ll wore a woman's
bodice, though half the buttons were burst; and a sun-bonnet, with
strings still knotted about his throat, dangled at the back of his
shoulders like a hood. He was a full-blooded man, slightly obese,
with a villainous pair of eyes that blinked in the sudden lamp-light.
He was dangerous, too, between anger and terror. But Mrs Tresize
gave him no time.

'Ah, good-evening, Mr Truman! There has been some mistake, I hear;
but it's by the greatest good luck you came to me. Here is your
missing property, eh?' She smiled and held out the bag.

Butcher Truman stared at it. 'Send I may never--' he began; and with
that his gaze, travelling past the bag, fell on Doctor Unonius.
'_You?_' he stuttered, clenching his thick fists. '_You?_ . . .
Oh, by--, let me get at 'im!'

But Mrs Tresize very deftly stepped in front of him as he came on
menacing.

'If you are not a fool,' she said sharply, 'you will waste
no time, but hurry along and pay the carriers. They, for their part,
won't waste any time with neat brandy. In ten minutes or so
they'll be wanting your blood in a bottle--and, if it's all the same
to you, Mr Truman, I'd rather they didn't start hunting you through
these premises. What's more,' she added, as he hesitated,
'the riding-officer was close on your track just now. You owe it to
Doctor Unonius here, that he has overrun it.'

The butcher clutched at his bag, and made as if to open it.

'You needn't trouble,' Mrs Tresize assured him sweetly.
'Your money's good--and so will be mine when it comes to settling,
for all that I'm reported "near." Good-night!'

'Good-night!' growled Butcher Truman, and lurched forth with his bag.
The widow, staring after him, broke into a laugh.

'Tryphena,' she said, 'fetch the doctor's horse and harness him
quick! We must get him out of this, good man. Are the tubs stowed?'

'All of 'em, missus. I counted the four dozen.'

'Four dozen is forty-eight; and that doctor'--she turned to him--
'is not my age, by a very long way.'

But when Dapple had been harnessed, and the doctor drove off (after
looking at his watch and finding that it indicated ten minutes to
four), Mrs Tresize lingered at the back door a moment before ordering
Tryphena to shut and bolt it.

'There was nothing else to do but lie,' she said to herself,
meditatively. 'But, all the same, it's lost him for me.'

CHAPTER VIII.

So indeed it had. Doctor Unonius could not overloo