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28 "My poor old governor—God bless him!—brought me up for the army. Of course, I ran counter, and chose the sea. Well, I went to sea; gay old times I had of it, too, till they wanted me to stop at home. I stopped, and the governor thought he'd make a respectable member of society of me.

"He put me in an office—shipping firm in Leaden-hall Street. It was something—something—and Co. I forget what now. Anyway I cheeked the 'Co.' first day I was there; kicked a coon out of the office, the second for cheeking me, and the third, I flung a directory at the head clerk for calling me a 'useless article.'

"I left next day. Coming down the street soon after, I saw the 'True Briton' stuck up outside Wigram's office, to sail for Melbourne.

"That's how I got here, Harry.

"Ever in Melbourne? No! Oh, well, it's a fine kind of place. I thought it would be paved with gold, but it wasn't. It was blue stone, and jolly hard to find a soft berth on. Well, old man, there was a doctor's daughter—and—oh, you can imagine the rest!

"She cared for me a bit, I think, and I think I cared for her. I think I—but there—that's all gone now. Yes, I did love her, old man, loved her with all my heart.

"She went away to Adelaide on a visit, and I did not hear from her. A fellow came up from there a week or two after—a fellow I knew—spoke about her—said she was flirting with another man. I wish I'd crammed the dirty lie down his throat, but I didn't. I was a born fool, and took it to heart—nursed it up till it grew big and filled every fibre on my body.

"Damn it! it was a rough one on me. I don't quite know even nonow [sic] what I did. I used to cruise round, and then—well—I forgot—drink, I think.

"One night I was in the theatre, and two ladies, one an old, the other a young one, came and sat in