CHAPTER
XVI
FATHER BERET'S OLD BATTLE
The room in which Alice was now imprisoned formed part of the upper
story of a building erected by Hamilton in one of the four angles
of the stockade. It had no windows and but two oblong port- holes
made to accommodate a small swivel, which stood darkly scowling
near the middle of the floor. From one of these apertures Alice
could see the straggling roofs and fences of the dreary little town,
while from the other a long reach of watery prairie, almost a lake,
lay under view with the rolling, muddy Wabash gleaming beyond. There
seemed to be no activity of garrison or townspeople. Few sounds
broke the silence of which the cheerless prison room seemed to be
the center.
Alice felt all her courage and cheerfulness leaving her. She was
alone in the midst of enemies. No father or mother, no friend--a
young girl at the mercy of soldiers, who could not be expected to
regard her with any sympathy beyond that which is accompanied with
repulsive leers and hints. Day after day her loneliness and helplessness
became more agonizing. Farnsworth, it is true, did all he could
to relieve the strain of her situation; but Hamilton had an eye
upon what passed and soon interfered. He administered a bitter reprimand,
under which his subordinate writhed in speechless anger and resentment.
"Finally, Captain Farnsworth," he said in conclusion,
"you will distinctly understand that this girl is my prisoner,
not yours; that I, not you, will direct how she is to be held and
treated, and that hereafter I will suffer no interference on your
part. I hope you fully understand me, sir, and will govern yourself
accordingly."
Smarting, or rather smothering, under the outrageous insult of these
remarks, Farnsworth at first determined to fling his resignation
at the Governor's feet and then do whatever desperate thing seemed
most to his mood. But a soldier's training is apt to call a halt
before the worst befalls in such a case. Moreover, in the present
temptation, Farnsworth had a special check and hindrance. He had
had a conference with Father Beret, in which the good priest had
played the part of wisdom in slippers, and of gentleness more dove-like
than the dove's. A very subtle impression, illuminated with the
"hope that withers hope," had come of that interview;
and now Farnsworth felt its restraint. He therefore saluted Hamilton
formally and walked away.
Father Beret's paternal love for Alice,--we cannot characterize
it more nicely than to call it paternal,--was his justification
for a certain mild sort of corruption insinuated by him into the
heart of Farnsworth. He was a crafty priest, but his craft was always
used for a good end. Unquestionably Jesuitic was his mode of circumventing
the young man's military scruples by offering him a puff of fair
weather with which to sail toward what appeared to be the shore
of delight. He saw at a glance that Farnsworth's love for Alice
was a consuming passion in a very ardent yet decidedly weak heart.
Here was the worldly lever with which Father Beret hoped to raze
Alice's prison and free her from the terrible doom with which she
was threatened.
The first interview was at Father Beret's cabin, to which, as will
be remembered, the priest and Farnsworth went after their meeting
in the street. It actually came to nothing, save an indirect understanding
but half suggested by Father Beret and never openly sanctioned by
Captain Farnsworth. The talk was insinuating on the part of the
former, while the latter slipped evasively from every proposition,
as if not able to consider it on account of a curious obtuseness
of perception. Still, when they separated they shook hands and exchanged
a searching look perfectly satisfactory to both.
The memory of that interview with the priest was in Farnsworth's
mind when, boiling with rage, he left Hamilton's presence and went
forth into the chill February air. He passed out through the postern
and along the sodden and queachy aedge of the prairie, involuntarily
making his way to Father Beret's cabin. His indignation was so great
that he trembled from head to foot at every step. The door of the
place was open and Father Beret was eating a frugal meal of scones
and sour wine (of his own make, he said), which he hospitably begged
to share with his visitor. A fire smouldered on the hearth, and
a flat stone showed, by the grease smoking over its hot surface,
where the cakes had been baked.
"Come in, my son," said the priest, "and try the
fare of a poor old man. It is plain, very plain, but good."
He smacked his lips sincerely and fingered another scone. "Take
some, take some."
Farnsworth was not tempted. The acid bouquet of the wine filled
the room with a smack of vinegar, and the smoke from rank scorching
fat and wheat meal did not suggest an agreeable feast.
"Well, well, if you are not hungry, my son, sit down on the
stool there and tell me the news."
Farnsworth took the low seat without a word, letting his eyes wander
over the walls. Alice's rapier, the mate to that now worn by Hamilton,
hung in its curiously engraved scabbard near one corner. The sight
of it inflamed Farnsworth.
