"Maurice Malherb has changed his views. Your death has done wonders and quite broke him. An ignoble type of man
"'We call a nettle but a nettle
And the faults of fools but folly.'
So Shakespeare dismisses Malherb. Now tell me about yourself; then I'll answer your question."
"Soon told. After I seed my den was found out, bad as I was, with my skull near split and scarce able to crawl, I dragged my goods away an' carried 'em—every stick—two mile off. For I knowed they'd come next day an' tear the place down an' pull all abroad, like a boy pulls out a bird's nest. I reckoned the bloodhounds was arter me, too, and might finish me any minute; but nought happened and I got clear off. Then 'twas that two nights after, seeking for another hiding-place where I could be safe, I comed across a corpse. Never was a stranger sight seen. A man wi' only one hand an' his throat cut from ear to ear. His eyes glared through the dim fog of death upon 'em, an' the foxes had found him. I be wearing his clothes now. They'm very comfortable, an' 'tis a wonder I never took to man's garments afore, for they'm always to be had where there's scarecrows. I needn't tell 'e the rest, for you've guessed it by your grinning. I seed how 'twould fall out, an' so it did. My white rags of hair I cut off an' left beside his bald poll, an' my clothes I put about his clay. His knife I took, an' what's more, I got two hundred and eight pound by him, for there was gold pieces covered with his blood all round him. More there might have been, but the cursed greedy bogs had swallowed 'em, though I raked elbow deep for 'em. Then I smashed in the man's head an' left winter an' the crows an' wild beasts to do the rest. My locks be growing again now."
She took off her close cap of rabbit's skin and revealed a tangle of snow-white hair with evident satisfaction.
"What next?" asked Peter.
"That be all. I'm hid very snug just now, right up where the river springs nigh the Grey Wethers on Sittaford Tor. Not a bee gathers honey there; not a beast grazes that way. An' Jack Lee be along wi' me; for us met by chance nigh Holne Wood in the night, both hunting for food. 'Twas three days after he slipped the sojers."
"A scurvy trick he served me. I'd got her promise to marry me if I saved him."
"Well, I'll sell him to 'e if you wants to pay him out."
"A grand-dam to be proud of! And now, my old treasure, what do you come to me for?"