to the house, and found that his wife, who had gone to bed,
had come down-stairs in search of him.

"Frank, you have frightened me so terribly! Where have you been?"

"Thief-catching. And I'm afraid I've about split one fellow's back. I
caught another, but I let him go."

"What on earth do you mean, Frank?"

Then he told her the whole story,--how Gilmore had seen the men, and
had come up to him; how he had gone out and had a tussle with one
man, whom he had, as he thought, hurt; and how he had then caught
another, while the third escaped.

"We ain't safe in our beds, then," said the wife.

"You ain't safe in yours, my dear, because you chose to leave it; but
I hope you're safe out of it. I doubt whether the melons and peaches
are safe. The truth is, there ought to be a gardener's cottage on
the place, and I must build one. I wonder whether I hurt that fellow
much. I seemed to hear the bone crunch."

"Oh, Frank!"

"But what could I do? I got that thing because I thought it safer
than a pistol, but I really think it's worse. I might have murdered
them all, if I'd lost my temper,--and just for half-a-dozen
apricots!"

"And what became of the man you took?"

"I let him go."

"Without doing anything to him?"

"Well; he got a tap too."

"Did you know him?"

"Yes, I knew him,--well."

"Who was he, Frank?"

The parson was silent for a moment, and then he answered her. "It was
Sam Brattle."

"Sam Brattle, coming to rob?"

"He's been at it, I fear, for months, in some shape."

"And what shall you do?"

"I hardly know as yet. It would about kill her and Fanny, if they
were told all that I suspect. They are stiff-necked, obstinate,
ill-conditioned people--that is, the men. But I think Gilmore has
been a little hard on them. The father and brother are honest men.
Come;--we'll go to bed."

CHAPTER IV.

THERE IS NO ONE ELSE.

On the following morning there was of course a considerable amount
of conversation at the Vicarage as to the affairs of the previous
evening. There was first of all an examination of the fruit; but as
this was made without taking Jem the gardener into confidence, no
certain conclusion could be reached. It was clear, however, that no
robbery for the purpose of sale had been made. An apricot or two
might have been taken, and perhaps an assault made on an unripe
peach. Mr. Fenwick was himself nearly sure that garden spoliation was
not the purpose of the assailants, though it