"Good-morrow to ye," he said, dropping the birds upon a bed of grass, as if preparing for a long gossip.
"Dost know I came a nigh peppering thee a bit yon night, thinking it war some poachers after the birds; but I soon found out it was a bit of sweethearting on the sly? Oh, Dick, Dick! thou'lt get shot some night."
"Sweethearting! I don't know what you mean, Jacob."
"Ye don't know that there was a pretty doe roving about the wilderness one night this week, just at the time ye passed through it?"
"Me, me?"
"Aye. No mistake. I saw ye with my own eyes in the moonlight."
"In the moonlight? Where?"
"Oh, in the upper path, nearest thy own home."
Richard drew a deep breath.
"Ah, that! I thought you said by the lake."