le. No one spoke a word, but the course of the
meal was suddenly interrupted, for there came a knock at the farmhouse
door, and without waiting to be answered, somebody lifted the latch,
tramped down the stone passage, and entered the room.

Now Phoebe, in the privacy of her little chamber beneath the thatch, had
reflected miserably on the spectacle of her husband far away in a prison
cell, with his curls cropped off and his shapely limbs clad
convict-fashion. When, therefore, Will, and not John Grimbal, as she
expected, stood before her, his wife was perhaps more astonished than
any other body present. Young Blanchard appeared, however. He looked
weary and hungry, for he had been on his legs during the greater part of
the day and had forgotten to eat since his pretence of wedding-breakfast
ten hours earlier. Now, newly returned from Exeter, he came straight to
Monks Barton before going to his home.

Billy Blee was the first to find his voice before this sudden
apparition. His fork, amply laden, hung in the air as though his arm was
turned to stone; with a mighty gulp he emptied his mouth and spoke.

"Gormed if you ban't the most 'mazin' piece ever comed out o' Chagford!"

"Miller Lyddon," said Will, not heeding Mr. Blee, "I be here to say wan
word 'fore I goes out o' your sight. You said you'd have law of me if I
took Phoebe; an' that I done, 'cause we was of a mind. Now we 'm man an'
wife, an' I'm just back from prison, wheer I went straight to save you
trouble. But theer 's preambles an' writs an' what not. I shall be to
mother's, an' you can send Inspector Chown when you like. It had to come
'cause we was of a mind."

He looked proudly at Phoebe, but departed without speaking to her, and
silence followed his going. Mr. Lyddon stared blankly at the door
through which Will departed, then his rage broke forth.

"Curse the wretch! Curse him to his dying day! An' I'll do more--more
than that. What he can suffer he shall, and if I've got to pay my last
shilling to get him punishment I'll do it--my last shilling I'll pay."

He had not regarded his daughter or spoken to her since his words at
their first meeting; and now, still ignoring Phoebe's presence, he began
eagerly debating with Billy Blee as to what law might have power to do.
The girl, wisely enough, kept silence, ate a little food, and then went
quietly away to her bed. She was secretly overjoyed at Will's return and
near presence; but another visitor might