2
der, an appendix has been added, in which the standpoint wherefrom Young Australia views them is fully explained.
"Boomerang" is the joint nom-de-plume of a Young Australian and his collaborator.
B.
London, October, 1894.
CONTENTS.
I THE DETLIJ CLUB 1 II CONFIDENCES 14 III THE MIA-MIA 26 IV THE BALL 38 V THE OATH 48 VI REVENGE 63 VII HAL 79 VIII ADELAIDE 94 IX MELBOURNE 114 X CABBIES 128 XI LAUNCESTON 144 XII GOODCHILD'S 156 XIII PORT ARTHUR 170 XIV EASTELLA 182 XV MAY 192 XVI HOBART 203 XVII SYDNEY 214 XVIII THE GIRLS 222 XIX HIL 232 XX BRISBANE 242 XXI TOOWOOMBA 254 XXII DALBY 269 XXIII CAMPING OUT 283 XXIV FRED PHILAMORE 294 XXV BLUE GUMS 306 XXVI MARJORIE WILLIAMSON 319 XXVII FOILED 332 XXVIII PREPARATIONS 343 XXIX EAR-MARKED 354 XXX THE TRIAL 367 XXXI THE VERDICT 377 XXXII CONCLUSION 383
CHAPTER I.
THE DETLIJ CLUB.
In a handsome block of buildings in the neighbourhood of Piccadilly--a phrase which may embrace a considerable area, North, South, East or West--is located the quarters of that small and extremely select Club, known, and known up till now only to a favoured few, as the Detlij Club. The name, like the Club itself, is an uncommon one, and is simply indicative of the sad mischance which must befal each member before he can qualify for admission. No mysterious or secret rites were shadowed in the title, and the ultra-curious in search of the origin of the name, need no more overhaul their Hindu or Persian dictionaries, than they need their Liddell and Scott. A simple inversion of the letters is all that is necessary to solve the riddle, a process which discovers the word "jilted," and discloses the character of the Club.
Briefly, the origin of the Club was in this wise. Some four years previous to the date our story opens, a certain Major Fitzgerald, a man of unenviable notoriety in Society, whose name was almost as well known in the Divorce Court as