"Please, sir, up towards here. If I hadn't turned into the field, I
should ha' met him face to face. I dun know who it was."

"Did you hear any noise near the pond, or see any movement in its
direction, before you were accosted by Broom?"

"Please, sir, no."

It appeared to be of little use to detain Mr. Duff. In his stead young
Broom was called in. A fine-grown young fellow of nineteen, whose
temperament may be indicated by two words--cool and lazy. He was desired
to give his own explanation.

"I was going home for the night, sir," he began, in answer, "when I
heard the sound of voices in dispute. They seemed to come from the
direction of the grove of trees near the Willow Pond, and I stayed to
listen. I thought perhaps some of the Dawsons and Roy had come to an
encounter out there; but I soon found that one of the voices was that of
a woman. Quite a young voice it sounded, and it was broke by sobs and
tears. The other voice was a man's."

"Only two! Did you recognise them?"

"No, sir, I did not recognise them; I was too far off, maybe. I only
made out that it was two--a man's and a woman's. I stopped a few
minutes, listening, and they seemed to quiet down, and then, as I was
going on again, I came up to Mrs. Roy. She was kneeling down, and--"

"Kneeling down?" interrupted Mr. Verner.