"Yes," he continued between puffs, "old Parson Dowden was a great man at chess. I remember hearin' how he licked the parson from the next parish in a wonderful game. But he was a young man, an' hadn't the experience of Parson Dowden."
The fingers of Martin's right hand clutched the pipe with a firm grip. His eyes, staring and big, were fixed upon the prospector's face. Surprise, mingled with consternation, was depicted upon his countenance. But Tom did not seem to notice anything unusual, and Nance was too intent upon the game to heed anything else.
"I only saw that young parson from the adjoinin' parish but once," Tom went on after a pause, in which he seemed to be meditating. "It was when he buried my Nell. But, poor chap, I heard that he got into trouble, was put out of the Church, an' so left the parish to parts unknown. 'Twas a great blow to his friends an' relatives, so I understand."
Tom ceased his narration, casually blew a cloud of smoke into the air, and shot one lightning glance toward Martin. Any doubt as to the identity of the man before him was now removed. The strained, haggard expression upon Martin's face plainly told of the agony within. He sat very still, although he often looked anxiously and keenly into Tom's face as if wondering how much he knew, and if he had any idea that the man sitting before him was the same who had buried his Nell. But the prospector's manner as he watched the game led him to believe that he had not the slightest suspicion. Although this was somewhat of a relief to Martin, yet he began to feel uneasy in Tom's presence. He longed to hear more about his old parish, and he knew that Tom could supply him with the information. Several times his lips moved ere he could sufficiently control himself to speak.
"You've been away from Eastern Canada for some time, I suppose," he at length remarked in an attempted off-handed manner.
"Yes, nigh on to twenty years," was the reply.
"Many changes must have taken place in your home parish during that time."
"Yes, many," and Tom gazed thoughtfully into the fire. "I kept in touch with it fer years, but I haven't heard any news fer a long time now. I guess people have fergotten all about me an' my Nell. It's wonderful how soon people will fergit except one thing."
"And what is that?" Martin queried.
"Oh, anything bad about a person. Now take the case of that young parson from Glendale fer instance. I don't believe they've fergotten about it yit, at least they hadn't the last time I heard from home."