"With her mother, I suppose," sneered Garry.
"Never mind who she's with. She's all right."
"I don't believe you took her to Sydney," said Garry.
"Where else could I take her?" he asked fiercely.
"It's pretty lonely about here. One woman would not be missed."
Bellshaw caught him by the arm in a fierce grip and raised his fist.
"Be careful, or I'll make it hot for you," he snarled.
"Let me alone. I guess I'm a match for you, and I'm not afraid of you, if other people are," he cried. "You lent me the money to buy Bill Bigs out. Well, it will be better for you to make me a present of it."
"Look," he said, "see that?" and he pointed to the wide verandah, built round the house.
"There's nothing there," answered Garry, thinking he must have been doing it heavy in Sydney and that the effects had not died out.
"No, of course not," said Bellshaw, trying to laugh it off. "So you say I had better make you a present of it. Why?"
"Because I know you did not take her to Sydney," said Garry slowly.
"No it isn't, and you know it. Where is she now?"
"You can't tell me. I'm worth a few hundreds. I'll bet them you can't tell me," Garry persisted.
"This is foolishness. What the deuce have you got into your head?"
"More than you think. I know you travelled to Sydney alone," replied Garry.
"And supposing I did, you fool, do you expect I'd travel in the same carriage with her?"
"Maybe not, but you'd have been only too glad to have gone anywhere with her a couple of years back," Garry retorted.
"It was her own fault. She was tired of my company. She behaved badly. I treated her well," said Bellshaw.
"When you first brought her from Bourke you did, but I don't think she ever forgave, or forgot, how she came here. It was a blackguardly trick to play her."
"Oh, stow that. Do you mean to say you think I don't know? I'm no fool. She was dazed, drugged, or something, when she came. Why it was more than a week before she found out where she was, and she had to stay because she couldn't get away. There was nowhere to go."
"We'll drop all that. She's safe enough now. Don't bother your head about her."
"But that's just what I do. I might have saved her. I could have done so if I'd had the pluck, but you bought me off, and I hate myself for it. Do you know what I think?"