understanding it.

Burton and the Peetrees had resolved to try a new rush before Done called
at the shanty again.

'I have come to say goodbye, Mrs. Ben,' he said to the big washerwoman,
'and to thank you for a thousand kindnesses.'

'Thank me for nothing!' cried Mrs. Kyley. 'Is it true you are off on the
wallaby again?'

'We shall start for Simpson's Ranges in the morning.'

'It is so long since we've seen you that you won't mind if we don't break
our hearts at parting.' She glanced towards Aurora, who had turned her
back to them.

'That's the least I expect of you, Mrs. Ben.'

'Well, you're not a bad lad, though inconstant. Give me a kiss, and good
luck go with you. Be a man,' she added in a whisper. 'Say a few kind
words to the poor girl.' She nodded towards Aurora.

'I came wishing to.'

'You ruffian!' she said aloud; 'and you pretending you cared a copper
dump about Mother Kyley. She pushed him towards Aurora, and rolled from
the tent with one of her great gusts of laughter.

'I'm off, Joy!' said Done.

She turned and looked at him. She was in one of her quiet humours. If she
had felt much grief, it had left little impression upon her. She was
neatly dressed and looking very fresh and girlish to-day.

'I heard you were going,' she answered.

'Joy!' He put out an open hand. 'Let us part friends; I'm fond of you--I
am, upon my soul!'

She caught his hand in both of hers and pressed it to her breast. 'I was
wondering if you would come to see me before leaving.'

'Ah, that's better,' he said. 'I'd be pretty miserable if I went thinking
I'd left you an enemy, because--because--' He had a heart full of
gratitude and big, generous emotions towards her, and could not express
himself. 'God bless you, Joy! he murmured, kissing her hair. 'Don't think
me an utterly selfish kind of brute, dear.'

'I haven't one ill thought of you, Jimmy. Didn't I woo you with every
trick I know, but with my whole heart, too, for all that? It's been a
fair deal, old man.'

'I'll never cease to wish you happiness, and I'll always regret any
trouble I may have caused you.'

'Regret nothing--nothing! You've been a big joy to me, and you bore my
tantrums like a brick. I'm sorry I struck you, Jimmy.' She drew his head
down and kissed the scar over his right eye.

'There was another blow here.' He touched his left cheek, and she kissed
that too, but she was showing no sign of sentimentality. Her attitude was
that of a good fr