“I d’ ’low a witch ’ud not have no power over he,” said Jim, thinking ruefully of his unsuccessful attempt with the bees’ wax.
“An’ it don’t seem to answer to go fightin’ of he, neither,” remarked Tom, who had a very noticeable black eye.
“I was a-wonderin’,” pursued Sam, “if we couldn’t someways ha’ the law on him. He mid be run in for trespassin’ maybe, or for makin’ away wi’ other folks’ property—meanin’ the maids’ ’earts, do ’ee see? ha! ha!”
“Lard, what a notion!” cried Jim. “Why the maids theirselves would take his part, sayin’ they gived ’em to en willin’. That’s no use. What I say is, Here be six on us, let’s go at en all together an’ duck en. That ’ud maybe cool en a bit.”
A young man who had for some time been standing on the outskirts of the group silently listening, now came forward, throwing out his hand to command attention. He was a sharp-featured youth with cunning little eyes and a sly smile.
“Beg pardon for interrupting,” he began, “but if you think of callin’ in the aid of the law, I shall be ’appy to advise ye.”
“Why, ’tis the lawyer chap,” said Tom. “He ought to know summat; he’s been apeggin’ away at a desk long enough.”
Mr. Samuel Cross, who had indeed been clerk to the Branston lawyer for two or three years, and who was occasionally not averse to giving a little legal advice on his own account, unknown to his principal, was hailed on the present occasion with respectful satisfaction. Seating himself on a corner of the deal table round which the group had gathered, and swinging his little legs backwards and forwards, he surveyed the party with twinkling eyes.
“First an’ foremost,” he began, “your notion, Jim Hardy, must be dismissed at once. Duck a man who wears the Queen’s uniform? Why the whole country would be up in arms? Sam’s idea is better, but I don’t quite see how we could make it ‘trespass,’ nor yet ‘appropriation of property’. The young ladies, as Jim truly said, the young ladies would be against us there. We might do something in the way of ‘undue influence,’ perhaps,” meditatively, “but the best of all would be a ‘Breach of Prom.’.”
“What’s that?” cried several voices, while Tom, scratching his head, remarked, “I don’t quite take ’ee.”