It was a very painful affair, and Tooke was sentenced to seven
years' transportation. I believe he became a very rich and
prosperous man in New South Wales, and founded a family. My father
received warm compliments upon his sons, and Clarence had the new
sensation of being honourably coupled with Griffith, though he
laughed at the idea of mere honesty with fierce struggles being
placed beside heroism with no struggle at all.
CHAPTER XXV--HOLIDAY-MAKING
'The child upon the mountain side
Plays fearless and at ease,
While the hush of purple evening
Spreads over earth and seas.
The valley lies in shadow,
But the valley lies afar;
And the mountain is a slope of light
Upreaching to a star.'
MENELLA SMEDLEY.
How pleasant it was to hear Griffith's cheery voice, as he swung
himself down, out of a cloud of dust, from the top of the coach at
the wayside stage-house, whither Clarence and I had driven in the
new britshka to meet him. While the four fine coach-horses were led
off, and their successors harnessed in almost the twinkling of an
eye, Griff was with us; and we did nothing but laugh and poke fun at
each other all the way home, without a word of graver matters.
I was resolved, however, that Griff should know how terribly his
commission had added to Clarence's danger, and how carefully the
secret had been guarded; and the first time I could get him alone, I
told him the whole.
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