terror were excessive till they were out of sight in his pockets, though he protested that this was but to satisfy her for the moment; he could not keep them.  She laid her head so close to his that she could whisper, and told him they were not meant for him.  They were payment for the L200 of which her husband had defrauded the elder Eustace, and which had been a heavy weight ever since on her high-spirited pride.  By one of the strange chances that often befell in the early days of the goldfields, she, going to draw water at a little stream soon after her first arrival, had seen these lying close together in the bed of the shallow rivulet—­three lumps of gold formed by a freak of nature into the likeness of the golden pippins her father used to be so proud of, and the gathering of which had been the crisis of the courtship of the two handsome lads from Arghouse.

With the secretiveness that tyranny had taught her, Alice hid her treasure; and with the inborn honest pride which had, under Smith’s dominion, cost her so much suffering, she swore to herself that they should go to Eustace to wipe out the fraud against his father.  She had sought opportunities ever since, and believed that she should have to send for some man in authority when she was dying, and no one could gainsay her, and commit them to him, little guessing that it was in her own son’s hands that she should place them.

As little did she reckon on what Harold chose to do.  He said that for him to conceal them, and take them away without her husband’s knowledge, would be mere robbery; but that he would show them to Smith, and sign a receipt for them, “for Eustace Alison,” in payment of the sum of L200 due from James Smith to his father.  Mr. Tracy and his friend, the policeman, should be witnesses, and the nuggets themselves should be placed in charge of the police, when their weight and value would be ascertained, and any overplus returned to Smith.  The poor woman trembled exceedingly—­Dermot heard the rustling as he stood outside; and he also heard Harold’s voice soothing her, and assuring her that she should not be left to the revenge of young Dick Smith.  No, she feared not that; she was past the dread of Dick for herself, but not for Harold.  He laughed, and said that they durst not touch him.

For his mother’s relief, and for Dermot’s safety, he, however, waited to say anything till the assistance of the gentleman of the police force had been secured, so that there might be no delay to allow Dick Smith to gather his fellows for revenge or recovery of the gold.

And with these precautions all went well.  Harold, in the grave, authoritative way that had grown on him, reminded Mr. Smith of a heavy debt due to his uncle; and when the wretched man began half to deny and half to entreat in the same breath, Harold said that he had received from his mother a deposit in payment thereof, and that he had prepared a receipt, which he requested Mr. Smith to see him sign in presence of the two witnesses now waiting.