"Ally—Ned Langstaff saw you."
* * * * *
When Rowcliffe came back from Upthorne he found Alice cowering in a corner of the couch and crying out to her tormentors.
"You brutes—you brutes—if Gwenda was here she wouldn't let you bully me!"
Mary turned to her husband.
"Steven—will you speak to her? She won't tell us anything. We've been at it more than half an hour."
Rowcliffe stared at her and the Vicar with strong displeasure.
"I should think you had by the look of her. Why can't you leave the poor child alone?"
At the sound of his voice, the first voice of compassion that had yet spoken to her, Alice cried to him.
"Steven! Steven! They've been saying awful things to me. Tell them it isn't true. Tell them you don't believe it."