At the end of a fortnight I could go about a little, but the wounds in the shoulder did not properly heal, and I recovered strength but slowly.
One day as I sat out on the lawn in front of the house, Luke near me, busied in cleaning a gun, an old woman, with a tattered shawl over her head and a basket on her arm, came feebly up the drive, now and then coughing asthmatically. In a wheezing voice she begged to be allowed to show me the contents of her basket. Luke gave her his stool, which she accepted with profuse gratitude, and then asked for a drink of water.
"Bring her a cordial, Luke," I said, as he went off to the kitchen.
As soon as he was out of hearing, the old woman said in Bess Boswell's voice.
"Send him away again when he returns. I must have a private word with you."
Sure enough, now I looked narrowly at her, I recognised the eyes, but the rest of the face was that of an aged woman.
"What is the meaning of this mummery, Bess?" I asked.
"Have you forgotten what I told you? It is dangerous for me to be seen speaking to you," she replied.
"No; but I can't for the life of me understand the danger," said I.
"Certainly you can't; but that does not alter the fact," answered she, in a tone rather scornful of my sagacity, I thought.
Luke came toward us with the cordial at this point, and I bade him leave us awhile, as the poor body had something to tell me of her affairs. He withdrew out of earshot, but remained within sight of us.
"Your man is quicker of apprehension than you," she said. "He doesn't know me, and he doesn't trust me. He is loading his gun, and keeping a watchful eye on me; a good servant, that. I wish you would take a leaf out of his book, and be on your guard against strangers. Two months ago I begged you to go away out of the Isle, and it is by the most wonderful luck you are alive to-day."
"I have been in danger once or twice; I do know so much."
"I do not speak of mobs and crazy women; your enemies are much more formidable."
"Come now, Bess, drop this mysterious style, and tell a plain tale, if you have one. You mean that Sheffield owes me a grudge, and won't stick at trifles to pay it. I know that as well as you, and I am not shaking in my shoes about it."