“It's true az I be here zitting,” said Mudford; “that the gamekeeper,--I mean Phil Govier, of course,--had a' got a hare in one pocket, and a cock pheasant in t'other;--I zeed'em myself.” “Come, come;--no ill o' the dead, pr'ythee, now,” quoth the herbalist. “No ill o' the dead!” cried the man who sat next to him; “I do zay yea, iv it be truth; and moorauver, in my mind, it be better to zay vorty _lies_, even, of them that be gone, than to tell one that may do harm to them that be living. Them wer'n't the virst Phil pocketed, by night or by day, vor his own profit, as I do think.'T'ant clear to I, that a' didn't play voul wi' Zaul, long ago;--I wouldn't lie down upon my back and zwear that a' didn't kill the game what he 'cuzed Zaul o' poaching, and zo got Braintree out of his place, and popped into't hi'zelf.” “This is going too far, landlord,” said the supervisor. “Do 'ee think so, sir?” asked Gough, with a knowing look, accompanied by a shake of the head, which finished in an acquiescent nod to the man who sat next the herbalist. Mudford asked the constable if Saul had seen his son after the committal of the latter. Abel replied, that an interview had been permitted by the magistrate, just previously to Robert's removal; “which interview,” added he, “took place in the presence of myself and colleague.” “And what did 'em zay?” eagerly inquired three or four of the persons present. The constable replied, that it would be highly improper for him to divulge all that took place, even if he were capable of so doing; but there was much that he did not hear, and more that he had forgotten. One part of the brief dialogue he perfectly well remembered:--after having whispered for a short time, the youth said aloud, “But I be innocent, vather; you be zure I be.”--“Well, well!” replied Braintree, in a low, but nevertheless, audible tone; “zuppose things should go against thee, wou'lt thee die like a man, Bob?”--“I doan't know, vather,--I be but a boy! I'll try, iv it do come to that; I hope it won't, though; vor I be aveard I can't bear it--I can't, truly, vather.” “Zo, thee dost call thyself a buoy, dost?” said Saul; “a vellow here within a head as high as I be, and gone eighteen these zix weeks!” “You always tells me I be but a boy.” “Well, and zo I do--thee'rt _my_ boy; but a boy to nobody else. But I zay, Bob, woul't thee mind now, and speak up to the lord judge just what I told thee?” “Yeas, doan't be aveard.” “Ah! but woul't tell't cool and zober-vashion, Bob?” “Never you vear,” replied Robert;--“bless'ee, I shall tell't out to un, just as iv I were telling out zixpenn'orth o' ha'pence.” “And Bob--” But here Braintree's voice subsided into a whisper again, and Abel heard no more of that part of the conversation.