The
head constable walked up to the door of the Green Dragon, and
though he did not presume to join the principal group, was
evidently in attendance, if required. The clock struck
eleven; a cart had stopped to watch events, and a gentleman's
coachman riding home with a led horse.
"Here they are!" said the brewer.
"Lord Marney himself," said the lawyer.
"And Sir Vavasour Firebrace, I declare. I wonder how he came
here," said a retired gentleman, who had been a tallow-
chandler on Holborn Hill.
The vicar took off his hat, and all uncovered. Lord Marney
and his brother magistrate rode briskly up to the inn and
rapidly dismounted.
"Well, Snigford," said his lordship, in a peremptory tone,
"this is a pretty business; I'll have this stopped directly."
Fortunate man if he succeed in doing so! The torch of the
incendiary had for the first time been introduced into the
parish of Marney; and last night the primest stacks of the
Abbey farm had blazed a beacon to the agitated neighbourhood.
Book 2 Chapter 4
"It is not so much the fire, sir," said Mr Bingley of the
Abbey farm to Egremont, "but the temper of the people that
alarms me. Do you know, sir, there were two or three score of
them here, and, except my own farm servants, not one of them
would lend a helping hand to put out the flames, though, with
water so near, they might have been of great service.
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