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it?ā€

ā€œPleasant ainā€™t exactly the word, I agrees, but you neednā€™t worry yourself on that score. If them damned Kingā€™s men had put it up now, I donā€™t say as how it mightnā€™t get mobbed and knocked about a bit, ā€˜cos them damned Kingā€™s men ainā€™t wot you might term popular favourites in the village, but as it werenā€™t, donā€™t you worry, for Iā€™ll soon pass the word, young Jerry, as how itā€™s you wot owns it.ā€

ā€œThank you,ā€ said Jerry. ā€œThey wouldnā€™t knock it over if you asked ā€˜em not to, Iā€™ll be bound.ā€

ā€œAsked who not to?ā€ demanded the sexton quickly.

ā€œWhy, any of ā€˜em,ā€ replied Jerk innocently: ā€œMarshmen, smugglers, jack-oā€™-lanterns, demon riders, wot you will; for Iā€™ll lay theyā€™re all a-scared of Sexton Mipps, ainā€™t they.f^ā€

But Sexton Mipps was not to be caught by such dangerous flattery, and he replied:

ā€œThere ainā€™t no such things as smugglers hereabouts, as I thinks Iā€™ve already remarked; and as for demon riders, why, uncanny they be, and I holds no truck with ā€˜em, thank the Lord. Folks wot has dealinā€™s with ā€˜em has sold their souls for the bargain, and I ainā€™t a-goinā€™ to do that!ā€

ā€œBeinā€™ such a very good and respectable Christian? Oh, no!ā€ said Jerk winking.

ā€œWhy, certainly,ā€ answered the sexton, ā€œand might I ask wot youā€™re a-winkinā€™ about?ā€

ā€œNothinā€™ā€” I was only thinkinā€™!ā€

ā€œWot about?ā€

ā€œA dreamā€”a nightmare I had last night, thatā€™s all.ā€

ā€œWot about?ā€ asked the sexton again.

ā€œNothinā€™ particular,ā€ returned the boy casually.

They had now reached the coffin shop, so, thanking the sexton for his assistance. Jerk bade him goodnight.

ā€œWhere are you bound for now?ā€ Mr. Mipps called after him.

ā€œThe vicarage.ā€

ā€œW^otfor?ā€

ā€œTo tell the vicar as how Iā€™ve borrowed a crown off of him, thatā€™s all!ā€

ā€œW^otā€™s that?ā€ cried the sexton, making as if to follow, but the boy waved him back with a fierce gesture.

ā€œā€˜Tainā€™t nothinā€™ to do with you. Youā€™re paid, ainā€™t you? And it didnā€™t get stole from the poor-box, neither, so donā€™t you start a-worritinā€™.ā€

And thrusting his hands deep into his breeches pocket. Jerk set off for the vicarage to tell Doctor Syn that although he couldnā€™t accept the silver crown for holding his tongue, he had taken the liberty of borrowing it off him.

And in this way was the gibbet set up on Lookout Mountain, and the name changed to Gallows Tree Hill.

CHAPTER XVI THE SCHOOLMASTERā€™S SUIT

IT WAS now dark. Jerk passed through the cluster of quaint little houses that make up the one street of Dymchurch-under-the-wall, and so on to the vicarage. Just at the corner where the Court House stands amid the great trees he heard singing, and recognized the voice and figure of Imogene. She was carrying a basket from the direction of the Ship and was probably bound, like himself, for the vicarage. But as she passed the Court House she paused, and to Jerkā€™s astonishment felt among the ivy that grew around the old front door. There in a certain branch was a piece of paper, which she took from its hidingplace as if she had expected to find it. The message it contained she read by the light of the lantern that hung above the door, and then, thrusting it into the bosom of her rough dress, she went on toward the vicarage gate. But out from the shadows of the trees stepped a man, whom Jerk perceived to be the schoolmaster. Imogene hesitated when she saw him, for he was standing directly in her path, but when she tried to hurry past, Rash stopped her and spoke.

