Again did her large, black eyes fall upon me, but I was blind to her blandishments and arts; and, at length, Maria appeared to entertain the same opinion, for she threw out signals to Fred, and when she found that they were not answered, she commenced the practice of a thousand arts, which a woman knows so well how to use, to make him feel an interest in her welfare.  But all her play was useless, and even when she pretended that her hair, long, black, and wavy, fell around her shoulders accidentally, and when she laughed, and threw it back from her fresh, child-like face, we were not melted, for we remembered that she had a husband, and that his rights were sacred.

Her bold challenge was unheeded, and Maria felt that she was defeated, even where she was sure of victory.  She had, apparently, entertained a different idea respecting us, and for a few minutes she sat looking humbled, but not ashamed.  It seemed a pity that one so fair should be so rude and vile; but the streets of London soon corrupt, and the haunt from whence Maria graduated is notorious for its wantons.

We pitied her husband, although we had only known and employed him for a short time, yet we had found him honest and industrious, and apparently disposed to do well.  I could see that he felt grateful for the course which we had pursued, and I determined to have a long talk with him, upon the first favorable opportunity, in regard to his future prospects.

“Well,” Maria muttered, after sitting in silence for a short time, suddenly starting up, “if I am to be turned out of doors.  I suppose that I must go without delay.  Come along, old man, if you are coming,” she continued, addressing her husband, and the latter obediently followed to the tent, which we had been to some pains to prepare for her.

“Thank Heaven, she has gone,” said Smith, fervently, raising his head, like a camel after a cloud of dust had passed over a desert; “only think what my wife would have said, if she had insisted upon sleeping in the same room with us.  And yet I feared that she would carry her point, for she is as determined a vixen as ever assumed the form of woman.”

The matrimonial life of poor Barney was not a lengthy one; and I may as well follow it to a close, while I am writing upon the subject.  At his request we paid him off, and hired another man to drive the second team.  He had money enough to commence housekeeping, or rather tent-keeping, on a very respectable scale, and with the funds which he had left, purchased a mining claim, nearly worked out to be sure, but still, considerable sums of gold had been taken from it, and quite a number of nuggets of fair size had been secured.

The claim was very near our store, so that our advice was frequently required by poor Barney, who led rather a hard life of it, toiling as he did all day under ground, in wet and cold places, and when night arrived, half of the time he would have to get his own supper, his amiable wife being on visits of privacy to people in the neighborhood.