At the threshold Agnes darted back to give Honey a parting kiss, and to say good-by to Mrs. Muirhead, who was shrinking away from the back door. The little woman was trembling with excitement. She held something under her apron, and after a furtive look around, she drew it forth and thrust it into Agnes’s hand. “Hide it, hide it,” she said in an excited whisper. “It dropped when they were bringing the man in, and I picked it up.” And Agnes thrust into the bosom of her jacket the little flat box belonging to Parker Willett.
CHAPTER XIV
JEANIE’S WEDDING-DAY
By the time they had reached the house, Parker was sufficiently aroused to be able to tell something of his adventure. He was waylaid in the woods on his way to Dod Hunter’s, and was overpowered by a body of men who appeared suddenly in his path. They told him if he would come peaceably with them, that no harm would come to him. He was bound and taken to a lonely spot where they gave him something to eat and drink. After that he remembered nothing. It was supposed that he was drugged and was then carried to Humphrey Muirhead’s where he was searched. The little box found by Mrs. Muirhead may or may not have been examined, and the parcel, which was brought away from his former home was left the next morning at Dod Hunter’s, being discovered on the doorstep by the first one astir.
“I remember meeting some one on the river bank just as I was about to start through the woods, and I have a dim recollection that I gave him the will, but, strange to say, I cannot remember who it was or why I gave it to him. I may not have done this, and Hump Muirhead may have it after all, but I do not know why I should be so impressed by a transaction that never occurred.”
“I think when he gets over the effects of the stuff they have given him, that he will be all right,” said Dr. Flint, “and I wouldn’t bother him now,” he told Agnes.
The girl refused to remain after they had returned to the Hunters’, but after taking something to eat, she started home, being escorted safely to the river’s brink by Jerry, who gave his opinion of Hump Muirhead in forcible language. “I hope to goodness he ain’t got that will,” he said, “for it would be purty hard work to prove its contents, and he knows it. I hope Park is right about givin’ it to somebody else, but who in the mischief could it have been? Park is cautious, and it would be a shaky thing to do unless you was right certain of yer man. I reckon it’ll come out all right—give us time; but it’s my opinion it’ll take force to git Hump outen that house, but I’ll be one to use that same force.”
“Ah me!” sighed Agnes, “if only people would be true and honest in this world, how much trouble it would save.”
“The millennium ain’t came yit,” said Jerry, “but I agree with you that we could have things a bit easier if some folks would only half try. I ain’t no saint, myself, but I’m open and above board, that nobody’ll deny.”
“I think that can safely be said of all your family,” returned Agnes, as she stepped into the little skiff. “Good-by, Jerry. I hope we shall soon be nearer neighbors.”