He thought it over for a minute, Scottie watching him and waiting in silence.
“Perhaps I’d better say nothing more to you about it, Scottie,” he said at last. “Whether he gets away or not, it would make trouble if it was known that you were helping to harbour him or to get away. For the same reason I’ll tell Miss Ess as little as I can, although of course she knows I was going to see him, and will want to know about him. But I’ll just tell you and her this—Steve’s all right, and will be looked after and given the first and the best chance to get clear away. I’m going to run his horse out on the hills somewhere, so he can get it when it’s sure the horse hasn’t been found or followed. Now I’ll go and see Miss Ess. And if you can keep Ned Gunliffe busy, so much the better. You know he and Steve had a row once, and Ned is the sort to carry a grudge long and well.”
He was not allowed to get off so easily when he saw Ess. She wanted to know where Steve was, and why he had not made an attempt to get away before, and whether he had sent any message to her, and half-a-dozen other things.
“He just said to assure you he was all right,” said Aleck. “And look here, Miss Ess, we decided it was best that you and your uncle should not know anything about where he was or that sort of thing. I fancy neither of you would make really good liars you know, and if the police try to pump you, you might let something slip, or at least let them see you knew. And that would be a pity.”
“But when will you see him again, Aleck?” she asked. “Could—do you think I might write a letter for you to take to him?”
Aleck looked at her keenly, and she blushed a little. She would have liked to have told Aleck something of what was between her and Steve, but evidently Steve himself had said nothing, so it would be wiser for her not to.
“I won’t be seeing him again for a bit,” said Aleck; “but he’s all right. He couldn’t get away without a horse, but that’ll all be fixed up for him.”
“But how is he doing about food?” persisted Ess.
“Don’t you worry about that or anything else,” said Aleck, evasively. “He’s all right every way.”
And so Ess had to content herself with that. Her thoughts were busy enough about Steve afterwards, but she was soon to have something else to think over, and make her puzzle whether she ought to speak of the love between her and Steve Knight.