"You mean thing!" the girl pouted. "I don't want anything more to do with you. Come, Sadie, let's go for a walk. We're not wanted here."
"You must not go now, Nan," her sister ordered. "It will soon be tea time, and I want you to help me. Father will be awake soon."
The time sped all too quickly for Douglas, and he wondered what would happen before he should spend another such pleasant afternoon with Nell. She did not remove the wreath he had placed upon her head until that evening after he had left her at the cottage door. Then she placed it in a dish of water to keep the lilies fresh as long as possible in memory of that happy day. A strange happiness possessed her, and her heart was full of peace such as she had never before experienced.
Douglas had the feeling that he was now nearing a crisis in his sojourn at Rixton, and the next morning he told Jake that he had better get another man to help him.
"What! Surely ye'r not goin' to leave us, are ye?" Jake exclaimed.
"Not just yet," Douglas informed him. "But I may not be able to give you full service for a while. And, besides, if this trial should go against me, I may be forced to leave the place after all. If Squire Hawkins fails to give justice and allows Ben to go free, what am I to do?" Douglas merely asked this to see what Jake would say.
"So ye think that Hen Hawkins might not give ye justice, eh? Is that what's botherin' ye?"
"Oh, it's not bothering me very much, only it might shorten my stay here, that's all. It will be no use for me to remain in this place with all the people against me. I can go elsewhere."
"The hull people'll not be aginst ye," and Jake brought his big fist down upon the kitchen table with a bang. "Mebbe they'll have a few things to say if Hen Hawkins isn't on the square. I know that him an' the Stubbles eat out of the same trough. But great punkins! they'll dance on the same griddle if they're not keerful."
Douglas was surprised at the number of men gathered at the hall when he and Jake arrived that afternoon. Most of them were sitting or standing in little groups outside, discussing the one important question of the day. Just what they were saying he could not tell, as the time had come for the trial to begin and the men flocked into the building. Squire Hawkins was sitting on the platform, and by his side was his clerk with pen and paper before him, ready to take down the evidence.