“Then she’ll not be for coming to Milton again, I reckon.”
“No!”
“Stop a minute, measter.” Then going up confidentially close, he said, “Is th’ young gentleman cleared?” He enforced the depth of his intelligence by a wink of the eye, which only made things more mysterious to Mr. Thornton.
“Th’ young gentleman, I mean—Master Frederick, they ca’ed him—her brother as was over here, yo’ known.”
“Over here.”
“Ay, to be sure, at th’ missus’s death. Yo’ need na be feared of my telling; for Mary and me, we knowed it all along, only we held our peace, for we got it through Mary working in th’ house.”
“And he was over. It was her brother.”
“Sure enough, and I reckoned yo’ knowed it, or I’d never ha’ let on. Yo’ knowed she had a brother?”
“Yes, I know all about him. And he was over at Mrs. Hale’s death?”
“Nay! I’m not going for to tell more. I’ve maybe getten them into mischief already, for they kept it very close. I nobbut wanted to know if they’d getten him cleared?”