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Chapter XXXV.

Wilmot, quietly and with some degree of secrecy, continued his preparations for leaving the colony. He parted with most of his real property as speedily as he could without sacrificing any, and disposed of his shares in those concerns whose shares were marketable.

It was really to America that he intended to transfer himself and his ready cash; but he at length made it known that the time had arrived when he found it necessary to make a long projected visit to England, but intimated his intention of returning as soon as his affairs would allow him to do so, which he hoped would be in about five or six months.

The Bloombury Guardian, in making this announcement, also stated that it was the intention of the residents to entertain at a public banquet their distinguished fellow-colonist. "A gentleman," the paper went on to say, "who has been associated with the progress of the town and district in a most intimate and remarkable degree; who has ever taken a leading part—the initiative, indeed, very often—in everything that has been brought forward with a view to the prosperity and advancement of this rising settlement. Liberal-minded, a man of large views and wide experience, it has been, and still is, our hope that he will yet be prevailed upon to serve, in a more extended field and wider sphere, the district which already owes so much to his zeal and ability—that in his place in Parliament, in the council of the nation, he will yet watch over the interests of the Colony,

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and of that important portion of it in which he has made his home. That this hope is shared in by the great majority of the electors of the Bloomsbury constituency will, we feel sure, be amply demonstrated at the coming general election, if Mr. Wilmot consents to be nominated for the seat; for it is his intention to be again amongst us before that time arrives. The business concerns which have necessitated his departure from our midst for a brief season will allow of his return in sufficient time for his friends to place him in that position of honour which they are so anxious that he should fill. In the meantime, it is our duty and privilege to show the high regard in which we hold Mr. Wilmot by giving him a worthy send-off, and, in enthusiastic unison of assembled friends and admirers, wishing him a prosperous and pleasant journey and a speedy return. The banquet about to be given in his honour will, we are confident, bear ample testimony to the high estimation in which Mr. Wilmot is held by all classes of the community; and the names of the gentlemen who have the affair in hand, published in another column, are a sufficient guarantee that everything will be done to make it worthy of the occasion."

Wilmot was highly pleased with the laudatory article in the Guardian, and secured half a dozen copies of the paper. The way, also, in which the proposal for the dinner in his honour was taken up flattered his vanity.

He was fond of display, of notoriety, and, whatever his escapades in the past may have been, was desirous now of standing well with his fellow-men—but in a conspicuous way; of being pointed out and talked of as a man of weight and importance. One, therefore, willing and anxious to make himself prominent in all public matters, and who lost no opportunity of doing so; shrewd and clever in all matters of business, with plenty of bold determination when required, he was just the man to come to the front in a young community. His dearest ambition would have been grati-

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fied could he have represented the Bloomsbury constituency in Parliament, where, he flattered himself, his voice would be heard to advantage on most questions of the day. He would at least have entered the doors of the Parliament buildings and walked its passages with as stately a step and a bearing as important as any of his fellow-members.

He was conscious of the democratic and semi-socialistic tendency of the time, and had adopted ultra-liberal views, posing as the champion of the working man and the struggling settler; and could speak in eloquent, though vague, terms of the progress of the age, the march of freedom, the awakening of the masses to their just rights and privileges, the advances made in the science of government, the duties of the State, and of much that yet remained to be accomplished. But he was insincere in most of this, and could, without outraging his principles, have equally well upheld the opinions of the other side in politics, and have denounced as rash and experimental, and dangerous to the welfare of the people, all such "advanced" legislation as he was now prepared to advocate. His politics, like those of many another man, were built on the basis of personal interest; and, as his desire to enter Parliament was great, he shaped that course which was most likely to lead him there. He was influenced in his choice also by the fact that the sitting member for the district belonged to the Conservative section—a well-meaning man, but easy-going, and content to leave things very much as he found them. In furtherance of his designs on the constituency, Wilmot's interest, therefore, lay in taking up a position amongst the forward advocates of progressive measures; but at the same time he was careful to assure all those of his acquaintance, who were naturally timid, or who were fearful of the indirect and ultimate effects of so-called liberal legislation, that there was nothing revolutionary about him, that a man with his stake in the

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country was not going to support any measure likely to injuriously affect capital. "Oh no, sir!" he would say. "But capital must not be too selfish—it must bear its burden as well as labour. The settlement of this glorious country, sir, must not be retarded by a too-grasping exclusiveness, an over-greedy monopoly. The march of progress must be general and all-embracing. Legislation must assist the weak in the battle of life. The weight of the burden must be adjusted to the strength of the shoulders that have to bear it. The prosperity of all, not of the few only, must be our aim. The broad and eternal principles of justice must underlie all our enactments. The eye of hope must not be made dim in those who are down, the aspirations of those who wish to rise must be made easy of accomplishment."

