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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/7891-0.txt b/7891-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..92a29ed --- /dev/null +++ b/7891-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2928 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Dead Alive, by Wilkie Collins + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Dead Alive + +Author: Wilkie Collins + +Release Date: April, 2005 [EBook #7891] +Posting Date: July 31, 2009 +Last Updated: September 13, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEAD ALIVE *** + + + + +Produced by James Rusk + + + + + +THE DEAD ALIVE + +By Wilkie Collins + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE SICK MAN. + +“HEART all right,” said the doctor. “Lungs all right. No organic +disease that I can discover. Philip Lefrank, don’t alarm yourself. You +are not going to die yet. The disease you are suffering from +is--overwork. The remedy in your case is--rest.” + +So the doctor spoke, in my chambers in the Temple (London); having been +sent for to see me about half an hour after I had alarmed my clerk by +fainting at my desk. I have no wish to intrude myself needlessly on the +reader’s attention; but it may be necessary to add, in the way of +explanation, that I am a “junior” barrister in good practice. I come +from the channel Island of Jersey. The French spelling of my name +(Lefranc) was Anglicized generations since--in the days when the letter +“k” was still used in England at the end of words which now terminate +in “c.” We hold our heads high, nevertheless, as a Jersey family. It is +to this day a trial to my father to hear his son described as a member +of the English bar. + +“Rest!” I repeated, when my medical adviser had done. “My good friend, +are you aware that it is term-time? The courts are sitting. Look at the +briefs waiting for me on that table! Rest means ruin in my case.” + +“And work,” added the doctor, quietly, “means death.” + +I started. He was not trying to frighten me: he was plainly in earnest. + +“It is merely a question of time,” he went on. “You have a fine +constitution; you are a young man; but you cannot deliberately overwork +your brain, and derange your nervous system, much longer. Go away at +once. If you are a good sailor, take a sea-voyage. The ocean air is the +best of all air to build you up again. No: I don’t want to write a +prescription. I decline to physic you. I have no more to say.” + +With these words my medical friend left the room. I was obstinate: I +went into court the same day. + +The senior counsel in the case on which I was engaged applied to me for +some information which it was my duty to give him. To my horror and +amazement, I was perfectly unable to collect my ideas; facts and dates +all mingled together confusedly in my mind. I was led out of court +thoroughly terrified about myself. The next day my briefs went back to +the attorneys; and I followed my doctor’s advice by taking my passage +for America in the first steamer that sailed for New York. + +I had chosen the voyage to America in preference to any other trip by +sea, with a special object in view. A relative of my mother’s had +emigrated to the United States many years since, and had thriven there +as a farmer. He had given me a general invitation to visit him if I +ever crossed the Atlantic. The long period of inaction, under the name +of _rest_, to which the doctor’s decision had condemned me, could +hardly be more pleasantly occupied, as I thought, than by paying a +visit to my relation, and seeing what I could of America in that way. +After a brief sojourn at New York, I started by railway for the +residence of my host--Mr. Isaac Meadowcroft, of Morwick Farm. + +There are some of the grandest natural prospects on the face of +creation in America. There is also to be found in certain States of the +Union, by way of wholesome contrast, scenery as flat, as monotonous, +and as uninteresting to the traveler, as any that the earth can show. +The part of the country in which M. Meadowcroft’s farm was situated +fell within this latter category. I looked round me when I stepped out +of the railway-carriage on the platform at Morwick Station; and I said +to myself, “If to be cured means, in my case, to be dull, I have +accurately picked out the very place for the purpose.” + +I look back at those words by the light of later events; and I +pronounce them, as you will soon pronounce them, to be the words of an +essentially rash man, whose hasty judgment never stopped to consider +what surprises time and chance together might have in store for him. + +Mr. Meadowcroft’s eldest son, Ambrose, was waiting at the station to +drive me to the farm. + +There was no forewarning, in the appearance of Ambrose Meadowcroft, of +the strange and terrible events that were to follow my arrival at +Morwick. A healthy, handsome young fellow, one of thousands of other +healthy, handsome young fellows, said, “How d’ye do, Mr. Lefrank? Glad +to see you, sir. Jump into the buggy; the man will look after your +portmanteau.” With equally conventional politeness I answered, “Thank +you. How are you all at home?” So we started on the way to the farm. + +Our conversation on the drive began with the subjects of agriculture +and breeding. I displayed my total ignorance of crops and cattle before +we had traveled ten yards on our journey. Ambrose Meadowcroft cast +about for another topic, and failed to find it. Upon this I cast about +on my side, and asked, at a venture, if I had chosen a convenient time +for my visit The young farmer’s stolid brown face instantly brightened. +I had evidently hit, hap-hazard, on an interesting subject. + +“You couldn’t have chosen a better time,” he said. “Our house has never +been so cheerful as it is now.” + +“Have you any visitors staying with you?” + +“It’s not exactly a visitor. It’s a new member of the family who has +come to live with us.” + +“A new member of the family! May I ask who it is?” + +Ambrose Meadowcroft considered before he replied; touched his horse +with the whip; looked at me with a certain sheepish hesitation; and +suddenly burst out with the truth, in the plainest possible words: + +“It’s just the nicest girl, sir, you ever saw in your life.” + +“Ay, ay! A friend of your sister’s, I suppose?” + +“A friend? Bless your heart! it’s our little American cousin, Naomi +Colebrook.” + +I vaguely remembered that a younger sister of Mr. Meadowcroft’s had +married an American merchant in the remote past, and had died many +years since, leaving an only child. I was now further informed that the +father also was dead. In his last moments he had committed his helpless +daughter to the compassionate care of his wife’s relations at Morwick. + +“He was always a speculating man,” Ambrose went on. “Tried one thing +after another, and failed in all. Died, sir, leaving barely enough to +bury him. My father was a little doubtful, before she came here, how +his American niece would turn out. We are English, you know; and, +though we do live in the United States, we stick fast to our English +ways and habits. We don’t much like American women in general, I can +tell you; but when Naomi made her appearance she conquered us all. Such +a girl! Took her place as one of the family directly. Learned to make +herself useful in the dairy in a week’s time. I tell you this--she +hasn’t been with us quite two months yet, and we wonder already how we +ever got on without her!” + +Once started on the subject of Naomi Colebrook, Ambrose held to that +one topic and talked on it without intermission. It required no great +gift of penetration to discover the impression which the American +cousin had produced in this case. The young fellow’s enthusiasm +communicated itself, in a certain tepid degree, to me. I really felt a +mild flutter of anticipation at the prospect of seeing Naomi, when we +drew up, toward the close of evening, at the gates of Morwick Farm. + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE NEW FACES. + +IMMEDIATELY on my arrival, I was presented to Mr. Meadowcroft, the +father. + +The old man had become a confirmed invalid, confined by chronic +rheumatism to his chair. He received me kindly, and a little wearily as +well. His only unmarried daughter (he had long since been left a +widower) was in the room, in attendance on her father. She was a +melancholy, middle-aged woman, without visible attractions of any +sort--one of those persons who appear to accept the obligation of +living under protest, as a burden which they would never have consented +to bear if they had only been consulted first. We three had a dreary +little interview in a parlor of bare walls; and then I was permitted to +go upstairs, and unpack my portmanteau in my own room. + +“Supper will be at nine o’clock, sir,” said Miss Meadowcroft. + +She pronounced those words as if “supper” was a form of domestic +offense, habitually committed by the men, and endured by the women. I +followed the groom up to my room, not over-well pleased with my first +experience of the farm. + +No Naomi and no romance, thus far! + +My room was clean--oppressively clean. I quite longed to see a little +dust somewhere. My library was limited to the Bible and the +Prayer-Book. My view from the window showed me a dead flat in a partial +state of cultivation, fading sadly from view in the waning light. Above +the head of my spruce white bed hung a scroll, bearing a damnatory +quotation from Scripture in emblazoned letters of red and black. The +dismal presence of Miss Meadowcroft had passed over my bedroom, and had +blighted it. My spirits sank as I looked round me. Supper-time was +still an event in the future. I lighted the candles and took from my +portmanteau what I firmly believe to have been the first French novel +ever produced at Morwick Farm. It was one of the masterly and charming +stories of Dumas the elder. In five minutes I was in a new world, and +my melancholy room was full of the liveliest French company. The sound +of an imperative and uncompromising bell recalled me in due time to the +regions of reality. I looked at my watch. Nine o’clock. + +Ambrose met me at the bottom of the stairs, and showed me the way to +the supper-room. + +Mr. Meadowcroft’s invalid chair had been wheeled to the head of the +table. On his right-hand side sat his sad and silent daughter. She +signed to me, with a ghostly solemnity, to take the vacant place on the +left of her father. Silas Meadowcroft came in at the same moment, and +was presented to me by his brother. There was a strong family likeness +between them, Ambrose being the taller and the handsomer man of the +two. But there was no marked character in either face. I set them down +as men with undeveloped qualities, waiting (the good and evil qualities +alike) for time and circumstances to bring them to their full growth. + +The door opened again while I was still studying the two brothers, +without, I honestly confess, being very favorably impressed by either +of them. A new member of the family circle, who instantly attracted my +attention, entered the room. + +He was short, spare, and wiry; singularly pale for a person whose life +was passed in the country. The face was in other respects, besides +this, a striking face to see. As to the lower part, it was covered with +a thick black beard and mustache, at a time when shaving was the rule, +and beards the rare exception, in America. As to the upper part of the +face, it was irradiated by a pair of wild, glittering brown eyes, the +expression of which suggested to me that there was something not quite +right with the man’s mental balance. A perfectly sane person in all his +sayings and doings, so far as I could see, there was still something in +those wild brown eyes which suggested to me that, under exceptionally +trying circumstances, he might surprise his oldest friends by acting in +some exceptionally violent or foolish way. “A little cracked”--that in +the popular phrase was my impression of the stranger who now made his +appearance in the supper-room. + +Mr. Meadowcroft the elder, having not spoken one word thus far, himself +introduced the newcomer to me, with a side-glance at his sons, which +had something like defiance in it--a glance which, as I was sorry to +notice, was returned with the defiance on their side by the two young +men. + +“Philip Lefrank, this is my overlooker, Mr. Jago,” said the old man, +formally presenting us. “John Jago, this is my young relative by +marriage, Mr. Lefrank. He is not well; he has come over the ocean for +rest, and change of scene. Mr. Jago is an American, Philip. I hope you +have no prejudice against Americans. Make acquaintance with Mr. Jago. +Sit together.” He cast another dark look at his sons; and the sons +again returned it. They pointedly drew back from John Jago as he +approached the empty chair next to me and moved round to the opposite +side of the table. It was plain that the man with the beard stood high +in the father’s favor, and that he was cordially disliked for that or +for some other reason by the sons. + +The door opened once more. A young lady quietly joined the party at the +supper-table. + +Was the young lady Naomi Colebrook? I looked at Ambrose, and saw the +answer in his face. Naomi Colebrook at last! + +A pretty girl, and, so far as I could judge by appearances, a good girl +too. Describing her generally, I may say that she had a small head, +well carried, and well set on her shoulders; bright gray eyes, that +looked at you honestly, and meant what they looked; a trim, slight +little figure--too slight for our English notions of beauty; a strong +American accent; and (a rare thing in America) a pleasantly toned +voice, which made the accent agreeable to English ears. Our first +impressions of people are, in nine cases out of ten, the right +impressions. I liked Naomi Colebrook at first sight; liked her pleasant +smile; liked her hearty shake of the hand when we were presented to +each other. “If I get on well with nobody else in this house,” I +thought to myself, “I shall certainly get on well with _you_.” + +For once in a way, I proved a true prophet. In the atmosphere of +smoldering enmities at Morwick Farm, the pretty American girl and I +remained firm and true friends from first to last. Ambrose made room +for Naomi to sit between his brother and himself. She changed color for +a moment, and looked at him, with a pretty, reluctant tenderness, as +she took her chair. I strongly suspected the young farmer of squeezing +her hand privately, under cover of the tablecloth. + +The supper was not a merry one. The only cheerful conversation was the +conversation across the table between Naomi and me. + +For some incomprehensible reason, John Jago seemed to be ill at ease in +the presence of his young countrywoman. He looked up at Naomi +doubtingly from his plate, and looked down again slowly with a frown. +When I addressed him, he answered constrainedly. Even when he spoke to +Mr. Meadowcroft, he was still on his guard--on his guard against the +two young men, as I fancied by the direction which his eyes took on +these occasions. When we began our meal, I had noticed for the first +time that Silas Meadowcroft’s left hand was strapped up with surgical +plaster; and I now further observed that John Jago’s wandering brown +eyes, furtively looking at everybody round the table in turn, looked +with a curious, cynical scrutiny at the young man’s injured hand. + +By way of making my first evening at the farm all the more embarrassing +to me as a stranger, I discovered before long that the father and sons +were talking indirectly _at_ each other, through Mr. Jago and through +me. When old Mr. Meadowcroft spoke disparagingly to his overlooker of +some past mistake made in the cultivation of the arable land of the +farm, old Mr. Meadowcroft’s eyes pointed the application of his hostile +criticism straight in the direction of his two sons. When the two sons +seized a stray remark of mine about animals in general, and applied it +satirically to the mismanagement of sheep and oxen in particular, they +looked at John Jago, while they talked to me. On occasions of this +sort--and they happened frequently--Naomi struck in resolutely at the +right moment, and turned the talk to some harmless topic. Every time +she took a prominent part in this way in keeping the peace, melancholy +Miss Meadowcroft looked slowly round at her in stern and silent +disparagement of her interference. A more dreary and more disunited +family party I never sat at the table with. Envy, hatred, malice and +uncharitableness are never so essentially detestable to my mind as when +they are animated by a sense of propriety, and work under the surface. +But for my interest in Naomi, and my other interest in the little +love-looks which I now and then surprised passing between her and +Ambrose, I should never have sat through that supper. I should +certainly have taken refuge in my French novel and my own room. + +At last the unendurably long meal, served with ostentatious profusion, +was at an end. Miss Meadowcroft rose with her ghostly solemnity, and +granted me my dismissal in these words: + +“We are early people at the farm, Mr. Lefrank. I wish you good-night.” + +She laid her bony hands on the back of Mr. Meadowcroft’s invalid-chair, +cut him short in his farewell salutation to me, and wheeled him out to +his bed as if she were wheeling him out to his grave. + +“Do you go to your room immediately, sir? If not, may I offer you a +cigar--provided the young gentlemen will permit it?” + +So, picking his words with painful deliberation, and pointing his +reference to “the young gentlemen” with one sardonic side-look at them, +Mr. John Jago performed the duties of hospitality on his side. I +excused myself from accepting the cigar. With studied politeness, the +man of the glittering brown eyes wished me a good night’s rest, and left +the room. + +Ambrose and Silas both approached me hospitably, with their open +cigar-cases in their hands. + +“You were quite right to say ‘No,’” Ambrose began. “Never smoke with +John Jago. His cigars will poison you.” + +“And never believe a word John Jago says to you,” added Silas. “He is +the greatest liar in America, let the other be whom he may.” + +Naomi shook her forefinger reproachfully at them, as if the two sturdy +young farmers had been two children. + +“What will Mr. Lefrank think,” she said, “if you talk in that way of a +person whom your father respects and trusts? Go and smoke. I am ashamed +of both of you.” + +Silas slunk away without a word of protest. Ambrose stood his ground, +evidently bent on making his peace with Naomi before he left her. + +Seeing that I was in the way, I walked aside toward a glass door at the +lower end of the room. The door opened on the trim little farm-garden, +bathed at that moment in lovely moonlight. I stepped out to enjoy the +scene, and found my way to a seat under an elm-tree. The grand repose +of nature had never looked so unutterably solemn and beautiful as it +now appeared, after what I had seen and heard inside the house. I +understood, or thought I understood, the sad despair of humanity which +led men into monasteries in the old times. The misanthropical side of +my nature (where is the sick man who is not conscious of that side of +him?) was fast getting the upper hand of me when I felt a light touch +laid on my shoulder, and found myself reconciled to my species once +more by Naomi Colebrook. + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE MOONLIGHT MEETING. + +“I WANT to speak to you,” Naomi began “You don’t think ill of me for +following you out here? We are not accustomed to stand much on ceremony +in America.” + +“You are quite right in America. Pray sit down.” + +She seated herself by my side, looking at me frankly and fearlessly by +the light of the moon. + +“You are related to the family here,” she resumed, “and I am related +too. I guess I may say to you what I couldn’t say to a stranger. I am +right glad you have come here, Mr. Lefrank; and for a reason, sir, +which you don’t suspect.” + +“Thank you for the compliment you pay me, Miss Colebrook, whatever the +reason may be.” + +She took no notice of my reply; she steadily pursued her own train of +thought. + +“I guess you may do some good, sir, in this wretched house,” the girl +went on, with her eyes still earnestly fixed on my face. “There is no +love, no trust, no peace, at Morwick Farm. They want somebody here, +except Ambrose. Don’t think ill of Ambrose; he is only thoughtless. I +say, the rest of them want somebody here to make them ashamed of their +hard hearts, and their horrid, false, envious ways. You are a +gentleman; you know more than they know; they can’t help themselves; +they must look up to _you_. Try, Mr. Lefrank, when you have the +opportunity--pray try, sir, to make peace among them. You heard what +went on at supper-time; and you were disgusted with it. Oh yes, you +were! I saw you frown to yourself; and I know what _that_ means in you +Englishmen.” + +There was no choice but to speak one’s mind plainly to Naomi. I +acknowledged the impression which had been produced on me at +supper-time just as plainly as I have acknowledged it in these pages. +Naomi nodded her head in undisguised approval of my candor. + +“That will do, that’s speaking out,” she said. “But--oh my! you put it +a deal too mildly, sir, when you say the men don’t seem to be on +friendly terms together here. They hate each other. That’s the word, +Mr. Lefrank--hate; bitter, bitter, bitter hate!” She clinched her +little fists; she shook them vehemently, by way of adding emphasis to +her last words; and then she suddenly remembered Ambrose. “Except +Ambrose,” she added, opening her hand again, and laying it very +earnestly on my arm. “Don’t go and misjudge Ambrose, sir. There is no +harm in poor Ambrose.” + +The girl’s innocent frankness was really irresistible. + +“Should I be altogether wrong,” I asked, “if I guessed that you were a +little partial to Ambrose?” + +An Englishwoman would have felt, or would at least have assumed, some +little hesitation at replying to my question. Naomi did not hesitate +for an instant. + +“You are quite right, sir,” she said with the most perfect composure. +“If things go well, I mean to marry Ambrose.” + +“If things go well,” I repeated. “What does that mean? Money?” + +She shook her head. + +“It means a fear that I have in my own mind,” she answered--“a fear, +Mr. Lefrank, of matters taking a bad turn among the men here--the +wicked, hard-hearted, unfeeling men. I don’t mean Ambrose, sir; I mean +his brother Silas, and John Jago. Did you notice Silas’s hand? John +Jago did that, sir, with a knife.” + +“By accident?” I asked. + +“On purpose,” she answered. “In return for a blow.” + +This plain revelation of the state of things at Morwick Farm rather +staggered me--blows and knives under the rich and respectable roof-tree +of old Mr. Meadowcroft--blows and knives, not among the laborers, but +among the masters! My first impression was like _your_ first +impression, no doubt. I could hardly believe it. + +“Are you sure of what you say?” I inquired. + +“I have it from Ambrose. Ambrose would never deceive me. Ambrose knows +all about it.” + +My curiosity was powerfully excited. To what sort of household had I +rashly voyaged across the ocean in search of rest and quiet? + +“May I know all about it too?” I said. + +“Well, I will try and tell you what Ambrose told me. But you must +promise me one thing first, sir. Promise you won’t go away and leave us +when you know the whole truth. Shake hands on it, Mr. Lefrank; come, +shake hands on it.” + +There was no resisting her fearless frankness. I shook hands on it. +Naomi entered on her narrative the moment I had given her my pledge, +without wasting a word by way of preface. + +“When you are shown over the farm here,” she began, “you will see that +it is really two farms in one. On this side of it, as we look from +under this tree, they raise crops: on the other side--on much the +larger half of the land, mind--they raise cattle. When Mr. Meadowcroft +got too old and too sick to look after his farm himself, the boys (I +mean Ambrose and Silas) divided the work between them. Ambrose looked +after the crops, and Silas after the cattle. Things didn’t go well, +somehow, under their management. I can’t tell you why. I am only sure +Ambrose was not in fault. The old man got more and more dissatisfied, +especially about his beasts. His pride is in his beasts. Without saying +a word to the boys, he looked about privately (_I_ think he was wrong +in that, sir; don’t you?)