About an hour afterwards Heber’s perturbed wanderings came to an end: he approached Pencoed again. It was not only Susannah’s demeanour and its suggestion that annoyed him, for, in his heart, he blamed her for having let slip his regained treasure. It was an illogical feeling, because he never doubted that Catherine had gone with Saunders, and gone willingly, repenting the rash step she had taken. He did not overlook the difference between himself and the richer man, though he despised Charles. He had managed to convey news of what had happened to Mrs. Job, and his heart was so sore that he longed for the sympathy of the uncompromising and undemonstrative person whose partisanship never failed him.
There was a grim explosiveness in Mrs. Job’s manner as he entered the house, though she listened patiently while he gave her the history of Talgwynne fair-day. Her husband stole in, anxious for a pipe beside the fire, but she motioned him out; her relentless predominance in the household was a matter of course, and Job departed as humbly as he had come.
“Maybe it’s not Saunders as is at the bottom o’ this,” said she, when the shepherd was silent. “Mind you, Heber, I’ve got eyes in my head, an’ ears too—not so long as some folks, but long enough to hear from here to Talgwynne! Ah! That cousin o’ yours be a bit o’ stuff to burn yer fingers wi’, an’ no mistake. I know that!”
Moorhouse frowned and his companion took his frown for a sign of dissent. She raised her sharp nose higher.
“What’s wrong wi’ her?” he asked.
“Wrong wi’ her? She’ve got her eye on you! An’ I’ve got mine on her, an’ had in chapel, too. I can see a thing or two, b’lieve me!”
His brows drew still closer together.
“What made ye run out o’ chapel like that?” demanded Mrs. Job, coming closer. “It cost me a good chinay cup, that run o’ yours did. She just up wi’ her hand an’ down wi’ the cup on the stones an’ bruk it to pieces—if it had been my head my lady would ha’ been better pleased, her would—askin’ me for a drink. A drink indeed! Her wanted to get into the house to see if ye was in it. But her didn’t know me!”
She gave him no time for comment.