Eleanor made no answer.
"Why don't you stay in the Colonies?"
"One can only be in one place," said Eleanor lightly.
"And that must always be the place where somebody else is," said the captain maliciously. "That's the way people will congregate together, instead of scattering where they are wanted."
"Do you know the Colonies well?" said Eleanor coolly, in answer to this rude speech.
"I ought. I have spent about a third of my life in them. I have a brother at Melbourne too, as rich in flocks and herds almost as Job was. That's the place! That's a country! But you are going to Sydney?"
"Yes."
"Friends there?"
"I have one friend there who expects me."
"Who's he? Maybe I know him."