'Who else comes here?' said the housekeeper.
By various indirect questions, he ascertained that, so far as Mrs. Gillies knew, the only person of the household to whom the stranger had introduced himself was Shady Higgs.
'The house ill kept!' said Bloodworth, after a pause. 'Mrs. Gillies, I fear that my good intentions towards Sir Valary and the well-being of his estate have gotten me a poor name, that I ill deserve.'
'Well, I hope you don't deserve all that is said of you,' she answered blandly; 'there's many as say the money that ought to go for the proper keeping of the house, as Sir Valary's house ought to be kept, is worse than sunk in the sea. I know for my part, I'd rather be the poorest on earth than rich with such gains; and if it was not for the love to Sir Valary and my young lady, I'd sooner be in a close cottage, with bread enough and no care, and nothing expected from me, than be in a corner of a great place like this, with such stint allowance. Why, you may believe me, if I wasn't to contrive and to contrive, and keep us three down here at a very near rate, I could never make what I have enough to serve Sir Valary and my young lady, even as well as I do serve them. The world is changed a good deal, for the housekeeper of Parker's Dew to be put to the shifts I am; and since you give me the liberty to speak, Mr. Bloodworth,' she continued, growing eloquent on the strength of the steward's silence, 'I may tell you, that if things go on much longer, there is them that will look into it, and know the reason why; and I've heard as much as that, and a little more too.'
'IF THINGS GO ON MUCH LONGER, THERE IS THEM THAT
WILL LOOK INTO IT.'
Bloodworth sat perfectly silent; he may have heard all the housekeeper's oration, or he may not; probably the latter, for he looked abstracted, and, taking his hat, said, 'I have a little work outside—some one to speak to—you need not let Sir Valary know that I am here, until my return; and for the matter of stint, Mrs. Gillies, you will be pleased to remember that I am but a servant like yourself; I have not the ordering of Sir Valary's mind about his money.'
'What has come to the man?' said the housekeeper, as she watched him through the heavy stone window: 'I never thought to hear him own himself a servant; something has taken him down since he was last here.'
With his head bent down, and his hands folded behind his back, he walked slowly towards the spot where he had left Shady and the stranger. He met the former advancing towards the tower.