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In the morning, I might either slip away before Northmour was abroad, or pay him as short a visit as I chose. But when morning came, I thought the situation so diverting that I forgot my shyness.
I have never seen the gulls fly so close about the house or approach so fearlessly to human beings. On the very doorstep one flapped heavily past our heads, and uttered its wild cry in my very ear. "There is an omen for you," said Northmour, who like all freethinkers was much under the influence of superstition. "They think we are already dead."
Huddlestone had fallen; but there was no sign of him, nor so much as a trace of blood. "Graden Floe," said Northmour. He continued to advance till we had come to the head of the beach. "No farther, please," said he. "Would you like to take her to Graden House?" "Thank you," replied I; "I shall try to get her to the minister's at Graden Wester."
He seemed annoyed by the question, but admitted with reluctance that he had a little. "Well," I continued, "it is their money they are after, is it not? Why not give it up to them?" "Ah!" replied he, shaking his head, "I have tried that already, Mr. Cassilis; and alas that it should be so! but it is blood they want." "Huddlestone, that's a little less than fair," said Northmour.
I, for my part, leaped at this opportunity for a little further light. "See here, Northmour," said I; "we are all in a tight place, are we not?" "I believe you, my boy," he answered, looking me in the eyes, and with great emphasis. "We have all hell upon us, that's the truth. You may believe me or not, but I'm afraid of my life." "Tell me one thing," said I. "What are they after, these Italians?
I made it my pride to keep aloof and suffice for my own entertainment; and I may say that I had neither friends nor acquaintances until I met that friend who became my wife and the mother of my children. With one man only was I on private terms: this was R. Northmour, Esquire, of Graden-Easter, in Scotland.
We seemed to have agreed tacitly; all reference to the impending catastrophe was carefully avoided; and, considering our tragic circumstances, we made a merrier party than could have been expected. From time to time, it is true, Northmour or I would rise from table and make a round of the defences; and, on each of these occasions, Mr.
I might have stayed longer; but one March night there sprung up between us a dispute, which rendered my departure necessary. Northmour spoke hotly, I remember, and I suppose I must have made some tart rejoinder.
Northmour kept sidling closer; and, as the girl retired from his advance, their course lay at a sort of diagonal across the beach, and would have landed them in the surf had it been long enough continued. But, when this was imminent, the girl would unostentatiously change sides and put Northmour between her and the sea.
I had often and often observed the capabilities of the sand-hills for protracted ambush or stealthy advances and retreats; and, not ten yards from the scene of the scuffle, plumped down again upon the grass. The lantern had fallen and gone out. But what was my astonishment to see Northmour slip at a bound into the pavilion, and hear him bar the door behind him with a clang of iron!
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