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Note: The table of contents has been added by the transcriber.
CHAPTER XXIV
CHAPTER XXV
CHAPTER XXVI
CHAPTER XXVII
CHAPTER XXVIII
CHAPTER XXIX
CHAPTER XXX
A COLONIAL REFORMER
A
COLONIAL REFORMER
BY
ROLF BOLDREWOOD
AUTHOR OF ‘ROBBERY UNDER ARMS,’ ‘THE SQUATTER’S DREAM,’
‘THE MINER’S RIGHT,’ ETC.
IN THREE VOLUMES
VOL. III
London
MACMILLAN AND CO.
AND NEW YORK
1890
All rights reserved
In the strange exceptional condition of nervous tension upto which that marvellous instrument, the human ‘harp ofa thousand strings,’ is capable of being wound, under thepressure of dread and perplexity, there is a type of visitorwhose face is always hailed with pleasure. This is a factas unquestionable as the converse proposition. For thebien-venu under such delicate and peculiar circumstances,helpfulness, sympathy, and decision are indispensable.Of no avail are weakly condolences or mild assentingpity. The power to dispense substantial aid may or maynot be wanting. But the friend in need must have themoral power and clearness of mental vision which renderdecisiveness possible and just. His fiat, favourable orunfavourable, lets in the light, separates real danger fromundefined terror, offers security for well-grounded hope,or persuades to the calmness of resignation.
A man so endowed, in a very unusual degree, wasMr. Levison. Deriving his leading characteristics fromNature’s gift—very scantily supplemented by education—heyet possessed the rare qualities of apprehensiveacuteness, intrepidity,