d bygones 'll be bygones.'

Then he touched up his horse and rattled off before I could so much as
say 'Thank ye.'

I walked through the garden and sat down in the verandah on one of the
old benches. There was the old place, mighty little altered considering.
The hut had been mended up from time to time--now a slab and then a
sheet of bark--else it would have been down long enough ago. The garden
had been dug up, and the trees trimmed year by year. A hinge had been
put on the old gate, and a couple of slip-rails at the paddock. The
potato patch at the bottom of the garden was sown, and there were
vegetables coming on in the old beds. Some one had looked after the
place; of course, I knew who it was.

It began to get coldish, and I pulled the latch--it was there just the
same--and went into the old room. I almost expected to see mother in her
chair, and father on the stool near the fireplace, where he used to sit
and smoke his pipe. Aileen's was a little low chair near mother's. Jim
and I used to be mostly in the verandah, unless it was very cold, and
then we used to lie down in front of the fire--that is, if dad was away,
as he mostly was.

The room felt cold and dark as I looked in. So dreadful lonely, too. I
almost wished I was back in the gaol.

When I looked round again I could see things had been left ready for me,
so as I wasn't to find myself bad off the first night. The fire was all
made up ready to light, and matches on the table ready. The kettle
was filled, and a basket close handy with a leg of mutton, and bread,
butter, eggs, and a lot of things--enough to last me a week. The bedroom
had been settled up too, and there was a good, comfortable bed ready for
any tired man to turn into. Better than all, there was a letter, signed
'Your own Gracey,' that made me think I might have some life left worth
living yet.

I lit the fire, and after a bit made shift to boil some tea; and after
I'd finished what little I could eat I felt better, and sat down before
the fire to consider over things. It was late enough--midnight--before
I turned in. I couldn't sleep then; but at last I must have dropped off,
because the sun was shining into the room, through the old window with
the broken shutter, when I awoke.

At first I didn't think of getting up. Then I knew, all of a sudden,
that I could open the door and go out. I was in the garden in three
seconds, listening to the birds and watching the clouds rising over
Nu