““Then Betsy Triggs heard footsteps at the door and all waited eagerly to see what news the returning searchers brought. Jud Paynter limped in. He was in his best underclothes and was very wet and very cross. The tablecloth he’d borrowed from the kiddlywink down the lane wasn’t much protection from the rain. “’Ere,” he said truculently, “what’s all this? An’ where’s my pipe?” Chapter Twenty-Five Jud’s recovery was a nine days’ wonder and scandal in the district.””
