Part 35 (1/2)
”And in good spirits, surely”
”Yes, we baulked the Yesterday afternoon we made in the direction of Witley, and had as narrow a squeak of capture as I want to experience A troop was before us on the road, and one felloith the eyes of a lynx sighted us The poor felloas helping was a bit of a coward--no, I won't call hi hunted had taken the heart out of hied him on, and we made for Witley, openly, and as if ere confident of a hiding-place in the town Fortune favoured us, and we pulled up short in a hollow, the troop riding by us in desperate haste
Hot footed they poured into Witley, but for some reason which I did not understand they went no further Half an hour afterwards they came back, all but two of them I had counted the after nightfall, then they rode back, and my man had a free country before him”
”You'll run the risk once too often, Master Gilbert”
”That is probable, but, by Jove! I shall have done sohth man I've helped out of the clutches of these devils”
”And I was the first,” said Golding ”It's wonderful how you scheet me out of Dorchester, Master Gilbert”
”And it's e to ”
”Maybe we'll get back to Lenfield presently, Master Gilbert, and you'll then shudder at the thought of what you had to put up with here”
”It will be some time before there will be safety for me at Lenfield,”
said Crosby
”Andand cooking of it does present so as he replenished his master's plate
Crosby had eaten little in the last twenty-four hours, and was silent for so, but it's a drop in the ocean,” he said presently ”I wish I could open the prison doors in Dorchester before the assizes coh done there in a few days, Golding”
”That is beyond your power, Master Gilbert,” and the old man said it as if he feared his master would make the attempt
”Yes, I a”
”Do you otten her name for the moment,” said Crosby ”When I came to Dorchester after they had arrested you, I found out where you were, but I could hear nothing about her I would give a great deal to set her free”
”Yes, Master Gilbert”
”It is frightful for a woman to be in the clutches of these devils, and when that fiend Jeffreys coes! I wonder what has becoirl”
”She may have been released”
”Why should they release her when they would think it ithin her power to betray estion,” he said
”What is in your ht, Master Gilbert Since thirty years ago the one woht of jilted me, I've had no love for any wohts of the wo about Harriet Payne?”
”She was a bit flighty, Master Gilbert, and rather given to look down on the other servants That kind of girl is open to flattery”