I'll do anything for thy father; I've no spite agen him.'
'Oh, I knew thee would!' she said; 'thee'lt tell the justice thee never
saw him there till the other folks came up from Botfield. Tim says he
didn't see anybody down in the pit, and he's promised not to swear to
their names. Don't thee swear to seeing anybody.'
'But I did see every one of them,' Stephen answered; 'and Tim knew all
their voices; and there'll be lots to tell who came up in the last
skip.'
'There's nobody in Botfield will swear agen them,' pleaded Bess. 'Whose
place is it to know who came up in the last skip, or who was at the fire
last night? Oh, Stephen, the Bible says we're to do good to them that
hate us. And if father's hated thee, thee canst save him now.'
'Ay,' said Tim, 'Bess is right; there's not a mother's son in Botfield
to swear agen them for the master's sake. If he didn't see them, nor
Miss Anne, why need we know? I'll soon baffle the justice, I promise ye.
It's a rare chance to forgive Black Thompson, anyhow.'
'Bess and Tim,' answered Stephen, in great distress, 'I can't do it. It
isn't that I bear a grudge against thy father--I've almost forgotten
that he ever did anything to me.
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