Considering how much she had already given him, it was perhaps strange that she shuddered a little at this open venture.
"You'll be good to me, Joe!"
"Won't I, just!"
Something in the wistfulness and humility of her appeal had touched him to the heart; he clasped her to him with a passion for once free from roughness, and for one moment at least had every intention of sticking to her for ever.
§ 8.
It was not from Pete that Reuben first heard of his daughter's goings-on. Caro's benevolent trust in humanity had been misplaced, and at the Seven Bells where he called for a refresher on arriving at Rye station, various stragglers from Boarzell eagerly betrayed her, "just to see how he wud täake it."
Reuben received the news with the indifference due to outsiders. But he was not so calm when Pete told his tale at Odiam.
"The bitch," he growled, "I'll learn her. Dancing wud a sailor, you say she wur, Pete?"
"Yes," said Pete, "and wud her hair all tumbling."
"I'll learn her," repeated Reuben. But he never had the chance. By the time the two males had sat up till about three or four the next morning, they came to the conclusion that Caro must have seen Pete watching her and run away.