I'll let you go, but not for long.
If you don't come to me soon, I will come to you.' The parting was long and loving, and then Harry recalled Jock Summers with a loud cooey.

After Chris had been helped into the buggy the old man glanced sharply at Harry.
'Well, Maister Highwayman ?' he said.
'She has promised to be my wife, sir,' said Harry.
Summers looked into the girl's brimming eyes, and his face softened.
'I'm right glad,' he said simply.
Harry rode by the trap as far as the town; then there was another parting, and he returned to Waddy like a man in a dream.

That evening he told his mother that Christina Shine had promised to be his wife.

Her answer surprised him.
'She is a brave, beautiful, genuine woman, and I would not have it different.' 'She said you were the best woman in the world, mother, and I believe she was right.' 'No, no, Henry; I will be content now to have you think me the second best,' said his mother, smiling.
Chris, who was staying with a relation of Summers' in Melbourne, wrote to say their parting should be for six months; but it did not last more than half that time, and meanwhile two or three matters of interest had happened in Waddy.

There had been several crushings from the Native Youth, and the yields justified the highest expectations; Frank Hardy and Mrs.Haddon had been married, and Joel Ham had departed from Waddy under interesting circumstances.