Chapter 26

a€˜And youa€™re not surprised to hear this, Varden?a€™ said Mr Haredale. a€˜Well! You and she have always been the best friends, and you should understand her if anybody does.a€™

a€˜I ask your pardon, sir,a€™ rejoined the locksmith. a€˜I didna€™t say I understood her. I wouldna€™t have the presumption to say that of any woman. Ita€™s not so easily done. But I am not so much surprised, sir, as you expected me to be, certainly.a€™

a€˜May I ask why not, my good friend?a€™

a€˜I have seen, sir,a€™ returned the locksmith with evident reluctance, a€˜I have seen in connection with her, something that has filled me with distrust and uneasiness. She has made bad friends, how, or when, I dona€™t know; but that her house is a refuge for one robber and cut-throat at least, I am certain. There, sir! Now ita€™s out.a€™

a€˜Varden!a€™

a€˜My own eyes, sir, are my witnesses, and for her sake I would be willingly half-blind, if I could but have the pleasure of mistrusting a€™em. I have kept the secret till now, and it will go no further than yourself, I know; but I tell you that with my own eyesa€"broad awakea€"I saw, in the passage of her house one evening after dark, the highwayman who robbed and wounded Mr Edward Chester, and on the same night threatened me.a€™

a€˜And you made no effort to detain him?a€™ said Mr Haredale quickly.

a€˜Sir,a€™ returned the locksmith, a€˜she herself prevented mea€"held me, with all her strength, and hung about me until he had got clear off.a€™ And having gone so far, he related circumstantially all that had passed upon the night in question.

This dialogue was held in a low tone in the locksmitha€™s little parlour, into which honest Gabriel had shown his visitor on his arrival. Mr Haredale had called upon him to entreat his company to the widowa€™s, that he might have the assistance of his persuasion and influence; and out of this circumstance the conversation had arisen.

a€˜I forbore,a€™ said Gabriel, a€˜from repeating one word of this to anybody, as it could do her no good and might do her great harm. I thought and hoped, to say the truth, that she would come to me, and talk to me about it, and tell me how it was; but though I have purposely put myself in her way more than once or twice, she has never touched upon the subjecta€"except by a look. And indeed,a€™ said the good-natured locksmith, a€˜there was a good deal in the look, more than could have been put into a great many words. It said among other