Now Deborah was faithful to the backbone, and would have given all
she had in the world, almost her life itself, for her lady and the
children; she was a good and honest woman in the main, but tongue and
temper were two things that she had never learnt to restrain, and she
had given her love to the first person by whom it was sought, without
consideration whether he was worthy of affection or not. That
Diggory was a sullen, ill-conditioned, selfish fellow, was evident to
everyone else; but he had paid court to Deborah, and therefore the
foolish woman had allowed herself to be taken with him, see
perfections in him, promise to become his wife, and confide in him.
When Deborah left the hall, Diggory returned to his former employment
of chopping wood, and began to consider very intently for him.
He had really believed, at the moment of his panic-terror, that he
saw Edmund Woodley fall, and had at once taken flight, without
attempting to afford him any assistance. The story of the brains
had, of course, been invented on the spur of the moment, by way of
excusing his flight, and he was obliged to persist in the falsehood
he had once uttered, though he was not by any means certain that it
had been his master whom he saw killed, especially after hearing
Colonel Enderby's testimony.
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