"Been there--in the counting-house--boy and man, over thirty years,
sir," replied Mrs. Cobcroft.
"Did he see that terrible affair then--was it two years ago?"
The landlady shook her head and let out a weighty sigh.
"Aye, I should think he did!" she answered. "And a nice shock it gave
him, too!--he actually saw that chimney fall--him and another clerk were
looking out o' the counting-house window when it gave way."
Collingwood said no more then--except to remark that such a sight must
indeed have been trying to the nerves. But for purposes of his own he
determined to have a talk with Cobcroft, and the next evening, seeing
him in his garden again, he went out to him and got into conversation,
and eventually led up to the subject of Mallathorpe's Mill, the new
chimney of which could be seen from a corner of the garden.
"Your wife tells me," observed Collingwood, "that you were present when
the old chimney fell at the mill yonder?"
Cobcroft, a quiet, unassuming man, usually of few words, looked along
the hillside at the new chimney, and nodded his head. A curious,
far-away look came into his eyes.
"I was, sir!" he said. "And I hope I may never see aught o' that sort
again, as long as ever I live. It was one o' those things a man can
never forget!"
"Don't talk about it if you don't want to," remarked Collingwood.
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