Let be now. I hevn't any time to waste."
Laycock watched him up the Hull road till he slipped away like a shadow
into shade. Then he sat down to wait for morning. He would not stay
in Hallam another day. He blamed himself for staying so long. He would
take any offer Swale made him in the morning. There would be neither
peace nor safety for him, if Tim Bingley took it into his will to
return to Hallam whenever he wanted money.
At daylight Dolly Ives, an old woman who cleaned his house and cooked
his meals, came. She had left the evening before at six o'clock, and
if any thing was known of Bingley's visit to Hallam, she would likely
have heard of it. She wasn't a pleasant old woman, and she had not
a very good reputation, but her husband had worked with Laycock's
father, and he had been kind to her on several occasions when she had
been in trouble. So she had "stuck up for Bill Laycock," and her
partisanship had become warmer from opposition.
It was at best a rude kind of liking, for she never failed to tell
any unkind thing she heard about him. She had, however, nothing fresh
to say, and Bill felt relieved. He ate his breakfast and went to his
forge until ten o'clock. Then he called at Swale's. He fancied the
lawyer was "a bit offish," but he promised him the money that night,
and with this promise Bill had to be content.
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