'It was kind. I should never have made him happy,' she said.
Jim Dennis came in.
'Leave us alone,' he said to Sal.
'You'll not hurt me, Jim? You'll not kill me?' said the wretched woman. 'Oh, if you knew how I have suffered! I am dying, Jim, and I have come to tell you all.'
'No, I will not kill you, and you deserve to suffer. I want to hear nothing, only one thing—his name,' said Jim Dennis.
'You must hear. I was tempted, tried. I did not tell him who I was, and he would never have known but when he deserted me in London, I meant to follow him some day and denounce him for the villain he is. He knows now, and let him beware of you. He ill-treated me. I lived a wretched life, and then when he had tired of me he cast me off. I wronged you past forgiveness, but how have I suffered for my sins? I worked and slaved day and night until at last I had to fall still lower.'
She shuddered, and he turned his face from her. This was the mother of his Willie! The lad should never know it, never see her. He must send to Barragong at once and have him detained there until he could act.
'I scraped enough money together to pay a passage to Sydney in a sailing vessel, one of the poorer class, and the miseries of that long voyage I shall never forget. In Sydney I found my parents were dead. I had no friends, very little money. I started to walk here. A team-master gave me a lift to Barragong.'
Jim Dennis started. Willie was there. Then he recollected the lad would not have known her had he seen her.
'From Barragong I walked to Swamp Creek, where a kindly man gave me food and rest.'