Chapter IX Mrs. Roylake's Game: First Move
Chapter X Warned!
Chapter XI Warned Again!
Chapter XII Warned for the Last Time!
Chapter XIII The Claret Jug
Chapter XIV Gloody Settles the Account
Chapter XV The Miller's Hospitality
Chapter XVI Bribery and Corruption
Chapter XVII Utter Failure
Chapter XVIII The Mistress of Trimley Deen




CHAPTER I

ON THE WAY TO THE RIVER

FOR reasons of my own, I excused myself from accompanying my stepmother
to a dinner-party given in our neighborhood. In my present humor, I
preferred being alone--and, as a means of getting through my idle time, I
was quite content to be occupied in catching insects.

Provided with a brush and a mixture of rum and treacle, I went into
Fordwitch Wood to set the snare, familiar to hunters of moths, which we
call sugaring the trees.

The summer evening was hot and still; the time was between dusk and dark.
After ten years of absence in foreign parts, I perceived changes in the
outskirts of the wood, which warned me not to enter it too confidently