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As soon as he was out of the intendant's house, Edward hastened to the cottage of Oswald Partridge, whom he found waiting for him, for the verderer had not failed to deliver his message.
"You have had a long talk with Mistress Patience," said Oswald, after the first greeting, "and I am glad of it, as it gives you consequence here. The Roundhead rascal whom you met was inclined, to be very precise about doing his duty, and insisted that he was certain that you were on the look-out for deer; but I stopped his mouth by telling him that I often took you out with me, as you were the best shot in the whole forest, and that the intendant knew that I did so. I think that if you were caught in the act of killing a deer, you had better tell, them that you killed it by my request, and I will bear you out if they bring you to the intendant, who will, I'm sure, thank me for saying so; you might kill all the deer in the forest, after what you have done for him."