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Show 3{0 RICHARD IIURDJS. CHAPTER XLVII. FLIOII'I' OF 'I'HK WEAK BROTHER. , ]'Jl 11otc you in my hook of memory, To scoul'ge you fu1· this l'CJWeliension; l~ook t.o it well, nnd suy you fil'e well wnJ·ncd."-SIIAKSl'ER~ THE unhappy youth l1ad scnrccly gone from sight when .l\Iat Webber and rny colleague Iln1lcr emerged from a .bush opposite, not ten paces off, in which t]Jcy hacl, equally wtth ITIJ:self, listened to the whole Uia1oguc as I have <dread! nar~·ated 1t. u So!" was t1 1c exclamation of 'V cbbcr, sl1akmg l11s sl_ow finger after tho departing form of the you~h _o ~0! It IS, as I cxpcctcU; and your doom is written, Master Eberly. l oster can save you, can he 1 '" c will see to tl1at! It wot~Id be .a difficult matter for him to snve himself, were he to try 1t.. It IS well you have no hopes from me- well! I klte yonr gn·l, do I, because she is the daughter of Grafton, and hate you bcc~use you love her honorably 1 'V e111 there is truth in the notwn, however your dull brains hnppened to llit upon it. I .do hate both of you for that very reason. IIad the fool used his plcas-ure WI' tl 1 tl lC g·1,. ] • by G-d • I had forgiven him - he had had my < f t any consent to go where he pleased, and swear off rom us 3 b moment, for he has done nothing s!nce he h.a.s bee~ a :emB~~ -he was never of much use, and will be of still less no . . to love where I hate, is an offence I can not so readily fo 1f''e. No Haller the bullet and the knife for him. lie shall ;etcp ou; secrets: and his own too, if you and Wj]]iams Uo your c u Y· Ha! - who's that 1'' I cnme out of my "Williams himself," was my answer, as hiding-place, and joined them. aYows his treason, and "Well!-you have heard him-lie FLIGHT OF THP. WF;AK BU01'HER. 341 you know his doom. 1Vhat 11eed of dC'lay! Go after him alone-you will not l1ave a better plnce for the blow if you waited a month. Go alone, and despatch the business." I wns not prepared for so sudden a requisition, and the sanguinary rtnd stern commnncl at once confOunded me. Yet \Y cbber Jwd only repeated the words of Foster. In our hands lay tile award and the execution of justice. \V e had been instmctcd to punisl1, the moment we resolved that the penalty IHJ.d been incurred; and there was no reasonable pretext for doubt. " 'hnt to do or say, I knew not-to think of committing the cruel deed was, of course, entiJ·cly out of the question. l:~ortunately, tl1e ~tnswer of my colleague, Ifallcr, relieved me. '' -\Ve had better wnit and hear wJ1at Foster has to say. H e may not be plcnscd that we slwuld proceed so suddenly , particularly when we knew that he had promised to take the afl~1ir into consideration." ''And wl1at can ltis consideration come to 1 \Vhnt can he have to say 1 He can not alter the laws- he can not acquit an offender w1JO!ll we condemn - l1o l1as no power for that." "~o! lie has no power for that; and, so far as my voice goes, we slwll give l1im no such power in this instance," was the reply of Haller. "Yet, as a mntter of civility only, it will be better that we sJJould not proceed in this business till we lwve heard ·what l''ostcr 11as to say. lie migl1t look upon it, that we slighted hts opinions, and I lis wishes, at the lC'ast; and there's 110 necessity for our seeming to do that. Besides, we c:tn not lose by the delay. 1Ye can execute to-monow just as well as to-day-Eberly can not escape us." "True-that's true," was the reply of \Vebber; "tJJongll, to speak plainly, I don't like this undertaking to interfere on tho part of Clem :F'oster. lle can't certninly hope to persundc us to reverse our judgment, and let this boy loose, unmuzzled, to confuse and convict us in some of their dirty courts of justice!-" "No! As you heard I lim say, that's a matter more easy to tbink upon than to do. All tl1at Eberly could say in a comtltOusc could not prove against one of us, and we migl1t Jmng him whcuerer we choose." "Y cs, but we don't want to get into a court of justice at all," |