g the Boss's hair. 'I'll never be
so foolish again.'

'Of course you won't, Maggie.'

'We're very happy now, aren't we, Walter?'

'Of course we are, Maggie.'

'And the children are coming back next year.'

'Next year, Maggie.'

He leaned over the fire and stirred it up.

'You mustn't take any notice of us, Mr Ellis,' she went on. 'Poor Walter
is away so much that I'm afraid I make a little too much of him when he
does come home.'

She paused and pressed her fingers to her temples again. Then she said
quickly--

'They used to tell me that it was all nonsense about the fairies, but
they were no friends of mine. I shouldn't have listened to them, Walter.
You told me not to. But then I was really not in my right mind.'

'Who used to tell you that, Mrs Head?' I asked.

'The Voices,' she said; 'you know about the Voices, Walter?'

'Yes, Maggie. But you don't hear the Voices now, Maggie?' he asked
anxiously. 'You haven't heard them since I've been away this time, have
you, Maggie?'

'No, Walter. They've gone away a long time. I hear voices now sometimes,
but they're the Bush Fairies' voices. I hear them calling Maggie and
Wally to come with them.' She paused again. 'And sometimes I think I
hear them call me. But of course I couldn't go away without you, Walter.
But I'm foolish again. I was going to ask you about the other voices, Mr
Ellis. They used to say that it was madness about the fairies; but then,
if the fairies hadn't taken the children, Black Jimmy, or the black
trackers with the police, could have tracked and found them at once.'

'Of course they could, Mrs Head,' I said.

'They said that the trackers couldn't track them because there was rain
a few hours after the children were lost. But that was ridiculous. It
was only a thunderstorm.'

'Why!' I said, 'I've known the blacks to track a man after a week's
heavy rain.'

She had her head between her fingers again, and when she looked up it
was in a scared way.

'Oh, Walter!' she said, clutching the Boss's arm; 'whatever have I been
talking about? What must Mr Ellis think of me? Oh! why did you let me
talk like that?'

He put his arm round her. Andy nudged me and got up.

'Where are you going, Mr Ellis?' she asked hurriedly. 'You're not going
to-night. Auntie's made a bed for you in Andy's room. You mustn't mind
me.'

'Jack and Andy are going out for a little while,' said the Boss.
'They'll be in to supper. We'll have a yarn, Maggie.'

'Be