sure to be convicted."

"Don't thee reckon to know so much. Ben's got a clever lawyer, too;
but if he'd nobbut God and his mother to plead for him, his cause 'ud
be in varry good hands, thou may be sure o' that."

"I am only saying, father, what Swale says every-where."

"I'll warrant he'll talk. There's no tax on lying. My word, if there
was, Swale'd hev to keep his mouth shut."

"I cannot imagine, father, what makes you trouble yourself so much
about the Cravens."

"Thou can't, can't ta? Then thou canst imagine gratitude for faithful
service given cheerfully for three hundred years. Why-a lad, 'twas
a Craven saved Alfred Hallam's life at Worcester fight."

"I suppose he paid him for the service. Any how the debt is not ours."

"Ay, is it. It's my debt, and it's thine, too. Ben may live to do thee
a service for aught thou knows."

Antony smiled contemptuously, and the squire continued, almost angrily,
"There's things more unlikely; look here, my lad, nivver spit in any
well: thou may hev to drink of t' water."

When the words were said the squire was sorry for them. They had come
from his lips in that forceful prophetic way some speeches take, and
they made an unpleasant impression on both father and son; just such