--he looked about privately for help; and, in +an evil hour, he heard of John Jago. Do you like John Jago, Mr. +Lefrank?” + +“So far, no. I don’t like him.” + +“Just my sentiments, sir. But I don’t know: it’s likely we may be +wrong. There’s nothing against John Jago, except that he is so odd in +his ways. They do say he wears all that nasty hair on his face (I hate +hair on a man’s face) on account of a vow he made when he lost his +wife. Don’t you think, Mr. Lefrank, a man must be a little mad who +shows his grief at losing his wife by vowing that he will never shave +himself again? Well, that’s what they do say John Jago vowed. Perhaps +it’s a lie. People are such liars here! Anyway, it’s truth (the boys +themselves confess _that_), when John came to the farm, he came with a +first-rate character. The old father here isn’t easy to please; and he +pleased the old father. Yes, that’s so. Mr. Meadowcroft don’t like my +countrymen in general. He’s like his sons--English, bitter English, to +the marrow of his bones. Somehow, in spite of that, John Jago got round +him; maybe because John does certainly know his business. Oh yes! +Cattle and crops, John knows his business. Since he’s been overlooker, +things have prospered as they didn’t prosper in the time of the boys. +Ambrose owned as much to me himself. Still, sir, it’s hard to be set +aside for a stranger; isn’t it? John gives the orders now. The boys do +their work; but they have no voice in it when John and the old man put +their heads together over the business of the farm. I have been long in +telling you of it, sir, but now you know how the envy and the hatred +grew among the men before my time. Since I have been here, things seem +to get worse and worse. There’s hardly a day goes by that hard words +don’t pass between the boys and John, or the boys and their father. The +old man has an aggravating way, Mr. Lefrank--a nasty way, as we do call +it--of taking John Jago’s part. Do speak to him about it when you get +the chance. The main blame of the quarrel between Silas and John the +other day lies at his door, as I think. I don’t want to excuse Silas, +either. It was brutal of him--though he _is_ Ambrose’s brother--to +strike John, who is the smaller and weaker man of the two. But it was +worse than brutal in John, sir, to out with his knife and try to stab +Silas. Oh, he did it! If Silas had not caught the knife in his hand +(his hand’s awfully cut, I can tell you; I dressed it myself), it might +have ended, for anything I know, in murder--” + +She stopped as the word passed her lips, looked back over her shoulder, +and started violently. + +I looked where my companion was looking. The dark figure of a man was +standing, watching us, in the shadow of the elm-tree. I rose directly +to approach him. Naomi recovered her self-possession, and checked me +before I could interfere. + +“Who are you?” she asked, turning sharply toward the stranger. “What do +you want there?” + +The man stepped out from the shadow into the moonlight, and stood +revealed to us as John Jago. + +“I hope I am not intruding?” he said, looking hard at me. + +“What do you want?” Naomi repeated. + +“I don’t wish to disturb you, or to disturb this gentleman,” he +proceeded. “When you are quite at leisure, Miss Naomi, you would be +doing me a favor if you would permit me to say a few words to you in +private.” + +He spoke with the most scrupulous politeness; trying, and trying +vainly, to conceal some strong agitation which was in possession of +him. His wild brown eyes--wilder than ever in the moonlight--rested +entreatingly, with a strange underlying expression of despair, on +Naomi’s face. His hands, clasped lightly in front of him, trembled +incessantly. Little as I liked the man, he did really impress me as a +pitiable object at that moment. + +“Do you mean that you want to speak to me to-night?” Naomi asked, in +undisguised surprise. + +“Yes, miss, if you please, at your leisure and at Mr. Lefrank’s.” + +Naomi hesitated. + +“Won’t it keep till to-morrow?” she said. + +“I shall be away on farm business to-morrow, miss, for the whole day. +Please to give me a few minutes this evening.” He advanced a step +toward her; his voice faltered, and dropped timidly to a whisper. “I +really have something to say to you, Miss Naomi. It would be a kindness +on your part--a very, very great kindness--if you will let me say it +before I rest to-night.” + +I rose again to resign my place to him. Once more Naomi checked me. + +“No,” she said. “Don’t stir.” She addressed John Jago very reluctantly: +“If you are so much in earnest about it, Mr. John, I suppose it must +be. I can’t guess what _you_ can possibly have to say to me which +cannot be said before a third person. However, it wouldn’t be civil, I +suppose, to say ‘No’ in my place. You know it’s my business to wind up +the hall-clock at ten every night. If you choose to come and help me, +the chances are that we shall have the hall to ourselves. Will that +do?” + +“Not in the hall, miss, if you will excuse me.” + +“Not in the hall!” + +“And not in the house either, if I may make so bold.” + +“What do you mean?” She turned impatiently, and appealed to me. “Do +_you_ understand him?” + +John Jago signed to me imploringly to let him answer for himself. + +“Bear with me, Miss Naomi,” he said. “I think I can make you understand +me. There are eyes on the watch, and ears on the watch, in the house; +and there are some footsteps--I won’t say whose--so soft, that no +person can hear them.” + +The last allusion evidently made itself understood. Naomi stopped him +before he could say more. + +“Well, where is it to be?” she asked, resignedly. “Will the garden do, +Mr. John?” + +“Thank you kindly, miss; the garden will do.” He pointed to a +gravel-walk beyond us, bathed in the full flood of the moonlight. +“There,” he said, “where we can see all round us, and be sure that +nobody is listening. At ten o’clock.” He paused, and addressed himself +to me. “I beg to apologize, sir, for intruding myself on your +conversation. Please to excuse me.” + +His eyes rested with a last anxious, pleading look on Naomi’s face. He +bowed to us, and melted away into the shadow of the tree. The distant +sound of a door closed softly came to us through the stillness of the +night. John Jago had re-entered the house. + +Now that he was out of hearing, Naomi spoke to me very earnestly: + +“Don’t suppose, sir, I have any secrets with _him_,” she said. “I know +no more than you do what he wants with me. I have half a mind not to +keep the appointment when ten o’clock comes. What would you do in my +place?” + +“Having made the appointment,” I answered, “it seems to be due to +yourself to keep it. If you feel the slightest alarm, I will wait in +another part of the garden, so that I can hear if you call me.” + +She received my proposal with a saucy toss of the head, and a smile of +pity for my ignorance. + +“You are a stranger, Mr. Lefrank, or you would never talk to me in that +way. In America, we don’t do the men the honor of letting them alarm +us. In America, the women take care of themselves. He has got my +promise to meet him, as you say; and I must keep my promise. Only +think,” she added, speaking more to herself than to me, “of John Jago +finding out Miss Meadowcroft’s nasty, sly, underhand ways in the house! +Most men would never have noticed her.” + +I was completely taken by surprise. Sad and severe Miss Meadowcroft a +listener and a spy! What next at Morwick Farm? + +“Was that hint at the watchful eyes and ears, and the soft footsteps, +really an allusion to Mr. Meadowcroft’s daughter?” I asked. + +“Of course it was. Ah! she has imposed on you as she imposes on +everybody else. The false wretch! She is secretly at the bottom of half +the bad feeling among the men. I am certain of it--she keeps Mr. +Meadowcroft’s mind bitter toward the boys. Old as she is, Mr. Lefrank, +and ugly as she is, she wouldn’t object (if she could only make him ask +her) to be John Jago’s second wife. No, sir; and she wouldn’t break her +heart if the boys were not left a stick or a stone on the farm when the +father dies. I have watched her, and I know it. Ah! I could tell you +such things! But there’s no time now--it’s close on ten o’clock; we +must say good-night. I am right glad I have spoken to you, sir. I say +again, at parting, what I have said already: Use your influence, pray +use your influence, to soften them, and to make them ashamed of +themselves, in this wicked house. We will have more talk about what you +can do to-morrow, when you are shown over the farm. Say good-by now. +Hark! there is ten striking! And look! here is John Jago stealing out +again in the shadow of the tree! Good-night, friend Lefrank; and +pleasant dreams.” + +With one hand she took mine, and pressed it cordially; with the other +she pushed me away without ceremony in the direction of the house. A +charming girl--an irresistible girl! I was nearly as bad as the boys. I +declare, _I_ almost hated John Jago, too, as we crossed each other in +the shadow of the tree. + +Arrived at the glass door, I stopped and looked back at the gravel-walk. + +They had met. I saw the two shadowy figures slowly pacing backward and +forward in the moonlight, the woman a little in advance of the man. +What was he saying to her? Why was he so anxious that not a word of it +should be heard? Our presentiments are sometimes, in certain rare +cases, the faithful prophecy of the future. A vague distrust of that +moonlight meeting stealthily took a hold on my mind. “Will mischief +come of it?” I asked myself as I closed the door and entered the house. + +Mischief _did_ come of it. You shall hear how. + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE BEECHEN STICK. + +PERSONS of sensitive, nervous temperament, sleeping for the first time +in a strange house, and in a bed that is new to them, must make up +their minds to pass a wakeful night. My first night at Morwick Farm was +no exception to this rule. The little sleep I had was broken and +disturbed by dreams. Toward six o’clock in the morning, my bed became +unendurable to me. The sun was shining in brightly at the window. I +determined to try the reviving influence of a stroll in the fresh +morning air. + +Just as I got out of bed, I heard footsteps and voices under my window. + +The footsteps stopped, and the voices became recognizable. I had passed +the night with my window open; I was able, without exciting notice from +below, to look out. + +The persons beneath me were Silas Meadowcroft, John Jago, and three +strangers, whose dress and appearance indicated plainly enough that +they were laborers on the farm. Silas was swinging a stout beechen +stick in his hand, and was speaking to Jago, coarsely and insolently +enough, of his moonlight meeting with Naomi on the previous night. + +“Next time you go courting a young lady in secret,” said Silas, “make +sure that the moon goes down first, or wait for a cloudy sky. You were +seen in the garden, Master Jago; and you may as well tell us the truth +for once in a way. Did you find her open to persuasion, sir? Did she +say ‘Yes?’” + +John Jago kept his temper. + +“If you must have your joke, Mr. Silas,” he said, quietly and firmly, +“be pleased to joke on some other subject. You are quite wrong, sir, in +what you suppose to have passed between the young lady and me.” + +Silas turned about, and addressed himself ironically to the three +laborers. + +“You hear him, boys? He can’t tell the truth, try him as you may. He +wasn’t making love to Naomi in the garden last night--oh dear, no! He +has had one wife already; and he knows better than to take the yoke on +his shoulders for the second time!” + +Greatly to my surprise, John Jago met this clumsy jesting with a formal +and serious reply. + +“You are quite right, sir,” he said. “I have no intention of marrying +for the second time. What I was saying to Miss Naomi doesn’t matter to +you. It was not at all what you choose to suppose; it was something of +quite another kind, with which you have no concern. Be pleased to +understand once for all, Mr. Silas, that not so much as the thought of +making love to the young lady has ever entered my head. I respect her; +I admire her good qualities; but if she was the only woman left in the +world, and if I was a much younger man than I am, I should never think +of asking her to be my wife.” He burst out suddenly into a harsh, +uneasy laugh. “No, no! not my style, Mr. Silas--not my style!” + +Something in those words, or in his manner of speaking them, appeared +to exasperate Silas. He dropped his clumsy irony, and addressed himself +directly to John Jago in a tone of savage contempt. + +“Not your style?” he repeated. “Upon my soul, that’s a cool way of +putting it, for a man in your place! What do you mean by calling her +‘not your style?’ You impudent beggar! Naomi Colebrook is meat for your +master!” + +John Jago’s temper began to give way at last. He approached defiantly a +step or two nearer to Silas Meadowcroft. + +“Who is my master?” he asked. + +“Ambrose will show you, if you go to him,” answered the other. “Naomi +is _his_ sweetheart, not mine. Keep out of his way, if you want to keep +a whole skin on your bones.” + +John Jago cast one of his sardonic side-looks at the farmer’s wounded +left hand. “Don’t forget your own skin, Mr. Silas, when you threaten +mine! I have set my mark on you once, sir. Let me by on my business, or +I may mark you for a second time.” + +Silas lifted his beechen stick. The laborers, roused to some rude sense +of the serious turn which the quarrel was taking, got between the two +men, and parted them. I had been hurriedly dressing myself while the +altercation was proceeding; and I now ran downstairs to try what my +influence could do toward keeping the peace at Morwick Farm. + +The war of angry words was still going on when I joined the men +outside. + +“Be off with you on your business, you cowardly hound!” I heard Silas +say. “Be off with you to the town! and take care you don’t meet Ambrose +on the way!” + +“Take _you_ care you don’t feel my knife again before I go!” cried the +other man. + +Silas made a desperate effort to break away from the laborers who were +holding him. + +“Last time you only felt my fist!” he shouted “Next time you shall feel +_this!_” + +He lifted the stick as he spoke. I stepped up and snatched it out of +his hand. + +“Mr. Silas,” I said, “I am an invalid, and I am going out for a walk. +Your stick will be useful to me. I beg leave to borrow it.” + +The laborers burst out laughing. Silas fixed his eyes on me with a +stare of angry surprise. John Jago, immediately recovering his +self-possession, took off his hat, and made me a deferential bow. + +“I had no idea, Mr. Lefrank, that we were disturbing you,” he said. “I +am very much ashamed of myself, sir. I beg to apologize.” + +“I accept your apology, Mr. Jago,” I answered, “on the understanding +that you, as the older man, will set the example of forbearance if your +temper is tried on any future occasion as it has been tried today. And +I have further to request,” I added, addressing myself to Silas, “that +you will do me a favor, as your father’s guest. The next time your good +spirits lead you into making jokes at Mr. Jago’s expense, don’t carry +them quite so far. I am sure you meant no harm, Mr. Silas. Will you +gratify me by saying so yourself? I want to see you and Mr. Jago shake +hands.” + +John Jago instantly held out his hand, with an assumption of good +feeling which was a little overacted, to my thinking. Silas Meadowcroft +made no advance of the same friendly sort on his side. + +“Let him go about his business,” said Silas. “I won’t waste any more +words on him, Mr. Lefrank, to please _you_. But (saving your presence) +I’m d--d if I take his hand!” + +Further persuasion was plainly useless, addressed to such a man as +this. Silas gave me no further opportunity of remonstrating with him, +even if I had been inclined to do so. He turned about in sulky silence, +and, retracing his steps along the path, disappeared round the corner +of the house. The laborers withdrew next, in different directions, to +begin the day’s work. John Jago and I were alone. + +I left it to the man of the wild brown eyes to speak first. + +“In half an hour’s time, sir,” he said, “I shall be going on business +to Narrabee, our market-town here. Can I take any letters to the post +for you? or is there anything else that I can do in the town?” + +I thanked him, and declined both proposals. He made me another +deferential bow, and withdrew into the house. I mechanically followed +the path in the direction which Silas had taken before me. + +Turning the corner of the house, and walking on for a little way, I +found myself at the entrance to the stables, and face to face with +Silas Meadowcroft once more. He had his elbows on the gate of the yard, +swinging it slowly backward and forward, and turning and twisting a +straw between his teeth. When he saw me approaching him, he advanced a +step from the gate, and made an effort to excuse himself, with a very +ill grace. + +“No offense, mister. Ask me what you will besides, and I’ll do it for +you. But don’t ask me to shake hands with John Jago; I hate him too +badly for that. If I touched him with one hand, sir, I tell you this, I +should throttle him with the other.” + +“That’s your feeling toward the man, Mr. Silas, is it?” + +“That’s my feeling, Mr. Lefrank; and I’m not ashamed of it either.” + +“Is there any such place as a church in your neighborhood, Mr. Silas?” + +“Of course there is.” + +“And do you ever go to it?” + +“Of course I do.” + +“At long intervals, Mr. Silas?” + +“Every Sunday, sir, without fail.” + +Some third person behind me burst out laughing; some third person had +been listening to our talk. I turned round, and discovered Ambrose +Meadowcroft. + +“I understand the drift of your catechism, sir, though my brother +doesn’t,” he said. “Don’t be hard on Silas, sir. He isn’t the only +Christian who leaves his Christianity in the pew when he goes out of +church. You will never make us friends with John Jago, try as you may. +Why, what have you got there, Mr. Lefrank? May I die if it isn’t my +stick! I have been looking for it everywhere!” + +The thick beechen stick had been feeling uncomfortably heavy in my +invalid hand for some time past. There was no sort of need for my +keeping it any longer. John Jago was going away to Narrabee, and Silas +Meadowcroft’s savage temper was subdued to a sulky repose. I handed the +stick back to Ambrose. He laughed as he took it from me. + +“You can’t think how strange it feels, Mr. Lefrank, to be out without +one’s stick,” he said. “A man gets used to his stick, sir; doesn’t he? +Are you ready for your breakfast?” + +“Not just yet. I thought of taking a little walk first.” + +“All right, sir. I wish I could go with you; but I have got my work to +do this morning, and Silas has his work too. If you go back by the way +you came, you will find yourself in the garden. If you want to go +further, the wicket-gate at the end will lead you into the lane.” + +Through sheer thoughtlessness, I did a very foolish thing. I turned +back as I was told, and left the brothers together at the gate of the +stable-yard. + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE NEWS FROM NARRABEE. + +ARRIVED at the garden, a thought struck me. The cheerful speech and +easy manner of Ambrose plainly indicated that he was ignorant thus far +of the quarrel which had taken place under my window. Silas might +confess to having taken his brother’s stick, and might mention whose +head he had threatened with it. It was not only useless, but +undesirable, that Ambrose should know of the quarrel. I retraced my +steps to the stable-yard. Nobody was at the gate. I called alternately +to Silas and to Ambrose. Nobody answered. The brothers had gone away to +their work. + +Returning to the garden, I heard a pleasant voice wishing me +“Good-morning.” I looked round. Naomi Colebrook was standing at one of +the lower windows of the farm. She had her working apron on, and she +was industriously brightening the knives for the breakfast-table on an +old-fashioned board. A sleek black cat balanced himself on her +shoulder, watching the flashing motion of the knife as she passed it +rapidly to and fro on the leather-covered surface of the board. + +“Come here,” she said; “I want to speak to you.” + +I noticed, as I approached, that her pretty face was clouded and +anxious. She pushed the cat irritably off her shoulder; she welcomed me +with only the faint reflection of her bright customary smile. + +“I have seen John Jago,” she said. “He has been hinting at something +which he says happened under your bedroom window this morning. When I +begged him to explain himself, he only answered, ‘Ask Mr. Lefrank; I +must be off to Narrabee.’ What does it mean? Tell me right away, sir! +I’m out of temper, and I can’t wait!” + +Except that I made the best instead of the worst of it, I told her what +had happened under my window as plainly as I have told it here. She put +down the knife that she was cleaning, and folded her hands before her, +thinking. + +“I wish I had never given John Jago that meeting,” she said. “When a +man asks anything of a woman, the woman, I find, mostly repents it if +she says ‘Yes.’” + +She made that quaint reflection with a very troubled brow. The +moonlight meeting had left some unwelcome remembrances in her mind. I +saw that as plainly as I saw Naomi herself. + +What had John Jago said to her? I put the question with all needful +delicacy, making my apologies beforehand. + +“I should like to tell _you_,” she began, with a strong emphasis on the +last word. + +There she stopped. She turned pale; then suddenly flushed again to the +deepest red. She took up the knife once more, and went on cleaning it +as industriously as ever. + +“I mustn’t tell you,” she resumed, with her head down over the knife. +“I have promised not to tell anybody. That’s the truth. Forget all +about it, sir, as soon as you can. Hush! here’s the spy who saw us last +night on the walk and who told Silas!” + +Dreary Miss Meadowcroft opened the kitchen door. She carried an +ostentatiously large Prayer-Book; and she looked at Naomi as only a +jealous woman of middle age _can_ look at a younger and prettier woman +than herself. + +“Prayers, Miss Colebrook,” she said in her sourest manner. She paused, +and noticed me standing under the window. “Prayers, Mr. Lefrank,” she +added, with a look of devout pity, directed exclusively to my address. + +“We will follow you directly, Miss Meadowcroft,” said Naomi. + +“I have no desire to intrude on your secrets, Miss Colebrook.” + +With that acrid answer, our priestess took herself and her Prayer-Book +out of the kitchen. I joined Naomi, entering the room by the garden +door. She met me eagerly. “I am not quite easy about something,” she +said. “Did you tell me that you left Ambrose and Silas together?” + +“Yes.” + +“Suppose Silas tells Ambrose of what happened this morning?” + +The same idea, as I have already mentioned, had occurred to my mind. I +did my best to reassure Naomi. + +“Mr. Jago is out of the way,” I replied. “You and I can easily put +things right in his absence.” + +She took my arm. + +“Come in to prayers,” she said. “Ambrose will be there, and I shall +find an opportunity of speaking to him.” + +Neither Ambrose nor Silas was in the breakfast-room when we entered it. +After waiting vainly for ten minutes, Mr. Meadowcroft told his daughter +to read the prayers. Miss Meadowcroft read, thereupon, in the tone of +an injured woman taking the throne of mercy by storm, and insisting on +her rights. Breakfast followed; and still the brothers were absent. +Miss Meadowcroft looked at her father, and said, “From bad to worse, +sir. What did I tell you?” Naomi instantly applied the antidote: “The +boys are no doubt detained over their work, uncle.” She turned to me. +“You want to see the farm, Mr. Lefrank. Come and help me to find the +boys.” + +For more than an hour we visited one part of the farm after another, +without discovering the missing men. We found them at last near the +outskirts of a small wood, sitting, talking together, on the trunk of a +felled tree. + +Silas rose as we approached, and walked away, without a word of +greeting or apology, into the wood. As he got on his feet, I noticed +that his brother whispered something in his ear; and I heard him +answer, “All right.” + +“Ambrose, does that mean you have something to keep a secret from us?” + asked Naomi, approaching her lover with a smile. “Is Silas ordered to +hold his tongue?” + +Ambrose kicked sulkily at the loose stones lying about him. I noticed, +with a certain surprise that his favorite stick was not in his hand, +and was not lying near him. + +“Business,” he said in answer to Naomi, not very graciously--“business +between Silas and me. That’s what it means, if you must know.” + +Naomi went on, woman-like, with her questioning, heedless of the +reception which they might meet with from an irritated man. + +“Why were you both away at prayers and breakfast-time?” she asked next. + +“We had too much to do,” Ambrose gruffly replied, “and we were too far +from the house.” + +“Very odd,” said Naomi. “This has never happened before since I have +been at the farm.” + +“Well, live and learn. It has happened now.” + +The tone in which he spoke would have warned any man to let him alone. +But warnings which speak by implication only are thrown away on women. +The woman, having still something in her mind to say, said it. + +“Have you seen anything of John Jago this morning?” + +The smoldering ill-temper of Ambrose burst suddenly--why, it was +impossible to guess--into a flame. “How many more questions am I to +answer?” he broke out violently. “Are you the parson putting me through +my catechism? I have seen nothing of John Jago, and I have got my work +to go on with. Will that do for you?” + +He turned with an oath, and followed his brother into the wood. Naomi’s +bright eyes looked up at me, flashing with indignation. + +“What does he mean, Mr. Lefrank, by speaking to me in that way? Rude +brute! How dare he do it?” She paused; her voice, look and manner +suddenly changed. “This has never happened before, sir. Has anything +gone wrong? I declare, I shouldn’t know Ambrose again, he is so +changed. Say, how does it strike you?” + +I still made the best of a bad case. + +“Something has upset his temper,” I said. “The merest trifle, Miss +Colebrook, upsets a man’s temper sometimes. I speak as a man, and I +know it. Give him time, and he will make his excuses, and all will be +well again.” + +My presentation of the case entirely failed to re-assure my pretty +companion. We went back to the house. Dinner-time came, and the +brothers appeared. Their father spoke to them of their absence from +morning prayers with needless severity, as I thought. They resented the +reproof with needless indignation on their side, and left the room. A +sour smile of satisfaction showed itself on Miss Meadowcroft’s thin +lips. She looked at her father; then raised her eyes sadly to the +ceiling, and said, “We can only pray for them, sir.” + +Naomi disappeared after dinner. When I saw her again, she had some news +for me. + +“I have been with Ambrose,” she said, “and he has begged my pardon. We +have made it up, Mr. Lefrank. Still--still--” + +“Still--_what_, Miss Naomi?” + +“He is not like himself, sir. He denies it; but I can’t help thinking +he is hiding something from me.” + +The day wore on; the evening came. I returned to my French novel. But +not even Dumas himself could keep my attention to the story. What else +I was thinking of I cannot say. Why I was out of spirits I am unable to +explain. I wished myself back in England: I took a blind, unreasoning +hatred to Morwick Farm. + +Nine o’clock struck; and we all assembled again at supper, with the +exception of John Jago. He was expected back to supper; and we waited +for him a quarter of an hour, by Mr. Meadowcroft’s own directions. John +Jago never appeared. + +The night wore on, and still the absent man failed to return. Miss +Meadowcroft volunteered to sit up for him. Naomi eyed her, a little +maliciously I must own, as the two women parted for the night. I +withdrew to my room; and again I was unable to sleep. When sunrise +came, I went out, as before, to breathe the morning air. + +On the staircase I met Miss Meadowcroft ascending to her own room. Not +a curl of her stiff gray hair was disarranged; nothing about the +impenetrable woman betrayed that she had been watching through the +night. + +“Has Mr. Jago not returned?” I asked. + +Miss Meadowcroft slowly shook her head, and frowned at me. + +“We are in the hands of Providence, Mr. Lefrank. Mr. Jago must have +been detained for the night at Narrabee.” + +The daily routine of the meals resumed its unalterable course. +Breakfast-time came, and dinner-time came, and no John Jago darkened +the doors of Morwick Farm. Mr. Meadowcroft and his daughter consulted +together, and determined to send in search of the missing man. One of +the more intelligent of the laborers was dispatched to Narrabee to make +inquiries. + +The man returned late in the evening, bringing startling news to the +farm. He had visited all the inns, and all the places of business +resort in Narrabee; he had made endless inquiries in every direction, +with this result--no one had set eyes on John Jago. Everybody declared +that John Jago had not entered the town. + +We all looked at each other, excepting the two brothers, who were +seated together in a dark corner of the room. The conclusion appeared +to be inevitable. John Jago was a lost man. