“Only to stun and rob him,” said I.
“That is so,” said the pedlar calmly. “I am a scoundrel, Tom, as thou hast well perceived. But an entertaining scoundrel. Is it not so?”
“I do not find scoundrels entertaining,” I said. “They cause too much grief.”
“I pulled thee and thy father out of the beck, both. It was Jeremy who struck you on the head.”
“I give you thanks for that,” I said. “But to speak truth, I do not know which of you I dislike most, though I think it is you.”
“Jeremy,” cried the pedlar with a grin, “come speak to your old friend Tom Leigh.”
There was a clanking of chains, and a heavy rumbling as of an iron ball attached to his ankle, and Jeremy appeared at the window. He looked pale, thin and wretched.
“What cheer, Jeremy!” said Mr. Firth kindly. “Take heart, man! They will need good weavers in Maryland, choose how. Keep away from Dyce here and you may yet do well.”
“Aye, keep away from Dyce,” I said.
“Wish us luck, Tom,” said the pedlar with a look of mischief.
“Well—I wish you luck,” I said.
The driver mounted the box, the law officer climbed in beside his prisoners, and amid the hootings and execrations of the crowd, the coach drove away out of my life.
A Note on the Author
Phyllis Bentley was born in 1894 in Halifax, West Yorkshire, where she was educated until she attended Cheltenham Ladies College, Gloucestershire.
In 1932 her best-known work, Inheritance, was published to widespread critical acclaim and commercial success. This was in contrast to her previous efforts, a collection of short stories entitled The World’s Bane and several poor-selling novels. The triumph of Inheritance made her the most successful English regional novelist since Thomas Hardy, and she produced two more novels to create a trilogy; The Rise of Henry Morcar and A Man of His Time. This accomplishment made her a much demanded speaker and she became an expert on the Brontë family.
Over her career Bentley garnered many awards; an honorary DLitt from Leeds University (1949); a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (1958); awarded an OBE (1970). She died in 1977.
Discover books by Phyllis Bentley published by Bloomsbury Reader at
www.bloomsbury.com/PhyllisBentley
A Man of His Time
A Modern Tragedy
Crescendo
Gold Pieces
Inheritance
Noble in Reason
Ring in the New
Sleep in Peace
Tales of the West Riding
Take Courage
The Adventures of Tom Leigh
The Rise of Henry Morcar
For copyright reasons, any images not belonging to the original author have been removed from this book. The text has not been changed, and may still contain references to missing images.
This electronic edition published in 2013 by Bloomsbury Reader
Bloomsbury Reader is a division of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 50 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3DP
First published in Great Britain 1964 by MacDonald
Copyright © 1964 Phyllis Bentley
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eISBN: 9781448211111
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