Although shocked at the time by what Johan had told him, it did not remain actively in his memory.  On a few occasions he woke up during the night with an impression of having heard his mother call his father’s name.  When he raised his head from the pillow to listen, a breathless stillness prevailed in the room.  Soon he went back to sleep, and afterwards he thought no more about it.  Yet the very act of listening seemed to inflame his mind in some way.

The game learned back of the big rock had never become quite forgotten.  Yet it had never meant very much to him, and during his association with Murray he had thought less and less of it.  Now it took new hold of him, in a much more imperative way, as if it had got a new meaning and a new lure.  And it seemed to have some elusive but highly significant connection with the mystery that always puzzled and fretted his curiosity.

Once more he pressed Johan for an explanation of that reference to Keith’s parents.

“That’s the way children are made,” Johan finally announced with a mien of having transmitted the ultimate wisdom of the ages.

Keith merely stared at him.  That answer did not interest him at all.  Of course, he had long guessed that the arrival of children was a part of the mystery, but it was a part that had ceased to concern him.  What he wished to know, must know, related to himself exclusively.  But in this respect there was nothing more to be had out of Johan.

At school he began to join a group of boys who always gathered in a corner of the assembly hall during the pauses instead of mixing with the mob in the schoolyard.  The centre of that group was Swensson, a handsome young chap of more advanced age than the others who had spent two years in most of the grades.  He was always behind in his studies, but he seemed to know more of life than all the rest put together.  A large part of the time he was telling stories—­always about girls—­or relating adventures—­always with girls.  Keith found the stories amusing, but as a rule he failed to grasp their point.  And yet they added fuel to the flame that was burning more and more hotly within him.

His mother had been watching him intently for some time, and after a while she began to ask questions.  These were guarded almost to unintelligibility, and yet Keith guessed that they referred to his own secret—­the game learned back of the big rock.  And so that game grew still more enticing.  Even then, however, it did not seem to matter very much except in so far as it was the one thing that brought him a slight relief from the consuming restlessness of body and mind.

His mother’s questions were followed by long talks, sometimes taking the form of warnings, but more often turning into passionate pleas.  And gradually he gathered that the game he had been playing so innocently must be both sinful and dangerous.  He tried as hard as he could to get to the root of his mother’s hints, and he wanted to ask all sorts of questions.  But in the end the meaning of her words seemed to dissolve into mist, and when he tried to question her directly, it was as if a solid wall had suddenly risen between them, so that neither one could hear what the other one said.