Hardie professed his willingness to be of service, and on getting into his buggy said, with some hesitation:
"I'm afraid you're right in your suspicions, and I'm particularly sorry. In a way, I'm responsible for this."
George smiled, rather grimly.
"One can't go into a fight without getting hurt; and we haven't come to the end of it yet. This affair won't cost you my support."
The clergyman's eyes sparkled as he held out his hand.
"I never imagined it—you have my sympathy, Mr. Lansing. It would give me the greatest pleasure to see the cowardly brute who fired that shot brought to justice."
He drove away, and George went moodily back to the house with Edgar.
"That's a man who has had to choose between his duty and his interest," George said; "but just now we have other things to think about. It's a pity I can't get the bullet out until help arrives."
The livery man turned up on the following day and succeeded in extracting it; and Flett made his appearance the morning after. He examined the wounded animal.
"It may have been done by accident; but, if so, it's curious the beast should have been hit close to a place where it would have killed him," he remarked.