"Here, then, and I will watch you! But
you shall pay for any wanton damage, I tell you."
The man shrugged his shoulders.
"What is the use, then--" he began.
"Bah! search, then, as you will. I will pay."
* * * * *
The noise from the hall had ceased altogether as the four men went into
the parlour. It was a plain little room, with an open fireplace and a
great settle beside it. There were hangings here and there. That over
the hearth presented Icarus in the chariot of the sun. It seemed such a
place as that in which two lovers might sit and talk together at
sunset.... In one place hung a dark oil painting.
The old man went across to the window and stared out.
The sun was up by now, far away out of sight; and the whole sunlit
valley lay stretched beneath beyond the slopes that led down to Padley.
The loathing for his work rose up again and choked him--this desperate
bullying of a few women; and all to no purpose. He stared out at the
horses beneath, and at the couple of men gossiping together at their
heads.... He determined to see Mistress Manners again alone presently,
when she should be recovered, and have a word with her in private. She
would forgive him, perhaps, when she saw him ride off empty-handed, as
he most certainly meant to do.
He thought, too, of other things, this old man, as he stood, with his
shoulders squared, resolute in his lack of attention to the mean work
going on behind him.
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