Gathered In by Catherine Helen Spence — Read

Kenneth, however, did not leave Tingalpa at the time he had fixed in his own mind. He became somewhat more reconciled to his position by the growing attachment of his uncle, and there always seemed to be something he must do for him before he could go, and afterwards circumstances brought about such a change in his thoughts and interests that no persuasion could have induced him to desert his post. Life took a new colour; if it was not easier it was infinitely more interesting; with the change of many of his surroundings the natural love of activity and desire for success came into play, and George Oswald found him daily more helpful and more cheerful.

By many hints and many signs Kenneth learned that at the bottom of his uncle's heart there was a defiant attitude towards Mr. Gray, of Wilta, and a watchful jealousy of all his social and material advantages. Although his expression about the selectors being free to pick out Mr. Gray's eyes was not really so savage as it sounded--only referring to what are called "the eyes of the run," the watering- places and choice blocks, it was bad enough; and even George Oswald sober was but little better than George Oswald drunk, in his want of sympathy with the good and bad fortunes of his prosperous and respectable neighbour. Mr. Gray was a Scotchman. As the Victorian people have it, "Scotland is a fine country to come from," it is surprising what a large proportion of the squatting magnates and leading merchants of that colony hail from the northern portion of Great Britain. He was a man of much more education than Mr. Oswald, he had begun with some capital, he had gone on steadily adding to his possessions, and with regard to a bargain he was as keen a man as George Oswald was on the strength of tea. In a small bargain with regard to land George Oswald had got the better of Mr. Gray, but in one large transaction in cattle some superior information on the part of the buyer as to the extent of the losses, and the probable permanence of high prices after the great drought, made Mr. Gray obtain an enormous advantage over his plebeian neighbour. This rankled in his mind. But the point on which Mr. Gray had the greatest pull on him was in his family. Instead of having only one son, who was weak, wasteful, and utterly without head for business, Mr. Gray had four sons as clear-headed and as far-sighted as himself, who worked to further all his plans, and who could each have made fortunes for themselves if they had begun the world without a penny. The eldest had gone to Queensland, where he had married and was doing well; and two had recently started for New Zealand, where they had taken out large runs with splendid prospects; and the second son Walter Gray, the keenest of the family, remained at Wilta, his father's right hand and trusted counsellor. There was only one daughter, the youngest of the family. Mr. Oswald heard a great deal of her good looks and her good management and general amiability; but as she held herself above Mrs. Oswald, as her mother had done in her lifetime, and as he felt it was war to the knife between him and William Gray on account of these cattle, there could be no intercourse. There was some communication between them, but not of a pleasant kind; mutual fences were to be kept up, stray cattle, sheep and horses could be impounded, messages and notes were sent, which were never well received, and both the squatting magnates had to make constant complaints of disagreeable neighbours.