e further days of inaction at the mill the Squire
came again, bringing the parson with him; and they did manage to
arrange between them that the repairs should be at once continued.
The mill should be completed; but the house should be left till next
summer. As to Brattle himself, when he had been once persuaded to
yield the point, he did not care how much they pulled down, or how
much they built up. "Do it as you will," he said; "I ain't nobody
now. The women drives me about my own house as if I hadn't a'most no
business there." And so the hammers and trowels were heard again; and
old Brattle would sit perfectly silent, gazing at the men as they
worked. Once, as he saw two men and a boy shifting a ladder, he
turned round, with a little chuckle to his wife, and said, "Sam'd 'a
see'd hisself d----d, afore he'd 'a asked another chap to help him
with such a job as that."

As Mrs. Brattle told Mrs. Fenwick afterwards, he had one of the two
erring children in his thoughts morning, noon, and night. "When I
tell 'un of George,"--who was the farmer near Fordingbridge,--"and of
Mrs. Jay,"--who was the ironmonger's wife at Warminster,--"he won't
take any comfort in them," said Mrs. Brattle. "I don't think he cares
for them, just because they can hold their own heads up."

At the end of three weeks the Grinder was still missing; and others
besides Mr. Jones, the attorney, were beginning to say that Sam
Brattle should be let out of prison. Mr. Fenwick was clearly of
opinion that he should not be detained, if bail could be forthcoming.
The Squire was more cautious, and said that it might well be that his
escape would render it impossible for the police even to get on the
track of the real murderers. "No doubt, he knows more than he has
told," said Gilmore, "and will probably tell it at last. If he be let
out, he will tell nothing." The police were all of opinion that Sam
had been present at the murder, and that he should be kept in custody
till he was tried. They were very sharp in their manoeuvres to get
evidence against him. His boot, they had said, fitted a footstep
which had been found in the mud in the farm-yard. The measure had
been taken on the Sunday. That was evidence. Then they examined
Agnes Pope over and over again, and extracted from the poor girl an
admission that she loved Sam better than anything in the whole wide
world. If he were to be in prison, she would not object to go to
prison with him. If he were to be hun