I have scores on scores of colonies. One of
these you shall have. Go and grapple with it in the name of Heaven, and
let us see what you will build of it.'
To Carlyle Sir George Grey might have gone, and laid at his feet South
Australia and New Zealand. He had been their fairy autocrat during
fourteen years; and the rugged outlooker at Chelsea would have admitted
them to be healthy brats. New Zealand having been fitted with her
Parliament, Sir George turned his face homeward, on leave of absence,
Selwyn a fellow voyager. Mother's boy and mother hoped to meet once more,
but it was not, to be. The Motherland had kept the servant too long on
duty, but he grudged her not even that.
'My mother,' said Sir George softly, 'had been in frail health for some
time, and I was always hoping to get home on her account. She heard that
our ship had been signalled in the English Channel, then that I had
landed, and she waited my appearance with loving expectation. My young
step-brother entered her room, and mistaking him for me, she grasped his
hand in thankfulness. The thing excited her, so very weak was she, and
her death took place before I could reach her. Happily, I had at least
the consolation that she believed she had seen me.'
The danger spot, in our over-sea territory, was now South Africa, where
British and Dutch were at odds with each other, and both at odds with the
natives.
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