The landlady roundly
called him insane, and as an instance of his queerness told Arthur, to
his great dismay, that Haddo would have no servants to sleep in the
house: after dinner everyone was sent away to the various cottages in
the park, and he remained alone with his wife. It was an awful thought
that Margaret might be in the hands of a raving madman, with not a soul
to protect her. But if he learnt no more than this of solid fact, Arthur
heard much that was significant. To his amazement the old fear of the
wizard had grown up again in that lonely place, and the garrulous woman
gravely told him of Haddo's evil influence on the crops and cattle of
farmers who had aroused his anger. He had had an altercation with his
bailiff, and the man had died within a year. A small freeholder in the
neighbourhood had refused to sell the land which would have rounded off
the estate of Skene, and a disease had attacked every animal on his farm
so that he was ruined. Arthur was impressed because, though she reported
these rumours with mock scepticism as the stories of ignorant yokels and
old women, the innkeeper had evidently a terrified belief in their truth.
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