“Hm; thought pr’aps ye might—good-night.”
“Good-noight.”
And the man went his way.
“Ah! Billy, my heart misgives me, boy,” said Gaff after a pause.
It was evident that Billy’s heart misgave him too, for he made no reply.
The distance to Cove being only three miles, they were not long in reaching the cottage, although their pace had become slower and slower as they approached the village, and they stopped altogether when they first came in sight of their old home.
A light shone brightly in the little window. They glanced at each other on observing this, but no word escaped them. Silently they approached the cottage-window and looked in.
Gaff started back with a slight exclamation of surprise, for his eye fell on the new and strange furniture of the “boodwar.” Billy looked round with a searching eye.
“There’s nobody in,” he said at length, “but look, daddy, the old clock’s there yet.”
Gaff did not know whether this was a good or a bad omen, for any one who had taken and refurnished the cottage might have bought the old clock and kept it as a sort of curiosity.