Here, in the case of Polly's brother, he sought to overlook the offence, or to lay the blame for it on other shoulders: at his age, and alone, the boy should never have been plunged into this Gehenna.
Ned talked mainly of himself and his doings.

But other facts also transpired, of greater interest to his hearer.

Thus Mahony learned that, out of a family of nine, four had found their way to the colony, and a fifth was soon to follow--a mere child this, on the under side of fifteen.

He gathered, too, that the eldest brother, John by name, was regarded as a kind of Napoleon by the younger fry.

At thirty, this John was a partner in the largest wholesale dry-goods' warehouse in Melbourne.