A CONTRE-TEMPS. 125

red so easy at first. Thus they proved to her that
they thought her worthy of their confidence. In
return she gave them hers; she told of their life in
Australia; of her mother’s goodness and industry,
and her father’s hardships and sufferings; how his
spirit was broken by his disgrace, and how home-sick
he was for England. Her mother lived in a school,
and by her services paid for the education of her
daughter. She did more than that—she gave daily
lessons in Sydney, where they lived, and saved money.
Anxiety and excessive labour, however, at length
preyed upon her health; she had some kind friends,
and by them her death was made as easy as possible.
She had no anxiety about her daughter, for many
desired to befriend her: her wish, however, was that
she should return to England; she left written instruc-
tions to her husband, with three hundred pounds for
this purpose ; she left her daughter as a legacy to her
beloved Aunt Osborne. Four years after her death,
the father’s term of transportation expired. He
yearned to be back in his native land, and, taking
his daughter and the money, embarked in one of the
first ships sailing for London.

“In England,” said his daughter, “he flattered
himself, that, broken-down though he was in spirit
and constitution, he could begin a new career. On
the voyage he spoke with the utmost impatience of
re-union with his son, of whom he was very fond.
His nature was softened, rather than hardened, by
calamity ; he often wept like a child. He loved her,”
she said, “dearly, and was the most indulgent of
fathers, and had formed, she could not tell what
extravagant notions of her prosperity in England. He
talked of London almost as the nursery song does, as

M2

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