ou'd be sorrier if you knew all,' said Andy. 'It's the worst trouble
that can happen to a man. It's like living with the dead. It's--it's
like a man living with his dead wife.'

When we went home supper was ready. We found Mrs Head, bright and
cheerful, bustling round. You'd have thought her one of the happiest and
brightest little women in Australia. Not a word about children or the
fairies. She knew the Bush, and asked me all about my trips. She told
some good Bush stories too. It was the pleasantest hour I'd spent for a
long time.

'Good night, Mr Ellis,' she said brightly, shaking hands with me when
Andy and I were going to turn in. 'And don't forget your pipe. Here it
is! I know that Bushmen like to have a whiff or two when they turn
in. Walter smokes in bed. I don't mind. You can smoke all night if you
like.'

'She seems all right,' I said to Andy when we were in our room.

He shook his head mournfully. We'd left the door ajar, and we could hear
the Boss talking to her quietly. Then we heard her speak; she had a very
clear voice.

'Yes, I'll tell you the truth, Walter. I've been deceiving you, Walter,
all the time, but I did it for the best. Don't be angry with me, Walter!
The Voices did come back while you were away. Oh, how I longed for you
to come back! They haven't come since you've been home, Walter. You
must stay with me a while now. Those awful Voices kept calling me, and
telling me lies about the children, Walter! They told me to kill myself;
they told me it was all my own fault--that I killed the children. They
said I was a drag on you, and they'd laugh--Ha! ha! ha!--like that.
They'd say, "Come on, Maggie; come on, Maggie." They told me to come to
the river, Walter.'

Andy closed the door. His face was very miserable.

We turned in, and I can tell you I enjoyed a soft white bed after months
and months of sleeping out at night, between watches, on the hard ground
or the sand, or at best on a few boughs when I wasn't too tired to pull
them down, and my saddle for a pillow.

But the story of the children haunted me for an hour or two. I've never
since quite made up my mind as to why the Boss took me home. Probably
he really did think it would do his wife good to talk to a stranger;
perhaps he wanted me to understand--maybe he was weakening as he grew
older, and craved for a new word or hand-grip of sympathy now and then.

When I did get to sleep I could have slept for three or four days, but
Andy