AustLit

A Melbourne tea broker's family are visited by a wealthy crude miner of warm heart from Coolgardie. The elder, Sophia, is prepared to marry him for his money but his heart turns to her younger sister Clara who scorns him. His good qualities, courage, generosity, and kindness warm her heart but she refuses to marry him. He changes his mind when he discovers this, leaving a handsome bank draft for her father and her brother who works on the stock exchange. He also looks up Clara's suitor there, a scholarly type unfitted for marriage, and gives him enough money to marry her. A couple of years later he marries Sophia. Amusing satirical comments on society, hypocrisy, the difficulty of marrying daughters without dowries, the crudity of new-rich miners and the stock exchange. (PB)