ā€œSo, Mistress, now that you have got your loverā€™s written promise from the ivy there, you think you can afford to pass by such a humble one as the schoolmaster, but youā€™re mistaken, and Iā€™ll trouble you to show me that letter,ā€

The girlā€™s hand went involuntarily to her bosom, where the note in question was securely tucked away, and she answered back clear and straight: ā€œNo, Mister Rash, youā€™ve no right.ā€

ā€œRight is might, Mistress, as youā€™ll find, and I think we shall be able to come to terms now. I want you to come along with me to the vicarage; Doctor Syn is there, and Iā€™ve something to say before you both.ā€

ā€œLet us go, then,ā€ said Imogene, trying to pass.

ā€œxll in good time,ā€ returned the schoolmaster, stopping her. ā€œThereā€™s no immediate hurry, I think, for the Doctor wonā€™t come out of that shuttered room of his till morning, so we can afford to keep him waiting, and Iā€™ve something to say to you firstā€”alone.ā€

The girl tossed her head impatiently, as if she knew what was coming, but Rash continued:

ā€œA few weeks back I asked you to marry meā€”I, the esteemed schoolmaster, asked you, the daughter of a criminal; you, whose father was a proved murderer, a dirty pirate hanged publicly at Rye for a filthy tavern crime; you w^ho were born in a Raratonga drinking hell, some half-caste native girlā€™s brat! Ecod! itā€™s laughable! I offered to make you respectable and put your banns up in the church, and you refused. Now I know why. You think because that young fool Cobtree is pleased to admire you, that you will catch him in your toils, do you? Youā€™re a clever one, ainā€™t you?^ I dare swear that sooner or later youā€™d succeed in getting hold of himā€”let the young idiot ruin you, eh? Then make a virtuous song about it to the squire, and a settlement to keep your mouth shut, perhaps.ā€

ā€œBeast!ā€ cried the girl, and she struck him sideways across the mouth with her clenched hand.

ā€œHello!ā€ thought Jerk, crouching in the bushes, ā€œhereā€™s another one having a *goā€™ at him; well, the more the merrier, so long as Iā€™m the last.ā€

The schoolmaster recoiled, trying to look as if the stinging blow had not hurt, but the blood was flowing from his lip and from the hand of the girl as well.

ā€œSo thatā€™s it, is it?ā€ he sniggered, ā€œa real love match, pā€™haps? The squireā€™s consent, the wedding bells, and live happily ever after, eh? Ecod! my lady, I think not. Rash is your man, see? and lucky you are to get him; you whose fatherā€™s gibbet chains are still swinging in Rye.ā€

ā€œAnd yours are swinging a bit nearer than that!ā€ said Jerry Jerk to himself.

ā€œYou leave my father out of it,ā€ w*ent on the girl, ā€œfor from all Iā€™ve heard of him he was a better man than you, and he was fond of me, too; so itā€™s lucky for you heā€™s not here to hear you speaking bad of his child.ā€

ā€œYou know nothing about himā€”^he was a drunken rascal!ā€

ā€œDoctor Syn knew him well, and heā€™s told me things. A rough man he was, certain, and none rougher, reckless, too, and brave, a lawbreaker on land as well as sea, pitiless to his enemies, staunch to his friends, but contemptible he never was; and so, Mister Rash, you can afford to respect him, and I say again that I wish he were here to make you.ā€

ā€œShouldnā€™t care if he was,ā€ replied the schoolmaster, ā€œfor thereā€™s always the law to look after a man.ā€

ā€œSo there is,ā€ chuckled Jerk, ā€œand that youā€™ll find.ā€

ā€œBah! whatā€™s the good of hagghng and squabbling?ā€ said Mr. Rash. ā€œYouā€™re mine, or youā€™ll have to bear the consequences.ā€

ā€œAnd that is?ā€ asked the girl defiantly.

