She had become confident that no harm would be done him until another day, when he would be given a justice trial before being taken to jail.
Determined to be present, she started homeward, happily unconscious that it had already been decided to arrest her, though she was not followed to her home.
Incidentally she had learned that Deacon Cornhill had been demanded to meet his liabilities, and that he was about to sign over all his property to satisfy his creditors.
These things were among those she told to her anxious friends at home, whom she found anxiously awaiting her coming.
No new development had taken place since her departure, except that two or three men had been seen hovering about the house, who it was thought were spies who had been left by Sheriff Stanyan.
So the occupants of the old red house saw the shades of night fall with dire misgivings.
To make their situation more gloomy, threatenings of a storm appeared, and the wind moaned through the trees overhanging the back side of the building.
“I shall go crazy,” declared Aunt Vinnie.
At that moment Chick and Ruddy, their faces white with terror, burst into the room, exclaiming:
“We have heard it ag’in! There are ghosts, and they are crying and moaning, ‘Murder! Murder!’”