s goes," said Mr. Fenwick.

The Vicar had another matter of moment to discuss with his wife. Sam
Brattle, after having remained hard at work at the mill for nearly a
fortnight,--so hard at work as to induce his father to declare that
he'd bet a guinea there wasn't a man in the three parishes who could
come nigh his Sam for a right down day's work;--after all this,
Sam had disappeared, had been gone for two days, and was said by
the constable to have been seen at night on the Devizes side, from
whence was supposed to come the Grinder, and all manner of Grinder's
iniquities. Up to this time no further arrest had been made on
account of Mr. Trumbull's murder, nor had any trace been found of the
Grinder, or of that other man who had been his companion. The leading
policeman, who still had charge of the case, expressed himself as
sure that the old woman at Pycroft Common knew nothing of her son's
whereabouts; but he had always declared, and still continued to
declare, that Sam Brattle could tell them the whole story of the
murder if he pleased, and there had been a certain amount of watching
kept on the young man, much to his own disgust, and to that of his
father. Sam had sworn aloud in the village--so much aloud that he had
shown his determination to be heard by all men--that he would go to
America, and see whether anyone would dare to stop him. He had been
told of his bail, and had replied that he would demand to be relieved
of his bail;--that his bail was illegal, and that he would have it
all tried in a court of law. Mr. Fenwick had heard of this, and had
replied that as far as he was concerned he was not in the least
afraid. He believed that the bail was illegal, and he believed also
that Sam would stay where he was. But now Sam was gone, and the
Bullhampton constable was clearly of opinion that he had gone to join
the Grinder. "At any rate, he's off somewhere," said Mr. Fenwick,
"and his mother doesn't know where he's gone. Old Brattle, of course,
won't say a word."

"And will it hurt you?"

"Not unless they get hold of those other fellows and require Sam's
appearance. I don't doubt but that he'd turn up in that case."

"Then it does not signify?"

"It signifies for him. I've an idea that I know where he's gone, and
I think I shall go after him."

"Is it far, Frank?"

"Something short of Australia, luckily."

"Oh, Frank!"

"I'll tell you the truth. It's my belief that Carry Brattle is living
about twenty