If the one man
in the house," and she looked scornfully at the unfortunate butler,
"had been possessed of the courage of a man the whole of them would
have been shot; for they were standing close together, and he could
hardly have missed them if he had tried.
"If that weapon had been in the hands of Anna, instead of those of
John Wilton, the results would have been very different. However, John
Wilton, you have been a, good servant generally, and I suppose it is
not your fault if you have not the courage of a mouse, therefore I
shall withdraw my notice for you to leave. I shall make arrangements
for the gardener to sleep in the house in future, and you will hand
that blunderbuss over to him. I shall write to-day to the ironmonger
at Weymouth to come over and fix bells to all the shutters, and to
arrange wires for a bell from my room to that which the gardener will
occupy."
At breakfast Miss Penfold informed her sister of what had taken place
the night before.
"I shall write, of course, to the head constable at Weymouth to send
over to inquire about it, but I have very little hope that he will
discover anything, Eleanor."
"Why do you think that, Charlotte? You said that you were convinced
you had wounded one of the men; so they ought to be able to trace
him."
"I dare say they would if this had been an ordinary theft; but I am
convinced that it was not.
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