And thus in general terms, and in language somewhat inflated, would he give expression to sentiments which no one was prepared to dispute. That he should be the successful candidate at the next election, if he stood for the constituency, he allowed himself to have little reason to doubt; and when in Wellington, during the early part of the previous session, had, indeed, from his place in the gallery, selected, after some deliberation, the seat in the Chamber which as a member he would try to secure. He felt keenly, therefore, the force of circumstances which rendered it expedient for him to leave the Colony, at a time when the wish of his heart had every prospect of soon being realised. But the presence of Elwood so near him was a bar to his security. He was afraid that sooner or later he would be recognised by him. It is true the old man rarely visited the township, and when he did Wilmot was careful to keep out of his way. If at first he had felt any compunctions of conscience at the bent form and prematurely aged countenance of his former partner, he had brushed these aside; and it was now with feelings akin to hate that he looked on the

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man whom he had wronged, and who now, by the irony of fate, appeared as the unconscious instrument to thwart his schemes of ambition. When Elwood offered his place for sale—with the object, it was believed, of leaving the district and the Colony—Wilmot had felt a weight suddenly lifted off his mind, but the sudden withdrawal of the property from sale had annoyed and perplexed him. He had, indeed, sent a likely buyer or two out to look at the property, subsequent to its withdrawal.

"Not," as he said, "that it is placed in my hands for sale, and I will ask you not to mention my name in connection with your visit, but it was in the market some little time since, and if you can get it at anything like the price then asked, you will have dropped on a good thing. I know the district intimately, and Elwood's for its size is, without exception, the best property in it. Have a look at it. Tempt him with an offer. I have no interest in the sale of it, as I told you—not a penny of commission will come into my pocket; and, as I said, I don't want my name even mentioned in the transaction." The would-be buyer left, deeply impressed with the disinterestedness of at least one land agent. But nothing came of his visit. The owner did not intend at present to part with his farm.

Westall's disappearance was also a frequent source of uneasiness to the mind of Wilmot. Did the man actually crawl away and die in some secluded spot in the neighbouring bush, or had he succeeded in making good his escape and remaining in hiding somewhere, only to appear again at any time, doubly determined on making his disclosures? But more than four months had passed by since he was last seen, and Wilmot could hardly think that he would now reappear, since, if he were alive, he had kept quiet so long. Still, an uneasy feeling would lay hold on Wilmot at times. Some fancied resemblance to the man in the person of some one seen in the dis-

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tance in the township, or of some wayfarer on a country road, would startle him into eager scrutiny. The thought that Westall might have died from the effects of the heavy blow he gave him with the loaded whip did not prey upon his mind so much as did the fear of his reappearance in flesh and blood.

Could he have forgotten the man, Morton seemed bent on keeping him and the encounter of the night fresh in Wilmot's recollection. Morton somehow met Wilmot oftener lately than heretofore; and whereas formerly he would pass him by without recognition, or with only a nod, or would sit in the same room with him without entering into conversation, he now lost no opportunity of accosting him, and, especially if in the presence of others, would bring up Westall's name, and re-question him as to the particulars of the assault. Wilmot thought he saw a covert mock in the words and manner of Morton, and would wave the subject aside in his grand way and turn the conversation into other channels, only at some point, perhaps, to have it adroitly diverted back again. His resentment increased towards his tormentor, yet he kept it under, and did not care to openly break with him, for he began to fear Morton's biting tongue and keen, penetrating glance.

When Wilmot's intention to visit England was first made publicly known, Morton, who on the same evening returned from Wellington in company with a Mr. Brown, was profuse in his expressions of regret, when he met Wilmot in the commercial room of the Criterion, in company with a few others.

