en, in later days, Ailleen lost her
mother, and her father developed the state of health which made him more
and more delicate every year, the community of interests grew, for
whatever her troubles were, Tony was always ready to share them; and he
was the only boy who made no protests about her being friends with all
the others, and treating them all on a level when circumstances were
kind enough to put some entertainment in her way. He had always seemed
to understand her, for he had never talked as some of the others had,
particularly those who had suddenly made up their minds to leave
Birralong, and for that reason alone she was satisfied with him.

But there came a time when this sense of satisfaction was disturbed.
Very slight indeed was the first indication of the disturbance--so
slight, in fact, that it had not been apparent to Ailleen herself until
it had gained considerable strength; enough, at all events, to make
itself distinctly and unpleasantly manifest.

She had, one day, been amused at the remarks Dickson had passed on
Tony's appearance. There was a touch of malice in the remarks, for Tony,
in the old school-days they all had shared together, had thrashed
Dickson with a bridle, and she had laughed at the one and smiled upon
the other. Dickson had never forgotten the chastisement he received
from a boy younger and a head shorter than himself; and as the years
passed he still nursed his enmity, giving vent to it in vindictive and
malicious remarks about the absent Tony, for he remembered the boyish
thrashing too well to speak his opinions in his rival's presence. So it
was that when Ailleen heard Dickson denouncing Tony's appearance, she
had been amused, until a chance remark struck her and set her thinking;
and as she thought, the conviction grew upon her that the very subject
of the remark which had struck her so forcibly had been in her mind,
unconsciously, for years. Now that she had had it brought face to face
with her, as it were, its significance was so pronounced she wondered
how it had escaped her all the years she had known Tony and the rest of
the Taylor family.

The fact was that Tony was absolutely different, in manner, face, and
figure, from every member of the family of Taylor's Flat.

The next time she met him she had teased him about it, asking who it was
he took after, and such-like questions; and Tony had replied with an
abruptness which was so unusual in him that she had at first felt