The very next day chance brought to Ahalala one who had been a passenger on board the Goldfinder; and the man, hearing of the success of Shand and Caldigate came to see them.  ‘Of course you know,’ said the man, ‘what your fellow-passenger is doing down at Sydney?’ Dick Shand, who was present, replied that they had heard nothing of any fellow-passenger.  Caldigate understood at once to whom the allusion was made, and was silent.  ‘Look here,’ said the man, bringing a newspaper out of his pocket, and pointing to a special advertisement.  ’Who do you think that is?’ The advertisement declared that Mademoiselle Cettini would, on such and such a night, sing a certain number of songs, and dance a certain number of dances, and perform a certain number of tableaux, at a certain theatre in Sydney.  ‘That’s your Mrs. Smith,’ said the man, turning to Caldigate.

‘I am very glad she has got employment,’ said Caldigate; ’but she is not my Mrs. Smith.’

‘We all thought that you and she were very thick.’

‘All the same I beg you to understand that she is not my Mrs. Smith,’ repeated Caldigate, endeavouring to appear unconcerned, but hardly able to conceal his anger.

Dancing dances, singing songs, and acting tableaux;—­and all under the name of Mademoiselle Cettini!  Nothing could be worse,—­unless, indeed, it might be of service to him to know that she was earning her bread, and therefore not in distress, and earning it after a fashion of which he would be at liberty to express his disapproval.  Nothing more was said at the time about Mrs. Smith, and the man went his way.

Ten days afterwards Caldigate, in the presence both of Mick and Dick, declared his purpose of going down to Sydney.  ’Our luggage must be looked after,’ said he;—­’and I have a friend whom I want to see,’ he added, not choosing to lie.  At this time all was going successfully with them.  Mick Maggott lived in such a manner that no one near him would have thought that he knew what whisky meant.  His self-respect had returned to him, and he was manifestly ‘boss.’  There had come to be necessity for complicated woodwork below the surface, and he had shown himself to be a skilled miner.  And it had come to pass that our two friends were as well assured of his honesty as of their own.  He had been a veritable godsend to them,—­and would remain so, could he be kept away from the drinking-shops.

‘If you go away don’t you think he’ll break out?’ Dick asked when they were alone together.

’I hope not.  He seems to have been steadied by success.  At any rate I must go.’

‘Is it to see—­Mrs. Smith?’ Dick as he asked the question put on his most serious face.  He did not utter the name as though he were finding fault.  The time that had passed had been sufficient to quench the unpleasantness of their difference on board ship.  He was justified in asking his friend such a question, and Caldigate felt that it was so.