Neither did her husband like the proximity of such a gentleman. They
caused securer bolts to be put on their doors--for fastenings in small
country places are not much thought about, people around being
proverbially honest. They also had their shutters altered. The shutters
to the windows, back and front, had holes in them in the form of a
heart, such as you may have sometimes noticed. Before the wild-looking
man--whose name came to be known as Pike--had been in possession of the
shed a fortnight, Jabez Gum had the holes in his shutters filled-in and
painted over. An additional security, said the neighbours: but poor timid
Mrs. Gum could not overcome that first fright, and the very mention of
the man set her trembling and quaking.
Nothing more was said of the dream or the apparition, real or fancied, of
Lord Hartledon: Clerk Gum did not encourage the familiar handling of such
topics in everyday life. He breakfasted, devoted an hour to his own
business in the little office, and then put on his coat to go out. It was
Friday morning. On that day and on Wednesdays the church was open for
baptisms, and it was the clerk's custom to go over at ten o'clock and
apprize the Rector of any notices he might have had.
Passing in at the iron gates, the large white house rose before him,
beyond the wide lawn. It had been built by Dr. Ashton at his own
expense.
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