"Stop there," she said; "not too much at once. What becomes of Mary Hawker?"
"She is left at Toonarbin, with an overseer, for the present."
"And when," she asked, "shall you leave us, Sam?"
"Oh, in a couple of months, I suppose. I must give Tom time to get a house up before I go and join him. What a convenient thing a partner like that is, eh?"
"Oh, by-the-bye, Mrs. Buckley," said Captain Brentwood, "what do you make of this letter?"
He produced a broad thick letter, directed in a bold running hand,
"Major Buckley,
"Baroonah, Combermere County,
"Gipps-land.
"If absent, to be left with the nearest magistrate, and a receipt taken for it."
"How very strange," said Mrs. Buckley, turning it over. "Where did you get it?"
"Sergeant Jackson asked me, as nearest magistrate, to take charge of it; and so I did. It has been forwarded by orderly from Sydney."