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE LIME-KILN. + +MR. MEADOWCROFT was the first to speak. “Somebody must find John,” he +said. + +“Without losing a moment,” added his daughter. + +Ambrose suddenly stepped out of the dark corner of the room. + +“_I_ will inquire,” he said. + +Silas followed him. + +“I will go with you,” he added. + +Mr. Meadowcroft interposed his authority. + +“One of you will be enough; for the present, at least. Go you, Ambrose. +Your brother may be wanted later. If any accident has happened (which +God forbid!) we may have to inquire in more than one direction. Silas, +you will stay at the farm.” + +The brothers withdrew together; Ambrose to prepare for his journey, +Silas to saddle one of the horses for him. Naomi slipped out after +them. Left in company with Mr. Meadowcroft and his daughter (both +devoured by anxiety about the missing man, and both trying to conceal +it under an assumption of devout resignation to circumstances), I need +hardly add that I, too, retired, as soon as it was politely possible +for me to leave the room. Ascending the stairs on my way to my own +quarters, I discovered Naomi half hidden by the recess formed by an +old-fashioned window-seat on the first landing. My bright little friend +was in sore trouble. Her apron was over her face, and she was crying +bitterly. Ambrose had not taken his leave as tenderly as usual. She was +more firmly persuaded than ever that “Ambrose was hiding something from +her.” We all waited anxiously for the next day. The next day made the +mystery deeper than ever. + +The horse which had taken Ambrose to Narrabee was ridden back to the +farm by a groom from the hotel. He delivered a written message from +Ambrose which startled us. Further inquiries had positively proved that +the missing man had never been near Narrabee. The only attainable +tidings of his whereabouts were tidings derived from vague report. It +was said that a man like John Jago had been seen the previous day in a +railway car, traveling on the line to New York. Acting on this +imperfect information, Ambrose had decided on verifying the truth of +the report by extending his inquiries to New York. + +This extraordinary proceeding forced the suspicion on me that something +had really gone wrong. I kept my doubts to myself; but I was prepared, +from that moment, to see the disappearance of John Jago followed by +very grave results. + +The same day the results declared themselves. + +Time enough had now elapsed for report to spread through the district +the news of what had happened at the farm. Already aware of the bad +feeling existing between the men, the neighbors had been now informed +(no doubt by the laborers present) of the deplorable scene that had +taken place under my bedroom window. Public opinion declares itself in +America without the slightest reserve, or the slightest care for +consequences. Public opinion declared on this occasion that the lost +man was the victim of foul play, and held one or both of the brothers +Meadowcroft responsible for his disappearance. Later in the day, the +reasonableness of this serious view of the case was confirmed in the +popular mind by a startling discovery. It was announced that a +Methodist preacher lately settled at Morwick, and greatly respected +throughout the district, had dreamed of John Jago in the character of a +murdered man, whose bones were hidden at Morwick Farm. Before night the +cry was general for a verification of the preacher’s dream. Not only in +the immediate district, but in the town of Narrabee itself, the public +voice insisted on the necessity of a search for the mortal remains of +John Jago at Morwick Farm. + +In the terrible turn which matters had now taken, Mr. Meadowcroft the +elder displayed a spirit and an energy for which I was not prepared. + +“My sons have their faults,” he said, “serious faults; and nobody knows +it better than I do. My sons have behaved badly and ungratefully toward +John Jago; I don’t deny that, either. But Ambrose and Silas are not +murderers. Make your search! I ask for it; no, I insist on it, after +what has been said, in justice to my family and my name!” + +The neighbors took him at his word. The Morwick section of the American +nation organized itself on the spot. The sovereign people met in +committee, made speeches, elected competent persons to represent the +public interests, and began the search the next day. The whole +proceeding, ridiculously informal from a legal point of view, was +carried on by these extraordinary people with as stern and strict a +sense of duty as if it had been sanctioned by the highest tribunal in +the land. + +Naomi met the calamity that had fallen on the household as resolutely +as her uncle himself. The girl’s courage rose with the call which was +made on it. Her one anxiety was for Ambrose. + +“He ought to be here,” she said to me. “The wretches in this +neighborhood are wicked enough to say that his absence is a confession +of his guilt.” + +She was right. In the present temper of the popular mind, the absence +of Ambrose was a suspicious circumstance in itself. + +“We might telegraph to New York,” I suggested, “if you only knew where +a message would be likely to find him.” + +“I know the hotel which the Meadowcrofts use at New York,” she replied. +“I was sent there, after my father’s death, to wait till Miss +Meadowcroft could take me to Morwick.” + +We decided on telegraphing to the hotel. I was writing the message, and +Naomi was looking over my shoulder, when we were startled by a strange +voice speaking close behind us. + +“Oh! that’s his address, is it?” said the voice. “We wanted his address +rather badly.” + +The speaker was a stranger to me. Naomi recognized him as one of the +neighbors. + +“What do you want his address for?” she asked, sharply. + +“I guess we’ve found the mortal remains of John Jago, miss,” the man +replied. “We have got Silas already, and we want Ambrose too, on +suspicion of murder.” + +“It’s a lie!” cried Naomi, furiously--“a wicked lie!” + +The man turned to me. + +“Take her into the next room, mister,” he said, “and let her see for +herself.” + +We went together into the next room. + +In one corner, sitting by her father, and holding his hand, we saw +stern and stony Miss Meadowcroft weeping silently. Opposite to them, +crouched on the window-seat, his eyes wandering, his hands hanging +helpless, we next discovered Silas Meadowcroft, plainly self-betrayed +as a panic-stricken man. A few of the persons who had been engaged in +the search were seated near, watching him. The mass of the strangers +present stood congregated round a table in the middle of the room They +drew aside as I approached with Naomi and allowed us to have a clear +view of certain objects placed on the table. + +The center object of the collection was a little heap of charred bones. +Round this were ranged a knife, two metal buttons, and a stick +partially burned. The knife was recognized by the laborers as the +weapon John Jago habitually carried about with him--the weapon with +which he had wounded Silas Meadowcroft’s hand. The buttons Naomi +herself declared to have a peculiar pattern on them, which had formerly +attracted her attention to John Jago’s coat. As for the stick, burned +as it was, I had no difficulty in identifying the quaintly-carved knob +at the top. It was the heavy beechen stick which I had snatched out of +Silas’s hand, and which I had restored to Ambrose on his claiming it as +his own. In reply to my inquiries, I was informed that the bones, the +knife, the buttons and the stick had all been found together in a +lime-kiln then in use on the farm. + +“Is it serious?” Naomi whispered to me as we drew back from the table. + +It would have been sheer cruelty to deceive her now. + +“Yes,” I whispered back; “it is serious.” + +The search committee conducted its proceedings with the strictest +regularity. The proper applications were made forthwith to a justice of +the peace, and the justice issued his warrant. That night Silas was +committed to prison; and an officer was dispatched to arrest Ambrose in +New York. + +For my part, I did the little I could to make myself useful. With the +silent sanction of Mr. Meadowcroft and his daughter, I went to +Narrabee, and secured the best legal assistance for the defense which +the town could place at my disposal. This done, there was no choice but +to wait for news of Ambrose, and for the examination before the +magistrate which was to follow. I shall pass over the misery in the +house during the interval of expectation; no useful purpose could be +served by describing it now. Let me only say that Naomi’s conduct +strengthened me in the conviction that she possessed a noble nature. I +was unconscious of the state of my own feelings at the time; but I am +now disposed to think that this was the epoch at which I began to envy +Ambrose the wife whom he had won. + +The telegraph brought us our first news of Ambrose. He had been +arrested at the hotel, and he was on his way to Morwick. The next day +he arrived, and followed his brother to prison. The two were confined +in separate cells, and were forbidden all communication with each +other. + +Two days later, the preliminary examination took place. Ambrose and +Silas Meadowcroft were charged before the magistrate with the willful +murder of John Jago. I was cited to appear as one of the witnesses; +and, at Naomi’s own request, I took the poor girl into court, and sat +by her during the proceedings. My host also was present in his +invalid-chair, with his daughter by his side. + +Such was the result of my voyage across the ocean in search of rest and +quiet; and thus did time and chance fulfill my first hasty foreboding +of the dull life I was to lead at Morwick Farm! + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE MATERIALS IN THE DEFENSE. + +ON our way to the chairs allotted to us in the magistrate’s court, we +passed the platform on which the prisoners were standing together. + +Silas took no notice of us. Ambrose made a friendly sign of +recognition, and then rested his hand on the “bar” in front of him. As +she passed beneath him, Naomi was just tall enough to reach his hand on +tiptoe. She took it. “I know you are innocent,” she whispered, and gave +him one look of loving encouragement as she followed me to her place. +Ambrose never lost his self-control. I may have been wrong; but I +thought this a bad sign. + +The case, as stated for the prosecution, told strongly against the +suspected men. + +Ambrose and Silas Meadowcroft were charged with the murder of John Jago +(by means of the stick or by use of some other weapon), and with the +deliberate destruction of the body by throwing it into the quicklime. +In proof of this latter assertion, the knife which the deceased +habitually carried about him, and the metal buttons which were known to +belong to his coat, were produced. It was argued that these +indestructible substances, and some fragments of the larger bones had +alone escaped the action of the burning lime. Having produced medical +witnesses to support this theory by declaring the bones to be human, +and having thus circumstantially asserted the discovery of the remains +in the kiln, the prosecution next proceeded to prove that the missing +man had been murdered by the two brothers, and had been by them thrown +into the quicklime as a means of concealing their guilt. + +Witness after witness deposed to the inveterate enmity against the +deceased displayed by Ambrose and Silas. The threatening language they +habitually used toward him; their violent quarrels with him, which had +become a public scandal throughout the neighborhood, and which had +ended (on one occasion at least) in a blow; the disgraceful scene which +had taken place under my window; and the restoration to Ambrose, on the +morning of the fatal quarrel, of the very stick which had been found +among the remains of the dead man--these facts and events, and a host +of minor circumstances besides, sworn to by witnesses whose credit was +unimpeachable, pointed with terrible directness to the conclusion at +which the prosecution had arrived. + +I looked at the brothers as the weight of the evidence pressed more and +more heavily against them. To outward view at least, Ambrose still +maintained his self-possession. It was far otherwise with Silas. Abject +terror showed itself in his ghastly face; in his great knotty hands, +clinging convulsively to the bar at which he stood; in his staring +eyes, fixed in vacant horror on each witness who appeared. Public +feeling judged him on the spot. There he stood, self-betrayed already, +in the popular opinion, as a guilty man! + +The one point gained in cross-examination by the defense related to the +charred bones. + +Pressed on this point, a majority of the medical witnesses admitted +that their examination had been a hurried one; and that it was just +possible that the bones might yet prove to be the remains of an animal, +and not of a man. The presiding magistrate decided upon this that a +second examination should be made, and that the member of the medical +experts should be increased. + +Here the preliminary proceedings ended. The prisoners were remanded for +three days. + +The prostration of Silas, at the close of the inquiry, was so complete, +that it was found necessary to have two men to support him on his +leaving the court. Ambrose leaned over the bar to speak to Naomi before +he followed the jailer out. “Wait,” he whispered, confidently, “till +they hear what I have to say!” Naomi kissed her hand to him +affectionately, and turned to me with the bright tears in her eyes. + +“Why don’t they hear what he has to say at once?” she asked. “Anybody +can see that Ambrose is innocent. It’s a crying shame, sir, to send him +back to prison. Don’t you think so yourself?” + +If I had confessed what I really thought, I should have said that +Ambrose had proved nothing to my mind, except that he possessed rare +powers of self-control. It was impossible to acknowledge this to my +little friend. I diverted her mind from the question of her lover’s +innocence by proposing that we should get the necessary order, and +visit him in his prison on the next day. Naomi dried her tears, and +gave me a little grateful squeeze of the hand. + +“Oh my! what a good fellow you are!” cried the outspoken American girl. +“When your time comes to be married, sir, I guess the woman won’t +repent saying yes to _you!_” + +Mr. Meadowcroft preserved unbroken silence as we walked back to the +farm on either side of his invalid-chair. His last reserves of +resolution seemed to have given way under the overwhelming strain laid +on them by the proceedings in court. His daughter, in stern indulgence +to Naomi, mercifully permitted her opinion to glimmer on us only +through the medium of quotation from Scripture texts. If the texts +meant anything, they meant that she had foreseen all that had happened; +and that the one sad aspect of the case, to her mind, was the death of +John Jago, unprepared to meet his end. + +I obtained the order of admission to the prison the next morning. + +We found Ambrose still confident of the favorable result, for his +brother and for himself, of the inquiry before the magistrate. He +seemed to be almost as eager to tell, as Naomi was to hear, the true +story of what had happened at the lime-kiln. The authorities of the +prison--present, of course, at the interview--warned him to remember +that what he said might be taken down in writing, and produced against +him in court. + +“Take it down, gentlemen, and welcome,” Ambrose replied. “I have +nothing to fear; I am only telling the truth.” + +With that he turned to Naomi, and began his narrative, as nearly as I +can remember, in these words: + +“I may as well make a clean breast of it at starting, my girl. After +Mr. Lefrank left us that morning, I asked Silas how he came by my +stick. In telling me how, Silas also told me of the words that had +passed between him and John Jago under Mr. Lefrank’s window. I was +angry and jealous; and I own it freely, Naomi, I thought the worst that +could be thought about you and John.” + +Here Naomi stopped him without ceremony. + +“Was that what made you speak to me as you spoke when we found you at +the wood?” she asked. + +“Yes.” + +“And was that what made you leave me, when you went away to Narrabee, +without giving me a kiss at parting?” + +“It was.” + +“Beg my pardon for it before you say a word more.” + +“I beg your pardon.” + +“Say you are ashamed of yourself.” + +“I am ashamed of myself,” Ambrose answered penitently. + +“Now you may go on,” said Naomi. “Now I’m satisfied.” + +Ambrose went on. + +“We were on our way to the clearing at the other side of the wood while +Silas was talking to me; and, as ill luck would have it, we took the +path that led by the lime-kiln. Turning the corner, we met John Jago on +his way to Narrabee. I was too angry, I tell you, to let him pass +quietly. I gave him a bit of my mind. His blood was up too, I suppose; +and he spoke out, on his side, as freely as I did. I own I threatened +him with the stick; but I’ll swear to it I meant him no harm. You +know--after dressing Silas’s hand--that John Jago is ready with his +knife. He comes from out West, where they are always ready with one +weapon or another handy in their pockets. It’s likely enough he didn’t +mean to harm me, either; but how could I be sure of that? When he +stepped up to me, and showed his weapon, I dropped the stick, and +closed with him. With one hand I wrenched the knife away from him; and +with the other I caught him by the collar of his rotten old coat, and +gave him a shaking that made his bones rattle in his skin. A big piece +of the cloth came away in my hand. I shied it into the quicklime close +by us, and I pitched the knife after the cloth; and, if Silas hadn’t +stopped me, I think it’s likely I might have shied John Jago himself +into the lime next. As it was, Silas kept hold of me. Silas shouted out +to him, ‘Be off with you! and don’t come back again, if you don’t want +to be burned in the kiln!’ He stood looking at us for a minute, +fetching his breath, and holding his torn coat round him. Then he spoke +with a deadly-quiet voice and a deadly-quiet look: ‘Many a true word, +Mr. Silas,’ he says, ‘is spoken in jest. _I shall not come back +again_.’ He turned about, and left us. We stood staring at each other +like a couple of fools. ‘You don’t think he means it?’ I says. ‘Bosh!’ +says Silas. ‘He’s too sweet on Naomi not to come back.’ What’s the +matter now, Naomi?” + +I had noticed it too. She started and turned pale, when Ambrose +repeated to her what Silas had said to him. + +“Nothing is the matter,” Naomi answered. “Your brother has no right to +take liberties with my name. Go on. Did Silas say any more while he was +about it?” + +“Yes; he looked into the kiln; and he says, ‘What made you throw away +the knife, Ambrose?’--‘How does a man know why he does anything,’ I +says, ‘when he does it in a passion?’--‘It’s a ripping good knife,’ +says Silas; ‘in your place, I should have kept it.’ I picked up the +stick off the ground. ‘Who says I’ve lost it yet?’ I answered him; and +with that I got up on the side of the kiln, and began sounding for the +knife, to bring it, you know, by means of the stick, within easy reach +of a shovel, or some such thing. ‘Give us your hand,’ I says to Silas. +‘Let me stretch out a bit and I’ll have it in no time.’ Instead of +finding the knife, I came nigh to falling myself into the burning lime. +The vapor overpowered me, I suppose. All I know is, I turned giddy, and +dropped the stick in the kiln. I should have followed the stick to a +dead certainty, but for Silas pulling me back by the hand. ‘Let it be,’ +says Silas. ‘If I hadn’t had hold of you, John Jago’s knife would have +been the death of you, after all!’ He led me away by the arm, and we +went on together on the road to the wood. We stopped where you found +us, and sat down on the felled tree. We had a little more talk about +John Jago. It ended in our agreeing to wait and see what happened, and +to keep our own counsel in the meantime. You and Mr. Lefrank came upon +us, Naomi, while we were still talking; and you guessed right when you +guessed that we had a secret from you. You know the secret now.” + +There he stopped. I put a question to him--the first that I had asked +yet. + +“Had you or your brother any fear at that time of the charge which has +since been brought against you?” I said. + +“No such thought entered our heads, sir,” Ambrose answered. “How could +_we_ foresee that the neighbors would search the kiln, and say what +they have said of us? All we feared was, that the old man might hear of +the quarrel, and be bitterer against us than ever. I was the more +anxious of the two to keep things secret, because I had Naomi to +consider as well as the old man. Put yourself in my place, and you will +own, sir, that the prospect at home was not a pleasant one for _me_, if +John Jago really kept away from the farm, and if it came out that it +was all my doing.” + +(This was certainly an explanation of his conduct; but it was not +satisfactory to my mind.) + +“As _you_ believe, then,” I went on, “John Jago has carried out his +threat of not returning to the farm? According to you, he is now alive, +and in hiding somewhere?” + +“Certainly!” said Ambrose. + +“Certainly!” repeated Naomi. + +“Do you believe the report that he was seen traveling on the railway to +New York?” + +“I believe it firmly, sir; and, what is more, I believe I was on his +track. I was only too anxious to find him; and I say I could have found +him if they would have let me stay in New York.” + +I looked at Naomi. + +“I believe it too,” she said. “John Jago is keeping away.” + +“Do you suppose he is afraid of Ambrose and Silas?” + +She hesitated. + +“He _may_ be afraid of them,” she replied, with a strong emphasis on +the word “may.” + +“But you don’t think it likely?” + +She hesitated again. I pressed her again. + +“Do you think there is any other motive for his absence?” + +Her eyes dropped to the floor. She answered obstinately, almost +doggedly, + +“I can’t say.” + +I addressed myself to Ambrose. + +“Have you anything more to tell us?” I asked. + +“No,” he said. “I have told you all I know about it.” + +I rose to speak to the lawyer whose services I had retained. He had +helped us to get the order of admission, and he had accompanied us to +the prison. Seated apart he had kept silence throughout, attentively +watching the effect of Ambrose Meadowcroft’s narrative on the officers +of the prison and on me. + +“Is this the defense?” I inquired, in a whisper. + +“This is the defense, Mr. Lefrank. What do you think, between +ourselves?” + +“Between ourselves, I think the magistrate will commit them for trial.” + +“On the charge of murder?” + +“Yes, on the charge of murder.” + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE CONFESSION. + +MY replies to the lawyer accurately expressed the conviction in my +mind. The narrative related by Ambrose had all the appearance, in my +eyes, of a fabricated story, got up, and clumsily got up, to pervert +the plain meaning of the circumstantial evidence produced by the +prosecution. I reached this conclusion reluctantly and regretfully, for +Naomi’s sake. I said all I could say to shake the absolute confidence +which she felt in the discharge of the prisoners at the next +examination. + +The day of the adjourned inquiry arrived. + +Naomi and I again attended the court together. Mr. Meadowcroft was +unable, on this occasion, to leave the house. His daughter was present, +walking to the court by herself, and occupying a seat by herself. + +On his second appearance at the “bar,” Silas was more composed, and +more like his brother. No new witnesses were called by the prosecution. +We began the battle over the medical evidence relating to the charred +bones; and, to some extent, we won the victory. In other words, we +forced the doctors to acknowledge that they differed widely in their +opinions. Three confessed that they were not certain. Two went still +further, and declared that the bones were the bones of an animal, not +of a man. We made the most of this; and then we entered upon the +defense, founded on Ambrose Meadowcroft’s story. + +Necessarily, no witnesses could be called on our side. Whether this +circumstance discouraged him, or whether he privately shared my opinion +of his client’s statement, I cannot say. It is only certain that the +lawyer spoke mechanically, doing his best, no doubt, but doing it +without genuine conviction or earnestness on his own part. Naomi cast +an anxious glance at me as he sat down. The girl’s hand, as I took it, +turned cold in mine. She saw plain signs of the failure of the defense +in the look and manner of the counsel for the prosecution; but she +waited resolutely until the presiding magistrate announced his +decision. I had only too clearly foreseen what he would feel it to be +his duty to do. Naomi’s head dropped on my shoulder as he said the +terrible words which committed Ambrose and Silas Meadowcroft to take +their trial on the charge of murder. + +I led her out of the court into the air. As I passed the “bar,” I saw +Ambrose, deadly