Some Personal Recollections of Victoria. 323 



miniature proportions,* I was told that Mr. X - never arrived 

 before 11.30. I called again at 12.40, just in time to miss him 

 " he had just gone to the club for lunch." The club was then over 

 the principal butcher's shop in Government Street, and as I was 

 lunching there myself I had every opportunity to satisfy myself 

 of the truth. After its conclusion I had the opportunity to watch 

 a few games of billiards, which occupied Mr. X - until half-past 



three o'clock. Following Mr. X , five or ten minutes after his 



departure, I was again doomed to disappointment. " He just 

 looked in, and then left for the day ; he has probably gone to Sir 

 Matthew's tennis party," was the office boy's report. Next day was 

 Saturday ; the cricket match of the season, Victoria versus the 



Fleet, was on, and Mr. X , though not a player, was giving the 



assembly the benefit of his presence. Monday, July 2, was, of 

 course, a public holiday, for Dominion Day (July i) had to be duly 

 celebrated. Tuesday at last dawned, and, somewhat impatient with 

 the delay that had already occurred, I was at the office soon after 

 10 a.m. My friend the office boy had got there apparently a few 

 minutes earlier, and was passing his time with some desultory 

 dusting, relieved by cracking nuts under the office copying press. 

 Otherwise he was a model office boy, for he professed to know 

 nothing except that, if I waited long enough, Mr. X 's clerk 

 and deputy would by-and-bye turn up " for sure." This happened 

 about eleven o'clock. Tying his pony to the ring in the wooden 

 planks of the footway, to show that his presence was only a 



passing incident in the day's work, Mr. Z sauntered in, and 



after a casual " Good morning," seated himself, his hat on his head 

 and his pipe in his mouth, in his chief's chair, and took up the 

 morning paper, without vouchsafing a look at the stranger. I was 

 amused. Placing my hat on my head, and lighting a cigar, I 

 turned round my chair, and, leaning over the back, awaited further 

 developments. This was evidently the kind of free and easy 



* Really magnificent buildings have now been built, the old ones being left 

 standing. 



Y 2 