"It's an outrage," he broke forth. "Governor Hamilton
sent a man to Roussillon place with orders to bring him the scabbard
of Miss Roussillon's sword, and he now wears the beautiful weapon
as if he had come by it honestly. Damn him!"
"My dear, dear son, you must not soil your lips with such language!"
Father Beret let fall the half of a well bitten cake and held up
both hands.
"I beg your pardon, Father; I know I ought to be more careful
in your presence; but--but--the beastly, hellish scoundrel--"
"Bah! doucement, mon fils, doucement." The old man shook
his head and his finger while speaking. "Easy, my son, easy.
You would be a fine target for bullets were your words to reach
Hamilton's ears. You are not permitted to revile your commander."
"Yes, I know; but how can a man restrain himself under such
abominable conditions?"
Father Beret shrewdly guessed that Hamilton had been giving the
Captain fresh reason for bitter resentment. Moreover, he was sure
that the moving cause had been Alice. So, in order to draw out what
he wished to hear, he said very gently:
"How is the little prisoner getting along?"
Farnsworth ground his teeth and swore; but Father Beret appeared
not to hear; he bit deep into a scone, took a liberal sip of the
muddy red wine and added:
"Has she a comfortable place? Do you think Governor Hamilton
would let me visit her?"
"It is horrible!" Farnsworth blurted. "She's penned
up as if she were a dangerous beast, the poor girl. And that damned
scoundrel-- "
"Son, son!"
"Oh, it's no use to try, I can't help it, Father. The whelp--"
"We can converse more safely and intelligently if we avoid
profanity, and undue emotion, my son. Now, if you will quit swearing,
I will, and if you will be calm, so will I."
Farnsworth felt the sly irony of this absurdly vicarious proposition.
Father Beret smiled with a kindly twinkle in his deep-set eyes.
"Well, if you don't use profane language, Father, there's no
telling how much you think in expletives. What is your opinion of
a man who tumbles a poor, defenseless girl into prison and then
refuses to let her be decently cared for? How do you express yourself
about him?"
"My son, men often do things of which they ought to be ashamed.
I heard of a young officer once who maltreated a little girl that
he met at night in the street. What evil he would have done, had
not a passing kind-hearted man reminded him of his honor by a friendly
punch in the ribs, I dare not surmise."
"True, and your sarcasm goes home as hard as your fist did,
Father. I know that I've been a sad dog all my life. Miss Roussillon
saved you by shooting me, and I love her for it. Lay on, Father,
I deserve more than you can give me."
"Surely you do, my son, surely you do; but my love for you
will not let me give you pain. Ah, we priests have to carry all
men's loads. Our backs are broad, however, very broad, my son."
"And your fists devilish heavy, Father, devilish heavy."
The gentle smile again flickered over the priest's weather-beaten
face as he glanced sidewise at Farnsworth and said:
"Sometimes, sometimes, my son, a carnal weapon must break the
way for a spiritual one. But we priests rarely have much physical
strength; our dependence is upon--"
"To be sure; certainly," Farnsworth interrupted, rubbing
his side, "your dependence is upon the first thing that offers.
I've had many a blow; but yours was the solidest that ever jarred
tny mortal frame, Father Beret."
The twain began to laugh. There is nothing like a reminiscence to
stir up fresh mutual sympathy.
"If your intercostals were somewhat sore for a time, on account
of a contact with priestly knuckles, doubtless there soon set in
a corresponding uneasiness in the region of your conscience. Such
shocks are often vigorously alterative and tonic--eh, my son?"
"You jolted me sober, Father, and then I was ashamed of myself.
But where does all your tremendous strength lie? You don't look
strong."
While speaking Farnsworth leaned near Father Beret and grasped his
arm. The young man started, for his fingers, instead of closing
around a flabby, shrunken old man's limb, spread themselves upon
a huge, knotted mass of iron muscles. With a quick movement Father
Beret shook off Farnsworth's hand, and said:
"I am no Samson, my son. Non sum qualis eram." Then, as
if dismissing a light subject for a graver one, he sighed and added;
"I suppose there is nothing that can be done for little Alice."
He called the tall, strong girl "little Alice," and so
she seemed to him. He could not, without direct effort, think of
her as a magnificently maturing woman. She had always been his spoiled
pet child, perversely set against the Holy Church, but dear to him
nevertheless.
"I came to you to ask that very question, Father," said
Farnsworth.
