'Then I'll wait,' Jack said, but, glancing at the Squire, he added, 'If it were not for this wish of Miss Palmer's, sir, I would not wait your pleasure; but her word is law to me. If it weren't,' he muttered, 'I'd knock you down.'
An ironical laugh, with the words, 'Come, sir, be off!' was the only rejoinder, and then Jack strode away out of sight.
'Will that big sulky fellow eavesdrop?' he heard as he was departing, and the question was not likely to allay his wrath.
The conversation lasted for more minutes than Jack's patience held out, and he fumed and chafed at the indignity passed on him.
'To be warned off by a brute like that!' he murmured. 'What right has he to do it?'
Presently Betty's face appeared above the low wall which skirted the farmyard.
'Oh! Jack,' she exclaimed, 'Bryda has been talking to the young Squire ever so long. She sent me away. I do so wish she would come. It is all about that money and grandfather; but I don't like her to be alone with that man; he has a bad face. She has got Flick, but still I wish she would come.'
'Hang it all!' Jack said, 'I won't stand this another minute,' and he retraced his steps up the lane, reaching the down just as the Squire, with a pointer at his heels, was bowing low and waving his hand in farewell to Bryda.
Jack was at her side in an instant.
'What does that fellow want?'