The idea is preposterous.

I told the squire as much, today." Mrs.Whitney burst into tears.

She had kept up all day, sustained partly by indignation, and partly by the desire that Reuben should not see that she felt it; but the thought that all the village would believe Reuben guilty had cut her to the heart, and she had felt so unwilling to face anyone that, as soon as Mrs.Ellison had left, she had closed the shutters of her little shop; but she broke down, now, from her relief at hearing that someone besides herself believed the boy to be innocent.
"I don't know what I shall do without you, Mrs.Whitney," Mrs.
Shrewsbury said, when the widow recovered her composure.

"I shall miss you dreadfully.

Is it quite settled that you will go ?" "Quite settled, Mrs.Shrewsbury.I wouldn't stop in the squire's house for an hour longer than I could help, after his believing Reuben to be guilty of poisoning his dog, and not believing the boy when he said he had nothing to do with it.