"This sudden determination to leave us," he said, "comes like a shock to all of us; and I can join with your many friends here in regretting the necessity for it. I am quite sincere in that," he added, as he thought he saw a smile of incredulity pass between Spalding and

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Ponsonby; and then went on. "They tell me your absence will be only temporary, but I can hardly believe you have any serious intention of coming back to this out-of-the-way, scrag-end corner of the earth's surface. You are only sparing our feelings in letting us suppose so. You know we should be inconsolable if we thought we were about to lose you altogether. Ah, confess now that this humdrum existence here has lost its charms for you. What can New Zealand offer? Not even a seat in its paltry Legislature could tempt you to remain. A man of your abilities must have a wider field for the exercise of them than we can offer."

"My dear sir," Wilmot replied, "my ambition is quite satisfied to remain in this rising colony, to which I hope shortly to return."

"America, now!" Morton went on. "There's a country where a man like you can have scope—'ample verge and room enough'—to lay about him, and give full play to his talents; where a bold spirit may see dazzling heights of success his for the climbing; and if he finds the Ten Commandments too heavy to take along with him he can throw them aside without exciting much comment—not that you, Mr. Wilmot, would be likely to cast these aside there any more than here. Your sense of moral obligations might, of course, be a drag on you; but, for all that, I believe Fortune would wait on you there like a very bond-slave. And if shooting-irons are over-plentiful, and used rather freely in that country, we know that you wouldn't much mind that drawback. A man who has coped single-handed with armed highwaymen in New Zealand is not going to be afraid to look into the barrel of a revolver in any part of the world. It would be a great satisfaction to me," he added, "if that fellow who stuck you up, or who was one of those who did—Westell you think his name is—could be brought up before you left."

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Wilmot hardly knew how to take Morton's remarks. He suspected there was derision behind them, but in the words themselves there was nothing to take exception to, and he replied in his grandiose way:

"I have no great desire to see the fellow brought to justice. He has had his punishment. America," he went on, "is, as you say, a country offering a vast field for enterprise. Colossal fortunes are built up there every day—but at what a cost, at what a fearful cost! The impoverishment, the degradation of the many too often follows, or is concurrent with the aggrandisement of the few. No, sir, better a competency in a land like this, where the disparities of social existence are not so glaringly apparent, than the wealth of a Vanderbilt, bought so dear."

Morton smiled, and said, "I see you have too soft a heart for the making of a millionaire—too tender a conscience to allow you to trample on broken hearts. The wail of the vanquished would be too much for you; the bitter cry of the hungry, whose bread had been taken away; the curses of" the criminal, who had been goaded into crime, could never be directed against you. Your heart would bleed to see even the guilt suffer, let alone the innocent. What a man, to be sure! What a loss we are sustaining if you don't come back! I will begin to think better of humankind after this. They say, Virtue is its own reward; but surely Fate, or Providence, or whatever it is that is supposed to regulate our affairs here, will not suffer you to go unrequited. By the way," he continued, "let me introduce my friend, Mr. Brown, to you. Mr. Brown is a bit of a globe-trotter—has been round it once or twice, and just mixes enough business with his pleasures to give travel a zest; and, now I think of it, he may be a fellow-passenger of yours home—eh, Brown? I know you have made up your mind to be off back again shortly."

Mr. Brown assented, saying that he did not purpose making a long stay in the Southern Hemisphere on this trip,

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as his presence was expected shortly on the other side of the globe. He said this with just the least twinkle of merriment in his eye. A well-built, muscular man he was, of middle age, with a pleasant, easy manner; but shrewd wariness, coupled with strong courage, could be read in his face.

"If you are fortunate in being fellow-passengers," Morton went on, "I venture to predict that you will get on capitally together—become inseparable companions, in fact. I am much mistaken if you are not just cut out for each other."

Wilmot replied that it would give him great pleasure to have Mr. Brown's society on the voyage, but that really he had not yet quite decided on what route he would take—probably by way of Australia, as he should like to take a run through it again, see an old friend or two, and attend to some little matters of business.

"Ah," said Morion, "you should arrange to voyage together. But you are sure to meet again. This earth is shrinking in size every day; and you can't depend on keeping clear of anyone on it for long—even if you want to."

Wilmot glanced inquiringly at the speaker for a moment, but made no reply; and then, saying something about an appointment he had, left the room.