pale, looking after us as we left him: the magistrate’s +decision had evidently daunted him. His brother Silas had dropped in +abject terror on the jailer’s chair; the miserable wretch shook and +shuddered dumbly, like a cowed dog. + +Miss Meadowcroft returned with us to the farm, preserving unbroken +silence on the way back. I could detect nothing in her bearing which +suggested any compassionate feeling for the prisoners in her stern and +secret nature. On Naomi’s withdrawal to her own room, we were left +together for a few minutes; and then, to my astonishment, the outwardly +merciless woman showed me that she, too, was one of Eve’s daughters, +and could feel and suffer, in her own hard way, like the rest of us. +She suddenly stepped close up to me, and laid her hand on my arm. + +“You are a lawyer, ain’t you?” she asked. + +“Yes.” + +“Have you had any experience in your profession?” + +“Ten years’ experience.” + +“Do _you_ think--” She stopped abruptly; her hard face softened; her +eyes dropped to the ground. “Never mind,” she said, confusedly. “I’m +upset by all this misery, though I may not look like it. Don’t notice +me.” + +She turned away. I waited, in the firm persuasion that the unspoken +question in her mind would sooner or later force its way to utterance +by her lips. I was right. She came back to me unwillingly, like a woman +acting under some influence which the utmost exertion of her will was +powerless to resist. + +“Do _you_ believe John Jago is still a living man?” + +She put the question vehemently, desperately, as if the words rushed +out of her mouth in spite of her. + +“I do _not_ believe it,” I answered. + +“Remember what John Jago has suffered at the hands of my brothers,” she +persisted. “Is it not in your experience that he should take a sudden +resolution to leave the farm?” + +I replied, as plainly as before, + +“It is _not_ in my experience.” + +She stood looking at me for a moment with a face of blank despair; then +bowed her gray head in silence, and left me. As she crossed the room to +the door, I saw her look upward; and I heard her say to herself softly, +between her teeth, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.” + +It was the requiem of John Jago, pronounced by the woman who loved him. + +When I next saw her, her mask was on once more. Miss Meadowcroft was +herself again. Miss Meadowcroft could sit by, impenetrably calm, while +the lawyers discussed the terrible position of her brothers, with the +scaffold in view as one of the possibilities of the “case.” + +Left by myself, I began to feel uneasy about Naomi. I went upstairs, +and, knocking softly at her door, made my inquiries from outside. The +clear young voice answered me sadly, “I am trying to bear it: I won’t +distress you when we meet again.” I descended the stairs, feeling my +first suspicion of the true nature of my interest in the American girl. +Why had her answer brought the tears into my eyes? I went out, walking +alone, to think undisturbedly. Why did the tones of her voice dwell on +my ear all the way? Why did my hand still feel the last cold, faint +pressure of her fingers when I led her out of court? + +I took a sudden resolution to go back to England. + +When I returned to the farm, it was evening. The lamp was not yet +lighted in the hall. Pausing to accustom my eyes to the obscurity +indoors, I heard the voice of the lawyer whom we had employed for the +defense speaking to some one very earnestly. + +“I’m not to blame,” said the voice. “She snatched the paper out of my +hand before I was aware of her.” + +“Do you want it back?” asked the voice of Miss Meadowcroft. + +“No; it’s only a copy. If keeping it will help to quiet her, let her keep +it by all means. Good evening.” + +Saying these last words, the lawyer approached me on his way out of the +house. I stopped him without ceremony; I felt an ungovernable curiosity +to know more. + +“Who snatched the paper out of your hand?” I asked, bluntly. + +The lawyer started. I had taken him by surprise. The instinct of +professional reticence made him pause before he answered me. + +In the brief interval of silence, Miss Meadowcroft replied to my +question from the other end of the hall. + +“Naomi Colebrook snatched the paper out of his hand.” + +“What paper?” + +A door opened softly behind me. Naomi herself appeared on the +threshold; Naomi herself answered my question. + +“I will tell you,” she whispered. “Come in here.” + +One candle only was burning in the room. I looked at her by the dim +light. My resolution to return to England instantly became one of the +lost ideas of my life. + +“Good God!” I exclaimed, “what has happened now?” + +She handed me the paper which she had taken from the lawyer’s hand. + +The “copy” to which he had referred was a copy of the written +confession of Silas Meadowcroft on his return to prison. He accused his +brother Ambrose of the murder of John Jago. He declared on his oath +that he had seen his brother Ambrose commit the crime. + +In the popular phrase, I could “hardly believe my own eyes.” I read the +last sentences of the confession for the second time: + +“...I heard their voices at the lime-kiln. They were having words about +Cousin Naomi. I ran to the place to part them. I was not in time. I saw +Ambrose strike the deceased a terrible blow on the head with his +(Ambrose’s) heavy stick. The deceased dropped without a cry. I put my +hand on his heart. He was dead. I was horribly frightened. Ambrose +threatened to kill _me_ next if I said a word to any living soul. He +took up the body and cast it into the quicklime, and threw the stick in +after it. We went on together to the wood. We sat down on a felled tree +outside the wood. Ambrose made up the story that we were to tell if +what he had done was found out. He made me repeat it after him, like a +lesson. We were still at it when Cousin Naomi and Mr. Lefrank came up +to us. They know the rest. This, on my oath, is a true confession. I +make it of my own free-will, repenting me sincerely that I did not make +it before.” + +(Signed) + +“SILAS MEADOWCROFT.” + + +I laid down the paper, and looked at Naomi once more. She spoke to me +with a strange composure. Immovable determination was in her eye; +immovable determination was in her voice. + +“Silas has lied away his brother’s life to save himself,” she said. “I +see cowardly falsehood and cowardly cruelty in every line on that +paper. Ambrose is innocent, and the time has come to prove it.” + +“You forget,” I said, “that we have just failed to prove it.” + +“John Jago is alive, in hiding from us and from all who know him,” she +went on. “Help me, friend Lefrank, to advertise for him in the +newspapers.” + +I drew back from her in speechless distress. I own I believed that the +new misery which had fallen on her had affected her brain. + +“You don’t believe it,” she said. “Shut the door.” + +I obeyed her. She seated herself, and pointed to a chair near her. + +“Sit down,” she proceeded. “I am going to do a wrong thing; but there +is no help for it. I am going to break a sacred promise. You remember +that moonlight night when I met him on the garden walk?” + +“John Jago?” + +“Yes. Now listen. I am going to tell you what passed between John Jago +and me.” + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE ADVERTISEMENT. + +I WAITED in silence for the disclosure that was now to come. Naomi +began by asking me a question. + +“You remember when we went to see Ambrose in the prison?” she said. + +“Perfectly.” + +“Ambrose told us of something which his villain of a brother said of +John Jago and me. Do you remember what it was?” + +I remembered perfectly. Silas had said, “John Jago is too sweet on +Naomi not to come back.” + +“That’s so,” Naomi remarked when I had repeated the words. “I couldn’t +help starting when I heard what Silas had said; and I thought you +noticed me.” + +“I did notice you.” + +“Did you wonder what it meant?” + +“Yes.” + +“I’ll tell you. It meant this: What Silas Meadowcroft said to his +brother of John Jago was what I myself was thinking of John Jago at +that very moment. It startled me to find my own thought in a man’s mind +spoken for me by a man. I am the person, sir, who has driven John Jago +away from Morwick Farm; and I am the person who can and will bring him +back again.” + +There was something in her manner, more than in her words, which let +the light in suddenly on my mind. + +“You have told me the secret,” I said. “John Jago is in love with you.” + +“Mad about me!” she rejoined, dropping her voice to a whisper. “Stark, +staring mad!--that’s the only word for him. After we had taken a few +turns on the gravel-walk, he suddenly broke out like a man beside +himself. He fell down on his knees; he kissed my gown, he kissed my +feet; he sobbed and cried for love of me. I’m not badly off for +courage, sir, considering I’m a woman. No man, that I can call to mind, +ever really scared me before. But I own John Jago frightened me; oh my! +he did frighten me! My heart was in my mouth, and my knees shook under +me. I begged and prayed of him to get up and go away. No; there he +knelt, and held by the skirt of my gown. The words poured out from him +like--well, like nothing I can think of but water from a pump. His +happiness and his life, and his hopes in earth and heaven, and Lord +only knows what besides, all depended, he said, on a word from me. I +plucked up spirit enough at that to remind him that I was promised to +Ambrose. ‘I think you ought to be ashamed of yourself,’ I said, ‘to own +that you’re wicked enough to love me when you know I am promised to +another man!’ When I spoke to him he took a new turn; he began abusing +Ambrose. _That_ straightened me up. I snatched my gown out of his hand, +and I gave him my whole mind. ‘I hate you!’ I said. ‘Even if I wasn’t +promised to Ambrose, I wouldn’t marry you--no! not if there wasn’t +another man left in the world to ask me. I hate you, Mr. Jago! I hate +you!’ He saw I was in earnest at last. He got up from my feet, and he +settled down quiet again, all on a sudden. ‘You have said enough’ (that +was how he answered me). ‘You have broken my life. I have no hopes and +no prospects now. I had a pride in the farm, miss, and a pride in my +work; I bore with your brutish cousins’ hatred of me; I was faithful to +Mr. Meadowcroft’s interests; all for your sake, Naomi Colebrook--all +for your sake! I have done with it now; I have done with my life at the +farm. You will never be troubled with me again. I am going away, as the +dumb creatures go when they are sick, to hide myself in a corner, and +die. Do me one last favor. Don’t make me the laughing-stock of the whole +neighborhood. I can’t bear that; it maddens me only to think of it. +Give me your promise never to tell any living soul what I have said to +you to-night--your sacred promise to the man whose life you have +broken!’ I did as he bade me; I gave him my sacred promise with the +tears in my eyes. Yes, that is so. After telling him I hated him (and I +did hate him), I cried over his misery; I did! Mercy, what fools women +are! What is the horrid perversity, sir, which makes us always ready to +pity the men? He held out his hand to me; and he said, ‘Good-by +forever!’ and I pitied him. I said, ‘I’ll shake hands with you if you +will give me your promise in exchange for mine. I beg of you not to +leave the farm. What will my uncle do if you go away? Stay here, and be +friends with me, and forget and forgive, Mr. John.’ He gave me his +promise (he can refuse me nothing); and he gave it again when I saw him +again the next morning. Yes. I’ll do him justice, though I do hate him! +I believe he honestly meant to keep his word as long as my eye was on +him. It was only when he was left to himself that the Devil tempted him +to break his promise and leave the farm. I was brought up to believe in +the Devil, Mr. Lefrank; and I find it explains many things. It explains +John Jago. Only let me find out where he has gone, and I’ll engage he +shall come back and clear Ambrose of the suspicion which his vile +brother has cast on him. Here is the pen all ready for you. Advertise +for him, friend Lefrank; and do it right away, for my sake!” + +I let her run on, without attempting to dispute her conclusions, until +she could say no more. When she put the pen into my hand, I began the +composition of the advertisement as obediently as if I, too, believed +that John Jago was a living man. + +In the case of any one else, I should have openly acknowledged that my +own convictions remained unshaken. If no quarrel had taken place at the +lime-kiln, I should have been quite ready, as I viewed the case, to +believe that John Jago’s disappearance was referable to the terrible +disappointment which Naomi had inflicted on him. The same morbid dread +of ridicule which had led him to assert that he cared nothing for +Naomi, when he and Silas had quarreled under my bedroom window, might +also have impelled him to withdraw himself secretly and suddenly from +the scene of his discomfiture. But to ask me to believe, after what had +happened at the lime-kiln, that he was still living, was to ask me to +take Ambrose Meadowcroft’s statement for granted as a true statement of +facts. + +I had refused to do this from the first; and I still persisted in +taking that course. If I had been called upon to decide the balance of +probability between the narrative related by Ambrose in his defense and +the narrative related by Silas in his confession, I must have owned, no +matter how unwillingly, that the confession was, to my mind, the least +incredible story of the two. + +Could I say this to Naomi? I would have written fifty advertisements +inquiring for John Jago rather than say it; and you would have done the +same, if you had been as fond of her as I was. I drew out the +advertisement, for insertion in the Morwick _Mercury_, in these terms: + + +MURDER.--Printers of newspapers throughout the United States are +desired to publish that Ambrose Meadowcroft and Silas Meadowcroft, of +Morwick Farm, Morwick County, are committed for trial on the charge of +murdering John Jago, now missing from the farm and from the +neighborhood. Any person who can give information of the existence of +said Jago may save the lives of two wrongly-accused men by making +immediate communication. Jago is about five feet four inches high. He +is spare and wiry; his complexion is extremely pale, his eyes are dark, +and very bright and restless. The lower part of his face is concealed +by a thick black beard and mustache. The whole appearance of the man is +wild and flighty. + + +I added the date and the address. That evening a servant was sent on +horseback to Narrabee to procure the insertion of the advertisement in +the next issue of the newspaper. + +When we parted that night, Naomi looked almost like her brighter and +happier self. Now that the advertisement was on its way to the +printing-office, she was more than sanguine: she was certain of the +result. + +“You don’t know how you have comforted me,” she said, in her frank, +warm-hearted way, when we parted for the night. “All the newspapers +will copy it, and we shall hear of John Jago before the week is out.” + She turned to go, and came back again to me. “I will never forgive +Silas for writing that confession!” she whispered in my ear. “If he +ever lives under the same roof with Ambrose again, I--well, I believe I +wouldn’t marry Ambrose if he did! There!” + +She left me. Through the wakeful hours of the night my mind dwelt on +her last words. That she should contemplate, under any circumstances, +even the bare possibility of not marrying Ambrose, was, I am ashamed to +say, a direct encouragement to certain hopes which I had already begun +to form in secret. The next day’s mail brought me a letter on business. +My clerk wrote to inquire if there was any chance of my returning to +England in time to appear in court at the opening of next law term. I +answered, without hesitation, “It is still impossible for me to fix the +date of my return.” Naomi was in the room while I was writing. How +would she have answered, I wonder, if I had told her the truth, and +said, “You are responsible for this letter?” + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE SHERIFF AND THE GOVERNOR. + +THE question of time was now a serious question at Morwick Farm. In six +weeks the court for the trial of criminal cases was to be opened at +Narrabee. + +During this interval no new event of any importance occurred. + +Many idle letters reached us relating to the advertisement for John +Jago; but no positive information was received. Not the slightest trace +of the lost man turned up; not the shadow of a doubt was cast on the +assertion of the prosecution, that his body had been destroyed in the +kiln. Silas Meadowcroft held firmly to the horrible confession that he +had made. His brother Ambrose, with equal resolution, asserted his +innocence, and reiterated the statement which he had already advanced. +At regular periods I accompanied Naomi to visit him in the prison. As +the day appointed for the opening of the court approached, he seemed to +falter a little in his resolution; his manner became restless; and he +grew irritably suspicious about the merest trifles. This change did not +necessarily imply the consciousness of guilt: it might merely have +indicated natural nervous agitation as the time for the trial drew +near. Naomi noticed the alteration in her lover. It greatly increased +her anxiety, though it never shook her confidence in Ambrose. Except at +meal-times, I was left, during the period of which I am now writing, +almost constantly alone with the charming American girl. Miss +Meadowcroft searched the newspapers for tidings of the living John Jago +in the privacy of her own room. Mr. Meadowcroft would see nobody but +his daughter and his doctor, and occasionally one or two old friends. I +have since had reason to believe that Naomi, in these days of our +intimate association, discovered the true nature of the feeling with +which she had inspired me. But she kept her secret. Her manner toward +me steadily remained the manner of a sister; she never overstepped by a +hair-breadth the safe limits of the character that she had assumed. + +The sittings of the court began. After hearing the evidence, and +examining the confession of Silas Meadowcroft, the grand jury found a +true bill against both the prisoners. The day appointed for their trial +was the first day in the new week. + +I had carefully prepared Naomi’s mind for the decision of the grand +jury. She bore the new blow bravely. + +“If you are not tired of it,” she said, “come with me to the prison +tomorrow. Ambrose will need a little comfort by that time.” She paused, +and looked at the day’s letters lying on the table. “Still not a word +about John Jago,” she said. “And all the papers have copied the +advertisement. I felt so sure we should hear of him long before this!” + +“Do you still feel sure that he is living?” I ventured to ask. + +“I am as certain of it as ever,” she replied, firmly. “He is somewhere +in hiding; perhaps he is in disguise. Suppose we know no more of him +than we know now when the trial begins? Suppose the jury--” She +stopped, shuddering. Death--shameful death on the scaffold--might be +the terrible result of the consultation of the jury. “We have waited +for news to come to us long enough,” Naomi resumed. “We must find the +tracks of John Jago for ourselves. There is a week yet before the trial +begins. Who will help me to make inquiries? Will you be the man, friend +Lefrank?” + +It is needless to add (though I knew nothing would come of it) that I +consented to be the man. + +We arranged to apply that day for the order of admission to the prison, +and, having seen Ambrose, to devote ourselves immediately to the +contemplated search. How that search was to be conducted was more than +I could tell, and more than Naomi could tell. We were to begin by +applying to the police to help us to find John Jago, and we were then +to be guided by circumstances. Was there ever a more hopeless programme +than this? + +“Circumstances” declared themselves against us at starting. I applied, +as usual, for the order of admission to the prison, and the order was +for the first time refused; no reason being assigned by the persons in +authority for taking this course. Inquire as I might, the only answer +given was, “not to-day.” + +At Naomi’s suggestion, we went to the prison to seek the explanation +which was refused to us at the office. The jailer on duty at the outer +gate was one of Naomi’s many admirers. He solved the mystery cautiously +in a whisper. The sheriff and the governor of the prison were then +speaking privately with Ambrose Meadowcroft in his cell; they had +expressly directed that no persons should be admitted to see the +prisoner that day but themselves. + +What did it mean? We returned, wondering, to the farm. There Naomi, +speaking by chance to one of the female servants, made certain +discoveries. + +Early that morning the sheriff had been brought to Morwick by an old +friend of the Meadowcrofts. A long interview had been held between Mr. +Meadowcroft and his daughter and the official personage introduced by +the friend. Leaving the farm, the sheriff had gone straight to the +prison, and had proceeded with the governor to visit Ambrose in his +cell. Was some potent influence being brought privately to bear on +Ambrose? Appearances certainly suggested that inquiry. Supposing the +influence to have been really exerted, the next question followed, What +was the object in view? We could only wait and see. + +Our patience was not severely tried. The event of the next day +enlightened us in a very unexpected manner. Before noon, the neighbors +brought startling news from the prison to the farm. + +Ambrose Meadowcroft had confessed himself to be the murderer of John +Jago! He had signed the confession in the presence of the sheriff and +the governor on that very day. + +I saw the document. It is needless to reproduce it here. In substance, +Ambrose confessed what Silas had confessed; claiming, however, to have +only struck Jago under intolerable provocation, so as to reduce the +nature of his offense against the law from murder to manslaughter. Was +the confession really the true statement of what had taken place? or +had the sheriff and the governor, acting in the interests of the family +name, persuaded Ambrose to try this desperate means of escaping the +ignominy of death on the scaffold? The sheriff and the governor +preserved impenetrable silence until the pressure put on them +judicially at the trial obliged them to speak. + +Who was to tell Naomi of this last and saddest of all the calamities +which had fallen on her? Knowing how I loved her in secret, I felt an +invincible reluctance to be the person who revealed Ambrose +Meadowcroft’s degradation to his betrothed wife. Had any other member +of the family told her what had happened? The lawyer was able to answer +me; Miss Meadowcroft had told her. + +I was shocked when I heard it. Miss Meadowcroft was the last person in +the house to spare the poor girl; Miss Meadowcroft would make the hard +tidings doubly terrible to bear in the telling. I tried to find Naomi, +without success. She had been always accessible at other times. Was she +hiding herself from me now? The idea occurred to me as I was descending +the stairs after vainly knocking at the door of her room. I was +determined to see her. I waited a few minutes, and then ascended the +stairs again suddenly. On the landing I met her, just leaving her room. + +She tried to run back. I caught her by the arm, and detained her. With +her free hand she held her handkerchief over her face so as to hide it +from me. + +“You once told me I had comforted you,” I said to her, gently. “Won’t +you let me comfort you now?” + +She still struggled to get away, and still kept her head turned from +me. + +“Don’t you see that I am ashamed to look you in the face?” she said, in +low, broken tones. “Let me go.” + +I still persisted in trying to soothe her. I drew her to the +window-seat. I said I would wait until she was able to speak to me. + +She dropped on the seat, and wrung her hands on her lap. Her downcast +eyes still obstinately avoided meeting mine. + +“Oh!” she said to herself, “what madness possessed me? Is it possible +that I ever disgraced myself by loving Ambrose Meadowcroft?” She +shuddered as the idea found its way to expression on her lips. The +tears rolled slowly over her cheeks. “Don’t despise me, Mr. Lefrank!” + she said, faintly. + +I tried, honestly tried, to put the confession before her in its least +unfavorable light. + +“His resolution has given way,” I said. “He has done this, despairing +of proving his innocence, in terror of the scaffold.” + +She rose, with an angry stamp of her foot. She turned her face on me +with the deep-red flush of shame in it, and the big tears glistening in +her eyes. + +“No more of him!” she said, sternly. “If he is not a murderer, what +else is he? A liar and a coward! In which of his characters does he +disgrace me most? I have done with him forever! I will never speak to +him again!” She pushed me furiously away from her; advanced a few steps +toward her own door; stopped, and came back to me. The generous nature +of the girl spoke in her next words. “I am not ungrateful to _you_, +friend Lefrank. A woman in my place is only a woman; and, when she is +shamed as I am, she feels it very bitterly. Give me your hand! God +bless you!” + +She put my hand to her lips before I was aware of her, and kissed it, +and ran back into her room. + +I sat down on the place which she had occupied. She had looked at me +for one moment when she kissed my hand. I forgot Ambrose and his +confession; I forgot the coming trial; I forgot my professional duties +and my English friends. There I sat, in a fool’s elysium of my own +making, with absolutely nothing in my mind but the picture of Naomi’s +face at the moment when she had last looked at me! + +I have already mentioned that I was in love with her. I merely add this +to satisfy you that I tell the truth. + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE PEBBLE AND THE WINDOW. + +MISS MEADOWCROFT and I were the only representatives of the family at +the farm who attended the trial. We went separately to Narrabee. +Excepting the ordinary greetings at morning and night, Miss Meadowcroft +had not said one word to me since the time when I had told her that I +did _not_ believe John Jago to be