“Did you hear the gun go off?”
“I heard a shot as I was sitting on the stump of a tree, and was thinking; but I attached no importance to it, never supposing it was in the cottage.”
“What was it that Captain Thorn had to get from the cottage after he quitted you? What had he left there?”
Now, this was a random shaft. Lawyer Ball, a keen man, who had well weighed all points in the tale imparted to him by Richard, as well as other points, had colored them with his own deductions, and spoke accordingly. Afy was taken in.
“He had left his hat there—nothing else. It was a warm evening, and he had gone out without it.”
“He told you, I believe, sufficient to convince you of the guilt of Richard Hare?” Another shaft thrown at random.
“I did not want convincing—I knew it without. Everybody else knew it.”
“To be sure,” equably returned Lawyer Ball. “Did Captain Thorn see it done—did he tell you that?”
“He had got his hat, and was away down the wood some little distance, when he heard voices in dispute in the cottage, and recognized one of them to be that of my father. The shot followed close upon it, and he guessed some mischief had been done, though he did not suspect its extent.”
“Thorn told you this—when?”