d pointedly. An
obstinate silence was the only result, and her parents losing patience,
she had been left in a room with a locked door in order to acquire the
necessary sense to answer what she was asked. Instead, however, of
learning the folly of obstruction, she found that the window was open;
and when her parents returned, many hours afterwards, to renew their
inquiries, they found that Nellie had vanished.

Disliking the idea of publicity--a mistake for which Birralong soundly
condemned them--they had kept their own counsel for days--days when, as
Marmot impressively pointed out, Slaughter had visited the store and
displayed that taciturn manner which was so easily understood under the
light of subsequent revelations.

As the days passed and no sign was given by the missing Nellie, and
anxiety began to be manifest in the Murray household, a message was
brought by a boy, who said he had received it from a man on the road,
that Mrs. Murray would do well to hurry to Slaughter's at the
Three-mile. Disbelieving, yet alarmed, Murray, his wife, and a neighbour
who happened to be at the selection at the time, set off in a
spring-cart to the Three-mile.

They found Nellie there and brought her back; and then the news leaked
out, and Murray came to the township, with blazing hate in his eyes,
asking to be shown where Slaughter was, and calling for his son to come
home and help him exact retribution for the betrayal of his child.

But no one knew where Slaughter was; no one had seen him in the township
for days; and, as far as could be learned, there were no signs of his
having been at the Three-mile for days; while Nellie held her peace,
even when her baby came and died, and she almost followed it.

That was the story Birralong heard, and nightly was the gathering on
Marmot's verandah entranced with the discussion of it, and the
considering of all the _pros_ and _cons_ concerned in it. Aggravation
was given to their interest by the arrival of the periodical letter for
Slaughter; and, having discussed the matter for some evenings, it was at
length determined to send out word to Murray, so that he should be ready
to start whenever warning was sent that Slaughter had come in for his
mail. There was a possibility that the meeting between the two would be
picturesque, and Marmot and his friends had an eye to the picturesque in
that respect. They were almost outraged when the messenger returned with
Murray's reply, for it disp