“I will, sir; but, say, parson—Mr Selwood, sir—for the Lord’s sake don’t let Dick Glaire take that pistol thing. If they get hold of him now, they’ll beat him sore, but if he should shute a man, they’ll niver let him see the light again.”
“I’ll do my best, Podmore,” said the vicar, sadly. “You do yours.”
They parted at the gate, bound on the same mission, that of saving the man who was making them both sick at heart with the desire that they felt could never be fulfilled.
Volume Two—Chapter Fourteen.
Jessie’s Troubles.
Affairs were not very satisfactory at the farm, and Jessie’s eyes more than once looked as if they had been red with crying. For the girl was greatly troubled at heart, since John Maine’s behaviour puzzled her.
It was impossible for anything of note to take place in Dumford, without the news of it reaching the farm, so that she soon heard that Daisy, her old friend and school-fellow, had disappeared; that the two rough fellows who had been hanging about were supposed to have had something to do with her disappearance; while, to make matters more complicated, John Maine had been seen talking to these two men, and had afterwards warned her about holding communication with Daisy.
John Maine had always been civil and pleasant to Daisy. Daisy had more than once laughingly said she liked him. Now she was gone, John Maine’s behaviour was very strange. Could he have had anything to do with getting her away, and was he in any way acting with Richard Glaire, whom some people suspected of complicity?