Explore "The Nether Millstone" by Fred M. White on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
There were strange rumours in the air; the servants at the Hall were asking thrilling questions in whispers. Nobody seemed to know anything but Slight, who kept his counsel. Everything was going to come right in a day or two; all they had to do was to go about their business quietly. Late in the afternoon it became known that Sir Vincent had vanished, and within an hour or two, strange men with an air of authority were calling at the Hall and asking questions. Mr. Dashwood had gone over to the dower house to see what was really wrong. He found Lady Dashwood in the dining-room in deep discussion with the family solicitor, Mr. Morley.
"What is all this I hear? " Dashwood asked. "The new head of the family has vanished, and I'm told that he and Mayfield tried to murder Ralph Darnley last night. Slight has told me a great deal, but he will not say anything as to the motive for the extraordinary crime. He says he prefers to leave me to hear the truth from Lady Dashwood."