“Could not an armed force restrain vagabonds from plundering?”
“Wherefore, it is hard to say,” returned the herdsman. “Are you going to B——— to-morrow?”
“I am.”
“You are in haste thither?”
“I must be there by noon.”
“The special commission sits there the following day. They say it will go hard with the men who killed the gauger?”
“‘Tis said so; and if the circumstances attendant on the murder be such as are generally believed, they will deserve their fate.”
The peasant eyed me sharply, and then, with assumed indifference, observed, “The devil is painted always blacker than he is; and something may still come out in the prisoners’ favour. I fear, poor fellows, that they will be prosecuted hard.”
“That you may be certain of.”
“Well,” continued my companion, “no doubt Bradley’s death was sudden. But could it be otherwise? Many an aching heart he caused, and the curse of ruined men and houseless children pursued him.”