ā€œThe rope for your friends when I turn Kingā€™s evidence.ā€

ā€œYou wouldnā€™t dare, you coward, for youā€™d be hanging yourself as well.ā€

ā€œKingā€™s evidence will cover me all square.ā€

ā€œSo youā€™re determined to turn it, are you?ā€

ā€œI am, unless you change your mind.ā€

The girl didnā€™t reply to that, so Mr. Rash, thinking that he was making an advance, continued:

ā€œThink, Imogeneā€”this Cobtree fellow will be packed off to London in a month or so, and from there on to Oxford; and after a university career of drinking. gambling, and loose living, with precious little learning, heā€™ll settle down to the gentlemanā€™s life, marry some person of quality, and youā€”eh? what of you, then?ā€

ā€œI earn my living now, donā€™t I?ā€ replied the girl. ā€œWell, whatā€™s to prevent me going on the same?ā€

ā€œDonā€™t you want to marry?ā€ went on the schoolmaster. ā€œDonā€™t you want a house of your own? Donā€™t you want to be the envy of all the girls in the village?ā€

ā€œNot at the price of my happiness; and, besides, Iā€™m not so sure that I do want all those things so desperate. Iā€™m afraid the wife of Mister Rash would be too genteel a job for me.ā€

ā€œOh, Iā€™d soon educate you up to that,ā€ returned the schoolmaster, looking pleased.

ā€œIt ā€˜ud be a great nuisance to both of us, wouldnā€™t it?ā€

ā€œI shouldnā€™t mindā€”it would be a pleasant business making a respectable woman of you, Imogene. You see, youā€™re not common like these village girls, and thatā€™s what attracts me; otherwise, it might have been better for me to have fixed my choice on one of them: one that hasnā€™t a bad mark against her, so to speak. But I donā€™t mind what folk say. I suppose theyā€™ll talk a bit and laugh behind my back. Well, let ā€˜em, say I. I donā€™t care, because I want you.ā€

ā€œThen itā€™s a pity that Iā€™m not the same way of thinking, isnā€™t it?ā€

ā€œWhat do you mean?ā€

ā€œThat I wouldnā€™t marry youā€”no, not though you got the whole village the rope!ā€

ā€œYou ungrateful wretch, not after all theyā€™ve done for you?ā€

ā€œYouā€™re not the sort of party to talk to others about being ungrateful, are you now?ā€

ā€œI wasnā€™t born of jail folk.ā€

ā€œNo; and you can hope your children, if youā€™re ever cursed with any, will be able to say the same, for I doubt it very greatly, Mister Schoolmaster. And as to your threats, I set no store on them, for from my heart I despise you; I despise you because you would be willing to betray your fellows, but I despise you more because I know you are too great a coward to do it.ā€

ā€œWe shall see,ā€ said the schoolmaster, ā€œfor whoā€™s to stop me?ā€

ā€œParson Syn,ā€ answered the girl. ā€œParsons can bear all manner of secrets and not betray them. Thatā€™s their business, and Doctor Synā€™s a good man, so Iā€™ll tell him everything, and in his wisdom heā€™ll find a means of checking your contemptible scheme.ā€

ā€œThat shows how little you know about things, IVIistress Ignoramous; for itā€™s that very same good man, Doctor Syn, who is going to read out your banns on this next Sabbath as ever is, and itā€™s Rash who is going to make him, and if you wonā€™t come along with me to church, well, Iā€™ll threaten other parties in this little place whoā€™ll help me to make you. Folk are none too anxious to be exposed these days with Kingā€™s men in the village, and so youā€™ll seeā€¦ā€ The schoolmaster stopped talking suddenly.

CHAPTER XVII THE DOCTOR SINGS A SONG

NOW, although Jerry had employed all his auditory faculties for the overhearing of this conversation, he had unconsciously listened to something else: a slight noise that now and again came from the direction of the vicarage, a small, whirring noise, the kind of noise that he had heard in Mippsā€™s coffin shop when a tool was working its way through a piece of woodā€”yes, a whirring noise with an occasional squeak to it.

He hadnā€™t bothered to ask himself what it was; he had just gone on hearing it, thatā€™s all. But now another noise arose in the night that not only claimed his immediate attention but made him feel cold all over. It had the same effect upon Mr. Rash, for he stopped

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