heart give way, as it will. Ah, me! I can pity the wanderer from home.
I will speak a word with you, and then I will go home."

He drew George aside, and made him a secret communication.

Merton called Susan to him, and made her promise to be prudent, then
he shook hands with George and went away.

Now Meadows, from the direction of Isaac's glance, and a certain
half-surprised half-contemptuous look that stole over George's face,
suspected that his enemy, whose sagacity he could no longer doubt, was
warning George against him.

This made him feel very uneasy where he was, and this respectable man
dreaded some exposure of his secret. So he said hastily, "I'll go
along with you, farmer," and in a moment was by Merton's side, as that
worthy stopped to open the gate that led out of George's premises. His
feelings were anything but pleasant when George called to him:

"No, sir! stop. You are as good a witness as I could choose of what I
have to say. Step this way, if you please, sir."

Meadows returned, clinched his teeth, and prepared for the worst, but
inwardly he cursed his uneasy folly in staying here, instead of riding
home the moment George had said "Yes!" to Australia.

George now looked upon the ground a moment; and there was something in
his manner that arrested the attention of all.

Meadows turned hot and cold.