"It is enough to surprise anybody," remarked the squire. "I trust we shall surprise Mr. Goddard before night. Excuse me, but when did he express his amiable intentions towards me?"
"Last night, I believe," replied Mr. Ambrose, reluctantly.
"And when did he see me going into the cottage?"
"Yesterday afternoon, I believe." The vicar felt as though he were beginning to break his promise of shielding the fugitive, but he could not refuse to answer a direct question.
"Then, when he saw me, he was either in the cottage or in the park. There was no one in the road, I am quite sure."
"I do not know," said the vicar, delighted at being able to say so. He was such a simple man that Mr. Juxon noticed the tone of relief in which he denied any knowledge of Goddard's whereabouts on the previous day as compared with his reluctance to answer upon those points of which he was certain.
"You are not anxious that Goddard should be caught," said the squire rather sharply.
"Frankly," returned the vicar, "I do not wish to be instrumental in his capture—not that I am likely to be."
"That is none of my business, Mr. Ambrose. I will try and catch him alone. But it would be better that he should be taken alive and quietly—"
"Surely," cried the vicar in great alarm, "you would not kill him?"