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Show 170 RICHAim nunms. OR APTER XXIII. IN T im SNAUE. Jitiu' Sabitms.-Am I then cnlchcdt Ruftt~.-How think you, sir1 you n.l'C, r HOUGH neither William Carrington nor myself sat cnt~r?ly r t t \ table of Qtlf host, neither of US had any SHSpH!l~ll at case a IC ' •• r.. 1 fellow as essentially low lil of l•is purposes. Reg~\dmo t,~\lly the cstcenl of honorable his clHuactcr, and tot{~ -~ un:o lgct our money and nvoid col· men, we were Otlly sollCI ofus . 1 ad but little reason to com· lis ion with him. Am •50 ar, we 1." wrsonsplain. 'rhough indulging freely ~n remarks u·pl~:O'~thcr inofColonel Grafton for cxamJ1le-wlnch were uot a o .. . . . f . co to omsclvcs was sulhcJcntly fensivc, Jus language m IC Cl en , . , 1 t an .· '1· anil bntin" a too frcqurnt nppronch wluch lte m.H c. ol •. ctv~ ' f· T· .·t', nnd which when it concerned me pn.rttcu a~ t ill uo anu '·•~.~ ~.', r m )t to' check, there was notlting in lns ly, I wns ah\,t) S p o ~ he most init:tblc. On the contra: manner calculated to ollend t f 1 Tt . sundry instances ry, the fellow }llayed the })art o .nunt t y ':~ . . ct he shrank to admiration; when we resisted hun .on :m? subj~l .:.t 1 n. dis· . . d t.l . 1 o t the mtervtew ex u ut ec ' from pursumg tt, an ll oug 1 u b bl , 011 the one [)osition to forbear Hli annoyance, excrpt yro a ) I . . sent G f On that pomt even ns lJtC subject of Colonel ra .t.on. . . - his self-esteem had policy did not suffer hun to gl\ e. way. his former employer, been evidently wounded to tlte q_mck b) . ] otkr '\nd with a forbearance like ltis own, whiCh, um ~rl nlnycontro· ' ' b . , ] WC aVOIC C{ circumstances, would have een WlS( 01~, 1 r . (J'rec But versy on a topic in which we must evtllcn_t y \~sao t for his uot so \ Vcbber. He seemed desirous to gam ~~n~enJroYoked anger by a frequent recurrence to the matter w tc I I TN TITF. SNARE. 171 it, and tltrongltout the whole of our interview until the occur· renee of tlt osc circumstances which served, by their personal itnport:tncc, to supersede nll other nwttcrs in our thoughts, he continued, in spite of' all our discomagements, to bring Grafton before us in vmious l ights and anecdotes, tltroughout the wltolc of' wh ich, his own relation to the subject of remnrk was that of OHC wlto hated with the bitterest hnte, und wltom fear, or snn10 less obvious policy, a l01w, restrained from an attem})t to wrC'ak upon l1is enemy the full extent of that malice wl•ieh he yet l1ad not the wisdom to reprrss. It was while he indulged in this very vein that we heard the npproaching tramp of horses. 'Yebber stopped instantly in his discomse. ".Ah, there he comes," he remarked, 10 the debtor is punctual enouglt, tlto11~h he should have been here an hour sooner. Anll now, 'Squire Carriugton, I hope we shall be able to do yom LusiHcss." Sincerely did I hope so tOo. There was an odd sort of smile upon tlte f'ellow's li ps as he said these words which did not please we. lt wns strrmgo aud sinister. lt was not good·llll· morcd certainly, and yet it did not signify any sort of dissatisfaction. Perhaps it simply denoted insincerity, and for this I did not like it. Carrington made some rejJly; and by t his t ime we heard a bustling mnong our horses which were fastened to the branches of a t ree at the entrance. I was about to rise, for I recollectell that we had money in the saddle-bags, when I was prevented by the appearance of tho stranger who entered in the same moment. One glance nt the fellow was enough. H is features were those of the undisguised rnftlan ; and even then l began to feel some little apprehension thOugh I could not to my owH mind tlefine the form of tho danger whicl1 might impend. I could not t hink it possible that these two ruffians, bold however tl1ey might be, would undertake to grapple with us face to face, and in broad dayl ight. rr hey could not mistake our strength of body; and, body and soul, we felt ourselves more than a matclt for them, and a third to help them. And yet, when I reflected upon the large amount of money which William had in his possessio11, I could not but feel that nothing but a like knowledge of the fact, was wanting to p romp t, not |
