a certain purpose, and that I had come to town partly to look for an investment. He said, 'Be my partner;' and I said, 'What for?' 'Darling Downs,' he said. And I said I was only too highly honoured by such a mark of confidence from such a man, and that I closed with his offer at once. To make a long matter short, he is off to the new country to take up ground under the name of Troubridge and Buckley. There!"
"But oughtn't you to have gone up with him, Sam?"
"I proposed to do so, as a matter of course," said Sam. "But what do you think he said?"
"I don't know."
"He gave me a great slap on the back," said Sam; "and, said he, 'Go home, my old lad, marry your wife, and fetch her up to keep house.' That's what he said. And now, my own love, my darling, will you tell me, am I to go up alone, and wait for you; or will you come up, and make a happy home for me in that dreary desert? Will you leave your home, and come away with me into the grey hot plains of the west?"