It was a fact. He had rescued her from plunging over the precipice concealed only by some bushes. She looked, saw that what he said was the truth, and without thanking him went sullenly away.
But Jack, as he sauntered from the spot, was dissatisfied with himself.
'I have been too sharp with her,' he said. 'If there be a fault it lies with her mother, not with Winnie. I did wrong. With a girl one should not attempt a passage of arms.'
CHAPTER XXIV
REVERSED POSITIONS
A fit of depression came over Jack. Happily in youth such fits are not of long duration.
The excitement of the funeral and sale was over, and a sense of solitariness weighed on the lad. He had no relatives. There were connections at Beer, but these were all more or less closely implicated in the contraband trade upon which Beer flourished, though ostensibly it occupied itself with fishing.
Jack considered it expedient that he should keep clear of them, and it was for this reason especially that he had accepted Olver Dench's offer to lodge and board him.
But he did not like the ferryman. There were in him a rancour and a low cunning that revolted him, and Jack resolved not to take the man into his confidence, nor ask his opinion on any matter of consequence.