THE MORNING AFTER THE DANCE. 261 



My fair partner positively refused to allow me 

 to see her home. Being a casual acquaintance 

 and not a lover, I suppose, of course, that it was 

 highly proper on her part. I thanked her sin- 

 cerely, for I really felt grateful to her for en- 

 abling me to dance away a night that I had des- 

 tined for a long luxurious repose. With a hearty 

 ' good-night ' we parted, never to meet again. 



It was a glorious morning the air cool and 

 fresh, the sky unflecked by a single cloud. The 

 sun was just tipping the hilltops with rosy light, 

 and peeping slily into the valleys, as I wandered 

 out to think over my strange adventure. My 

 way led by chance up the back of the street, arid 

 out by a little stream to the gold-washings. 

 Early as it was, all was bustle and activity. 

 Many of my friends of the ball were now wrest- 

 ing the yellow ore from its hiding-places, the 

 anticipation of gold dispelling all sense of fatigue. 

 The want of water is a great drawback to these 

 diggings. So valuable is it, that it has been 

 brought by a small canal a distance of thirty 

 miles, and is rented by the miners at so much a 

 cubic foot. 



I lingered here some time, for there is much 

 to see, then turned my steps towards my inn 

 through the city. 