"And what do I know? Surely, my son, you see how utterly helpless
an old priest is against all you British. And besides--"
"Father Beret," Farnsworth huskily interrupted, "is
there a place that you know of anywhere in which Miss Roussillon
could be hidden, if--"
"My dear son."
"But, Father, I mean it."
"Mean what? Pardon an old man's slow understanding. What are
you talking about, my son?"
Father Beret glanced furtively about, then quickly stepped through
the doorway, walked entirely around the house and came in again
before Farnsworth could respond. Once more seated on his stool he
added interrogatively:
"Did you think you heard something moving outside?"
"No."
"You were saying something when I went out. Pardon my interruption."
Farnsworth gave the priest a searching and not wholly confiding
look.
"You did not interrupt me, Father Beret. I was not speaking.
Why are you so watchful? Are you afraid of eavesdroppers?"
"You were speaking recklessly. Your words were incendiary:
ardentia verba. My son, you were suggesting a dangerous thing. Your
life would scarcely satisfy the law were you convicted of insinuating
such treason. What if one of your prowling guards had overheard
you? Your neck and mine might feel the halter. Quod avertat dominus."
He crossed himself and in a solemn voice added in English:
"May the Lord forbid! Ah, my son, we priests protect those
we love."
"And I, who am not fit to tie a priest's shoe, do likewise.
Father, I love Alice Roussillon."
"Love is a holy thing, my son. Amare divinum est et humanum."
"Father Beret, can you help me?"
"Spiritually speaking, my son?"
"I mean, can you hide Mademoiselle Roussillon in some safe
place, if I take her out of the prison yonder? That's just what
I mean. Can you do it?"
"Your question is a remarkable one. Have you thought upon it
from all directions, my son? Think of your position, your duty as
an officer."
A shrewd polemical expression beamed from Father Beret's eyes, and
a very expert physiogomist might have suspected duplicity from certain
lines about the old man's mouth.
"I simply know that I cannot stand by and see Alice--Mademoiselle
Roussillon, forced to suffer treatment too beastly for an Indian
thief. That's the only direction there is for me to look at it from,
and you can understand my feelings if you will; you know that very
well, Father Beret. When a man loves a girl, he loves her; that's
the whole thing.".
The quiet, inscrutable half-smile flickered once more on Father
Beret's face; but he sat silent some time with a sinewy forefinger
lying alongside his nose. When at last he spoke it was in a tone
of voice indicative of small interest in what he was saying. His
words rambled to their goal with the effect of happy accident.
"There are places in this neighborhood in which a human being
would be as hard to find as the flag that you and Governor Hamilton
have so diligently and unsuccessfully been in quest of for the past
month or two. Really, my son, this is a mysterious little town."
Farnsworth's eyes widened and a flush rose in his swarthy cheeks.
"Damn the flag!" he exclaimed. "Let it lie hidden
forever; what do I care? I tell you, Father Beret, that Alice Roussillon
is in extreme danger. Governor Hamilton means to put some terrible
punishment on her. He has a devil's vindictiveness. He showed it
to me clearly awhile ago."
"You showed something of the same sort to me, once upon a time,
my son."
"Yes, I did, Father Beret, and I got a load of slugs in my
shoulder for it from that brave girl's pistol. She saved your life.
Now I ask you to help me save hers; or, if not her life, what is
infinitely more, her honor."
"Her honor!" cried Father Beret, leaping to his feet so
suddenly and with such energy that the cabin shook from base to
roof. "What do you say, Captain Farnsworth? What do you mean?"
The old man was transformed. His face was terrible to see, with
its narrow, burning eyes deep under the shaggy brows, its dark veins
writhing snakelike on the temples and forehead, the projected mouth
and chin, the hard lines of the jaws, the iron- gray gleam from
all the features--he looked like an aged tiger stiffened for a spring.
Farnsworth was made of right soldierly stuff; but he felt a distinct
shiver flit along his back. His past life had not lacked thrilling
adventures and strangely varied experiences with desperate men.
Usually he met sudden emergencies rather calmly, sometimes with
phlegmatic indifference. This passionate outburst on the priest's
part, however, surprised him and awed him, while it stirred his
heart with a profound sympathy unlike anything he had ever felt
before.
Father Beret mastered himself in a moment, and passing his hand
over his face, as if to brush away the excitement, sat down again
on his stool. He appeared to collapse inwardly.
"You must excuse the weakness of an old man, my son,"
he said, in a voice hoarse and shaking. "But tell me what is
going to be done with Alice. Your words--what you said--I did not
understand."
