Plenty of
open air, plenty of physical exertion, a continual
instancy of toil--here was what had been hitherto
lacking in that misdirected life, and the true cure of
vital scepticism. To get the train through, there was
the recurrent problem: no time remained to ask if it
were necessary. Carthew, the idler, the spendthrift,
the drifting dilettante, was soon remarked, praised,
and advanced. The engineer swore by him and pointed
him out for an example. "I've a new chum, up here,"
Norris over-heard him saying, "a young swell. He's
worth any two in the squad." The words fell on the ears
of the discarded son like music; and from that moment
he not only found an interest, he took a pride, in his
plebeian tasks.
The press of work was still at its highest when
quarter-day approached. Norris was now raised to a
position of some trust; at his discretion, trains were
stopped or forwarded at the dangerous cornice near
North Clifton; and he found in this responsibility both
terror and delight. The thought of the seventy-five
pounds that would soon await him at the lawyer's, and
of his own obligation to be present every quarter-day
in Sydney, filled him for a little with divided
counsels.
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