At first he had tried to dismiss it from his mind altogether, telling himself that it was only the ravings of a man delirious at the point of death. But the knowledge that the man had displayed as to incidents and interests in his life, and, above all, the significant hints Nuggan had uttered, all helped to keep his attention on it.
As he approached the boundary fence of the selection where it first touched the road, he caught sight of Taylor, and coo-eed to him. The elder man came towards him as soon as he saw who it was, and Tony dismounted and stood by the fence till he came up.
"Why, Tony, lad, back again? And what luck this time? Did you strike——"
"I want to ask you something," Tony said seriously; and Taylor stopped and looked at him.
"Why, what's wrong with you, Tony?" he asked. "You look as though—well, I don't quite know how. You haven't had fever, or a touch of the sun, or a——"
"No," Tony said, "I haven't. But I've heard something, and I——"
"Ah!" Taylor exclaimed. His wife had been expressing her views strongly and plainly to him as the weeks went by without any signs of Tony's return, while rumour was busy with the names of Ailleen and Dickson. "I understand, lad. You come along and see your mother. She's got it all off by heart, and will talk to you about it. She'll tell you all you want to know, and more besides."
"I want to hear it from you," Tony answered.
"There's mighty little I can tell you. It's all mixed up to me. It wasn't that way with your mother and me. It was straight out dealing; no side-tracks and cross-tracks. We started right off the reel. I said to her——"
"Who is my mother?"