Goudie, who
had come to pay a call at the back door, said she had met Norah and
had a chat with her "up th' road." On being further examined, Mrs.
Goudie said that Norah, after bidding her good night, had got over the
stile at the second footpath into Hadleigh Wood.
Mavis at once became angry and suspicious again, and she went to her
husband to report this act of rebellion. The office was empty, but she
found him at the yard. He was in his shirt-sleeves, sitting on a
corn-bin, and he seemed to be greatly troubled by what she told him
that she wished him to do. She asked him to go into the wood himself
and spy out Norah quietly, and see if she was really alone there.
"Oh, I don't much like this job, Mav. Besides, it's to hunt for a
needle in a bundle of hay. How do I know which way the lass has gone?"
"I'm telling you she went in at the second path. She won't have gone
far. Probably you'll come upon her this side of the rides--along by
the stream, very likely."
But Dale still showed reluctance to undertake the detective mission.
"Then I must go," said Mavis. "I can't put up with this sort of thing,
and I mean to stop it. She must be made to understand once for all--"
"Very well," said Dale; and he got off the corn-bin and picked up his
jacket.
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