Chapter 24
Late that afternoon, in Robert Rutter's meadow at the back of the inn, a man and a woman stood in close conversation. The man was Jem Pound, the woman Elizabeth Ryan. "Then you have not seen him yet?" "No, not yet; I have had no chance." "You mean that you have been drunk, Jem Pound!" "Not to say drunk, missis. But I've been over to a town called Melmerbridge, and I went a long way round so as not to cross the moor. They're shooting up there all day. It'd be no sort o' use tackling him there." "But surely they are back by now?" exclaimed Mrs. Ryan, impatiently. "I tell you he must be seen to-day-this evening-now." "Ay, ay; I'm just going. Straight along this path it is, across a few fields, and there you are-opposite the house; and you may trust me--" "I know; I have seen it for mys
- Writer
