His wife held down her knitting and looked attentive.

“Why, that Rigg, or Rigg Featherstone, was one. But Bulstrode was before him, so I’m going to do it for Bulstrode. Whether it’s mortgage or purchase they’re going for, I can’t tell yet.”

“Can that man be going to sell the land just left him⁠—which he has taken the name for?” said Mrs. Garth.

“Deuce knows,” said Caleb, who never referred the knowledge of discreditable doings to any higher power than the deuce. “But Bulstrode has long been wanting to get a handsome bit of land under his fingers⁠—that I know. And it’s a difficult matter to get, in this part of the country.”