a living man. + +I have purposely abstained from encumbering my narrative with legal +details. I now propose to state the nature of the defense in the +briefest outline only. + +We insisted on making both the prisoners plead not guilty. This done, +we took an objection to the legality of the proceedings at starting. We +appealed to the old English law, that there should be no conviction for +murder until the body of the murdered person was found, or proof of its +destruction obtained beyond a doubt. We denied that sufficient proof +had been obtained in the case now before the court. + +The judges consulted, and decided that the trial should go on. + +We took our next objection when the confessions were produced in +evidence. We declared that they had been extorted by terror, or by +undue influence; and we pointed out certain minor particulars in which +the two confessions failed to corroborate each other. For the rest, our +defense on this occasion was, as to essentials, what our defense had +been at the inquiry before the magistrate. Once more the judges +consulted, and once more they overruled our objection. The confessions +were admitted in evidence. On their side, the prosecution produced one +new witness in support of their case. It is needless to waste time in +recapitulating his evidence. He contradicted himself gravely on +cross-examination. We showed plainly, and after investigation proved, +that he was not to be believed on his oath. + +The chief-justice summed up. + +He charged, in relation to the confessions, that no weight should be +attached to a confession incited by hope or fear; and he left it to the +jury to determine whether the confessions in this case had been so +influenced. In the course of the trial, it had been shown for the +defense that the sheriff and the governor of the prison had told +Ambrose, with his father’s knowledge and sanction, that the case was +clearly against him; that the only chance of sparing his family the +disgrace of his death by public execution lay in making a confession; +and that they would do their best, if he did confess, to have his +sentence commuted to imprisonment for life. As for Silas, he was proved +to have been beside himself with terror when he made his abominable +charge against his brother. We had vainly trusted to the evidence on +these two points to induce the court to reject the confessions: and we +were destined to be once more disappointed in anticipating that the +same evidence would influence the verdict of the jury on the side of +mercy. After an absence of an hour, they returned into court with a +verdict of “Guilty” against both the prisoners. + +Being asked in due form if they had anything to say in mitigation of +their sentence, Ambrose and Silas solemnly declared their innocence, +and publicly acknowledged that their respective confessions had been +wrung from them by the hope of escaping the hangman’s hands. This +statement was not noticed by the bench. The prisoners were both +sentenced to death. + +On my return to the farm, I did not see Naomi. Miss Meadowcroft +informed her of the result of the trial. Half an hour later, one of the +women-servants handed to me an envelope bearing my name on it in +Naomi’s handwriting. + +The envelope inclosed a letter, and with it a slip of paper on which +Naomi had hurriedly written these words: “For God’s sake, read the +letter I send to you, and do something about it immediately!” + +I looked at the letter. It assumed to be written by a gentleman in New +York. Only the day before, he had, by the merest accident, seen the +advertisement for John Jago cut out of a newspaper and pasted into a +book of “curiosities” kept by a friend. Upon this he wrote to Morwick +Farm to say that he had seen a man exactly answering to the description +of John Jago, but bearing another name, working as a clerk in a +merchant’s office in Jersey City. Having time to spare before the mail +went out, he had returned to the office to take another look at the man +before he posted his letter. To his surprise, he was informed that the +clerk had not appeared at his desk that day. His employer had sent to +his lodgings, and had been informed that he had suddenly packed up his +hand-bag after reading the newspaper at breakfast; had paid his rent +honestly, and had gone away, nobody knew where! + +It was late in the evening when I read these lines. I had time for +reflection before it would be necessary for me to act. + +Assuming the letter to be genuine, and adopting Naomi’s explanation of +the motive which had led John Jago to absent himself secretly from the +farm, I reached the conclusion that the search for him might be +usefully limited to Narrabee and to the surrounding neighborhood. + +The newspaper at his breakfast had no doubt given him his first +information of the “finding” of the grand jury, and of the trial to +follow. It was in my experience of human nature that he should venture +back to Narrabee under these circumstances, and under the influence of +his infatuation for Naomi. More than this, it was again in my +experience, I am sorry to say, that he should attempt to make the +critical position of Ambrose a means of extorting Naomi’s consent to +listen favorably to his suit. Cruel indifference to the injury and the +suffering which his sudden absence might inflict on others was plainly +implied in his secret withdrawal from the farm. The same cruel +indifference, pushed to a further extreme, might well lead him to press +his proposals privately on Naomi, and to fix her acceptance of them as +the price to be paid for saving her cousin’s life. + +To these conclusions I arrived after much thinking. I had determined, +on Naomi’s account, to clear the matter up; but it is only candid to +add that my doubts of John Jago’s existence remained unshaken by the +letter. I believed it to be nothing more nor less than a heartless and +stupid “hoax.” + + +The striking of the hall-clock roused me from my meditations. I counted +the strokes--midnight! + +I rose to go up to my room. Everybody else in the farm had retired to +bed, as usual, more than an hour since. The stillness in the house was +breathless. I walked softly, by instinct, as I crossed the room to look +out at the night. A lovely moonlight met my view; it was like the +moonlight on the fatal evening when Naomi had met John Jago on the +garden walk. + +My bedroom candle was on the side-table; I had just lighted it. I was +just leaving the room, when the door suddenly opened, and Naomi herself +stood before me! + +Recovering the first shook of her sudden appearance, I saw instantly in +her eager eyes, in her deadly-pale cheeks, that something serious had +happened. A large cloak was thrown over her; a white handkerchief was +tied over her head. Her hair was in disorder; she had evidently just +risen in fear and in haste from her bed. + +“What is it?” I asked, advancing to meet her. + +She clung, trembling with agitation, to my arm. + +“John Jago!” she whispered. + +You will think my obstinacy invincible. I could hardly believe it, even +then! + +“Where?” I asked. + +“In the back-yard,” she replied, “under my bedroom window!” + +The emergency was far too serious to allow of any consideration for the +small proprieties of every-day life. + +“Let me see him!” I said. + +“I am here to fetch you,” she answered, in her frank and fearless way. +“Come upstairs with me.” + +Her room was on the first floor of the house, and was the only bedroom +which looked out on the back-yard. On our way up the stairs she told me +what had happened. + +“I was in bed,” she said, “but not asleep, when I heard a pebble strike +against the window-pane. I waited, wondering what it meant. Another +pebble was thrown against the glass. So far, I was surprised, but not +frightened. I got up, and ran to the window to look out. There was John +Jago looking up at me in the moonlight!” + +“Did he see you?” + +“Yes. He said, ‘Come down and speak to me! I have something serious to +say to you!’” + +“Did you answer him?” + +“As soon as I could catch my breath, I said, ‘Wait a little,’ and ran +downstairs to you. What shall I do?” + +“Let _me_ see him, and I will tell you.” + +We entered her room. Keeping cautiously behind the window-curtain, I +looked out. + +There he was! His beard and mustache were shaved off; his hair was +close cut. But there was no disguising his wild, brown eyes, or the +peculiar movement of his spare, wiry figure, as he walked slowly to and +fro in the moonlight waiting for Naomi. For the moment, my own +agitation almost overpowered me; I had so firmly disbelieved that John +Jago was a living man! + +“What shall I do?” Naomi repeated. + +“Is the door of the dairy open?” I asked. + +“No; but the door of the tool-house, round the corner, is not locked.” + +“Very good. Show yourself at the window, and say to him, ‘I am coming +directly.’” + +The brave girl obeyed me without a moment’s hesitation. + +There had been no doubt about his eyes and his gait; there was no doubt +now about his voice, as he answered softly from below--“All right!” + +“Keep him talking to you where he is now,” I said to Naomi, “until I +have time to get round by the other way to the tool-house. Then pretend +to be fearful of discovery at the dairy, and bring him round the +corner, so that I can hear him behind the door.” + +We left the house together, and separated silently. Naomi followed my +instructions with a woman’s quick intelligence where stratagems are +concerned. I had hardly been a minute in the tool-house before I heard +him speaking to Naomi on the other side of the door. + +The first words which I caught distinctly related to his motive for +secretly leaving the farm. Mortified pride--doubly mortified by Naomi’s +contemptuous refusal and by the personal indignity offered to him by +Ambrose--was at the bottom of his conduct in absenting himself from +Morwick. He owned that he had seen the advertisement, and that it had +actually encouraged him to keep in hiding! + +“After being laughed at and insulted and denied, I was glad,” said the +miserable wretch, “to see that some of you had serious reason to wish +me back again. It rests with you, Miss Naomi, to keep me here, and to +persuade me to save Ambrose by showing myself and owning to my name.” + +“What do you mean?” I heard Naomi ask, sternly. + +He lowered his voice; but I could still hear him. + +“Promise you will marry me,” he said, “and I will go before the +magistrate to-morrow, and show him that I am a living man.” + +“Suppose I refuse?” + +“In that case you will lose me again, and none of you will find me till +Ambrose is hanged.” + +“Are you villain enough, John Jago, to mean what you say?” asked the +girl, raising her voice. + +“If you attempt to give the alarm,” he answered, “as true as God’s +above us, you will feel my hand on your throat! It’s my turn now, miss; +and I am not to be trifled with. Will you have me for your husband--yes +or no?” + +“No!” she answered, loudly and firmly. + +I burst open the door, and seized him as he lifted his hand on her. He +had not suffered from the nervous derangement which had weakened me, +and he was the stronger man of the two. Naomi saved my life. She struck +up his pistol as he pulled it out of his pocket with his free hand and +presented it at my head. The bullet was fired into the air. I tripped +up his heels at the same moment. The report of the pistol had alarmed +the house. We two together kept him on the ground until help arrived. + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE END OF IT. + +JOHN JAGO was brought before the magistrate, and John Jago was +identified the next day. + +The lives of Ambrose and Silas were, of course, no longer in peril, so +far as human justice was concerned. But there were legal delays to be +encountered, and legal formalities to be observed, before the brothers +could be released from prison in the characters of innocent men. + +During the interval which thus elapsed, certain events happened which +may be briefly mentioned here before I close my narrative. + +Mr. Meadowcroft the elder, broken by the suffering which he had gone +through, died suddenly of a rheumatic affection of the heart. A codicil +attached to his will abundantly justified what Naomi had told me of +Miss Meadowcroft’s influence over her father, and of the end she had in +view in exercising it. A life income only was left to Mr. Meadowcroft’s +sons. The freehold of the farm was bequeathed to his daughter, with the +testator’s recommendation added, that she should marry his “best and +dearest friend, Mr. John Jago.” + +Armed with the power of the will, the heiress of Morwick sent an +insolent message to Naomi, requesting her no longer to consider herself +one of the inmates at the farm. Miss Meadowcroft, it should be here +added, positively refused to believe that John Jago had ever asked +Naomi to be his wife, or had ever threatened her, as I had heard him +threaten her, if she refused. She accused me, as she accused Naomi, of +trying meanly to injure John Jago in her estimation, out of hatred +toward “that much-injured man;” and she sent to me, as she had sent to +Naomi, a formal notice to leave the house. + +We two banished ones met the same day in the hall, with our +traveling-bags in our hands. + +“We are turned out together, friend Lefrank,” said Naomi, with her +quaintly-comical smile. “You will go back to England, I guess; and I +must make my own living in my own country. Women can get employment in +the States if they have a friend to speak for them. Where shall I find +somebody who can give me a place?” + +I saw my way to saying the right word at the right moment. + +“I have got a place to offer you,” I replied. + +She suspected nothing, so far. + +“That’s lucky, sir,” was all she said. “Is it in a telegraph-office or +in a dry-goods store?” + +I astonished my little American friend by taking her then and there in +my arms, and giving her my first kiss. + +“The office is by my fireside,” I said; “the salary is anything in +reason you like to ask me for; and the place, Naomi, if you have no +objection to it, is the place of my wife.” + +I have no more to say, except that years have passed since I spoke +those words and that I am as fond of Naomi as ever. + +Some months after our marriage, Mrs. Lefrank wrote to a friend at +Narrabee for news of what was going on at the farm. The answer informed +us that Ambrose and Silas had emigrated to New Zealand, and that Miss +Meadowcroft was alone at Morwick Farm. John Jago had refused to marry +her. John Jago had disappeared again, nobody knew where. + +NOTE IN CONCLUSION.--The first idea of this little story was suggested +to the author by a printed account of a trial which actually took +place, early in the present century, in the United States. The +published narrative of this strange case is entitled “The Trial, +Confessions, and Conviction of Jesse and Stephen Boorn for the Murder +of Russell Colvin, and the Return of the Man supposed to have been +murdered. By Hon. Leonard Sargeant, Ex-Lieutenant Governor of Vermont. +(Manchester, Vermont, _Journal_ Book and Job Office, 1873.)” It may not +be amiss to add, for the benefit of incredulous readers, that all the +“improbable events” in the story are matters of fact, taken from the +printed narrative. Anything which “looks like truth” is, in nine cases +out of ten, the invention of the author.--W. C. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Dead Alive, by Wilkie Collins + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEAD ALIVE *** + +***** This file should be named 7891-0.txt or 7891-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/7/8/9/7891/ + +Produced by James Rusk + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Dead Alive + +Author: Wilkie Collins + +Release Date: July 31, 2009 [EBook #7891] +Last Updated: September 13, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEAD ALIVE *** + + + + +Produced by James Rusk, and David Widger + + + + + + +</pre> + + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + THE DEAD ALIVE + </h1> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Wilkie Collins + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + Contents + </h2> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. </a> + </td> + <td> + THE SICK MAN + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. </a> + </td> + <td> + THE NEW FACES + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. </a> + </td> + <td> + THE MOONLIGHT MEETING + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. </a> + </td> + <td> + THE BEECHEN STICK + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. </a> + </td> + <td> + THE NEWS FROM NARRABEE + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. </a> + </td> + <td> + THE LIME-KILN + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII. </a> + </td> + <td> + THE MATERIALS IN THE DEFENSE + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII. </a> + </td> + <td> + THE CONFESSION + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX. </a> + </td> + <td> + THE ADVERTISEMENT + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X. </a> + </td> + <td> + THE SHERIFF AND THE GOVERNOR + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI. </a> + </td> + <td> + THE PEBBLE AND THE WINDOW + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII. </a> + </td> + <td> + THE END OF IT + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + CHAPTER I. THE SICK MAN. + </h2> + <p> + “HEART all right,” said the doctor. “Lungs all right. No organic disease + that I can discover. Philip Lefrank, don’t alarm yourself. You are not + going to die yet. The disease you are suffering from is—overwork. + The remedy in your case is—rest.” + </p> + <p> + So the doctor spoke, in my chambers in the Temple (London); having been + sent for to see me about half an hour after I had alarmed my clerk by + fainting at my desk. I have no wish to intrude myself needlessly on the + reader’s attention; but it may be necessary to add, in the way of + explanation, that I am a “junior” barrister in good practice. I come from + the channel Island of Jersey. The French spelling of my name (Lefranc) was + Anglicized generations since—in the days when the letter “k” was + still used in England at the end of words which now terminate in “c.” We + hold our heads high, nevertheless, as a Jersey family. It is to this day a + trial to my father to hear his son described as a member of the English + bar. + </p> + <p> + “Rest!” I repeated, when my medical adviser had done. “My good friend, are + you aware that it is term-time? The courts are sitting. Look at the briefs + waiting for me on that table! Rest means ruin in my case.” + </p> + <p> + “And work,” added the doctor, quietly, “means death.” + </p> + <p> + I started. He was not trying to frighten me: he was plainly in earnest. + </p> + <p> + “It is merely a question of time,” he went on. “You have a fine + constitution; you are a young man; but you cannot deliberately overwork + your brain, and derange your nervous system, much longer. Go away at once. + If you are a good sailor, take a sea-voyage. The ocean air is the best of + all air to build you up again. No: I don’t want to write a prescription. I + decline to physic you. I have no more to say.” + </p> + <p> + With these words my medical friend left the room. I was obstinate: I went + into court the same day. + </p> + <p> + The senior counsel in the case on which I was engaged applied to me for + some information which it was my duty to give him. To my horror and + amazement, I was perfectly unable to collect my ideas; facts and dates all + mingled together confusedly in my mind. I was led out of court thoroughly + terrified about myself. The next day my briefs went back to the attorneys; + and I followed my doctor’s advice by taking my passage for America in the + first steamer that sailed for New York. + </p> + <p> + I had chosen the voyage to America in preference to any other trip by sea, + with a special object in view. A relative of my mother’s had emigrated to + the United States many years since, and had thriven there as a farmer. He + had given me a general invitation to visit him if I ever crossed the + Atlantic. The long period of inaction, under the name of <i>rest</i>, to + which the doctor’s decision had condemned me, could hardly be more + pleasantly occupied, as I thought, than by paying a visit to my relation, + and seeing what I could of America in that way. After a brief sojourn at + New York, I started by railway for the residence of my host—Mr. + Isaac Meadowcroft, of Morwick Farm. + </p> + <p> + There are some of the grandest natural prospects on the face of creation + in America. There is also to be found in certain States of the Union, by + way of wholesome contrast, scenery as flat, as monotonous, and as + uninteresting to the traveler, as any that the earth can show. The part of + the country in which M. Meadowcroft’s farm was situated fell within this + latter category. I looked round me when I stepped out of the + railway-carriage on the platform at Morwick Station; and I said to myself, + “If to be cured means, in my case, to be dull, I have accurately picked + out the very place for the purpose.” + </p> + <p> + I look back at those words by the light of later events; and I pronounce + them, as you will soon pronounce them, to be the words of an essentially + rash man, whose hasty judgment never stopped to consider what surprises + time and chance together might have in store for him. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Meadowcroft’s eldest son, Ambrose, was waiting at the station to drive + me to the farm. + </p> + <p> + There was no forewarning, in the appearance of Ambrose Meadowcroft, of the + strange and terrible events that were to follow my arrival at Morwick. A + healthy, handsome young fellow, one of thousands of other healthy, + handsome young fellows, said, “How d’ye do, Mr. Lefrank? Glad to see you, + sir. Jump into the buggy; the man will look after your portmanteau.” With + equally conventional politeness I answered, “Thank you. How are you all at + home?” So we started on the way to the farm. + </p> + <p> + Our conversation on the drive began with the subjects of agriculture and + breeding. I displayed my total ignorance of crops and cattle before we had + traveled ten yards on our journey. Ambrose Meadowcroft cast about for + another topic, and failed to find it. Upon this I cast about on my side, + and asked, at a venture, if I had chosen a convenient time for my visit + The young farmer’s stolid brown face instantly brightened. I had evidently + hit, hap-hazard, on an interesting subject. + </p> + <p> + “You couldn’t have chosen a better time,” he said. “Our house has never + been so cheerful as it is now.” + </p> + <p> + “Have you any visitors staying with you?” + </p> + <p> + “It’s not exactly a visitor. It’s a new member of the family who has come + to live with us.” + </p> + <p> + “A new member of the family! May I ask who it is?” + </p> + <p> + Ambrose Meadowcroft considered before he replied; touched his horse with + the whip; looked at me with a certain sheepish hesitation; and suddenly + burst out with the truth, in the plainest possible words: + </p> + <p> + “It’s just the nicest girl, sir, you ever saw in your life.” + </p> + <p> + “Ay, ay! A friend of your sister’s, I suppose?” + </p> + <p> + “A friend? Bless your heart! it’s our little American cousin, Naomi + Colebrook.” + </p> + <p> + I vaguely remembered that a younger sister of Mr. Meadowcroft’s had + married an American merchant in the remote past, and had died many years + since, leaving an only child. I was now further informed that the father + also was dead. In his last moments he had committed his helpless daughter + to the compassionate care of his wife’s relations at Morwick. + </p> + <p> + “He was always a speculating man,” Ambrose went on. “Tried one thing after + another, and failed in all. Died, sir, leaving barely enough to bury him. + My father was a little doubtful, before she came here, how his American + niece would turn out. We are English, you know; and, though we do live in + the United States, we stick fast to our English ways and habits. We don’t + much like American women in general, I can tell you; but when Naomi made + her appearance she conquered us all. Such a girl! Took her place as one of + the family directly. Learned to make herself useful in the dairy in a + week’s time. I tell you this—she hasn’t been with us quite two + months yet, and we wonder already how we ever got on without her!” + </p> + <p> + Once started on the subject of Naomi Colebrook, Ambrose held to that one + topic and talked on it without intermission. It required no great gift of + penetration to discover the impression which the American cousin had + produced in this case. The young fellow’s enthusiasm communicated itself, + in a certain tepid degree, to me. I really felt a mild flutter of + anticipation at the prospect of seeing Naomi, when we drew up, toward the + close of evening, at the gates of Morwick Farm. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II. THE NEW FACES. + </h2> + <p> + IMMEDIATELY on my arrival, I was presented to Mr. Meadowcroft, the father. + </p> + <p> + The old man had become a confirmed invalid, confined by chronic rheumatism + to his chair. He received me kindly, and a little wearily as well. His + only unmarried daughter (he had long since been left a widower) was in the + room, in attendance on her father. She was a melancholy, middle-aged + woman, without visible attractions of any sort—one of those persons + who appear to accept the obligation of living under protest, as a burden + which they would never have consented to bear if they had only been + consulted first. We three had a dreary little interview in a parlor of + bare walls; and then I was permitted to go upstairs, and unpack my + portmanteau in my own room. + </p> + <p> + “Supper will be at nine o’clock, sir,” said Miss Meadowcroft. + </p> + <p> + She pronounced those words as if “supper” was a form of domestic offense, + habitually committed by the men, and endured by the women. I followed the + groom up to my room, not over-well pleased with my first experience of the + farm. + </p> + <p> + No Naomi and no romance, thus far! + </p> + <p> + My room was clean—oppressively clean. I quite longed to see a little + dust somewhere. My library was limited to the Bible and the Prayer-Book. + My view from the window showed me a dead flat in a partial state of + cultivation, fading sadly from view in the waning light. Above the head of + my spruce white bed hung a scroll, bearing a damnatory quotation from + Scripture in emblazoned letters of red and black. The dismal presence of + Miss Meadowcroft had passed over my bedroom, and had blighted it. My + spirits sank as I looked round me. Supper-time was still an event in the + future. I lighted the candles and took from my portmanteau what I firmly + believe to have been the first French novel ever produced at Morwick Farm. + It was one of the masterly and charming stories of Dumas the elder. In + five minutes I was in a new world, and my melancholy room was full of the + liveliest French company. The sound of an imperative and uncompromising + bell recalled me in due time to the regions of reality. I looked at my + watch. Nine o’clock. + </p> + <p> + Ambrose met me at the bottom of the stairs, and showed me the way to the + supper-room. