A few shepherds, the only persons in the vicinity, had been asked whether they had seen a young lady and a laborer.

Some of them had seen a young woman with a basket of clothes, if that mout be her.

Some thought that Phil Martin the carrier would see her if anybody would.

None of them had any positive information to give.
As the afternoon wore on, and party after party returned tired and unsuccessful, depression replaced excitement; conversation, no longer tumultuous, was carried on in whispers, and some of the local visitors slipped away to their homes with a growing conviction that something unpleasant had happened, and that it would be as well not to be mixed up in it.

Mr.Jansenius, though a few words from his wife had surprised and somewhat calmed him, was still pitiably restless and uneasy.
At last the police arrived.