Evidently this sort of thing had been going on for some time and I had just discovered it.

It placed me in a miserable light.

When Colton had declared, as he had in both our interviews, that the Lane was a nuisance I had loftily denied the assertion.

Now those idiots in the village were doing their best to prove me a liar.

I should have expected such behavior from Hallet and his friends, but for Captain Dean to tacitly approve their conduct was unexpected and provoking.