"Being away at the time, I never quite got to the bottom of what preceded your acquittal. Do you mind telling me, Jim?"
"It's no great secret, an' all to the credit of the man who helped me. Weel, I was locked up, charged with poaching and wounding."
"Innocently, I hope," said Rae; and there was a trace of Caledonian dryness in Johnstone's reply.
"Ye will mind the saying about speiring no questions and being telt less lies. Meanwhile two or three others consultit with Lawyer Davidson, and he said conviction would be certain if Mr. Dane could swear to me. Otherwise, he suspectit I would go free. Then Mary would see Mr. Dane for the sake of the bairns. I was sore against it, but they had me jailed, an' what could I do? Well, she wrote asking him to meet her by the Hallows Brig, and Mr. Dane e'en promised to do his best for me, an' tell nobody. May be he could no be quite certain. Ye will mind there was no moon just then, and the night was thick, Mr. Rae."
"I have heard that no man is expected to testify against himself," said the reverend gentleman dryly.
"That's what Davidson telt the fiscal," continued Johnstone, with a laugh. "Says he, 'It's the business o' your witnesses to convict him'; an' I'm no denying that they did their best, all but Mr. Dane. He just stuck to his story—it was dark, an' while the man he grappled with was like to me, he could swear to nobody who had just kicked him hard upon the knee."
Johnstone added further details, and then looked hard at the clergyman, as though expecting him to take up the challenge when he concluded, "May be there are folks who lightly Mr. Dane for what he done, but it was him an' no other who made an honest man of me, forby a promotit foreman home on a holiday."
"I am not a lawyer," said Rae. "It is therefore not my business to judge him; and you need not stare at me. I already believed Mr. Dane to be a kindly gentleman. I am also open to admit that he did more than either I or my predecessor could accomplish. We are not, however, all friends of big contractors, you see."
Johnstone grinned in answer to the last thrust, while Lilian felt thankful that she sat in a shadowy corner, for the simple story which bore the truth stamped upon the face of it, had stirred her strangely. The action narrated was characteristic of the man who was risking his life in Africa. She knew that he was very generous, and could be loyal to a pledge, even to his disadvantage. It was equally evident that the young workman with his unconcealed dislike to his benefactor's class would be very unlikely to shut his eyes to any intrigue between Dane and his sister. Yet, though Lilian was angry with herself for the thought, it was possible that the brother might have been deceived, and she felt that she must learn the truth. The seamstress said nothing, and it dawned upon Rae that his presence was superfluous; so, making the first excuse available, he took his departure, and Johnstone with him.