That is old Jewel"s dowdy, handsome, brazen-faced grandaughter.
"Now I"m going home to supper, Miss Jenny," he says. "So you pack off, or you"ll have your amiable mother asking after you. By-the-bye, your sister"s going to be married, ain"t she?"
He referred to her eldest sister--the one that the Vicar and the Doctor saw nursing a baby the night that old Jewel died.
"Yes," replied the girl. "Her man"s going to have her at last; that"s his baby she"s got, you know; and it seems he"ll sooner make her work for keeping it, than pay for it hisself. So they"re going to be married; better late than never."
George left her and went in; into the gloomy old kitchen, now darkening rapidly. There sat Madge before the fire, in her favourite att.i.tude, with her chin on her hand and her elbow on her knee.
"Well, old woman," said he, "where"s the old man?"
"Away to Colyton fair," she answered.
"I hope he"ll have the sense to stay there to-night, then," said George. "He"ll fall off his horse in a fit coming home drunk some of these nights, and be found dead in a ditch!"
"Good thing for you if he was!"
"May be," said George; "but I"d be sorry for him, too!"
"You would," she said laughing. "Why, you young fool, you"d be better off in fifty ways!"
"Why, you unnatural old vixen," said he indignantly, "do you miscall a man for caring for his own father? Aye, and not such a bad "un either; and that"s a thing I"m best judge of!"
"He"s been a good father to you, George, and I like you the better, lad, for speaking up for him. He"s an awful old rascal, my boy, but you"ll be a worse if you live!"
"Now, stop that talk of yours, Madge, and don"t go on like a mad woman, or else we shall quarrel; and that I don"t want, for I"ve got something to tell you. I want your help, old girl!"
"Aye, and you"ll get it, my pretty boy; though you never tell me aught till you are forced."
"Well, I"m going to tell you something now; so keep your ears open.
Madge, where is the girl?"
"Up-stairs."
"Where"s the man?"
"Outside, in the stable, doing down your horse. Bend over the fire, and whisper in my ear, lad!"
"Madge, old girl," he whispered, as they bent their heads together,--"I"ve wrote the old man"s name where I oughtn"t to have done."
"What! again!" she answered. "Three times! For G.o.d"s sake, mind what you"re at, George."
"Why," said he, astonished, "did you know I"d done it before?"
"Twice I know of," she said. "Once last year, and once last month. How do you think he"d have been so long without finding it out if it hadn"t been for me? And what a fool you were not to tell me before. Why, you must be mad. I as near let the cat out of the bag coming over that last business in the book without being ready for it, as anything could be.
However, it"s all right at present. But what"s this last?"
"Why, the five hundred. I only did it twice."
"You mustn"t do it again, George. You were a fool ever to do it without me. We are hardly safe now, if he should get talking to the bank people. However, he never goes there, and you must take care he don"t."
"I say, Madge," said George, "what would he do if he found it out?"
"I couldn"t answer for him," said she. "He likes you best of anything next his money; and sometimes I am afraid he wouldn"t spare even you if he knew he had been robbed. You might make yourself safe for any storm, if you liked."
"How?"
"Marry that little doll Thornton, and get her money. Then, if it came to a row, you could square it up."
"Well," said George, "I am pushing that on. The old man won"t come round, and I want her to go off with me, but she can"t get her courage up yet."
"Well, at all events," said Madge, "you should look sharp. There"s a regular tight-laced mob about her, and they all hate you. There"s that Mrs. Buckley. Her conversation will be very different from yours, and she"ll see the difference, and get too proud for the like of you. That woman"s a real lady, and that"s very dangerous, for she treats her like an equal. Just let that girl get over her first fancy for you, and she"ll care no more about you than nothing. Get hold of her before she"s got tired of you."
"And there"s another thing," said George. "That Tom Troubridge is staying there again."
"That"s very bad," said Madge. "She is very likely to take a fancy to him. He"s a fine young fellow. You get her to go off with you. I"ll find the money, somehow. Here comes the old man."
Old Hawker came in half-drunk and sulky.
"Why, George," he said; "you at home. I thought you"d have been down, hanging about the parson"s. You don"t get on very fast with that girl, lad. I thought you"d have had her by now. You"re a fool, boy."
He reeled up to bed, and left the other two in the kitchen.
"George," said Madge, "tell us what you did with that last money."
"I ain"t going to tell you," he answered.
"Ha, ha!" she said; "you hadn"t need to hide anything from me now."
"Well, I like to tell you this least of all," he said. "That last money went to hush up the first matter."
"Did any one know of the first matter, then?" said Madge aghast.
"Yes; the man who put me up to it."
"Who was that?"
"No one you know. William Lee of Belston."
"No one I know," she answered sarcastically. "Not know my old sweetheart, Bill Lee of Belston. And I the only one that knew him when he came back. Well, I"ve kept that to myself, because no good was to be got by peaching on him, and a secret"s always worth money. Why, lad, I could have sent that man abroad again quicker than he come, if I had a-wanted. Why hadn"t you trusted me at first? You"d a-saved five hundred pound. You"ll have him back as soon as that"s gone."
"He"d better mind himself, then," said George vindictively.
"None o" that now," said Madge; "that"s what you were after the other night with your gun. But nothing came of it; I saw that in your face when you came home. Now get off to bed; and if Bill Lee gives you any more trouble, send him to me."
He went to bed, but instead of sleeping lay thinking.
"It would be a fine thing," he thought, "to get her and her money. I am very fond of her for her own sake, but then the money would be the making of me. I ought to strike while the iron is hot. Who knows but what Nell might come gandering back in one of her tantrums, and spoil everything. Or some of the other girls might get talking. And this cursed cheque, too; that ought to be provided against. What a fool I was not to tell Madge about it before. I wonder whether she is game to come, though. I think she is; she has been very tender lately. It don"t look as if she was getting tired of me, though she might take a fancy into her head about Troubridge. I daresay her father is putting him up to it; though, indeed, that would be sure to set her against him. If he hadn"t done that with Stockbridge, she"d have married him, I believe.
Well, I"ll see her to-morrow night, and carry on like mad. Terribly awkward it will be, though, if she won"t. However, we"ll see. There"s a way to make her;" and so he fell asleep.