“I wanted to consult you about my plans, Mr. Lindsay,” said Harry. “I think I ought to go to work.”
“Are you discontented?”
“No, sir; you and Maud have been very kind, much kinder than I deserve. I don’t like to feel that you are paying all my expenses.”
“In return, you relieve me of a good deal of care by undertaking the charge of Maud. If I had not a great deal of confidence in you, I would not be willing to leave you together as much as I have.”
“Thank you for your confidence, Mr. Lindsay,” said Harry. “I hope you will find that I deserve it. I am glad if I have been able to make you any return for your kindness. Still I cannot help feeling, for my mother’s sake, that I ought to find something to do, in order that I may return home as soon as possible.”
“I might offer to pay your passage back to New York,” said Mr. Lindsay; “but if I were in your place, now that you are out here, I should wish to stay a few months. You may never again have a chance to visit Australia, and it is worth exploring. You can write to your mother, so as to relieve her from anxiety.”
“I have done so already,” said Harry.
“That’s well. Now have you any plans of your own? If you have, and will state them, I will give you my advice as to their wisdom.”
“I have been hearing a good deal of the gold mines,” said Harry, “and I think I should like to try my luck in them. Yesterday I saw a miner who had just returned to Melbourne, after working six months. In that time he made ten thousand dollars, which he brought with him. He is an American, and means to return to New York by the next steamer.”
“Yes, there are such cases of extraordinary luck; but I hope you won’t be too sanguine, or you will, in all probability, be disappointed. It is not every one who earns even a thousand dollars in that time.”