Fry; you'm right. That mazed man is
the man that they'm a-sarching for; and it's my belief that he isn't
mazed at all but so well in his head as you and I be,--just pretending
like. And you'm right about that Brimacott too, and I do hope that
every one will let mun know that he's not welcome in Ashacombe. He's a
prying man and a tale-bearing man, that's what I believe he is, and all
to deceive her ladyship and keep friends with the witch. But we'll
catch that mazed man for all his pretending, and there there will be
two guineas for you and me."
Any one else but Mrs. Fry might have thought it strange for the
Corporal to be called a tale-bearer by the very woman who had told
tales against her; but Mrs. Fry was not a clever woman, and after all
she had suffered under Lady Eleanor's tongue through the Corporal's
report. Lady Eleanor knew that if the Corporal told her anything that
went on in the village, which he very rarely did, it was right that she
should know it; but that was not Mrs. Fry's opinion. So the two agreed
that the Corporal was an enemy to the village, though, as is usually
the way, they never thought of complaining to Lady Eleanor of him.
But had Mrs. Fry stayed at home instead of going to chapel, she would
have understood better the meaning of Mrs. Mugford's words. For having
packed off her husband, who was a feeble creature, to take the children
out for a walk, Mrs.
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