The Getting of Wisdom

going to school. She was particularly glad that just as they went past the Commercial Hotel, Miss Perrotet, the landlord's red-haired daughter, should put her fuzzy head

and at the Royal Mail Hotel where they drew up for passengers or commissions,

der your ma likes sen

he watery flats where Chinamen were for ever rocking washdirt in cradles; and O'Donnell dismounted and opened the door. He lifted the three out one by one, shaking his head in humorous dismay at Pin, and as little Frank showed sighs of beginning, too, by puckering up his face an

elf down across the seat she cried bitterly. It was not a childishly irresponsible grief like Pin's: it was more passionate, and went deeper; and her overloaded feelings wer

a fat, rosy face beamed in on Laura. "Why, here's a little girl in here, cryin' fit to b

mson with mortification at being discovered in such a plight. She had instantly curbed her tears, but she could not disguise the fact that she had red eyes and a swollen nose-that she was in short what Sara

she persisted. "Wherever are

l," said Laura, and shot a g

er's your ma thinkin' of to send such a little chic

ok on a curious

he had heard so often that she knew them by heart: "Only small for my age. I was t

to impress

h a delicate little creature, too. Just like that one o' Sam

Laura, sheepishly mumbled some

ear? What's your name?" c

with the name she gave, told enough: the widow, Laura's mother, had the reputa

hind her hand to Peter, then searching in her basket found a larg

g for you. Don't cry any more,

the couple entered the coach, coloured deeply, and made a mov

t, not wishing to hurt the giver's feelings. "Mother

st you take it, and make your mind easy. Your ma wouldn't have nothin' against it to-da

dessay?" said the yellow-haired P

d fidgety and uncomfortable. The woman said: "Tch, tch, tch!" at the length of the jou

in' in Melb'm onc

threw in the woman, but so good-naturedly that it w

that had weighed with her in declining it; she was mortified at the idea of being bribed, as it were, to be good, just as though she were Pin or one of the little boys. It was a punishment on her for having been so babyish as t

s by the wayside, under the scattered gum trees or round the big black boulders that dotted the hillocks, was burnt to straw. In time, Laura also grew drowsy, and she was

thin'," was her last remark as she pushed the swing

the window of the coach. In one hand he held

, have a drink. It'

parched with dust and tears. She accepted the offer gratefully, thinking as

-trot to the township with his hanging baskets, to supply people with vegetables-when they had passed these, Laura fell asleep. She wakened with a start to find that the coach had halted to apply the brakes, at the

be an important mining centre: the chief claims were worked out; and the coming of the railway had been powerless to give it the impetus to a new life. It was always like this in

looked in at the window at Laura, and she was beginning to feel alarmed lest O'Donnell, who had go

nk, and Laura drew back in confusion from the l

carriage by herself when he came running down the platform again, holding in his hand, for everyone to see, the apple, which Laura believed she had safely hidden under the cushions of the coach. Red to the roots of her hair she had to rece

lease tell me when w

y she had made by herself, and there was an intoxicating sense of freedom in being locked in, alone, within the narrow compass of the compartment. She was at liberty to do everything that had previously been forbidden her: she walked up and down the carriage, jumped from one

was between two and three o'clock: the sun would be full on the flagstones of the back verandah; inch by inch Pin and Leppie would be driven away to find a cooler spot for their afternoon game, while little Frank slept, and Sarah splashed the dinner-dishes in the brick-floored kitchen. Mother sat sewing, and she would still be sitting ther

. As the train swung into motion again, she fell into a pleasanter line of thought. She painted to herself, fo

ars old, and so short that it did not cover the flounce of her dress, and this dress, and her hat with it, were Mother's taste, and consequently, Laura felt sure, nobody else's. But her new companions saw that she wore these clothes with an elegance that made up for their shortcomings; and she heard them whisper: "Isn't she pretty? What black eyes! What lovely curls!" But she was not proud, and by her ladylike manners soon made them feel at home with her, eve

you'll be ther

stoppage, and the train was passing through the flats. In less than two min

d rosy cheeks. Laura descried them a long way off; and, as the carriage swept past them, they also saw her, eager and prominent at her window. Both stared at her, and the younger lady said something, and laughed. Laura instantly connected the remark, and the amusement it caused the speaker, with the showy red lining of her hat, at which she believed their eyes had been directe