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Meadowcroft’s invalid chair had been wheeled to the head of the table. + On his right-hand side sat his sad and silent daughter. She signed to me, + with a ghostly solemnity, to take the vacant place on the left of her + father. Silas Meadowcroft came in at the same moment, and was presented to + me by his brother. There was a strong family likeness between them, + Ambrose being the taller and the handsomer man of the two. But there was + no marked character in either face. I set them down as men with + undeveloped qualities, waiting (the good and evil qualities alike) for + time and circumstances to bring them to their full growth. + </p> + <p> + The door opened again while I was still studying the two brothers, + without, I honestly confess, being very favorably impressed by either of + them. A new member of the family circle, who instantly attracted my + attention, entered the room. + </p> + <p> + He was short, spare, and wiry; singularly pale for a person whose life was + passed in the country. The face was in other respects, besides this, a + striking face to see. As to the lower part, it was covered with a thick + black beard and mustache, at a time when shaving was the rule, and beards + the rare exception, in America. As to the upper part of the face, it was + irradiated by a pair of wild, glittering brown eyes, the expression of + which suggested to me that there was something not quite right with the + man’s mental balance. A perfectly sane person in all his sayings and + doings, so far as I could see, there was still something in those wild + brown eyes which suggested to me that, under exceptionally trying + circumstances, he might surprise his oldest friends by acting in some + exceptionally violent or foolish way. “A little cracked”—that in the + popular phrase was my impression of the stranger who now made his + appearance in the supper-room. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Meadowcroft the elder, having not spoken one word thus far, himself + introduced the newcomer to me, with a side-glance at his sons, which had + something like defiance in it—a glance which, as I was sorry to + notice, was returned with the defiance on their side by the two young men. + </p> + <p> + “Philip Lefrank, this is my overlooker, Mr. Jago,” said the old man, + formally presenting us. “John Jago, this is my young relative by marriage, + Mr. Lefrank. He is not well; he has come over the ocean for rest, and + change of scene. Mr. Jago is an American, Philip. I hope you have no + prejudice against Americans. Make acquaintance with Mr. Jago. Sit + together.” He cast another dark look at his sons; and the sons again + returned it. They pointedly drew back from John Jago as he approached the + empty chair next to me and moved round to the opposite side of the table. + It was plain that the man with the beard stood high in the father’s favor, + and that he was cordially disliked for that or for some other reason by + the sons. + </p> + <p> + The door opened once more. A young lady quietly joined the party at the + supper-table. + </p> + <p> + Was the young lady Naomi Colebrook? I looked at Ambrose, and saw the + answer in his face. Naomi Colebrook at last! + </p> + <p> + A pretty girl, and, so far as I could judge by appearances, a good girl + too. Describing her generally, I may say that she had a small head, well + carried, and well set on her shoulders; bright gray eyes, that looked at + you honestly, and meant what they looked; a trim, slight little figure—too + slight for our English notions of beauty; a strong American accent; and (a + rare thing in America) a pleasantly toned voice, which made the accent + agreeable to English ears. Our first impressions of people are, in nine + cases out of ten, the right impressions. I liked Naomi Colebrook at first + sight; liked her pleasant smile; liked her hearty shake of the hand when + we were presented to each other. “If I get on well with nobody else in + this house,” I thought to myself, “I shall certainly get on well with <i>you</i>.” + </p> + <p> + For once in a way, I proved a true prophet. In the atmosphere of + smoldering enmities at Morwick Farm, the pretty American girl and I + remained firm and true friends from first to last. Ambrose made room for + Naomi to sit between his brother and himself. She changed color for a + moment, and looked at him, with a pretty, reluctant tenderness, as she + took her chair. I strongly suspected the young farmer of squeezing her + hand privately, under cover of the tablecloth. + </p> + <p> + The supper was not a merry one. The only cheerful conversation was the + conversation across the table between Naomi and me. + </p> + <p> + For some incomprehensible reason, John Jago seemed to be ill at ease in + the presence of his young countrywoman. He looked up at Naomi doubtingly + from his plate, and looked down again slowly with a frown. When I + addressed him, he answered constrainedly. Even when he spoke to Mr. + Meadowcroft, he was still on his guard—on his guard against the two + young men, as I fancied by the direction which his eyes took on these + occasions. When we began our meal, I had noticed for the first time that + Silas Meadowcroft’s left hand was strapped up with surgical plaster; and I + now further observed that John Jago’s wandering brown eyes, furtively + looking at everybody round the table in turn, looked with a curious, + cynical scrutiny at the young man’s injured hand. + </p> + <p> + By way of making my first evening at the farm all the more embarrassing to + me as a stranger, I discovered before long that the father and sons were + talking indirectly <i>at</i> each other, through Mr. Jago and through me. + When old Mr. Meadowcroft spoke disparagingly to his overlooker of some + past mistake made in the cultivation of the arable land of the farm, old + Mr. Meadowcroft’s eyes pointed the application of his hostile criticism + straight in the direction of his two sons. When the two sons seized a + stray remark of mine about animals in general, and applied it satirically + to the mismanagement of sheep and oxen in particular, they looked at John + Jago, while they talked to me. On occasions of this sort—and they + happened frequently—Naomi struck in resolutely at the right moment, + and turned the talk to some harmless topic. Every time she took a + prominent part in this way in keeping the peace, melancholy Miss + Meadowcroft looked slowly round at her in stern and silent disparagement + of her interference. A more dreary and more disunited family party I never + sat at the table with. Envy, hatred, malice and uncharitableness are never + so essentially detestable to my mind as when they are animated by a sense + of propriety, and work under the surface. But for my interest in Naomi, + and my other interest in the little love-looks which I now and then + surprised passing between her and Ambrose, I should never have sat through + that supper. I should certainly have taken refuge in my French novel and + my own room. + </p> + <p> + At last the unendurably long meal, served with ostentatious profusion, was + at an end. Miss Meadowcroft rose with her ghostly solemnity, and granted + me my dismissal in these words: + </p> + <p> + “We are early people at the farm, Mr. Lefrank. I wish you good-night.” + </p> + <p> + She laid her bony hands on the back of Mr. Meadowcroft’s invalid-chair, + cut him short in his farewell salutation to me, and wheeled him out to his + bed as if she were wheeling him out to his grave. + </p> + <p> + “Do you go to your room immediately, sir? If not, may I offer you a cigar—provided + the young gentlemen will permit it?” + </p> + <p> + So, picking his words with painful deliberation, and pointing his + reference to “the young gentlemen” with one sardonic side-look at them, + Mr. John Jago performed the duties of hospitality on his side. I excused + myself from accepting the cigar. With studied politeness, the man of the + glittering brown eyes wished me a good night’s rest, and left the room. + </p> + <p> + Ambrose and Silas both approached me hospitably, with their open + cigar-cases in their hands. + </p> + <p> + “You were quite right to say ‘No,’” Ambrose began. “Never smoke with John + Jago. His cigars will poison you.” + </p> + <p> + “And never believe a word John Jago says to you,” added Silas. “He is the + greatest liar in America, let the other be whom he may.” + </p> + <p> + Naomi shook her forefinger reproachfully at them, as if the two sturdy + young farmers had been two children. + </p> + <p> + “What will Mr. Lefrank think,” she said, “if you talk in that way of a + person whom your father respects and trusts? Go and smoke. I am ashamed of + both of you.” + </p> + <p> + Silas slunk away without a word of protest. Ambrose stood his ground, + evidently bent on making his peace with Naomi before he left her. + </p> + <p> + Seeing that I was in the way, I walked aside toward a glass door at the + lower end of the room. The door opened on the trim little farm-garden, + bathed at that moment in lovely moonlight. I stepped out to enjoy the + scene, and found my way to a seat under an elm-tree. The grand repose of + nature had never looked so unutterably solemn and beautiful as it now + appeared, after what I had seen and heard inside the house. I understood, + or thought I understood, the sad despair of humanity which led men into + monasteries in the old times. The misanthropical side of my nature (where + is the sick man who is not conscious of that side of him?) was fast + getting the upper hand of me when I felt a light touch laid on my + shoulder, and found myself reconciled to my species once more by Naomi + Colebrook. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III. THE MOONLIGHT MEETING. + </h2> + <p> + “I WANT to speak to you,” Naomi began “You don’t think ill of me for + following you out here? We are not accustomed to stand much on ceremony in + America.” + </p> + <p> + “You are quite right in America. Pray sit down.” + </p> + <p> + She seated herself by my side, looking at me frankly and fearlessly by the + light of the moon. + </p> + <p> + “You are related to the family here,” she resumed, “and I am related too. + I guess I may say to you what I couldn’t say to a stranger. I am right + glad you have come here, Mr. Lefrank; and for a reason, sir, which you + don’t suspect.” + </p> + <p> + “Thank you for the compliment you pay me, Miss Colebrook, whatever the + reason may be.” + </p> + <p> + She took no notice of my reply; she steadily pursued her own train of + thought. + </p> + <p> + “I guess you may do some good, sir, in this wretched house,” the girl went + on, with her eyes still earnestly fixed on my face. “There is no love, no + trust, no peace, at Morwick Farm. They want somebody here, except Ambrose. + Don’t think ill of Ambrose; he is only thoughtless. I say, the rest of + them want somebody here to make them ashamed of their hard hearts, and + their horrid, false, envious ways. You are a gentleman; you know more than + they know; they can’t help themselves; they must look up to <i>you</i>. + Try, Mr. Lefrank, when you have the opportunity—pray try, sir, to + make peace among them. You heard what went on at supper-time; and you were + disgusted with it. Oh yes, you were! I saw you frown to yourself; and I + know what <i>that</i> means in you Englishmen.” + </p> + <p> + There was no choice but to speak one’s mind plainly to Naomi. I + acknowledged the impression which had been produced on me at supper-time + just as plainly as I have acknowledged it in these pages. Naomi nodded her + head in undisguised approval of my candor. + </p> + <p> + “That will do, that’s speaking out,” she said. “But—oh my! you put + it a deal too mildly, sir, when you say the men don’t seem to be on + friendly terms together here. They hate each other. That’s the word, Mr. + Lefrank—hate; bitter, bitter, bitter hate!” She clinched her little + fists; she shook them vehemently, by way of adding emphasis to her last + words; and then she suddenly remembered Ambrose. “Except Ambrose,” she + added, opening her hand again, and laying it very earnestly on my arm. + “Don’t go and misjudge Ambrose, sir. There is no harm in poor Ambrose.” + </p> + <p> + The girl’s innocent frankness was really irresistible. + </p> + <p> + “Should I be altogether wrong,” I asked, “if I guessed that you were a + little partial to Ambrose?” + </p> + <p> + An Englishwoman would have felt, or would at least have assumed, some + little hesitation at replying to my question. Naomi did not hesitate for + an instant. + </p> + <p> + “You are quite right, sir,” she said with the most perfect composure. “If + things go well, I mean to marry Ambrose.” + </p> + <p> + “If things go well,” I repeated. “What does that mean? Money?” + </p> + <p> + She shook her head. + </p> + <p> + “It means a fear that I have in my own mind,” she answered—“a fear, + Mr. Lefrank, of matters taking a bad turn among the men here—the + wicked, hard-hearted, unfeeling men. I don’t mean Ambrose, sir; I mean his + brother Silas, and John Jago. Did you notice Silas’s hand? John Jago did + that, sir, with a knife.” + </p> + <p> + “By accident?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “On purpose,” she answered. “In return for a blow.” + </p> + <p> + This plain revelation of the state of things at Morwick Farm rather + staggered me—blows and knives under the rich and respectable + roof-tree of old Mr. Meadowcroft—blows and knives, not among the + laborers, but among the masters! My first impression was like <i>your</i> + first impression, no doubt. I could hardly believe it. + </p> + <p> + “Are you sure of what you say?” I inquired. + </p> + <p> + “I have it from Ambrose. Ambrose would never deceive me. Ambrose knows all + about it.” + </p> + <p> + My curiosity was powerfully excited. To what sort of household had I + rashly voyaged across the ocean in search of rest and quiet? + </p> + <p> + “May I know all about it too?” I said. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I will try and tell you what Ambrose told me. But you must promise + me one thing first, sir. Promise you won’t go away and leave us when you + know the whole truth. Shake hands on it, Mr. Lefrank; come, shake hands on + it.” + </p> + <p> + There was no resisting her fearless frankness. I shook hands on it. Naomi + entered on her narrative the moment I had given her my pledge, without + wasting a word by way of preface. + </p> + <p> + “When you are shown over the farm here,” she began, “you will see that it + is really two farms in one. On this side of it, as we look from under this + tree, they raise crops: on the other side—on much the larger half of + the land, mind—they raise cattle. When Mr. Meadowcroft got too old + and too sick to look after his farm himself, the boys (I mean Ambrose and + Silas) divided the work between them. Ambrose looked after the crops, and + Silas after the cattle. Things didn’t go well, somehow, under their + management. I can’t tell you why. I am only sure Ambrose was not in fault. + The old man got more and more dissatisfied, especially about his beasts. + His pride is in his beasts. Without saying a word to the boys, he looked + about privately (<i>I</i> think he was wrong in that, sir; don’t you?)—he + looked about privately for help; and, in an evil hour, he heard of John + Jago. Do you like John Jago, Mr. Lefrank?” + </p> + <p> + “So far, no. I don’t like him.” + </p> + <p> + “Just my sentiments, sir. But I don’t know: it’s likely we may be wrong. + There’s nothing against John Jago, except that he is so odd in his ways. + They do say he wears all that nasty hair on his face (I hate hair on a + man’s face) on account of a vow he made when he lost his wife. Don’t you + think, Mr. Lefrank, a man must be a little mad who shows his grief at + losing his wife by vowing that he will never shave himself again? Well, + that’s what they do say John Jago vowed. Perhaps it’s a lie. People are + such liars here! Anyway, it’s truth (the boys themselves confess <i>that</i>), + when John came to the farm, he came with a first-rate character. The old + father here isn’t easy to please; and he pleased the old father. Yes, + that’s so. Mr. Meadowcroft don’t like my countrymen in general. He’s like + his sons—English, bitter English, to the marrow of his bones. + Somehow, in spite of that, John Jago got round him; maybe because John + does certainly know his business. Oh yes! Cattle and crops, John knows his + business. Since he’s been overlooker, things have prospered as they didn’t + prosper in the time of the boys. Ambrose owned as much to me himself. + Still, sir, it’s hard to be set aside for a stranger; isn’t it? John gives + the orders now. The boys do their work; but they have no voice in it when + John and the old man put their heads together over the business of the + farm. I have been long in telling you of it, sir, but now you know how the + envy and the hatred grew among the men before my time. Since I have been + here, things seem to get worse and worse. There’s hardly a day goes by + that hard words don’t pass between the boys and John, or the boys and + their father. The old man has an aggravating way, Mr. Lefrank—a + nasty way, as we do call it—of taking John Jago’s part. Do speak to + him about it when you get the chance. The main blame of the quarrel + between Silas and John the other day lies at his door, as I think. I don’t + want to excuse Silas, either. It was brutal of him—though he <i>is</i> + Ambrose’s brother—to strike John, who is the smaller and weaker man + of the two. But it was worse than brutal in John, sir, to out with his + knife and try to stab Silas. Oh, he did it! If Silas had not caught the + knife in his hand (his hand’s awfully cut, I can tell you; I dressed it + myself), it might have ended, for anything I know, in murder—” + </p> + <p> + She stopped as the word passed her lips, looked back over her shoulder, + and started violently. + </p> + <p> + I looked where my companion was looking. The dark figure of a man was + standing, watching us, in the shadow of the elm-tree. I rose directly to + approach him. Naomi recovered her self-possession, and checked me before I + could interfere. + </p> + <p> + “Who are you?” she asked, turning sharply toward the stranger. “What do + you want there?” + </p> + <p> + The man stepped out from the shadow into the moonlight, and stood revealed + to us as John Jago. + </p> + <p> + “I hope I am not intruding?” he said, looking hard at me. + </p> + <p> + “What do you want?” Naomi repeated. + </p> + <p> + “I don’t wish to disturb you, or to disturb this gentleman,” he proceeded. + “When you are quite at leisure, Miss Naomi, you would be doing me a favor + if you would permit me to say a few words to you in private.” + </p> + <p> + He spoke with the most scrupulous politeness; trying, and trying vainly, + to conceal some strong agitation which was in possession of him. His wild + brown eyes—wilder than ever in the moonlight—rested + entreatingly, with a strange underlying expression of despair, on Naomi’s + face. His hands, clasped lightly in front of him, trembled incessantly. + Little as I liked the man, he did really impress me as a pitiable object + at that moment. + </p> + <p> + “Do you mean that you want to speak to me to-night?” Naomi asked, in + undisguised surprise. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, miss, if you please, at your leisure and at Mr. Lefrank’s.” + </p> + <p> + Naomi hesitated. + </p> + <p> + “Won’t it keep till to-morrow?” she said. + </p> + <p> + “I shall be away on farm business to-morrow, miss, for the whole day. + Please to give me a few minutes this evening.” He advanced a step toward + her; his voice faltered, and dropped timidly to a whisper. “I really have + something to say to you, Miss Naomi. It would be a kindness on your part—a + very, very great kindness—if you will let me say it before I rest + to-night.” + </p> + <p> + I rose again to resign my place to him. Once more Naomi checked me. + </p> + <p> + “No,” she said. “Don’t stir.” She addressed John Jago very reluctantly: + “If you are so much in earnest about it, Mr. John, I suppose it must be. I + can’t guess what <i>you</i> can possibly have to say to me which cannot be + said before a third person. However, it wouldn’t be civil, I suppose, to + say ‘No’ in my place. You know it’s my business to wind up the hall-clock + at ten every night. If you choose to come and help me, the chances are + that we shall have the hall to ourselves. Will that do?” + </p> + <p> + “Not in the hall, miss, if you will excuse me.” + </p> + <p> + “Not in the hall!” + </p> + <p> + “And not in the house either, if I may make so bold.” + </p> + <p> + “What do you mean?” She turned impatiently, and appealed to me. “Do <i>you</i> + understand him?” + </p> + <p> + John Jago signed to me imploringly to let him answer for himself. + </p> + <p> + “Bear with me, Miss Naomi,” he said. “I think I can make you understand + me. There are eyes on the watch, and ears on the watch, in the house; and + there are some footsteps—I won’t say whose—so soft, that no + person can hear them.” + </p> + <p> + The last allusion evidently made itself understood. Naomi stopped him + before he could say more. + </p> + <p> + “Well, where is it to be?” she asked, resignedly. “Will the garden do, Mr. + John?” + </p> + <p> + “Thank you kindly, miss; the garden will do.” He pointed to a gravel-walk + beyond us, bathed in the full flood of the moonlight. “There,” he said, + “where we can see all round us, and be sure that nobody is listening. At + ten o’clock.” He paused, and addressed himself to me. “I beg to apologize, + sir, for intruding myself on your conversation. Please to excuse me.” + </p> + <p> + His eyes rested with a last anxious, pleading look on Naomi’s face. He + bowed to us, and melted away into the shadow of the tree. The distant + sound of a door closed softly came to us through the stillness of the + night. John Jago had re-entered the house. + </p> + <p> + Now that he was out of hearing, Naomi spoke to me very earnestly: + </p> + <p> + “Don’t suppose, sir, I have any secrets with <i>him</i>,” she said. “I + know no more than you do what he wants with me. I have half a mind not to + keep the appointment when ten o’clock comes. What would you do in my + place?” + </p> + <p> + “Having made the appointment,” I answered, “it seems to be due to yourself + to keep it. If you feel the slightest alarm, I will wait in another part + of the garden, so that I can hear if you call me.” + </p> + <p> + She received my proposal with a saucy toss of the head, and a smile of + pity for my ignorance. + </p> + <p> + “You are a stranger, Mr. Lefrank, or you would never talk to me in that + way. In America, we don’t do the men the honor of letting them alarm us. + In America, the women take care of themselves. He has got my promise to + meet him, as you say; and I must keep my promise. Only think,” she added, + speaking more to herself than to me, “of John Jago finding out Miss + Meadowcroft’s nasty, sly, underhand ways in the house! Most men would + never have noticed her.” + </p> + <p> + I was completely taken by surprise. Sad and severe Miss Meadowcroft a + listener and a spy! What next at Morwick Farm? + </p> + <p> + “Was that hint at the watchful eyes and ears, and the soft footsteps, + really an allusion to Mr. Meadowcroft’s daughter?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “Of course it was. Ah! she has imposed on you as she imposes on everybody + else. The false wretch! She is secretly at the bottom of half the bad + feeling among the men. I am certain of it—she keeps Mr. + Meadowcroft’s mind bitter toward the boys. Old as she is, Mr. Lefrank, and + ugly as she is, she wouldn’t object (if she could only make him ask her) + to be John Jago’s second wife. No, sir; and she wouldn’t break her heart + if the boys were not left a stick or a stone on the farm when the father + dies. I have watched her, and I know it. Ah! I could tell you such things! + But there’s no time now—it’s close on ten o’clock; we must say + good-night. I am right glad I have spoken to you, sir. I say again, at + parting, what I have said already: Use your influence, pray use your + influence, to soften them, and to make them ashamed of themselves, in this + wicked house. We will have more talk about what you can do to-morrow, when + you are shown over the farm. Say good-by now. Hark! there is ten striking! + And look! here is John Jago stealing out again in the shadow of the tree! + Good-night, friend Lefrank; and pleasant dreams.” + </p> + <p> + With one hand she took mine, and pressed it cordially; with the other she + pushed me away without ceremony in the direction of the house. A charming + girl—an irresistible girl! I was nearly as bad as the boys. I + declare, <i>I</i> almost hated John Jago, too, as we crossed each other in + the shadow of the tree. + </p> + <p> + Arrived at the glass door, I stopped and looked back at the gravel-walk. + </p> + <p> + They had met. I saw the two shadowy figures slowly pacing backward and + forward in the moonlight, the woman a little in advance of the man. What + was he saying to her? Why was he so anxious that not a word of it should + be heard? Our presentiments are sometimes, in certain rare cases, the + faithful prophecy of the future. A vague distrust of that moonlight + meeting stealthily took a hold on my mind. “Will mischief come of it?” I + asked myself as I closed the door and entered the house. + </p> + <p> + Mischief <i>did</i> come of it. You shall hear how. