when wit and humour reigned supreme.  It was at one of these suppers that I first met Rosanna Moore, the woman who was destined to curse my existence.  She was a burlesque actress, and all the young fellows in those days were madly in love with her.  She was not exactly what was called beautiful, but there was a brilliancy and fascination about her which few could resist.  On first seeing her I did not admire her much, but laughed at my companions as they raved about her.  On becoming personally acquainted with her, however, I found that her powers of fascination had not been over-rated, and I ended by falling desperately in love with her.  I made enquiries about her private life, and found that it was irreproachable, as she was guarded by a veritable dragon of a mother, who would let no one approach her daughter.  I need not tell about my courtship, as these phases of a man’s life are generally the same, but it will be sufficient to prove the depth of my passion for her when I say that I determined to make her my wife.  It was on condition, however, that the marriage should be kept secret until such time as I should choose to reveal it.  My reason for such a course was this, my father was still alive, and he, being a rigid Presbyterian, would never has forgiven me for having married a woman of the stage; so, as he was old and feeble, I did not wish him to learn that I had done so, fearing that the shock would be too much for him in his then state of health.  I told Rosanna I would marry her, but wanted her to leave her mother, who was a perfect fury, and not an agreeable person to live with.  As I was rich, young, and not bad looking, Rosanna consented, and, during an engagement she had in Sydney, I went over there and married her.  She never told her mother she had married me, why, I do not know, as I laid no restriction on her doing so.  The mother made a great noise over the matter, but I gave Rosanna a large sum of money for her, and this the old harridan accepted, and left for New Zealand.  Rosanna went with me to my station, where we lived as man and wife, though, in Melbourne, she was supposed to be my mistress.  At last, feeling degraded in my own eyes at the way in which I was supposed to be living, I wanted to reveal our secret, but this Rosanna would not consent to.  I was astonished at this, and could never discover the reason, but in many ways Rosanna was an enigma to me.  She then grew weary of the quiet country life, and longed to return to the glitter and glare of the footlights.  This I refused to let her do, and from that moment she took a dislike to me.  A child was born, and for a time she was engrossed with it, but soon wearied of the new plaything, and again pressed me to allow her to return to the stage.  I again refused, and we became estranged from one another.  I grew gloomy and irritable, and was accustomed to take long rides by myself, frequently being away for days.  There was a great friend of mine who owned the next