Business had long been
slack; his forge was cold when he got back, and he had no heart to
rekindle it. Frightened and miserable, he was standing in the door
tying on his leather apron, when he saw Dolly coming as fast as she
could toward him.
He did not wait, but went to meet her. "Whativer is ta coming here
for?"
"Thou knows. Get away as fast as ta can. There hev been men searching
t' house, and they hev takken away t' varry suit Bingley wore at Ben
Craven's trial. Now, will ta go? Here's a shilling, it's a' I hev."
Terrified and hurried, he did the worst possible thing for his own
case--he fled, as Dolly advised, and was almost immediately followed
and taken prisoner. In fact, he had been under surveillance, even
before Bingley left his house at midnight. Suspicion had been aroused
by a very simple incident. Mary Clough had noticed that a stone jar,
which had stood in one of the windows of the mill ever since it had
been closed, was removed. In that listless way which apparently trivial
things have of arresting the attention, this jar had attracted Mary
until it had become a part of the closed mill to her. It was in its
usual place when she looked out in the morning; at noon it had
disappeared.
Some one, then, was in the mill. A strong conviction took possession
of her.
Pages:
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87