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV. THE BEECHEN STICK. + </h2> + <p> + PERSONS of sensitive, nervous temperament, sleeping for the first time in + a strange house, and in a bed that is new to them, must make up their + minds to pass a wakeful night. My first night at Morwick Farm was no + exception to this rule. The little sleep I had was broken and disturbed by + dreams. Toward six o’clock in the morning, my bed became unendurable to + me. The sun was shining in brightly at the window. I determined to try the + reviving influence of a stroll in the fresh morning air. + </p> + <p> + Just as I got out of bed, I heard footsteps and voices under my window. + </p> + <p> + The footsteps stopped, and the voices became recognizable. I had passed + the night with my window open; I was able, without exciting notice from + below, to look out. + </p> + <p> + The persons beneath me were Silas Meadowcroft, John Jago, and three + strangers, whose dress and appearance indicated plainly enough that they + were laborers on the farm. Silas was swinging a stout beechen stick in his + hand, and was speaking to Jago, coarsely and insolently enough, of his + moonlight meeting with Naomi on the previous night. + </p> + <p> + “Next time you go courting a young lady in secret,” said Silas, “make sure + that the moon goes down first, or wait for a cloudy sky. You were seen in + the garden, Master Jago; and you may as well tell us the truth for once in + a way. Did you find her open to persuasion, sir? Did she say ‘Yes?’” + </p> + <p> + John Jago kept his temper. + </p> + <p> + “If you must have your joke, Mr. Silas,” he said, quietly and firmly, “be + pleased to joke on some other subject. You are quite wrong, sir, in what + you suppose to have passed between the young lady and me.” + </p> + <p> + Silas turned about, and addressed himself ironically to the three + laborers. + </p> + <p> + “You hear him, boys? He can’t tell the truth, try him as you may. He + wasn’t making love to Naomi in the garden last night—oh dear, no! He + has had one wife already; and he knows better than to take the yoke on his + shoulders for the second time!” + </p> + <p> + Greatly to my surprise, John Jago met this clumsy jesting with a formal + and serious reply. + </p> + <p> + “You are quite right, sir,” he said. “I have no intention of marrying for + the second time. What I was saying to Miss Naomi doesn’t matter to you. It + was not at all what you choose to suppose; it was something of quite + another kind, with which you have no concern. Be pleased to understand + once for all, Mr. Silas, that not so much as the thought of making love to + the young lady has ever entered my head. I respect her; I admire her good + qualities; but if she was the only woman left in the world, and if I was a + much younger man than I am, I should never think of asking her to be my + wife.” He burst out suddenly into a harsh, uneasy laugh. “No, no! not my + style, Mr. Silas—not my style!” + </p> + <p> + Something in those words, or in his manner of speaking them, appeared to + exasperate Silas. He dropped his clumsy irony, and addressed himself + directly to John Jago in a tone of savage contempt. + </p> + <p> + “Not your style?” he repeated. “Upon my soul, that’s a cool way of putting + it, for a man in your place! What do you mean by calling her ‘not your + style?’ You impudent beggar! Naomi Colebrook is meat for your master!” + </p> + <p> + John Jago’s temper began to give way at last. He approached defiantly a + step or two nearer to Silas Meadowcroft. + </p> + <p> + “Who is my master?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + “Ambrose will show you, if you go to him,” answered the other. “Naomi is + <i>his</i> sweetheart, not mine. Keep out of his way, if you want to keep + a whole skin on your bones.” + </p> + <p> + John Jago cast one of his sardonic side-looks at the farmer’s wounded left + hand. “Don’t forget your own skin, Mr. Silas, when you threaten mine! I + have set my mark on you once, sir. Let me by on my business, or I may mark + you for a second time.” + </p> + <p> + Silas lifted his beechen stick. The laborers, roused to some rude sense of + the serious turn which the quarrel was taking, got between the two men, + and parted them. I had been hurriedly dressing myself while the + altercation was proceeding; and I now ran downstairs to try what my + influence could do toward keeping the peace at Morwick Farm. + </p> + <p> + The war of angry words was still going on when I joined the men outside. + </p> + <p> + “Be off with you on your business, you cowardly hound!” I heard Silas say. + “Be off with you to the town! and take care you don’t meet Ambrose on the + way!” + </p> + <p> + “Take <i>you</i> care you don’t feel my knife again before I go!” cried + the other man. + </p> + <p> + Silas made a desperate effort to break away from the laborers who were + holding him. + </p> + <p> + “Last time you only felt my fist!” he shouted “Next time you shall feel <i>this!</i>” + </p> + <p> + He lifted the stick as he spoke. I stepped up and snatched it out of his + hand. + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Silas,” I said, “I am an invalid, and I am going out for a walk. Your + stick will be useful to me. I beg leave to borrow it.” + </p> + <p> + The laborers burst out laughing. Silas fixed his eyes on me with a stare + of angry surprise. John Jago, immediately recovering his self-possession, + took off his hat, and made me a deferential bow. + </p> + <p> + “I had no idea, Mr. Lefrank, that we were disturbing you,” he said. “I am + very much ashamed of myself, sir. I beg to apologize.” + </p> + <p> + “I accept your apology, Mr. Jago,” I answered, “on the understanding that + you, as the older man, will set the example of forbearance if your temper + is tried on any future occasion as it has been tried today. And I have + further to request,” I added, addressing myself to Silas, “that you will + do me a favor, as your father’s guest. The next time your good spirits + lead you into making jokes at Mr. Jago’s expense, don’t carry them quite + so far. I am sure you meant no harm, Mr. Silas. Will you gratify me by + saying so yourself? I want to see you and Mr. Jago shake hands.” + </p> + <p> + John Jago instantly held out his hand, with an assumption of good feeling + which was a little overacted, to my thinking. Silas Meadowcroft made no + advance of the same friendly sort on his side. + </p> + <p> + “Let him go about his business,” said Silas. “I won’t waste any more words + on him, Mr. Lefrank, to please <i>you</i>. But (saving your presence) I’m + d—d if I take his hand!” + </p> + <p> + Further persuasion was plainly useless, addressed to such a man as this. + Silas gave me no further opportunity of remonstrating with him, even if I + had been inclined to do so. He turned about in sulky silence, and, + retracing his steps along the path, disappeared round the corner of the + house. The laborers withdrew next, in different directions, to begin the + day’s work. John Jago and I were alone. + </p> + <p> + I left it to the man of the wild brown eyes to speak first. + </p> + <p> + “In half an hour’s time, sir,” he said, “I shall be going on business to + Narrabee, our market-town here. Can I take any letters to the post for + you? or is there anything else that I can do in the town?” + </p> + <p> + I thanked him, and declined both proposals. He made me another deferential + bow, and withdrew into the house. I mechanically followed the path in the + direction which Silas had taken before me. + </p> + <p> + Turning the corner of the house, and walking on for a little way, I found + myself at the entrance to the stables, and face to face with Silas + Meadowcroft once more. He had his elbows on the gate of the yard, swinging + it slowly backward and forward, and turning and twisting a straw between + his teeth. When he saw me approaching him, he advanced a step from the + gate, and made an effort to excuse himself, with a very ill grace. + </p> + <p> + “No offense, mister. Ask me what you will besides, and I’ll do it for you. + But don’t ask me to shake hands with John Jago; I hate him too badly for + that. If I touched him with one hand, sir, I tell you this, I should + throttle him with the other.” + </p> + <p> + “That’s your feeling toward the man, Mr. Silas, is it?” + </p> + <p> + “That’s my feeling, Mr. Lefrank; and I’m not ashamed of it either.” + </p> + <p> + “Is there any such place as a church in your neighborhood, Mr. Silas?” + </p> + <p> + “Of course there is.” + </p> + <p> + “And do you ever go to it?” + </p> + <p> + “Of course I do.” + </p> + <p> + “At long intervals, Mr. Silas?” + </p> + <p> + “Every Sunday, sir, without fail.” + </p> + <p> + Some third person behind me burst out laughing; some third person had been + listening to our talk. I turned round, and discovered Ambrose Meadowcroft. + </p> + <p> + “I understand the drift of your catechism, sir, though my brother + doesn’t,” he said. “Don’t be hard on Silas, sir. He isn’t the only + Christian who leaves his Christianity in the pew when he goes out of + church. You will never make us friends with John Jago, try as you may. + Why, what have you got there, Mr. Lefrank? May I die if it isn’t my stick! + I have been looking for it everywhere!” + </p> + <p> + The thick beechen stick had been feeling uncomfortably heavy in my invalid + hand for some time past. There was no sort of need for my keeping it any + longer. John Jago was going away to Narrabee, and Silas Meadowcroft’s + savage temper was subdued to a sulky repose. I handed the stick back to + Ambrose. He laughed as he took it from me. + </p> + <p> + “You can’t think how strange it feels, Mr. Lefrank, to be out without + one’s stick,” he said. “A man gets used to his stick, sir; doesn’t he? Are + you ready for your breakfast?” + </p> + <p> + “Not just yet. I thought of taking a little walk first.” + </p> + <p> + “All right, sir. I wish I could go with you; but I have got my work to do + this morning, and Silas has his work too. If you go back by the way you + came, you will find yourself in the garden. If you want to go further, the + wicket-gate at the end will lead you into the lane.” + </p> + <p> + Through sheer thoughtlessness, I did a very foolish thing. I turned back + as I was told, and left the brothers together at the gate of the + stable-yard. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V. THE NEWS FROM NARRABEE. + </h2> + <p> + ARRIVED at the garden, a thought struck me. The cheerful speech and easy + manner of Ambrose plainly indicated that he was ignorant thus far of the + quarrel which had taken place under my window. Silas might confess to + having taken his brother’s stick, and might mention whose head he had + threatened with it. It was not only useless, but undesirable, that Ambrose + should know of the quarrel. I retraced my steps to the stable-yard. Nobody + was at the gate. I called alternately to Silas and to Ambrose. Nobody + answered. The brothers had gone away to their work. + </p> + <p> + Returning to the garden, I heard a pleasant voice wishing me + “Good-morning.” I looked round. Naomi Colebrook was standing at one of the + lower windows of the farm. She had her working apron on, and she was + industriously brightening the knives for the breakfast-table on an + old-fashioned board. A sleek black cat balanced himself on her shoulder, + watching the flashing motion of the knife as she passed it rapidly to and + fro on the leather-covered surface of the board. + </p> + <p> + “Come here,” she said; “I want to speak to you.” + </p> + <p> + I noticed, as I approached, that her pretty face was clouded and anxious. + She pushed the cat irritably off her shoulder; she welcomed me with only + the faint reflection of her bright customary smile. + </p> + <p> + “I have seen John Jago,” she said. “He has been hinting at something which + he says happened under your bedroom window this morning. When I begged him + to explain himself, he only answered, ‘Ask Mr. Lefrank; I must be off to + Narrabee.’ What does it mean? Tell me right away, sir! I’m out of temper, + and I can’t wait!” + </p> + <p> + Except that I made the best instead of the worst of it, I told her what + had happened under my window as plainly as I have told it here. She put + down the knife that she was cleaning, and folded her hands before her, + thinking. + </p> + <p> + “I wish I had never given John Jago that meeting,” she said. “When a man + asks anything of a woman, the woman, I find, mostly repents it if she says + ‘Yes.’” + </p> + <p> + She made that quaint reflection with a very troubled brow. The moonlight + meeting had left some unwelcome remembrances in her mind. I saw that as + plainly as I saw Naomi herself. + </p> + <p> + What had John Jago said to her? I put the question with all needful + delicacy, making my apologies beforehand. + </p> + <p> + “I should like to tell <i>you</i>,” she began, with a strong emphasis on + the last word. + </p> + <p> + There she stopped. She turned pale; then suddenly flushed again to the + deepest red. She took up the knife once more, and went on cleaning it as + industriously as ever. + </p> + <p> + “I mustn’t tell you,” she resumed, with her head down over the knife. “I + have promised not to tell anybody. That’s the truth. Forget all about it, + sir, as soon as you can. Hush! here’s the spy who saw us last night on the + walk and who told Silas!” + </p> + <p> + Dreary Miss Meadowcroft opened the kitchen door. She carried an + ostentatiously large Prayer-Book; and she looked at Naomi as only a + jealous woman of middle age <i>can</i> look at a younger and prettier + woman than herself. + </p> + <p> + “Prayers, Miss Colebrook,” she said in her sourest manner. She paused, and + noticed me standing under the window. “Prayers, Mr. Lefrank,” she added, + with a look of devout pity, directed exclusively to my address. + </p> + <p> + “We will follow you directly, Miss Meadowcroft,” said Naomi. + </p> + <p> + “I have no desire to intrude on your secrets, Miss Colebrook.” + </p> + <p> + With that acrid answer, our priestess took herself and her Prayer-Book out + of the kitchen. I joined Naomi, entering the room by the garden door. She + met me eagerly. “I am not quite easy about something,” she said. “Did you + tell me that you left Ambrose and Silas together?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “Suppose Silas tells Ambrose of what happened this morning?” + </p> + <p> + The same idea, as I have already mentioned, had occurred to my mind. I did + my best to reassure Naomi. + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Jago is out of the way,” I replied. “You and I can easily put things + right in his absence.” + </p> + <p> + She took my arm. + </p> + <p> + “Come in to prayers,” she said. “Ambrose will be there, and I shall find + an opportunity of speaking to him.” + </p> + <p> + Neither Ambrose nor Silas was in the breakfast-room when we entered it. + After waiting vainly for ten minutes, Mr. Meadowcroft told his daughter to + read the prayers. Miss Meadowcroft read, thereupon, in the tone of an + injured woman taking the throne of mercy by storm, and insisting on her + rights. Breakfast followed; and still the brothers were absent. Miss + Meadowcroft looked at her father, and said, “From bad to worse, sir. What + did I tell you?” Naomi instantly applied the antidote: “The boys are no + doubt detained over their work, uncle.” She turned to me. “You want to see + the farm, Mr. Lefrank. Come and help me to find the boys.” + </p> + <p> + For more than an hour we visited one part of the farm after another, + without discovering the missing men. We found them at last near the + outskirts of a small wood, sitting, talking together, on the trunk of a + felled tree. + </p> + <p> + Silas rose as we approached, and walked away, without a word of greeting + or apology, into the wood. As he got on his feet, I noticed that his + brother whispered something in his ear; and I heard him answer, “All + right.” + </p> + <p> + “Ambrose, does that mean you have something to keep a secret from us?” + asked Naomi, approaching her lover with a smile. “Is Silas ordered to hold + his tongue?” + </p> + <p> + Ambrose kicked sulkily at the loose stones lying about him. I noticed, + with a certain surprise that his favorite stick was not in his hand, and + was not lying near him. + </p> + <p> + “Business,” he said in answer to Naomi, not very graciously—“business + between Silas and me. That’s what it means, if you must know.” + </p> + <p> + Naomi went on, woman-like, with her questioning, heedless of the reception + which they might meet with from an irritated man. + </p> + <p> + “Why were you both away at prayers and breakfast-time?” she asked next. + </p> + <p> + “We had too much to do,” Ambrose gruffly replied, “and we were too far + from the house.” + </p> + <p> + “Very odd,” said Naomi. “This has never happened before since I have been + at the farm.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, live and learn. It has happened now.” + </p> + <p> + The tone in which he spoke would have warned any man to let him alone. But + warnings which speak by implication only are thrown away on women. The + woman, having still something in her mind to say, said it. + </p> + <p> + “Have you seen anything of John Jago this morning?” + </p> + <p> + The smoldering ill-temper of Ambrose burst suddenly—why, it was + impossible to guess—into a flame. “How many more questions am I to + answer?” he broke out violently. “Are you the parson putting me through my + catechism? I have seen nothing of John Jago, and I have got my work to go + on with. Will that do for you?” + </p> + <p> + He turned with an oath, and followed his brother into the wood. Naomi’s + bright eyes looked up at me, flashing with indignation. + </p> + <p> + “What does he mean, Mr. Lefrank, by speaking to me in that way? Rude + brute! How dare he do it?” She paused; her voice, look and manner suddenly + changed. “This has never happened before, sir. Has anything gone wrong? I + declare, I shouldn’t know Ambrose again, he is so changed. Say, how does + it strike you?” + </p> + <p> + I still made the best of a bad case. + </p> + <p> + “Something has upset his temper,” I said. “The merest trifle, Miss + Colebrook, upsets a man’s temper sometimes. I speak as a man, and I know + it. Give him time, and he will make his excuses, and all will be well + again.” + </p> + <p> + My presentation of the case entirely failed to re-assure my pretty + companion. We went back to the house. Dinner-time came, and the brothers + appeared. Their father spoke to them of their absence from morning prayers + with needless severity, as I thought. They resented the reproof with + needless indignation on their side, and left the room. A sour smile of + satisfaction showed itself on Miss Meadowcroft’s thin lips. She looked at + her father; then raised her eyes sadly to the ceiling, and said, “We can + only pray for them, sir.” + </p> + <p> + Naomi disappeared after dinner. When I saw her again, she had some news + for me. + </p> + <p> + “I have been with Ambrose,” she said, “and he has begged my pardon. We + have made it up, Mr. Lefrank. Still—still—” + </p> + <p> + “Still—<i>what</i>, Miss Naomi?” + </p> + <p> + “He is not like himself, sir. He denies it; but I can’t help thinking he + is hiding something from me.” + </p> + <p> + The day wore on; the evening came. I returned to my French novel. But not + even Dumas himself could keep my attention to the story. What else I was + thinking of I cannot say. Why I was out of spirits I am unable to explain. + I wished myself back in England: I took a blind, unreasoning hatred to + Morwick Farm. + </p> + <p> + Nine o’clock struck; and we all assembled again at supper, with the + exception of John Jago. He was expected back to supper; and we waited for + him a quarter of an hour, by Mr. Meadowcroft’s own directions. John Jago + never appeared. + </p> + <p> + The night wore on, and still the absent man failed to return. Miss + Meadowcroft volunteered to sit up for him. Naomi eyed her, a little + maliciously I must own, as the two women parted for the night. I withdrew + to my room; and again I was unable to sleep. When sunrise came, I went + out, as before, to breathe the morning air. + </p> + <p> + On the staircase I met Miss Meadowcroft ascending to her own room. Not a + curl of her stiff gray hair was disarranged; nothing about the + impenetrable woman betrayed that she had been watching through the night. + </p> + <p> + “Has Mr. Jago not returned?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + Miss Meadowcroft slowly shook her head, and frowned at me. + </p> + <p> + “We are in the hands of Providence, Mr. Lefrank. Mr. Jago must have been + detained for the night at Narrabee.” + </p> + <p> + The daily routine of the meals resumed its unalterable course. + Breakfast-time came, and dinner-time came, and no John Jago darkened the + doors of Morwick Farm. Mr. Meadowcroft and his daughter consulted + together, and determined to send in search of the missing man. One of the + more intelligent of the laborers was dispatched to Narrabee to make + inquiries. + </p> + <p> + The man returned late in the evening, bringing startling news to the farm. + He had visited all the inns, and all the places of business resort in + Narrabee; he had made endless inquiries in every direction, with this + result—no one had set eyes on John Jago. Everybody declared that + John Jago had not entered the town. + </p> + <p> + We all looked at each other, excepting the two brothers, who were seated + together in a dark corner of the room. The conclusion appeared to be + inevitable. John Jago was a lost man. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI. THE LIME-KILN. + </h2> + <p> + MR. MEADOWCROFT was the first to speak. “Somebody must find John,” he + said. + </p> + <p> + “Without losing a moment,” added his daughter. + </p> + <p> + Ambrose suddenly stepped out of the dark corner of the room. + </p> + <p> + “<i>I</i> will inquire,” he said. + </p> + <p> + Silas followed him. + </p> + <p> + “I will go with you,” he added. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Meadowcroft interposed his authority. + </p> + <p> + “One of you will be enough; for the present, at least. Go you, Ambrose. + Your brother may be wanted later. If any accident has happened (which God + forbid!) we may have to inquire in more than one direction. Silas, you + will stay at the farm.” + </p> + <p> + The brothers withdrew together; Ambrose to prepare for his journey, Silas + to saddle one of the horses for him. Naomi slipped out after them. Left in + company with Mr. Meadowcroft and his daughter (both devoured by anxiety + about the missing man, and both trying to conceal it under an assumption + of devout resignation to circumstances), I need hardly add that I, too, + retired, as soon as it was politely possible for me to leave the room. + Ascending the stairs on my way to my own quarters, I discovered Naomi half + hidden by the recess formed by an old-fashioned window-seat on the first + landing. My bright little friend was in sore trouble. Her apron was over + her face, and she was crying bitterly. Ambrose had not taken his leave as + tenderly as usual. She was more firmly persuaded than ever that “Ambrose + was hiding something from her.” We all waited anxiously for the next day. + The next day made the mystery deeper than ever. + </p> + <p> + The horse which had taken Ambrose to Narrabee was ridden back to the farm + by a groom from the hotel. He delivered a written message from Ambrose + which startled us. Further inquiries had positively proved that the + missing man had never been near Narrabee. The only attainable tidings of + his whereabouts were tidings derived from vague report. It was said that a + man like John Jago had been seen the previous day in a railway car, + traveling on the line to New York. Acting on this imperfect information, + Ambrose had decided on verifying the truth of the report by extending his + inquiries to New York. + </p> + <p> + This extraordinary proceeding forced the suspicion on me that something + had really gone wrong. I kept my doubts to myself; but I was prepared, + from that moment, to see the disappearance of John Jago followed by very + grave results. + </p> + <p> + The same day the results declared themselves. + </p> + <p> + Time enough had now elapsed for report to spread through the district the + news of what had happened at the farm. Already aware of the bad feeling + existing between the men, the neighbors had been now informed (no doubt by + the laborers present) of the deplorable scene that had taken place under + my bedroom window. Public opinion declares itself in America without the + slightest reserve, or the slightest care for consequences. Public opinion + declared on this occasion that the lost man was the victim of foul play, + and held one or both of the brothers Meadowcroft responsible for his + disappearance. Later in the day, the reasonableness of this serious view + of the case was confirmed in the popular mind by a startling discovery. It + was announced that a Methodist preacher lately settled at Morwick, and + greatly respected throughout the district, had dreamed of John Jago in the + character of a murdered man, whose bones were hidden at Morwick Farm. + Before night the cry was general for a verification of the preacher’s + dream. Not only in the immediate district, but in the town of Narrabee + itself, the public voice insisted on the necessity of a search for the + mortal remains of John Jago at Morwick Farm. + </p> + <p> + In the terrible turn which matters had now taken, Mr. Meadowcroft the + elder displayed a spirit and an energy for which I was not prepared. + </p> + <p> + “My sons have their faults,” he said, “serious faults; and nobody knows it + better than I do. My sons have behaved badly and ungratefully toward John + Jago; I don’t deny that, either. But Ambrose and Silas are not murderers. + Make your search! I ask for it; no, I insist on it, after what has been + said, in justice to my family and my name!” + </p> + <p> + The neighbors took him at his word. The Morwick section of the American + nation organized itself on the spot. The sovereign people met in + committee, made speeches, elected competent persons to represent the + public interests, and began the search the next day. The whole proceeding, + ridiculously informal from a legal point of view, was carried on by these + extraordinary people with as stern and strict a sense of duty as if it had + been sanctioned by the highest tribunal in the land. + </p> + <p> + Naomi met the calamity that had fallen on the household as resolutely as + her uncle himself. The girl’s courage rose with the call which was made on + it. Her one anxiety was for Ambrose. + </p> + <p> + “He ought to be here,” she said to me. “The wretches in this neighborhood + are wicked enough to say that his absence is a confession of his guilt.” + </p> + <p> + She was right. In the present temper of the popular mind, the absence of + Ambrose was a suspicious circumstance in itself. + </p> + <p> + “We might telegraph to New York,” I suggested, “if you only knew where a + message would be likely to find him.” + </p> + <p> + “I know the hotel which the Meadowcrofts use at New York,” she replied. “I + was sent there, after my father’s death, to wait till Miss Meadowcroft + could take me to Morwick.” + </p> + <p> + We decided on telegraphing to the hotel. I was writing the message, and + Naomi was looking over my shoulder, when we were startled by a strange + voice speaking close behind us. + </p> + <p> + “Oh! that’s his address, is it?” said the voice. “We wanted his address + rather badly.” + </p> + <p> + The speaker was a stranger to me. Naomi recognized him as one of the + neighbors. + </p> + <p> + “What do you want his address for?” she asked, sharply. + </p> + <p> + “I guess we’ve found the mortal remains of John Jago, miss,” the man + replied. “We have got Silas already, and we want Ambrose too, on suspicion + of murder.” + </p> + <p> + “It’s a lie!” cried Naomi, furiously—“a wicked lie!” + </p> + <p> + The man turned to me. + </p> + <p> + “Take her into the next room, mister,” he said, “and let her see for + herself.” + </p> + <p> + We went together into the next room. + </p> + <p> + In one corner, sitting by her father, and holding his hand, we saw stern + and stony Miss Meadowcroft weeping silently. Opposite to them, crouched on + the window-seat, his eyes wandering, his hands hanging helpless, we next + discovered Silas Meadowcroft, plainly self-betrayed as a panic-stricken + man. A few of the persons who had been engaged in the search were seated + near, watching him. The mass of the strangers present stood congregated + round a table in the middle of the room They drew aside as I approached + with Naomi and allowed us to have a clear view of certain objects placed + on the table. + </p> + <p> + The center object of the collection was a little heap of charred bones. + Round this were ranged a knife, two metal buttons, and a stick partially + burned. The knife was recognized by the laborers as the weapon John Jago + habitually carried about with him—the weapon with which he had + wounded Silas Meadowcroft’s hand. The buttons Naomi herself declared to + have a peculiar pattern on them, which had formerly attracted her + attention to John Jago’s coat. As for the stick, burned as it was, I had + no difficulty in identifying the quaintly-carved knob at the top. It was + the heavy beechen stick which I had snatched out of Silas’s hand, and + which I had restored to Ambrose on his claiming it as his own. In reply to + my inquiries, I was informed that the bones, the knife, the buttons and + the stick had all been found together in a lime-kiln then in use on the + farm. + </p> + <p> + “Is it serious?” Naomi whispered to me as we drew back from the table. + </p> + <p> + It would have been sheer cruelty to deceive her now. