This arrangement having been come to, Paul left Poverty Villa, and went off in the direction of the village. On his way towards the market-place, where he expected to find Brent--for it was market-day in Barnstead, and the town was full of farmers and labourers--Mexton remembered that the ploughman had confessed to being with one Jane Bilway in the Winding Lane. If this were so, the woman must have seen as much as the man; and if she had not been bribed also, it was more likely that he would be able to extract the truth from her. Mexton knew most people, high and low, in Barnstead, amongst these Jane Bilway, who was a servant at The Chequers, a little public-house on the outskirts of the village. Thither he turned his steps to see what he could learn from the woman. Jane was a broad, squat wench with a healthy red face and dull eyes. She had about as much intelligence as a cow, and was only useful in doing rough work and common drudgery. She was, at the moment of Paul's arrival, cleaning the front windows of The Chequers, and recognised him with a friendly grin. At once Mexton began to ask her questions on the subject which was uppermost in his mind. "Jane," he said, quietly, "you are to marry Giles Brent, they say?" "Yes, Mr. Mexton. We've bin keepin' company since Christmas." "You see him occasionally?" "Most ivery day. He comes here a lot; he's inside now, havin' a wet," said Jane, pointing to the window of the tap-room. This was better news than Paul expected, for it gave him the chance of an immediate conversation with Brent. But before entering the public-house, he pursued his plan of gaining information from Jane. "Were you walking with him on the night Miss Lester was killed?" "I were," replied Miss Bilway, frankly. "We went to the Methody Chapel together." "Where did you meet him?" "Just by the church, sir. We heard the shot fired when the bell was ringing." "But you were with him in the Winding Lane?" Jane shook her head emphatically. "No, I wasn't, sir," she denied. "I couldn't git away in time to go there. I wasn't in the lane on that night." "Oh!" Paul noted that Brent had been telling a lie. "You met Brent by St. Dunstan's Church at nine o'clock, and went to the Methodist Chapel?" "Yes, I did. And I 'eard the shot fired, but I thought it was nothin', though Giles he wanted to go back." "You didn't see Miss Lester on that night?" "No, sir; but I see Miss Iris, her sister, by the church at nine. She must 'ave heard the shot, too." "I daresay," replied Paul, with assumed carelessness. "Well, Jane, here's a sovereign to buy yourself a wedding-present." "Thank you, sir," said Jane, slipping the coin into her pocket. "I wants all I can git, though to be sure Giles ain't badly off for money." "Oh, he has money, has he?" said Mexton, recollecting Herne's idea of the bribery; "a few shillings, no doubt?"