heard that somebody was in the pond?"

"Please, sir, 'twas a'most directly. I was running then, I was."

As the boy's answer fell upon the room, a conviction stole over most of
those collected in it that this man must have been the one who had been
heard in dispute with Rachel Frost.

"Were there no signs about him by which you could recognise him?"
pursued Mr. Verner. "What did he look like? Was he tall or short?"

"Please, sir, he were very tall."

"Could you see his dress? Was it like a gentleman's or a labourer's?"

"Please, sir, I think it looked like a gentleman's--like one o' the
gentlemen's at Verner's Pride."

"Whose? Like which of the gentlemen's?" rang out Mr. Verner's voice,
sharply and sternly, after a moment's pause of surprise, for he
evidently had not expected the answer.

"Please, sir, I dun know which. The clothes looked dark, and the man
were as tall as the gentlemen, or as Calves."

"_Calves?_" echoed Mr. Verner, puzzled.

John Massingbird broke into an involuntary smile. He knew that their
tall footman, Bennet, was universally styled "Calves" in the village.
Dan Duff probably believed it to be his registered name.