“I'm one as 'as seen it, sir, as well as heard,” he said. “I'd sooner give up my farm than go nigh the place.”
Caroline suddenly passed her arm through Dominey's. There was a note of distress in her tone.
“Henry, you're an idiot!” she exclaimed. “It was my fault, Everard. I'm so sorry. Just for one moment I had forgotten. I ought to have stopped Henry at once. The poor man has no memory.”
Dominey's arm responded for a moment to the pressure of her fingers. Then he turned to the beaters.
“Well, no one is going to ask you to go to the Black Wood,” he promised. “Get round to the back of Hunt's stubbles, and bring them into the roots and then over into the park. We will line the park fence. How is that, Middleton?”
The keeper touched his hat and stepped briskly off.
“I'll just have a walk with them myself, sir,” he said. “Them birds do break at Fuller's corner. I'll see if I can flank them. You'll know where to put the guns, Squire.”
Dominey nodded. One and all the beaters were walking with most unaccustomed speed towards their destination. Their backs were towards the Black Wood. Terniloff came up to his host.
“Have I, by chance, been terribly tactless?” he asked.
Dominey shook his head.