Again the young carpenter colored, and fidgeted on his chair, examining his cap intently.

“I suppose it would depend on what you wanted her to do,” he said at last.  “The Hall is a good service, though they don’t like the mistresses, and of course none of them would like to do anything that might risk their place.”

“That’s natural enough, Johnson.  But, you see, we could perhaps more than make up to her for that risk.”

“Well, I don’t know, sir,” the man said after another pause.  “It isn’t only the place; but, you see, a young woman wouldn’t like to risk getting into a row like and being turned away in disgrace, or perhaps even worse.  I don’t know what you want, you see, sir?”

Mr. Tallboys looked at Mrs. Conway, and his eyes expressed the question, How far shall we go?  She replied by taking the matter in her own hands.

“We can trust you, can’t we, whether you agree to help us or not?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said more decidedly than he had hitherto spoken.  “You can trust me.  If you tell me what you want, I will tell you straight whether I can do anything.  If I don’t like it, the matter shan’t go beyond me.”

“Very well, then, I will tell you exactly what we want.  We believe that the will is still there, and we believe that if some one in the house were to make a thorough search it might be found.  It is right that it should be found, and that the property should go to those to whom Mr. Penfold left it, and who are now being kept out of it by the Miss Penfolds.  I am very much interested in the matter, because it is my son who is being cheated out of his rights; and I have made up my mind to find the will.  Now, what I want to know is, do you think that one of the housemaids would be willing to give up her place and introduce me as her successor, if I gave her twenty-five pounds?  That would be a nice little sum, you know, to begin housekeeping with.”

Mrs. Conway saw at once by the expression of the young carpenter’s face that she had secured him as an ally.

“I think that might be managed, ma’am,” he said in a tone that showed her he was endeavoring to hide his gladness.  “Yes, I think that could be managed.  There is certainly a young woman at the Hall—­” and he stopped.

Mrs. Conway helped him.  “I may tell you, Mr. Johnson, that the foreman hinted to Mr. Tallboys that he thought you and the upper housemaid were likely one of these days to come together, and that is principally why we spoke to you instead of to one of the others who were there.  We thought, you see, that she might probably be leaving her place one of these days, and that perhaps this twenty-five pounds might enable you and her to marry earlier than you otherwise would have done.  In that case, you see, it would suit us all.  You and she would, moreover, have the satisfaction of knowing that you were aiding to right a great wrong, and to restore to those who have been defrauded the property Mr. Penfold intended for them.  What do you say?”