‘Of course there is! You mustn’t think that New Zealand is a perfectly uncivilised country. There are trains running all through it.’ ‘Are you going to farm, Captain Lovell?’ asked Fowler. ‘That is my intention. A friend of mine has bought a place out there, and I am about to join him. I know but little about ploughshares and wurzels, but my friend Cathcart is a crack hand at it all; and I am sure I shall prefer a free life to the slavery of the army. That is to say, if--if--’ ‘If what?’ demanded Fowler. ‘If I can settle down there,--make a home for myself, in fact,’ said the captain, with a shy look at his inamorata. ‘Persuade some one to settle down with you, you mean?’ laughed his companion. ‘Yes! _that_ is what I mean,’ acquiesced Lovell, apparently relieved to have the matter settled for him. ‘What are your own plans?’ ‘Oh! mine are very uncertain. I may remain three months, or six, but I hope to return home _via_ the Canal before a year is over my head.’ ‘Private business, I presume?’ ‘Strictly private.’ ‘Oh, Mr Fowler! you are so close; I am sure there is a lady in the case,’ laughed Miss Vere. ‘If she were anything like _you_, Miss Vere, I should pray there might be. But I have no such luck.’ ‘Do you know the country at all?’ asked Lovell. ‘I am sorry to say _no_; but I have friends out there who will soon set me all right.’ ‘I wonder what the shooting is like,’ said the captain thoughtfully. ‘Why, _I_ can tell you that!’ exclaimed Alice. ‘The Middle Island abounds with game--Paradise ducks, grey ducks, swans, and pheasants; and if you want bigger sport, there are wild cattle and boars.’ ‘Is there good hunting there also?’ ‘Very little. We have no foxes or hares. I have seen the harriers out, but I have never known them to find.’ ‘That is very disappointing,’ replied Lovell. ‘I should have thought, since the country contains boars, there would be plenty of pig-sticking.’ ‘But you won’t have any time for hunting. The farm will take up all your attention. You will have to plough, and reap, and harrow, and drive the cattle home. Everybody works in the bush, even the women; in fact, I think the women work almost harder than the men.’ ‘And why shouldn’t they?’ said Miss Vere. ‘When women do more work in England, they will have a better claim to be acknowledged on an equality with man.’ ‘Do you not admit, then, that man is the superior animal, Miss Vere?’ asked Mr Fowler, with a view to draw the actress out. ‘In weight, strength, and stature, Mr Fowler--yes. But intellectually, I think his superiority is at least open to question.’ ‘So do I, Miss Vere,’ said Dr Lennard, who had joined the party. ‘I believe that the female brain only needs development, and that as civilisation advances, and _Woman_ boldly asserts her rights, she will find herself absolutely equal with Man in all things.’ ‘But is a woman’s brain as large as a man’s?’ demanded Captain Lovell, who had a head like a bullet.