were going
on.

He went slowly back into the cottage and acquainted his wife with this new
and astonishing development on the part of the boy. His wife was full of
indignation, which was, however, modified at the thought that she would
now have her husband always at home with her.

"I shall speak my mind to Miss Warden," she said, "and tell her how much
harm her advice has done."

"No, no, Jenny," her husband said; "what is the use of that? It is the
parson's duty to be meddling in all sorts of matters, and it will do no
good to fight against it. Parson is a good man, all allow, and he always
finishes his sermons in time for us to get home to dinner. I agree with
you that the young madam has done harm, and I greatly fear that trouble
will come to the boy. There are places where smuggling is thought to be
wrong, but this place ain't among them. I don't know what will happen when
Will says that he doesn't mean to go any more as a watcher, but there is
sure to be trouble of some sort."

It was not long indeed before Will felt a change in the village. Previous
to this he had been generally popular, now men passed without seeing him.
He was glad when John Hammond called upon him to go out in the boat, when
the weather was fine, but at other times his only recourse was to steal
away to the moors with his books. Presently the elder boys took to
throwing sods at him as he passed, and calling spy and other opprobrious
epithets after him. This brought on several severe fights, and as Will
made up for want of weight by pluck and activity his opponents more than
once found themselves badly beaten. One day he learned from a subdued
excitement in the village that it was time for one of the smuggling
vessels to arrive. One of his boyish friends had stuck to him, and was
himself almost under a ban for associating with so unpopular a character.

"Don't you come with me, Stevens," Will had urged again and again; "you
will only make it bad for yourself, and it will do me no good."

"I don't care," the former said sturdily. "We have always been good
friends, and you know I don't in the least believe that you have anything
to do with the revenue men. It is too bad of them to say so. I fought Tom
Dickson only this morning for abusing you. He said if you were not working
with them, why did you give up being on the watch. I told him it was no
odds to me why you gave it up, I supposed that you had a right to do as
you liked. Then from wor