‘I don’t think it’s so very like to rain,’ remarked Isaac, looking up at the sky, where, indeed, no trace of a cloud was to be seen. ‘Nay, I don’t hold wi’ Job—’t will keep up for a bit yet. Mrs. F. ’ull ha’ gone home by now, I should think—she’d begin to find it a bit damp in the dell. The dew be falling very fast. Well, I’ll go home to my supper.’ He passed through the gate at the further end of the field, and had traversed more than half the distance which separated him from his home when the sound of heavy but rapid steps behind him made him halt and turn round. Job Hunt, who had evidently been hastening in pursuit of him, paused too, his great red face wearing an appearance of unusual excitement, and his sly blue eyes positively goggling in his head. Owing to the unusual press of work, and the need for accomplishing it in a given time, Isaac had persuaded Rosalie to consent to his engaging this unwelcome addition to her forces, and she had agreed with a meekness that sufficiently indicated her spiritless condition. Job it was who had been most energetic in foretelling a coming storm, partly in order to render his services the more valuable, and partly because of a natural pleasure in predicting disaster to Mrs. Fiander’s crops. ‘Well,’ said Isaac, gazing at him in astonishment. ‘Have ’ee seen what be goin’ on yonder, sir?’ was Job’s counter-query. ‘What be a-goin’ on where?’ inquired the farmer. ‘Why, there,’ returned Hunt, with a significant jerk of the thumb in the direction of the Church Meadow. ‘There bain’t nothin’ at all a-goin’ on there,’ returned his employer sternly. ‘I be just come from there—the field’s empty.’ ‘Nay, Mr. Sharpe,’ returned Job, half closing one eye, and assuming a very knowing look. ‘Nay, it bain’t empty. Jist you step back and see. If you was to step up to the dell very cautious—I’d advise ’ee to go very cautious, sir—you ’d maybe see summat as ’ud surprise ’ee. Jist you come along wi’ I, Mr. Sharpe—I’ll show ’ee where to look, and I d’ ’low ye’ll be astonished.’ Isaac surveyed him for half a minute or so without speaking, and then slowly jerked his thumb forwards. ‘Cut away,’ he said briefly. ‘’Ees, I don’t mind if I do come, but I don’t expect to see nothin’ surprisin’ at all.’ Job grinned derisively for all rejoinder, and led the way as requested; walking with exaggerated caution, and turning his malevolent red-bearded face over his shoulder every now and then to make sure that Isaac was following. The latter shambled along at his usual pace and with a perfectly imperturbable face. As they drew near the dell, a small cup-shaped pit surrounded by bushes at the upper end of the field, the sound of voices was distinctly audible—two voices, a man’s and a woman’s—speaking, however, so low that even when Isaac and his companion were close to the brink they could distinguish no words.