But the thought gave him no comfort.
“Much good that will do!” he answered. And passionately flinging down the paper, “I’ll not have them! They must fend for themselves.”
“Do they say why they are coming?” she asked after a pause.
“Didn’t I tell you?” he replied querulously, “because it’s too hot for them there! One of the justices, Clyne, if you must know——”
“Clyne!” she ejaculated in astonishment. “Clyne again?”
“Ay!”
“The man—you took the girl from?” she asked in a queer voice.
“The same. He’s the deuce down there. He’ll get his house burnt over his head one of these nights! He has sworn an information against them, and they swear they’ll have their revenge. But in the meantime they must needs come here and blow the gaff on me. Fine revenge!” with scorn.
“And they want you to send a boat for them to Newby Bridge?”
“Ay, curse them! I told them I had a boat I could take quietly, and come down the lake in the dark. And they say the boat can just as well fetch them.”