He had also married money, and intended in due course to stand for the Legislative Council.

Behind Ned's windy bragging Mahony thought he discerned tokens of a fond, brotherly pride.

If this were so, the affair had its pathetic side; for, from what the boy said, it was evident that the successful man of business held his relatives at arm's length.

And as Ned talked on, Mahony conceived John to himself as a kind of electro-magnet, which, once it had drawn these lesser creatures after it, switched off the current and left them to their own devices.

Ned, young as he was, had tried his hand at many trades.