"Michael?" Potch's face clouded.
"She didn't show them to me, but I know who saw them all—he bought them—Mr. Armitage."
"The old man?"
"No, John."
After a minute Sophie said:
"Why are you so keen about those stones Maud had, Potch? Michael is, too.... Most of them were taken from the claims, I suppose—but was there anything more than that?"
"It's hard to say." Potch spoke reluctantly. "There's nothing more than a bit of guesswork in my mind ... and I suppose it's the same with Michael. I haven't said anything to Michael about it, and he hasn't to me, so it's better not to mention it."
"There's a good deal changed on the Ridge since I went away," Sophie remarked musingly.
"The new rush, and the school, the Bush Brothers' church, and Mrs. Watty's veranda?"
"I don't mean that," Sophie said. "It's the people and things ... you, for instance, and Michael——"