| OCR Text |
Show 224 RICHAHD llURDfS. detection. The glowing accounts of his companions, which described their successes-tlH'ir profi table murders, fearless burglaries, and a thousand minor offences, such as nC'gro, horse stealing, and petty thefts - only served to enlarge the ' ' ision with wh ich he beheld h is fea rs; and, dull and wretch ed, he returned with his guest to the miserable hovel, now become doubly so since his most humiliat ing cnliglJ tcnmcnt, aml t he formation of his new ties. Jlis wife nnd daughter, meanwhile, l1ad rctircU for the 11igllt ; but the wom:.w did not sleep. She wns filled with apprehensions for l1cr husbm1d scarcely less imposing than those which troubled him for himself; yet 1it tlc d id siJC dream how completely l1c was in the thrall of that power from which her own severe and fruitless v irtues had been utterly unable at all times to restrain him. Her wildest fear never imagined a bond so terrible as that wh ich had been imposed upon ldm in the last hnlf-hour. " ' V'henever you want to lie down, stranger, you can do so. T here's your blnnket. l'm sorry there's no better for you." I t was with diflicully that ]"'lickett brought himself to utter these common words of courte~y. "Good enough," Fnid the other-" I'll take it a little closer by t he fire; nnd, if you have no objection, I 'll throw a stick or two on. l ',·e slept in a better bed, it's t rue, but I 'll be satisfied if I nm·er sleep in a worse." The ltesitating utterance of her husband, nml the cool and r endy reply of their guest, did not cscn11e the keen hear ing of the woman. Pick ett muttered something in answer to this speech, and then t hrew himself, without undressing, H}JOn the bed. T ltc other followed the example, and in a few moments his form, stretched at length before the firet)lace, lay ns quietly as if ltc wet·c already wrupped in the deepest slumbers. '!'his appearance was, howeYer, deceptive. T he emissary lmd not yet fulfi lled all h is duties; and he studiously maintnined himself in ·watchfulness, the better to effect l1is objects. Believing him to be asleep, however , the anxieties of Pickett's wife prompted her, after a while, t o speak to h er miserable hus~anJ. with whom, as yet, sl1e had had no oppor tunity of pnvate speech; but h er whispered accents were checked by the app~e · hensive criminal on the first instant of their utterance. Wttb 225 a quick and nen·ons gripe lw graspeJ l10r arm in silence, and, in this mnnncr, without a word, put a stop to her inquir ies. I n silence, tl111s, and yet with equal watcltfulnes~, did t he three remnin, for the spnce of two goodly hours. The nigh t was nd· Yancing, a11d l"'lickctt bq!;nn to hope tltat John llmdis would fail to keep his promise; bnt the hope h ad not been well formccl in his mind, before be heard the signal agreed upon between thf'm-three hoots and a bark-and, in a cold agony that found in every lllovcment a pitfall, and nn enemy in every bush, lte preparNl to rise and go forth to his employer. " ' Ybere would you go1" demanded the woman in a hurried whisper, which would not be repressed, and she grasped his ann as she spoke. She, too, had heard the signal, and readily divined its import when she saw her h usband preparing to leave Iter. "Nowhere - what's the mntter1-lie still, and don't be foolish!" was his reply, uttered also in a whisper, while with somo violence he disengnged his arm from her grasp. She would have still detnined h im. "Oh, llen !" was all she said, and the still, whispered accents went through him with a warning emphusis that well reminded l1im of that good counsel which he had before rej ected, and which he bitterly cursed himself for not having followed. "She was right," he muttered to his own heart-" she was r ight : lwd I listened to what she said, and let J ohn llurdis do h is own dirty work, I would have had no such trouble. But it's too late now-too late! I must get through it as I may." lie rose, and, silently opening the door, disappeared in tho night. He had scarcely done so, when the emissary prepared to follow him. T he wife snw the movement with terror, nnd, coughing aloud, endea,·ored in this way to convince tl1e stranger that she was wnk eful like himself; but her effort to discourage him from goi11g forth pro,·ed fruitless: he gave lter no heed, nml ::;he beheld him, with fear and trembling, depart almost instantly after her h usband. She could lie in bed no longer ; but rising, hurried to the door , which she ngain opened, and gazed anxiously out upon the dim and speechless trees of the neighboring forests with eyes that seemed to penetrate into the very dimmest of their receRses. She looked without profit. She !0" |
