Isaac’s jaw dropped; he brought down his fist heavily on the bank beside him.
‘Well,’ he muttered under his breath, ‘I’m danged! I can’t get no satisfaction. Not a word!’
‘You know enough,’ said Richard fiercely. ‘Be content with what I tell you—I will never darken your doors again.’
Isaac brought down his fist once more on the bank, and then slowly hoisted himself on to his feet.
‘If ye have n’t naught to say to I, I’ve summat to say to you,’ he announced, speaking very slowly. ‘I bain’t a-goin’ to let ’ee go off like that. ’T is my way to be straightfor’ard. I’ll speak my mind plain to ’ee this night, and I’ll speak my mind to Mrs. F. Where be Mrs. F.? Come along of I, Richard, and find her.’
He had squeezed through the gap in the hedge while still speaking, and Richard had no choice but to follow him. A few strides brought them to the dell, and, looking down, they descried Rosalie standing in the same attitude as that in which Richard had left her.
‘Mrs. Fiander,’ called Isaac, bending over the brink, ‘will ’ee oblige me by stepping up here? The sides be a bit steep, and I bain’t so young as I were—I can’t very well go down, but I ’d be obliged if you ’d step up. I ’ve summat to say to you and my nevvy here.’
Rosalie had started violently at the sound of his voice, and now obeyed his summons in silence; but she trembled so much, and the wet grass had become so slippery, that she stumbled often, and it was some time before she completed the ascent. Meanwhile both men stood watching her, motionless, and in silence. Once or twice she had raised her eyes towards the great white figure which awaited her on the brink, and it seemed to her that Isaac’s face was grave and stern like the face of a judge. She did not dare once glance at Richard, but she felt, even without looking at him, that their secret was discovered.
The farmer backed a little away from the edge of the dell when Rosalie came forth, and stood looking from one to the other; then he spoke very solemnly, and with some hesitation.
‘Mrs. Fiander, as I was a-sayin’ to Richard jist now, ’t is best to be straightfor’ard—’ees, ’t is best to speak out, even when it be hard to speak out. I can’t get no satisfaction from Richard—he did acshally tell I to my face as he had made up his mind to go straight off wi’out a single word to I. He comes wi’out a word and he goes wi’out a word! Now, Mrs. F., I did see you together jist now, and I did think as you ’d have summat to tell me.’