Landless burst into grim laughter. "And after your fifth attempt, what then?"
The man gave him a sidelong look. "I have not made my fifth attempt," he said quietly.
They worked in silence for a few minutes. Then said Master Win-Grace Porringer:—
"I was sent to the plantations, because, in defiance of the Act of Uniformity (cursed be it, and the authors thereof), I attended a meeting of the persecuted and broken remnant of the Lord's people. What was your offense, friend, for I reckon that you come not here of your free will, being neither a rustic nor a fool?"
"I came from Newgate," said Landless, after a pause. "I am a convict."
The man's hand stopped in the act of pulling off a shoot. He gave a slow upward look at the figure beside him, let his eyes rest upon the face, and looked slowly down again with a shake of the head.
"Humph!" he said. "The society in Newgate must be improved since my time."
They worked without speaking until they had nearly reached the end of the long double row, when said the Muggletonian:—
"You are too young, I take it, to have seen service in the wars?"
"I fought at Worcester."