He rubbed his forehead slowly, as one who has difficulty in trying
to collect his thoughts.
"I do not know what Governor Hamilton means to do, Father Beret.
It will be something devilish, however,--something that must not
happen," said Farnsworth.
Then he recounted all that Hamilton had done and said. He described
the dreary and comfortless room in which Alice was confined, the
miserable fare given her, and how she would be exposed to the leers
and low remarks of the soldiers. She had already suffered these
things, and now that she could no longer have any protection, what
was to become of her? He did not attempt to overstate the case;
but presented it with a blunt sincerity which made a powerfully
realistic impression.
Father Beret, like most men of strong feeling who have been subjected
to long years of trial, hardship, multitudinous dangers and all
sorts of temptation, and who have learned the lessons of self-control,
had an iron will, and also an abiding distrust of weak men. He saw
Farnsworth's sincerity; but he had no faith in his constancy, although
satisfied that while resentment of Hamilton's imperiousness lasted,
he would doubtless remain firm in his purpose to aid Alice. Let
that wear off, as in a short time it would, and then what? The old
man studied his companion with eyes that slowly resumed their expression
of smouldering and almost timid geniality. His priestly experience
with desperate men was demanding of him a proper regard for that
subtlety of procedure which had so often compassed most difficult
ends.
He listened in silence to Farnsworth's story. When it came to an
end he began to offer some but half relevant suggestions in the
form of indirect cross-questions, by means of which he gradually
drew out a minute description of Alice's prison, the best way to
reach it, the nature of its door-fastenings, where the key was kept,
and everything, indeed, likely to be helpful to one contemplating
a jail delivery. Farnsworth was inwardly delighted. He felt Father
Beret's cunning approach to the central object and his crafty method
of gathering details.
The shades of evening thickened in the stuffy cabin room while the
conversation went on. Father Beret presently lifted a puncheon in
one corner of the floor and got out a large bottle, which bore a
mildewed and faded French label, and with it a small iron cup. There
was just light enough left to show a brownish sparkle when, after
popping out the cork, he poured a draught in the fresh cup and in
his own.
"We may think more clearly, my son, if we taste this old liquor.
I have kept it a long while to offer upon a proper occasion. The
occasion is here."
A ravishing bouquet quickly imbued the air. It was itself an intoxication.
"The Brothers of St. Martin distilled this liquor," Father
Beret added, handing the cup to Farnsworth, "not for common
social drinking, my son, but for times when a man needs extraordinary
stimulation. It is said to be surpassingly good, because St. Martin
blessed the vine."
The doughty Captain felt a sudden and imperious thirst seize his
throat. The liquor flooded his veins before his lips touched the
cup. He had been abstaining lately; now his besetting appetite rushed
upon him. At one gulp he took in the fiery yet smooth and captivating
draught. Nor did he notice that Father Beret, instead of joining
him in the potation, merely lifted his cup and set it down again,
smacking his lips gusto.
There followed a silence, during which the aromatic breath of the
bottle increased its dangerous fascination. Then Father Beret again
filled Farnsworth's cup and said:
"Ah, the blessed monks, little thought they that their matchless
brew would ever be sipped in a poor missionary's hut on the Wabash!
But, after all, my son, why not here as well as in sunny France?
Our object justifies any impropriety of time and place."
"You are right, Father. I drink to our object. Yes, I say,
to our object."
In fact, the drinking preceded his speech, and his tongue already
had a loop in it The liquor stole through him, a mist of bewildering
and enchanting influence. The third cup broke his sentences into
unintelligible fragments; the fourth made his underjaw sag loosely,
the fifth and sixth, taken in close succession, tumbled him limp
on the floor, where he slept blissfully all night long, snugly covered
with some of Father Beret's bed clothes.
"Per casum obliquum, et per indirectum," muttered the
priest, when he had returned the bottle and cup to their hiding-place."
The end justifies the means. Sleep well, my son. Ah, little Alice,
little Alice, your old Father will try--will try!"
He fumbled along the wall in the dark until he found the rapier,
which he took down; then he went out and sat for some time motionless
beside the door, while the clouds thickened overhead. It was late
when he arose and glided away shadow-like toward the fort, over
which the night hung black, chill and drearily silent. The moon
was still some hours high, smothered by the clouds; a fog slowly
drifted from the river.
Meantime Hamilton and Helm had spent a part of the afternoon and
evening, as usual, at cards. Helm broke off the game and went to
his quarters rather early for him, leaving the Governor alone and
in a bad temper, because Farnsworth, when he had sent for him, could
not be found. Three times his orderly returned in as many hours
with the same report; the Captain had not been seen or heard of.
