FORE:He choked, and fell into the darkness.Then suddenly his sons' voices floated up to him in his dream.
FORE:"Not a foot nearer, Master Calverley, for all the gold in England. Why, you are standing just where the poor lady and her babe were buried!"
FORE:"It matters little, good father," replied a gloomy looking peasant, as he started from the earth where he had been reclining; "the freeman has little to boast of now beyond the villein."
THREE:"Yes, yeswot did she die of?"Whether Reuben would have succeeded or not is uncertain, for he was never put to the proof. The next day Albert was feverish and delirious, and the doctor had to be sent for. He cheerfully gave the eldest Backfield three months to livehis lungs were in a dreadful state, one completely gone, the other partly so. He[Pg 364] had caught a chill, too, walking in the dark and cold. There could be no thought of moving him.
THREE:"Yes; I don't want him to think we're set on getting awaybut, by gum, Bill! we are."
