The moonlight struck full upon her, and she stood in it serene and bore unmoved the stupid stare of all their eyes. It was she who spoke first, and then they knew her, and the spell which held them dumb was broken.
"What do you want?" she demanded. "I should like to hear."
Then they began to shout again.
"We want Murdoch!" they said. "We ha' summat to say to him."
"He is not here," she said. "He has not been here."
"That's a lee," remarked a gentleman on the outskirts of the crowd. "A dom'd un."
She made no answer, and, singularly enough, nobody laughed.
"Why do you want him?" she said next.
"We want to hear about that contrapshun o' his as is goin' to mak' th' mesters indypendent. He knows what we want him fur. We've just been to his house and brokken th' winders. He's getten wind on us comin', an' he made off wi' th' machine. He'll be here afore long if he is na here now, an' we're bound to see him."