"What can a maid do, grandfather, when the man is headstrong and she is out of call of help? He"—she lifted her brows disdainfully,—"he dared to make hot love to me that day; and again this morning as I was gathering eggs, he——" The Lean Man fetched an oath. "So the lad is not content, ’twould seem," he muttered; "it is not enough to kill three of us and to flaunt my son’s hand in the public view, but he must—see, child, he means thee no good by this, and I was right when I bade thee keep to home awhile." "But, a murrain on ’t, the girl was willing!" cried Red Ratcliffe, aghast to find the Lean Man’s anger diverted so swiftly from Janet to Wayne of Marsh. "What didst say to me this morning, Janet, when I met thee on the moor?" "What I say to thee now, cousin—that thou’rt the meanest of all my kin, and the one least likely to catch any woman’s fancy—that thou may’st threaten, and bully, and play the tale-bearer, and yet not win me in the end." "’Tis plain to see I bred thee, lass," laughed Nicholas, putting a kindly hand on her shoulder.—"As for thee, Red Ratcliffe, I gave thee free leave to say thy say to Janet, but not to force her will." "Then, sir, you would liefer see her wedded to Wayne of Marsh than to me?" broke in the other hotly. "They call _him_ Shameless, but by the Mass this girl would hold the title with better credit. See how she stands there, with an open front and a clear eye, and all the while she knows——" "Sir, my cousin has gone through it all before," said Janet, deftly taking up the talk as Red Ratcliffe paused for very anger. "I said nay to him this morning; and he turned and snarled on me, vowing he would tell you how I met Shameless Wayne willingly by stealth. Has he done so, or was he still finding wit enough to carry the tale through when I came up?" "I said the tale went lame," muttered Nicholas; "ay, I knew there could be naught in ’t." "Did he tell you, sir," went on Janet merrily, "did he tell you that Wayne of Marsh was whispering love-tales in my ear, and that I was listening with greedy relish? He threatened so to do; because, forsooth, he had asked me a plain question, and my answer liked him little." Red Ratcliffe had made many a useless effort to claim a hearing, but he could see by the Lean Man’s face that the tide was running all against him. "He thought I should be feared of you, grandfather!" cried Janet, laughing softly. "He thought I should not dare to come with a straight tale to you as he came with a crooked." Nicholas, eager beforehand to keep his trust in the girl unshaken, let his last doubts fall off from him. "Thou wast right, child, to trust me," he said. "This fool here got his word in first, and if thou hadst not told me of thy meeting with Wayne before ever I twitted thee with it—why, I might well have believed that which would have gone nigh to break my heart."