Note 3 — Chapter I · EARLY YEARS.
Reading edition
The question occurred, How did the child get amongst the pigs? He could not have climbed over the paling; he must have been lifted over. There was an old sweetheart of the quondam militiaman, whom he had deserted in favour of Margaret Mitchell. It was believed that she had maliciously lifted the child over the palings, and put him amongst the pigs, most probably from spite against her old lover.