He took the right and Mary the left. It was a strange thing how they had to wrestle with the leather laces and how tightly the boots stuck to his inanimate feet.
‘Now he’s all right,’ said Abner, when the job was finished. ‘He’ll come up like a daisy in the morning, never fear!’
She did not reply to him but stood with the candlestick in her hand staring at her husband’s body.
‘Will you come downstairs with me, please?’ she said.
Abner had not bargained for this. He could not think what she wanted of him, but he could not very well refuse her, and so he followed her down the creaking stairs into the kitchen. She put the candle on the table and faced him silently from the other side. Then she said:—
‘Tell me all about it, please . . . everything.’
There was nothing to tell her. He said that he had found George leaning up against a wall in the avenue and helped him over the last lap.
‘Were you at the Pound House to-night?’
‘Yes, I looked in just on closing time.’
‘Then I’m sure that you know. Please tell me!’