Gathered In by Catherine Helen Spence — Read

Nothing could exceed Mr. Oswald's delight at the result of his nephew Kenneth's mission to Wilta. The purchase was satisfactory in the first place--more than satisfactory. Kenneth must have a longer head at a bargain than he got credit for to get the better of such a keen hand as Walter Gray. There seemed no chance of a fall in the value of such high-class stock as this in question; the quotations in Castlehurst and in Melbourne markets were quite up to the figures set down by Mr. Oswald as his limit. Kenneth disclaimed any special merit in the transaction, but his uncle was determined to see great acuteness in the way he had out-generalled the seller. He had not given the first price asked, even though it was below his employer's estimate--he had beaten down Walter Gray!

But the reception of Kenneth by the family was even more a subject of congratulation on Mr. George Oswald's part. He had indeed begun to get paid for the money he had laid out on Kenneth's education. Jim, by dint of the inexorable regulation with regard to spending money, had learned to read, to write, and to cast accounts, and his cousin's company had kept him out of no end of mischief. And now this invitation (in which Jim was included) to Wilta, where no one but tip- top squatters and Melbourne lawyers and merchants were ever invited, was bewildering to the old man. What did it mean? What could it mean? It would be the very salvation of Jim to give him a taste for real good society that he could look up to, and when he saw how his cousin got on all through his learning and his love of books, it might lead Jim to take to such things, and keep him out of Castlehurst.