the gate, and walked quickly down
the path without thinking of anything except getting away unnoticed.
Half-way down the hill the path ran near a knot of stunted hollies,
which in the general darkness of the scene stood as the pupil in a
black eye. When Wildeve reached this point a report startled his ear,
and a few spent gunshots fell among the leaves around him.

There was no doubt that he himself was the cause of that gun's
discharge; and he rushed into the clump of hollies, beating the bushes
furiously with his stick; but nobody was there. This attack was a
more serious matter than the last, and it was some time before Wildeve
recovered his equanimity. A new and most unpleasant system of menace
had begun, and the intent appeared to be to do him grievous bodily
harm. Wildeve had looked upon Venn's first attempt as a species of
horse-play, which the reddleman had indulged in for want of knowing
better; but now the boundary line was passed which divides the
annoying from the perilous.

Had Wildeve known how thoroughly in earnest Venn had become he
might have been still more alarmed. The reddleman had been almost
exasperated by the sight of Wildeve outside Clym's house, and he was
prepared to go to any lengths short of absolutely shooting him, to
terrify the young innkeeper out of his recalcitrant impulses. The
doubtful legitimacy of such rough coercion did not disturb the mind
of Venn. It troubles few such minds in such cases, and sometimes this
is not to be regretted. From the impeachment of Strafford to Farmer
Lynch's short way with the scamps of Virginia there have been many
triumphs of justice which are mockeries of law.

About half a mile below Clym's secluded dwelling lay a hamlet where
lived one of the two constables who preserved the peace in the parish
of Alderworth, and Wildeve went straight to the constable's cottage.
Almost the first thing that he saw on opening the door was the
constable's truncheon hanging to a nail, as if to assure him that
here were the means to his purpose. On inquiry, however, of the
constable's wife he learnt that the constable was not at home.
Wildeve said he would wait.

The minutes ticked on, and the constable did not arrive. Wildeve
cooled down from his state of high indignation to a restless
dissatisfaction with himself, the scene, the constable's wife, and the
whole set of circumstances. He arose and left the house. Altogether,
the experience of that evening had had a cool