But he called at every
house, a'most, in the village: there's somebody else, mayhap, saw
'em in his ears, though I can't take upon me rightly to say.'
Mr Snell was correct in his surmise, that somebody else would
remember the pedlar's ear-rings. For, on the spread of inquiry among
the villagers, it was stated with gathering emphasis, that the
parson had wanted to know whether the pedlar wore ear-rings in his
ears, and an impression was created that a great deal depended on
the eliciting of this fact. Of course everyone who heard the question,
not having any distinct image of the pedlar as without ear-rings,
immediately had an image of him with ear-rings, larger or smaller,
as the case might be; and the image was presently taken for a vivid
recollection, so that the glazier's wife, a well-intentioned woman,
not given to lying, and whose house was among the cleanest in the
village, was ready to declare, as sure as ever she meant to take the
sacrament, the very next Christmas that was ever coming, that she
had seen big ear-rings, in the shape of the young moon, in the
pedlar's two ears; while Jinny Oates, the cobbler's daughter, being
a more imaginative person, stated not only that she had seen them too,
but that they had made her blood creep, as it did at that very
moment while there she stood.
Also, by way of throwing further light on this clue of the
tinder-box, a collection was made of all the articles purchased from
the pedlar at various houses and carried to the Rainbow to be
exhibited there.
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