CHAPTER XIV.

Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1565, 15 July 1882, Page 5

CHAPTER XIV.

As ho \v ilkcd out of the Patriot hotel and stepped into the iescn r e, Jack felt not a little savage. ]Ie kuew that he had been doing wrong. Had lie not time after time determined to gi\ o up gamb - liug. Had ho not seen clearly that he was losing everything by his folly, and that ho would make no progress in life if ho continued to lead so foolish and frivolous an existence. Would ho allow O'oadiah Sweetcomfoi't to rise m position and became rich, while his life was rbtiogressivo ? Was he not more gifted, more popular ? But there wcie the f.ictb staring him in the face. As matters went now, he would never be able to ask Bertha in marringc. And his flirtation with Majrgio — why, it was the excess of folly. Tlicio is nothing that tends to dist act the mind more than the success of other-, when ones&olf is going back eveiy day. Jack hardly baw a way out of this diih'cult.y. He seemed to despair of getting sufficient strength to resolutely say "no." Besides, he was very fond of fun and society, and found it very difficult indeed (o resKfc their temptation"!. He was urns-ing in this way, his eyes cast on the fjiound, when he heard his name breathed softly, clo^e to him. Raising his eyes, he f>'iw Bertha — not the shy, queeily-drc-sed girl we introduced to tlio lc-ider, teudiug her flock at Gritty Gully, but a fashionabl3 rai - ai tired yonug lady. Her face was round, her features small, her eyes blue and liquid. There was a certain aristocratic nir about her that had been acquired by .living for years as the acknowledged bello of Grit, and the daughter o+' its lichest citi/cn. But the dear girl had not been spoiled altogether. There was still the samo frank, fearless spiiit in her eyes thatlvid captivated the boyiph fancy of Jack, and nothing that was supercilious detracted fioin tho mlJii beanty of that pleasant face. The history of thesa two souls since the discoveiy of the goldfield of Giit, had been singular in the constancy of their affection. Jack had continued to struggle on, working away, and generally cireless of what the morrow would briusy forth , while Bertha had ri en in life with her father. She, who had often run abouc over this goldfield after her minify sheep, accompanied by Lissy, was now the richest lady in the di-ti ict. He father, haviner become a wealthy mm, thought ho could do nothing better thm lo .'•end his daughter to a high-class boudingsohool in Sydney, in which city ho had himself lived ere ho sought, his fortune at (hit. So Miss Birtha went thither, and learned all the ways of gentility, had fji'-t friends among-t that class to whom she looked up with much awe in her childhood, the squatters ; nny, her bosom fiiend hud been the daughter of the gentleman whose sheep she had horded. In many ways, she was disenchanted, and discovered thnt squatteis were like other mortals— no bettor, no worse. >So, after learning music, French, Italian, and the like, Miss Bertha returned to Grit, a marvel of education, perfectly putting in the shade all the Misses who had attempted to rule in the veiy limited society there. These, of course, revenged themselves by reflections upon the low> origin of Miss Bortha, but they met with very un-ympa'hetic hearers in the young beaux of Grit, who were attracted by feitha's beauty, and her father's money, here was not a bank clerk in the place who did not think he, ought to marry Bertha. At every ball or party the most frantic efforts were made to win her heart, but the young lady, aUhouffh exceedingly fond, of flirtation — what ghLisnot— made no sign. Indeed, had she been disposed, she could not, for her father kept a strict^ watch over her. ,Ho was proud, and 1 fond of his r daughter, and destined her to become the bride ol some gentleman, very different from those who now fluttered around -her. Her 1 ehejrisjied. pla.n^yas;,to . dispose of all his iutei'est of Gri^^^ienberliad^made r the Si\m he Jiad^i^c|^P^R|i?M^"9' <4p^ then /TO/sefik't 4 the|iBhS(r6S''ilQi> a 'uue^iiat;i\ r ej*Jaiidj i , whej^whs;; \Ep l uld.ihiidjrcpOss'i' jfor^lus^laotei*;