Naturally this sudden and complete disappearance, immediately after
the reprimand, suggested to Hamilton an unpleasant possibility.
What if Farnsworth had deserted him? Down deep in his heart he was
conscious that the young man had good cause for almost any desperate
action. To lose Captain Farnsworth, however, would be just now a
calamity. The Indians were drifting over rapidly to the side of
the Americans, and every day showed that the French could not long
be kept quiet.
Hamilton sat for some time after Helm's departure, thinking over
what he now feared was a foolish mistake. Presently he buckled on
Alice's rapier, which he had lately been wearing as his own, and
went out into the main area of the stockade. A sentinel was tramping
to and fro at the gate, where a hazy lantern shone. The night was
breathless and silent. Hamilton approached the soldier on duty and
asked him if he had seen Captain Farnsworth, and receiving a negative
reply, turned about puzzled and thoughtful to walk back and forth
in the chill, foggy air.
Presently a faint yellow light attracted his attention. It shone
through a porthole in an upper room of the block-house at the farther
angle of the stockade. In fact, Alice was reading by a sputtering
lamp a book Farnsworth had sent her, a volume of Ronsard that he
had picked up in Canada. Hamilton made his way in that direction,
at first merely curious to know who was burning oil so late; but
after a few paces he recognized where the light came from, and instantly
suspected that Captain Farnsworth was there. Indeed he felt sure
of it. Somehow he could not regard Alice as other than a saucy hoyden,
incapable of womanly virtue. His experience with the worst element
of Canadian French life and his peculiar cast of mind and character
colored his impression of her. He measured her by the women with
whom the coureurs de bois and half-breed trappers consorted in Detroit
and at the posts eastward to Quebec.
Alice, unable to sleep, had sought forgetfulness of her bitter captivity
in the old poet's charming lyrics. She sat on the floor, some blankets
and furs drawn around her, the book on her lap, the stupidly dull
lamp hanging beside her on a part of the swivel. Her hair lay loose
over her neck and shoulders and shimmered around her face with a
cloud-like effect, giving to the features in their repose a setting
that intensified their sweetness and sadness. In a very low but
distinct voice was reading, with a slightly quavering emotion:
"Mignonne, allons voir si la rose, Que ce matin avoit desclose
Sa robe de pourpe au soleil."
When Hamilton, after stealthily mounting the rough stairway which
led to her door, peeped in through a space between the slabs and
felt a stroke of disappointment, seeing at a glance that Farnsworth
was not there. He gazed for some time, not without a sense of villainy,
while she continued her sweetly monotonous reading. If his heart
had been as hard as the iron swivel-balls that lay beside Alice,
he must still have felt a thrill of something like tender sympathy.
She now showed no trace of the vivacious sauciness which had heretofore
always marked her features when she was in his presence. A dainty
gentleness, touched with melancholy, gave to her face an appealing
look all the more powerful on account of its unconscious simplicity
of expression.
The man felt an impulse pure and noble, which would have borne him
back down the ladder and away from the building, had not a stronger
one set boldly in the opposite direction. There was a short struggle
with the seared remnant of his better nature, and then he tried
to open the door; but it was locked.
Alice heard the slight noise and breaking off her reading turned
to look. Hamilton made another effort to enter before he recollected
that the wooden key, or notched lever, that controlled the cumbrous
wooden lock, hung on a peg beside the door. He felt for it along
the wall, and soon laid his hand on it. Then again he peeped through
to see Alice, who was now standing upright near the swivel. She
had thrown her hair back from her face and neck; the lamp's flickering
light seemed suddenly to have magnified her stature and enhanced
her beauty. Her book lay on the tumbled wraps at her feet, and in
either hand she grasped a swivel-shot.
Hamilton's combative disposition came to the aid of his baser passion
when he saw once more a defiant flash from his prisoner's face.
It was easy for him to be fascinated by opposition. Helm had profited
by this trait as much as others had suffered by it; but, in the
case of Alice, Hamilton's mingled resentment and admiration were
but a powerful irritant to the coarsest and most dangerous side
of his nature.
After some fumbling and delay he fitted the key with a steady hand
and moved the wooden bolt creaking and jolting from its slot. Then
flinging the clumsy door wide open, he stepped in.
Alice started when she recognized the midnight intruder, and a second
deeper look into his countenance made her brave heart recoil, while
with a sinking sensation her breath almost stopped. It was but a
momentary weakness, however, followed by vigorous reaction.
