“Yes, she has a very fine family—­another little fellow since I left Adelaide.”

“You must feel it lonesome now,” said the hostess.

“Yes:  it is the way of the world, and one should not murmur at it; but yet a man must feel it very much when his only daughter, and one so much his companion as my girl was, chooses a home for herself, and surrounds herself with new ties and new cares.”

“You should see and get some one to take care of you,” said Mrs. Frankland, cheerily;—­“a pleasant, kindly body—­not too young.  You must have met many such in England, who would have been glad of the chance.”

“Yes, and who would have grumbled at the colony whenever she came out, and given me no peace till I took her home again.  Now my business and my interests are all in South Australia.  Besides, I like the young women best, and they would never look at an old fogie like me; so I must content myself with my memories of the past and my hopes for a future life.  My home is not so lonely as you fancy it, Mrs. Frankland.  Even here I feel the departed ones are near me.  The veil that separates this world from the next is a very thin one; and if our intercourse with each other is less complete than in the days when we were together in the flesh, it is none the less real.  I have become a spiritualist since I went to England.”

“A what?” asked the hostess.

“You must have heard of table-turning, and all those strange manifestations?”

“La!  Mr. Dempster, I never thought of you giving in to a pack of nonsense like that.  I beg your pardon for my rudeness, but really you do surprise me.”

“What would you think of spirits who can read unseen letters—­tell the names of persons whom none of the company knew—­find out the secrets of every one in the room?  You recollect Tom Bean, who was lost in the bush twelve years ago, and more; his spirit appeared to me in London, and gave me a message to his old mother, to say he was expecting her soon; and the old lady did not live three months after.”

“Well, that is strange, but I would be very hard to convince.  But yet, Mr. Dempster, that is no reason why you should not get a nice tidy body to make you comfortable.  The spirits would not surely begrudge you that.  And so you had a pleasant voyage, and went round by Melbourne so as to see all that was to be seen.  Did any of the old colonists come out with you?”

“We had a large party altogether—­Mr. and his family, who had just been home to finish their education.”

“And you admired the young ladies, of course, but really they are too young for you.  Have they grown up handsome?”

“Not particularly handsome, but very pleasant-looking; but if you talk of beauty, it was a Melbourne lady who bore off the palm on board ship.  Unfortunately, she was married, and it would have been very improper to take a fancy to her, but Mrs. Phillips is superb.”