"Nellie?" he repeated, his watery eyes blinking and shifting. "Nellie who?"
She looked at him for a moment, and then sprang from the saddle. Leaving her horse with the bridle hanging loose on his neck, she stepped towards the belt of scrub behind which she had seen the figure of the girl disappearing. Dickson, his face changing colour and his eyes flickering and quivering, interposed before her.
"There are snakes in the scrub. You get back. They might hurt you," he said abruptly. "And besides——" he added, and paused.
Ailleen stood in front of him, straight and erect, and with a glance fixed upon him which made him keep his eyes looking anywhere rather than into hers.
"Willy Dickson, that's a lie!" she exclaimed. "It's not the first you've told me, though you're mistaken if you think I have believed them. Was that Nellie Murray or was it not?"
He blinked uneasily, but neither answered nor moved.
"Then I'll see for myself," she said, as she tried to push past him.
He put out his arm to stop her, and she brushed against it. With the other hand he caught hold of her arm. A slight switch was in her hand, and as she felt his clasp, she swung her arm round and cut at him. At the same moment from among the bushes behind him she saw Nellie Murray come out.
"We don't interfere with you, Ailleen, and I don't see what you want interfering with us," she said, as she came nearer, Dickson as rapidly slinking to one side.
"Nellie!" the other girl exclaimed.