"What are you here for, sir?" she demanded. "What
do you want?"
"I am neither a burglar nor a murderer, Mademoiselle,"
he responded, lifting his hat and bowing, with a smile not in the
least reassuring.
"You look like both. Stop where you are!"
"Not so loud, my dear Miss Roussillon; I am not deaf. And besides
the garrison needs to sleep." "Stop, sir; not another
step."
She poised herself, leaning slightly backward, and held the iron
ball in her right hand ready to throw it at him.
He halted, still smiling villainously.
"Mademoiselle, I assure you that your excitement is quite unnecessary.
I am not here to harm you."
"You cannot harm me, you cowardly wretch!"
"Humph! Pride goes before a fall, wench," he retorted,
taking a half-step backward. Then a thought arose in his mind which
added a new shade to the repellent darkness of his countenance.
"Miss Roussillon," he said in English and with a changed
voice, which seemed to grow harder, each word deliberately emphasized,
"I have come to break some bad news to you."
"You would scarcely bring me good news, sir, and I am not curious
to hear the bad."
He was silent for a little while, gazing at her with the sort of
admiration from which a true woman draws away appalled. He saw how
she loathed him, saw how impossible it was for him to get a line
nearer to her by any turn of force or fortune. Brave, high- headed,
strong as a young leopard, pure and sweet as a rose, she stood before
him fearless, even aggressive, showing him by every line of her
face and form that she felt her infinite superiority and meant to
maintain it. Her whole personal expression told him he was defeated;
therefore he quickly seized upon a suggestion caught from a transaction
with Long-Hair, who had returned a few hours before from his pursuit
of Beverley.
"It pains me, I assure you, Miss Roussillon, to tell you what
will probably grieve you deeply," he presently added; "but
I have not been unaware of your tender interest in Lieutenant Beverley,
and when I had bad news from him, I thought it my duty to inform
you."
He paused, feeling with a devil's satisfaction the point of his
statement go home to the girl's heart.
The wind was beginning to blow outside, shaking open the dark clouds
and letting gleams of moonlight flicker on the thinning fog. A ghostly
ray came through a crack between the logs and lit Alice's face with
a pathetic wanness. She moved her lips as if speaking, but Hamilton
heard no sound.
"The Indian, Long-Hair, whom I sent upon Lieutenant Beverley's
trail, reported to me this afternoon that his pursuit had been quite
successful. He caught his game."
Alice's voice came to her now. She drew in a quivering breath of
relief.
"Then he is here--he is--you have him a prisoner again?"
"A part of him, Miss Roussillon. Enough to be quite sure that
there is one traitor who will trouble his king no more. Mr. Long-
Hair brought in the Lieutenant's scalp."
Alice received this horrible statement in silence; but her face
blanched and she stood as if frozen by the shock. The shifty moon-
glimmer and the yellow glow of the lamp showed Hamilton to what
an extent his devilish cruelty hurt her, and somehow it chilled
him as if by reflection; but he could not forego another thrust.
"He deserved hanging, and would have got it had he been brought
to me alive. So after all, you should be satisfied. He escaped my
vengeance and Long-Hair got his pay. You see I am the chief sufferer."
These words, however, fell without effect upon the girl's ears,
in which was booming the awful, storm-like roar of her excitement.
She did not see her persecutor standing there; her vision, unhindered
by walls and distance, went straight away to a place in the wilderness,
where all mangled and disfigured Beverley lay dead. A low cry broke
from her lips; she dropped the heavy swivel- balls; and then, like
a bird, swiftly, with a rustling swoop, she went past Hamilton and
down the stair.
For perhaps a full minute the man stood there motionless, stupefied,
amazed; and when at length he recovered himself, it was with difficulty
that he followed her. Everything seemed to hinder him. When he reached
the open air, however, he quickly regained his activity of both
mind and body, and looked in all directions. The clouds were breaking
into parallel masses with streaks of sky between. The moon hanging
aslant against the blue peeped forth just in time to show him a
flying figure which, even while he looked, reached the postern,
opened it and slipped through.
With but a breath of hesitation between giving the alarm and following
Alice silently and alone, he chose the latter. He was a swift runner
and light footed. With a few bounds he reached the little gate,
which was still oscillating on its hinges, darted through and away,
straining every muscle in desperate pursuit, gaining rapidly in
the race, which bore eastward along the course twice before chosen
by Alice in leaving the stockade. |