“‘Yes; but they wouldn’t have done it, Lil.’
“‘But I would have made them let me. I would have screamed and cried so they would have been obliged to do it.’
“‘Poor little Lil!’
“‘But, you see, a man came and told me a passel of lies.’
“‘How was that, Lil?’
“‘Why, you see, we all at the farm sat up ever so late, waiting for you to come home, and never thinking any harm, and never feeling uneasy, because Mrs. Claxton said she reckoned as the old squire had died so sudden, and everybody had been taken so by surprise, and everything must be so upside down at the Hall, that maybe you had been called on to give some assistance, like going of a message, or something.’
“‘Yes. Well, Lil?’
“‘So we were not anxious about you. But just about an hour after midnight a man come to the house with a message from you, as you had been detained by business, but would come to me as soon as you could, and that I mustn’t wait up, but must go to bed. And I thought you were at the Hall, as they said; and though I felt disappointed, and very lonesome, I went to bed.’
“‘Poor little Lil!’
“‘And it was all lies, Joe—all lies!’