John Massingbird went out and brought back the boy.
"Mind you have your wits sharp about you this time, Mr. Duff," he remarked. Which piece of advice had the effect of scaring Mr. Duff's wits more completely away than they had been scared before.
"You tell us that you saw a man pass up the lane when you were in the field after the cat," began Mr. Verner. "Was the man walking fast?"
"Please, sir, yes. Afore I could get out o' the gate he was near out o' sight. He went a'most as fast as the cat did."
"How long was it, after you saw him, before you met young Broom, and heard that somebody was in the pond?"
"Please, sir, 'twas a'most directly. I was running then, I was."
As the boy's answer fell upon the room, a conviction stole over most of those collected in it that this man must have been the one who had been heard in dispute with Rachel Frost.
"Were there no signs about him by which you could recognise him?" pursued Mr. Verner. "What did he look like? Was he tall or short?"
"Please, sir, he were very tall."
"Could you see his dress? Was it like a gentleman's or a labourer's?"