French should live. Which, of course, was all
that Mrs. White or her Johnny cared about.
"Hacker naturally thinks that your brother is still living," explained
Charity. "And mind you take mighty good care not to tell him 'tisn't so.
The longer he supposes that Nathan is alive, the better for us all. And
what you've got to say presently be this--that so soon as you told Nathan
'twas all right about the cottage, he changed his mind about coming to
Postbridge for the present."
"'Twill be a lie," said Mrs. White.
"'Twill be a white lie, however," answered Charity; "and 'twill help a
good many people out of a hobble and do harm to none; so I advise you to
tell it."
And Sarah did tell it--with wonderful, far-reaching results, I'm sure; for
it meant that she had her cottage for life; and that she had Johnny French
for life also; and it meant that Mary married Peter Hacker afore the next
Christmas and went honeymooning to London town for a week with the man;
and it meant that, unbeknownst each to t'others, Sarah and Mary and Peter
gived my mistress the money they promised her. So Charity Badge came out
of the maze with flying colours, you might say, not to mention fifty
golden pounds, all made out of her own head.
And many such like things she did, though never did they fetch such a
dollop of money again.
No. XII
THE TORCH
In my opinion there's hardly an acre of Dartmoor as wouldn't set forth a
good tale, if us could only go back along into time and get hold of it.
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