," Bill said, "and oi'll bid thee goodby, Luke, and thee too,
Polly, for ye won't see me back agin. Of course I shall go wi' him. He
haven't got man's strength yet, and oi can work for us both. I bain't
a-going to let him go by hisself, not loikely."

"Thou art roight, lad," Luke said heartily. "Dang it all, lad, thou
speak'st loike a man. Oi be sorry thou art going, Bill, for oi loike
thee; but thou be right to go wi' this poor lad. Goodby, lad, and luck
be wi' ye;" and Luke wrung Bill's hand heartily.

"I shan't say goodby, Bill," Mary Powlett said quietly. "I don't think
Ned Sankey can have done this thing, and if he hasn't you will find that
he will not run away, but will stay here and face it out."

"Then he will be a fool," Luke Marner said. "I tell ee the evidence be
main strong agin him, and whether he be innocent or not he will find it
hard to clear hisself. Oi don't think much the worst of him myself if he
done it, and most in Varley will be o' my way o' thinking. Foxey war a
tyrant if ever there war one, and the man what was so hard a maister to
his hands would be loike to be hard to his wife's children."

"Don't speak like that, feyther," Polly said; "murder is murder, you
know."

"Ay, lass, and human natur be human natur, and it be no use your going
agin it. If he ha been and ill treated the boy, and I don't doubt as he
has, thou may'st argue all noight, but thou won't get me to say as oi
blames him much if he has done it. Oi don't suppose as he meant to kill
him--not vor a moment. I should think hard of him if oi thowt as how he
did. He meant, oi reckon, vor to throw his horse down and cut his knees,
knowing, as every one did, as Mulready were moighty proud of his horse,
and he may have reckoned as Foxey would git a good shake, and some
bruises as well, as a scare, but oi doan't believe, not vor a moment, as
he meant vor to kill him. That's how oi reads it, lass."

"Well, it may be so," Mary assented. "It is possible he may have done
it, meaning really only to give him a fright and a shake; but I hope he
didn't. Still if that was how it happened I will shake hands, Bill, and
wish you goodby and good luck, for it would be best for him to get away,
for I am afraid that the excuse that he only meant to frighten and not
to kill him will not save him. I am sorry you are going, Bill, very
sorry; but if you were my own brother I would not say a word to stop
you. Didn't his feyther give up his life to save li