ridin'. They wa'ant goin' very vast, so I could
hear 'em talkin. When I got to the bottom of the hill I sed to meself,
I wan't let those chaps zee me, so I gets under a bush cloase to a pool
beside the road. As luck wud 'ave it, they got off their 'osses right
against where I was, so as to let um drink, and then I seed that one of
them was yer brother, and tother a strange chap, as Maaster Wilfred
'ave got very thick wi'."

"Who was he?"

"I don't knaw, 'cept 'ee's a bad un. 'Ee don't do nothin' but loaf
around the Manor and the kiddley-wink (beershop). I'm told as 'ow he's
terrible thick wi' Maaster Wilfred, who do kip un to do all soarts ov
dirty jobs. I've 'eerd 'ee's from Plymouth, and he goes by the name of
Jake Blackburn."

"Well?"

"Well, Maaster Wilfred wur sayin' somethin' about his brother comin'
'ome again and wishin' he knawed he wur comin', as then Jake cud 'ave
stopped un from comin' home. Then, Maaster Roger, I 'ad a sort o'
notion 'ow that you'd come 'ome again, and I wur glad."

"What then? Tell me quickly."

"Then your brother said as 'ow he'd pay you out now, and that, though
you might get the old estate, which was mortgaged, you shud never 'ave
the girl you loved."

"Why? How?"

"I couldn't rightly make out, but I heerd Maaster Wilfred zay that he'd
kill yer weth hes own 'and rather than you shud ever 'ave her. Then I
'eerd Jake Blackburn ax what 'ee'd got to do wi' that, and your brother
told 'im that ef Miss Ruth didn't come down from 'er 'igh 'oss, there'd
be some work for 'im to do."

"You don't mean to say that Wilfred would use this villain to kill
Ruth?"

"I don't say nothin', sur, but I knaw Maaster Wilfred wur awful mad,
and wur tellin' Jake that ef 'ee ded'n do as he was told he'd put a
'angman's rope round es nuddick. I 'eerd un zay, too, that he wud tell
'er you was dead, and that it wur 'er place to 'ave him, and if she
wudden--well, and then they was whisperin' one to another."

"And are you sure they were going there?"

"As sure as I can be, sur. I 'eerd em zay they'd git to Morton Hall by
ten o'clock."

"And now it's after two. Why did you not tell me before?"

"I've bin three times this mornin' sur, but they zaid they wudden wake
'ee. I've told 'ee as soon as ever I cud."

I could not believe in what Bill had said, it was too terrible, but I
hurried madly back to the house, he keeping by my side.

"Do you really think he is capable of such a thing