Old Christy, it is true, looks upon every
thing with a wary eye; struts about with his blunderbuss with the air
of a veteran campaigner, and will hardly allow himself to be spoken
to.
The gipsy women dare not come within gun-shot, and every tatterdemalion
of a boy has been frightened from the park. The old fellow is
determined to lodge Starlight Tom in prison with his own hands; and
hopes, he says, to see one of the poaching crew made an example of.
I doubt, after all, whether the worthy Squire is not the greatest
sufferer in the whole affair. His honourable sense of duty obliges him
to be rigid, but the overflowing kindness of his nature makes this a
grievous trial to him.
He is not accustomed to have such demands upon his justice, in his
truly patriarchal domain; and it wounds his benevolent spirit, that
while prosperity and happiness are flowing in thus bounteously upon
him, he should have to inflict misery upon a fellow-being.
He has been troubled and cast down the whole evening; took leave of
the family, on going to bed, with a sigh, instead of his usual hearty
and affectionate tone; and will, in all probability, have a far more
sleepless night than his prisoner. Indeed, this unlucky affair has
cast a damp upon the whole household, as there appears to be an
universal opinion that the unlucky culprit will come to the gallows.
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