"Will you answer me one question, friend?" said the Squire, after a few moments' consideration. "Fear nothing, I shall not impose any penance, nor refuse absolution. But tell me truly: Did you or your mother find anything else in this old bureau with its secret hiding-place?"
Hodge shuffled, stood first on one leg then on the other, looked earnestly at the four shadowed corners of the hall, consulted the antlers of a once famous stag over the great mantelpiece, coughed a little, stroked his head, twisted his hat into indescribable shapes, and finally, resolved to bring himself through his trouble and make an end of it, he faced the Squire more boldly.
"Master, I been honest, boy and man, all my life, and I wouldn't wrong nobody; but mother be very old, and she did say how them few guineas would bury her when she's dead, and no thanks to the parish; and I didn't say no, 'cause I thowt p'raps it were providence like to find 'em there, and no harm done to nobody. Now as I'm a living man that's all I knows about it. Mother she put the gold away somewheres till the burying, and I ain't touched a penny of it."
"Very good. Then, Hodge, you must ask your mother to give up those guineas, for though I bought The Moat House as it stood, I did not bargain for secret hoards in old bureaux, and anything of that kind still belongs to Mr. Falconer, if we would do our duty to God and him. You had a right to the piece of furniture, thrown out to anyone who chose to pick it up, and you are entitled to the reward offered for the discovery of the paper found in it."
"Thank ye, sir, thank ye; I knowed you'd set it all right."
"But, Hodge, let me advise you to comfort your mother's heart by setting aside a portion for her use, and don't let any man calling himself a priest get into your house or presume to manage her or it."
"Wish I could help it, master, but ye see our young gentleman shows most favour to them as goes to his new chapel, and minds his priest, and I'm only a poor man, and can't afford to 'front him. And the children what used to go to school at Pine-wood End, why they be getting imperent and bad and lazy, and scoffs at commandments, and says priest knows better nor Bible, and bids 'em not read it no more. So then, sir, you won't give him the twenty pound?"
"Certainly not. I shall give it to you, and inform Mr. Freakes to that effect."
"And, sir, if I gets into trouble about it, would you stand a poor fellow's friend? We could live a while on the twenty pound, but I couldn't do 'thout work for any long spell, ye see."
"You may depend on me to see you through this business, Hodge, but I scarcely think it would suit Mr. Freakes' plans to interfere with you and your livelihood; the circumstances will soon be public, and will not tell to his advantage if he turns you off."