Whether the girl would have found her tongue, or would
have ended the incident as she was longing to do by taking to her
heels, it is impossible to say. Ere she had time to do either,
the angry voice of the squire broke in upon them.

"Ho, there ye are! Twice have I looked for ye this afternoon,
and I warn ye I'm not the man to take such conduct
from any one, least of all from one of my own servants," he
said as he came toward the pair, the emphasis of his walking
stick and his heels both telling the story of his anger. "What
mean ye, fellow," he continued, "by neglecting the work I
set ye?"

Absolutely unmoved by the reproof, Charles stood as heedless
of it as he had been of the outstretched hand of the
daughter, a hand which had promptly disappeared in the folds
of Miss Meredith's skirt at the first sound of her father's voice.

"A taste of my walking stick ye should have if ye had your
deserts!" went on the squire, now face to face with the
servant.

Without taking his eyes from the girl, Charles laughed.
"Is it fear of me," he challenged, "or fear of the law that prevents
you?"

"What know ye of the law, sirrah?" demanded Mr. Meredith.

"Nothing, when I was fool enough to indenture myself,"