yet the unaffected creature hailed Carthew in his working jeans and

with the damning bundle on his shoulder, as he might have claimed

acquaintance with a duke.

"Come and have a drink!" was his cheerful cry.

"I'm just going to have lunch at the Paris House," returned Carthew.

"It's a long time since I have had a decent meal."

"Splendid scheme!" said Hadden. "I've only had breakfast half an hour

ago; but we'll have a private room, and I'll manage to pick something.

It'll brace me up. I was on an awful tear last night, and I've met no

end of fellows this morning." To meet a fellow, and to stand and share a

drink, were with Tom synonymous terms.

They were soon at table in the corner room up-stairs, and paying due

attention to the best fare in Sydney. The odd similarity of their

positions drew them together, and they began soon to exchange

confidences. Carthew related his privations in the Domain and his toils

as a navvy; Hadden gave his experience as an amateur copra merchant in

the South Seas, and drew a humorous picture of life in a coral island.

Of the two plans of retirement, Carthew gathered that his own had been

vastly the more lucrative; but Hadden's trading outfit had consisted

largely of bottled stout and brown sherry for his own consumption.

"I had champagne too," said Hadden, "but I kept that in case of

sickness, until I didn't seem to be going to be sick, and then I opened

a pint every Sunday. Used to sleep all morning, then breakfast with my

pint of fizz, and lie in a hammock and read Hallam's _Middle Ages_. Have

you read that? I always take something solid to the islands. There's no

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