"Tony?" she asked quickly.
He stood looking at her with the uneasy grin which usually came to his face when he was uncertain.
"What do you mean? Tony could tell me more——"
"Oh, I don't know," he interrupted. "I thought you'd have known—it's all over the place, and the township's full of it—how Tony and Nellie have fixed things up. Whenever he comes in from the diggings he goes straight to the Murrays first."
It had been in his mind for some time that before he could prosecute his own suit with Ailleen he would have to do something to overthrow—and make certain that he had overthrown—the supremacy of Tony. Here was the chance to do so, and as she listened he was taking full advantage of the opportunity to say as much as he could which was likely to rankle in Ailleen's memory against Tony. It was his very anxiety to do as much as possible which defeated him. The uneasy grin, the gleam in the watery, shifty eyes, and the haste he made to blurt out what he had previously kept so secret, roused the anger of the girl against him instead of against his absent rival.
"That's a lie!" she exclaimed, as she looked at him with eyes that were dangerously bright.
"I only told you—you need not believe it. Go and ask in the township," he replied lamely, his eyes avoiding hers.
She turned away from him at the moment, full of resentment and anger. An hour later, when her indignation had had time to calm somewhat, she came back to where she had left him on the verandah, and found that he had ridden away towards the township road soon after she had left him. It occurred to her then that if she were also to ride into Birralong she would be able to hear what was said about Tony and Nellie, for now that the first flush of anger had passed away, Ailleen was beginning to feel something akin to jealousy. She had her horse saddled and bridled, and was away, with the intention of riding direct to the Murrays and learning the real state of affairs. Less than a quarter of a mile from the station she reined in her horse. Why should she bother about it? she asked herself angrily. Was she going to make herself the laughing-stock of the place? Was she going to show to all Birralong the truth of her feelings for Tony? Before she could even answer her own questions, she wheeled her horse round, and set him at a gallop for the long, open stretch of land between the belts of scrub.
The track turned suddenly as it came into the long, straight lane, and the horse gathered itself in its stride as its swung round the bend, leaping forward again into its full stride as it faced the clear run. And as it came round, Ailleen saw, half hidden by the scrub, Willy Dickson standing beside his horse, and the figure of a girl disappearing behind the bushes. She had ridden past the spot before she could pull in her horse, but as soon as she could check him, she rode back to where Dickson was standing. As she approached, he stepped out into the open and came to meet her.
"Where has Nellie gone?" Ailleen exclaimed, as she came up.