When it was again full he plugged the hole, knocked the hoop down to its place, and buried the tub in the lumber as before.
'Aren't the smugglers afraid that you will tell ?' he asked, as they recrossed the churchyard.
'O no; they are not afraid of that.

I couldn't do such a thing.' 'They have put you into a very awkward corner,' said Stockdale emphatically.

'You must, of course, as an honest person, sometimes feel that it is your duty to inform--really you must.' 'Well, I have never particularly felt it as a duty; and, besides, my first husband--' She stopped, and there was some confusion in her voice.
Stockdale was so honest and unsophisticated that he did not at once discern why she paused: but at last he did perceive that the words were a slip, and that no woman would have uttered 'first husband' by accident unless she had thought pretty frequently of a second.

He felt for her confusion, and allowed her time to recover and proceed.

'My husband,' she said, in a self-corrected tone, 'used to know of their doings, and so did my father, and kept the secret.