“No; he’s married and settled down in Sydney.”
Long pause.
“Can you—” said the stranger, hesitatingly; “did you—I suppose you knew Mary—Mary Wild?”
“Mary?” said the grocer, smilingly. “That was my wife’s maiden name. Would you like to see her?”
“No, no! She mightn’t remember me!”
He reached hastily for his swag, and shouldered it.
“Well, I must be gettin’ on.”
“I s’pose you’ll camp here over Christmas?”
“No; there’s nothing to stop here for—I’ll push on. I did intend to have a Christmas here—in fact, I came a long way out of my road a-purpose.... I meant to have just one more Christmas with old Ben Hake an’ the rest of the boys—but I didn’t know as they’d moved on so far west. The old bush school is dyin’ out.”
There was a smile in his eyes, but his bearded lips twitched a little.