"Nell, Nell," she called, as she laid her parcels on the kitchen table, "where are you?"
"Here I am," Nell replied, coming from the next room. "What is the matter? You are all hot and excited."
"They are going to arrest my musician, just think of that!"
"Arrest your musician! Mr. Handyman! Why, what for?"
"Because he hit Billy Keezer and Tom Oakes last night on the road. He cut them up pretty badly, so I heard."
Nell looked at her sister for a few seconds in an effort to comprehend the meaning of it all. Then the truth flashed upon her mind. "I am so glad I gave him that pick-handle," she said to herself. "I felt that an attack would be made upon him." To her sister, however, she merely said,
"Sit down, Nan, and tell me what you have heard."
In a few words Nan told her the story that was in circulation around the village. It was the same that Jake had related to Douglas.
"And is every one blaming Mr. Handyman?" Nell asked when Nan had finished.
"Oh, yes. And they are saying what a dangerous man he is, and should be driven out of the place. I heard the storekeeper tell another man that he stole Tom Oakes' coat last night, and that he believed that Mr. Handyman is a noted thief."