That first year was a bad one to him, but he set his teeth and quietly bore all that befell him; the odd, brutal task, paid for at half the usual wages, the frequent rebuffs, the long nights spent shelterless in the bush, utter weariness, and often downright hunger.

It was a hard school, but it taught him much, and he graduated as a man, strong and comely of body, and resolute of mind.

What was more, he had, though he scarcely realized it, after all, only left behind in England a cramped life embittered by a steady shrinkage in the rent roll and as steady an increase in taxation and expenses.

His present life was clean, and governed by a code of crude and austere simplicity.

His mother's spirit was in him, and, being what he was, there were things he could not do.