She, woman-like, coquetted with him for some
time, but at last, unable to withstand the impetuosity of her Irish
lover, confessed in a low voice, with a pretty smile on her face, that
she could not live without him. Whereupon--well--lovers being of a
conservative turn of mind, and accustomed to observe the traditional
forms of wooing, the result can easily be guessed. Brian hunted all
over the jewellers' shops in Melbourne with lover-like assiduity, and
having obtained a ring wherein were set turquoise stones as blue as his
own eyes, he placed it on her slender finger, and at last felt that his
engagement was an accomplished fact.
He next proceeded to interview the father, and had just screwed
up his courage to the awful ordeal, when something occurred which
postponed the interview indefinitely. Mrs. Frettlby was out driving,
and the horses took fright and bolted. The coachman and groom both
escaped unhurt, but Mrs. Frettlby was thrown out and killed instantly
This was the first really great trouble which had fallen on Mark
Frettlby, and he seemed stunned by it. Shutting himself up in his room
he refused to see anyone, even his daughter, and appeared at the
funeral with a white and haggard face, which shocked everyone. When
everything was over, and the body of the late Mrs. Frettlby was
consigned to the earth, with all the pomp and ceremony which money
could give, the bereaved husband rode home, and resumed his old life.
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