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” I whispered back; “it is serious.” + </p> + <p> + The search committee conducted its proceedings with the strictest + regularity. The proper applications were made forthwith to a justice of + the peace, and the justice issued his warrant. That night Silas was + committed to prison; and an officer was dispatched to arrest Ambrose in + New York. + </p> + <p> + For my part, I did the little I could to make myself useful. With the + silent sanction of Mr. Meadowcroft and his daughter, I went to Narrabee, + and secured the best legal assistance for the defense which the town could + place at my disposal. This done, there was no choice but to wait for news + of Ambrose, and for the examination before the magistrate which was to + follow. I shall pass over the misery in the house during the interval of + expectation; no useful purpose could be served by describing it now. Let + me only say that Naomi’s conduct strengthened me in the conviction that + she possessed a noble nature. I was unconscious of the state of my own + feelings at the time; but I am now disposed to think that this was the + epoch at which I began to envy Ambrose the wife whom he had won. + </p> + <p> + The telegraph brought us our first news of Ambrose. He had been arrested + at the hotel, and he was on his way to Morwick. The next day he arrived, + and followed his brother to prison. The two were confined in separate + cells, and were forbidden all communication with each other. + </p> + <p> + Two days later, the preliminary examination took place. Ambrose and Silas + Meadowcroft were charged before the magistrate with the willful murder of + John Jago. I was cited to appear as one of the witnesses; and, at Naomi’s + own request, I took the poor girl into court, and sat by her during the + proceedings. My host also was present in his invalid-chair, with his + daughter by his side. + </p> + <p> + Such was the result of my voyage across the ocean in search of rest and + quiet; and thus did time and chance fulfill my first hasty foreboding of + the dull life I was to lead at Morwick Farm! + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VII. THE MATERIALS IN THE DEFENSE. + </h2> + <p> + ON our way to the chairs allotted to us in the magistrate’s court, we + passed the platform on which the prisoners were standing together. + </p> + <p> + Silas took no notice of us. Ambrose made a friendly sign of recognition, + and then rested his hand on the “bar” in front of him. As she passed + beneath him, Naomi was just tall enough to reach his hand on tiptoe. She + took it. “I know you are innocent,” she whispered, and gave him one look + of loving encouragement as she followed me to her place. Ambrose never + lost his self-control. I may have been wrong; but I thought this a bad + sign. + </p> + <p> + The case, as stated for the prosecution, told strongly against the + suspected men. + </p> + <p> + Ambrose and Silas Meadowcroft were charged with the murder of John Jago + (by means of the stick or by use of some other weapon), and with the + deliberate destruction of the body by throwing it into the quicklime. In + proof of this latter assertion, the knife which the deceased habitually + carried about him, and the metal buttons which were known to belong to his + coat, were produced. It was argued that these indestructible substances, + and some fragments of the larger bones had alone escaped the action of the + burning lime. Having produced medical witnesses to support this theory by + declaring the bones to be human, and having thus circumstantially asserted + the discovery of the remains in the kiln, the prosecution next proceeded + to prove that the missing man had been murdered by the two brothers, and + had been by them thrown into the quicklime as a means of concealing their + guilt. + </p> + <p> + Witness after witness deposed to the inveterate enmity against the + deceased displayed by Ambrose and Silas. The threatening language they + habitually used toward him; their violent quarrels with him, which had + become a public scandal throughout the neighborhood, and which had ended + (on one occasion at least) in a blow; the disgraceful scene which had + taken place under my window; and the restoration to Ambrose, on the + morning of the fatal quarrel, of the very stick which had been found among + the remains of the dead man—these facts and events, and a host of + minor circumstances besides, sworn to by witnesses whose credit was + unimpeachable, pointed with terrible directness to the conclusion at which + the prosecution had arrived. + </p> + <p> + I looked at the brothers as the weight of the evidence pressed more and + more heavily against them. To outward view at least, Ambrose still + maintained his self-possession. It was far otherwise with Silas. Abject + terror showed itself in his ghastly face; in his great knotty hands, + clinging convulsively to the bar at which he stood; in his staring eyes, + fixed in vacant horror on each witness who appeared. Public feeling judged + him on the spot. There he stood, self-betrayed already, in the popular + opinion, as a guilty man! + </p> + <p> + The one point gained in cross-examination by the defense related to the + charred bones. + </p> + <p> + Pressed on this point, a majority of the medical witnesses admitted that + their examination had been a hurried one; and that it was just possible + that the bones might yet prove to be the remains of an animal, and not of + a man. The presiding magistrate decided upon this that a second + examination should be made, and that the member of the medical experts + should be increased. + </p> + <p> + Here the preliminary proceedings ended. The prisoners were remanded for + three days. + </p> + <p> + The prostration of Silas, at the close of the inquiry, was so complete, + that it was found necessary to have two men to support him on his leaving + the court. Ambrose leaned over the bar to speak to Naomi before he + followed the jailer out. “Wait,” he whispered, confidently, “till they + hear what I have to say!” Naomi kissed her hand to him affectionately, and + turned to me with the bright tears in her eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Why don’t they hear what he has to say at once?” she asked. “Anybody can + see that Ambrose is innocent. It’s a crying shame, sir, to send him back + to prison. Don’t you think so yourself?” + </p> + <p> + If I had confessed what I really thought, I should have said that Ambrose + had proved nothing to my mind, except that he possessed rare powers of + self-control. It was impossible to acknowledge this to my little friend. I + diverted her mind from the question of her lover’s innocence by proposing + that we should get the necessary order, and visit him in his prison on the + next day. Naomi dried her tears, and gave me a little grateful squeeze of + the hand. + </p> + <p> + “Oh my! what a good fellow you are!” cried the outspoken American girl. + “When your time comes to be married, sir, I guess the woman won’t repent + saying yes to <i>you!</i>” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Meadowcroft preserved unbroken silence as we walked back to the farm + on either side of his invalid-chair. His last reserves of resolution + seemed to have given way under the overwhelming strain laid on them by the + proceedings in court. His daughter, in stern indulgence to Naomi, + mercifully permitted her opinion to glimmer on us only through the medium + of quotation from Scripture texts. If the texts meant anything, they meant + that she had foreseen all that had happened; and that the one sad aspect + of the case, to her mind, was the death of John Jago, unprepared to meet + his end. + </p> + <p> + I obtained the order of admission to the prison the next morning. + </p> + <p> + We found Ambrose still confident of the favorable result, for his brother + and for himself, of the inquiry before the magistrate. He seemed to be + almost as eager to tell, as Naomi was to hear, the true story of what had + happened at the lime-kiln. The authorities of the prison—present, of + course, at the interview—warned him to remember that what he said + might be taken down in writing, and produced against him in court. + </p> + <p> + “Take it down, gentlemen, and welcome,” Ambrose replied. “I have nothing + to fear; I am only telling the truth.” + </p> + <p> + With that he turned to Naomi, and began his narrative, as nearly as I can + remember, in these words: + </p> + <p> + “I may as well make a clean breast of it at starting, my girl. After Mr. + Lefrank left us that morning, I asked Silas how he came by my stick. In + telling me how, Silas also told me of the words that had passed between + him and John Jago under Mr. Lefrank’s window. I was angry and jealous; and + I own it freely, Naomi, I thought the worst that could be thought about + you and John.” + </p> + <p> + Here Naomi stopped him without ceremony. + </p> + <p> + “Was that what made you speak to me as you spoke when we found you at the + wood?” she asked. + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “And was that what made you leave me, when you went away to Narrabee, + without giving me a kiss at parting?” + </p> + <p> + “It was.” + </p> + <p> + “Beg my pardon for it before you say a word more.” + </p> + <p> + “I beg your pardon.” + </p> + <p> + “Say you are ashamed of yourself.” + </p> + <p> + “I am ashamed of myself,” Ambrose answered penitently. + </p> + <p> + “Now you may go on,” said Naomi. “Now I’m satisfied.” + </p> + <p> + Ambrose went on. + </p> + <p> + “We were on our way to the clearing at the other side of the wood while + Silas was talking to me; and, as ill luck would have it, we took the path + that led by the lime-kiln. Turning the corner, we met John Jago on his way + to Narrabee. I was too angry, I tell you, to let him pass quietly. I gave + him a bit of my mind. His blood was up too, I suppose; and he spoke out, + on his side, as freely as I did. I own I threatened him with the stick; + but I’ll swear to it I meant him no harm. You know—after dressing + Silas’s hand—that John Jago is ready with his knife. He comes from + out West, where they are always ready with one weapon or another handy in + their pockets. It’s likely enough he didn’t mean to harm me, either; but + how could I be sure of that? When he stepped up to me, and showed his + weapon, I dropped the stick, and closed with him. With one hand I wrenched + the knife away from him; and with the other I caught him by the collar of + his rotten old coat, and gave him a shaking that made his bones rattle in + his skin. A big piece of the cloth came away in my hand. I shied it into + the quicklime close by us, and I pitched the knife after the cloth; and, + if Silas hadn’t stopped me, I think it’s likely I might have shied John + Jago himself into the lime next. As it was, Silas kept hold of me. Silas + shouted out to him, ‘Be off with you! and don’t come back again, if you + don’t want to be burned in the kiln!’ He stood looking at us for a minute, + fetching his breath, and holding his torn coat round him. Then he spoke + with a deadly-quiet voice and a deadly-quiet look: ‘Many a true word, Mr. + Silas,’ he says, ‘is spoken in jest. <i>I shall not come back again</i>.’ + He turned about, and left us. We stood staring at each other like a couple + of fools. ‘You don’t think he means it?’ I says. ‘Bosh!’ says Silas. ‘He’s + too sweet on Naomi not to come back.’ What’s the matter now, Naomi?” + </p> + <p> + I had noticed it too. She started and turned pale, when Ambrose repeated + to her what Silas had said to him. + </p> + <p> + “Nothing is the matter,” Naomi answered. “Your brother has no right to + take liberties with my name. Go on. Did Silas say any more while he was + about it?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; he looked into the kiln; and he says, ‘What made you throw away the + knife, Ambrose?’—‘How does a man know why he does anything,’ I says, + ‘when he does it in a passion?’—‘It’s a ripping good knife,’ says + Silas; ‘in your place, I should have kept it.’ I picked up the stick off + the ground. ‘Who says I’ve lost it yet?’ I answered him; and with that I + got up on the side of the kiln, and began sounding for the knife, to bring + it, you know, by means of the stick, within easy reach of a shovel, or + some such thing. ‘Give us your hand,’ I says to Silas. ‘Let me stretch out + a bit and I’ll have it in no time.’ Instead of finding the knife, I came + nigh to falling myself into the burning lime. The vapor overpowered me, I + suppose. All I know is, I turned giddy, and dropped the stick in the kiln. + I should have followed the stick to a dead certainty, but for Silas + pulling me back by the hand. ‘Let it be,’ says Silas. ‘If I hadn’t had + hold of you, John Jago’s knife would have been the death of you, after + all!’ He led me away by the arm, and we went on together on the road to + the wood. We stopped where you found us, and sat down on the felled tree. + We had a little more talk about John Jago. It ended in our agreeing to + wait and see what happened, and to keep our own counsel in the meantime. + You and Mr. Lefrank came upon us, Naomi, while we were still talking; and + you guessed right when you guessed that we had a secret from you. You know + the secret now.” + </p> + <p> + There he stopped. I put a question to him—the first that I had asked + yet. + </p> + <p> + “Had you or your brother any fear at that time of the charge which has + since been brought against you?” I said. + </p> + <p> + “No such thought entered our heads, sir,” Ambrose answered. “How could <i>we</i> + foresee that the neighbors would search the kiln, and say what they have + said of us? All we feared was, that the old man might hear of the quarrel, + and be bitterer against us than ever. I was the more anxious of the two to + keep things secret, because I had Naomi to consider as well as the old + man. Put yourself in my place, and you will own, sir, that the prospect at + home was not a pleasant one for <i>me</i>, if John Jago really kept away + from the farm, and if it came out that it was all my doing.” + </p> + <p> + (This was certainly an explanation of his conduct; but it was not + satisfactory to my mind.) + </p> + <p> + “As <i>you</i> believe, then,” I went on, “John Jago has carried out his + threat of not returning to the farm? According to you, he is now alive, + and in hiding somewhere?” + </p> + <p> + “Certainly!” said Ambrose. + </p> + <p> + “Certainly!” repeated Naomi. + </p> + <p> + “Do you believe the report that he was seen traveling on the railway to + New York?” + </p> + <p> + “I believe it firmly, sir; and, what is more, I believe I was on his + track. I was only too anxious to find him; and I say I could have found + him if they would have let me stay in New York.” + </p> + <p> + I looked at Naomi. + </p> + <p> + “I believe it too,” she said. “John Jago is keeping away.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you suppose he is afraid of Ambrose and Silas?” + </p> + <p> + She hesitated. + </p> + <p> + “He <i>may</i> be afraid of them,” she replied, with a strong emphasis on + the word “may.” + </p> + <p> + “But you don’t think it likely?” + </p> + <p> + She hesitated again. I pressed her again. + </p> + <p> + “Do you think there is any other motive for his absence?” + </p> + <p> + Her eyes dropped to the floor. She answered obstinately, almost doggedly, + </p> + <p> + “I can’t say.” + </p> + <p> + I addressed myself to Ambrose. + </p> + <p> + “Have you anything more to tell us?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “No,” he said. “I have told you all I know about it.” + </p> + <p> + I rose to speak to the lawyer whose services I had retained. He had helped + us to get the order of admission, and he had accompanied us to the prison. + Seated apart he had kept silence throughout, attentively watching the + effect of Ambrose Meadowcroft’s narrative on the officers of the prison + and on me. + </p> + <p> + “Is this the defense?” I inquired, in a whisper. + </p> + <p> + “This is the defense, Mr. Lefrank. What do you think, between ourselves?” + </p> + <p> + “Between ourselves, I think the magistrate will commit them for trial.” + </p> + <p> + “On the charge of murder?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, on the charge of murder.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VIII. THE CONFESSION. + </h2> + <p> + MY replies to the lawyer accurately expressed the conviction in my mind. + The narrative related by Ambrose had all the appearance, in my eyes, of a + fabricated story, got up, and clumsily got up, to pervert the plain + meaning of the circumstantial evidence produced by the prosecution. I + reached this conclusion reluctantly and regretfully, for Naomi’s sake. I + said all I could say to shake the absolute confidence which she felt in + the discharge of the prisoners at the next examination. + </p> + <p> + The day of the adjourned inquiry arrived. + </p> + <p> + Naomi and I again attended the court together. Mr. Meadowcroft was unable, + on this occasion, to leave the house. His daughter was present, walking to + the court by herself, and occupying a seat by herself. + </p> + <p> + On his second appearance at the “bar,” Silas was more composed, and more + like his brother. No new witnesses were called by the prosecution. We + began the battle over the medical evidence relating to the charred bones; + and, to some extent, we won the victory. In other words, we forced the + doctors to acknowledge that they differed widely in their opinions. Three + confessed that they were not certain. Two went still further, and declared + that the bones were the bones of an animal, not of a man. We made the most + of this; and then we entered upon the defense, founded on Ambrose + Meadowcroft’s story. + </p> + <p> + Necessarily, no witnesses could be called on our side. Whether this + circumstance discouraged him, or whether he privately shared my opinion of + his client’s statement, I cannot say. It is only certain that the lawyer + spoke mechanically, doing his best, no doubt, but doing it without genuine + conviction or earnestness on his own part. Naomi cast an anxious glance at + me as he sat down. The girl’s hand, as I took it, turned cold in mine. She + saw plain signs of the failure of the defense in the look and manner of + the counsel for the prosecution; but she waited resolutely until the + presiding magistrate announced his decision. I had only too clearly + foreseen what he would feel it to be his duty to do. Naomi’s head dropped + on my shoulder as he said the terrible words which committed Ambrose and + Silas Meadowcroft to take their trial on the charge of murder. + </p> + <p> + I led her out of the court into the air. As I passed the “bar,” I saw + Ambrose, deadly pale, looking after us as we left him: the magistrate’s + decision had evidently daunted him. His brother Silas had dropped in + abject terror on the jailer’s chair; the miserable wretch shook and + shuddered dumbly, like a cowed dog. + </p> + <p> + Miss Meadowcroft returned with us to the farm, preserving unbroken silence + on the way back. I could detect nothing in her bearing which suggested any + compassionate feeling for the prisoners in her stern and secret nature. On + Naomi’s withdrawal to her own room, we were left together for a few + minutes; and then, to my astonishment, the outwardly merciless woman + showed me that she, too, was one of Eve’s daughters, and could feel and + suffer, in her own hard way, like the rest of us. She suddenly stepped + close up to me, and laid her hand on my arm. + </p> + <p> + “You are a lawyer, ain’t you?” she asked. + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “Have you had any experience in your profession?” + </p> + <p> + “Ten years’ experience.” + </p> + <p> + “Do <i>you</i> think—” She stopped abruptly; her hard face softened; + her eyes dropped to the ground. “Never mind,” she said, confusedly. “I’m + upset by all this misery, though I may not look like it. Don’t notice me.” + </p> + <p> + She turned away. I waited, in the firm persuasion that the unspoken + question in her mind would sooner or later force its way to utterance by + her lips. I was right. She came back to me unwillingly, like a woman + acting under some influence which the utmost exertion of her will was + powerless to resist. + </p> + <p> + “Do <i>you</i> believe John Jago is still a living man?” + </p> + <p> + She put the question vehemently, desperately, as if the words rushed out + of her mouth in spite of her. + </p> + <p> + “I do <i>not</i> believe it,” I answered. + </p> + <p> + “Remember what John Jago has suffered at the hands of my brothers,” she + persisted. “Is it not in your experience that he should take a sudden + resolution to leave the farm?” + </p> + <p> + I replied, as plainly as before, + </p> + <p> + “It is <i>not</i> in my experience.” + </p> + <p> + She stood looking at me for a moment with a face of blank despair; then + bowed her gray head in silence, and left me. As she crossed the room to + the door, I saw her look upward; and I heard her say to herself softly, + between her teeth, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.” + </p> + <p> + It was the requiem of John Jago, pronounced by the woman who loved him. + </p> + <p> + When I next saw her, her mask was on once more. Miss Meadowcroft was + herself again. Miss Meadowcroft could sit by, impenetrably calm, while the + lawyers discussed the terrible position of her brothers, with the scaffold + in view as one of the possibilities of the “case.” + </p> + <p> + Left by myself, I began to feel uneasy about Naomi. I went upstairs, and, + knocking softly at her door, made my inquiries from outside. The clear + young voice answered me sadly, “I am trying to bear it: I won’t distress + you when we meet again.” I descended the stairs, feeling my first + suspicion of the true nature of my interest in the American girl. Why had + her answer brought the tears into my eyes? I went out, walking alone, to + think undisturbedly. Why did the tones of her voice dwell on my ear all + the way? Why did my hand still feel the last cold, faint pressure of her + fingers when I led her out of court? + </p> + <p> + I took a sudden resolution to go back to England. + </p> + <p> + When I returned to the farm, it was evening. The lamp was not yet lighted + in the hall. Pausing to accustom my eyes to the obscurity indoors, I heard + the voice of the lawyer whom we had employed for the defense speaking to + some one very earnestly. + </p> + <p> + “I’m not to blame,” said the voice. “She snatched the paper out of my hand + before I was aware of her.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you want it back?” asked the voice of Miss Meadowcroft. + </p> + <p> + “No; it’s only a copy. If keeping it will help to quiet her, let her keep + it by all means. Good evening.” + </p> + <p> + Saying these last words, the lawyer approached me on his way out of the + house. I stopped him without ceremony; I felt an ungovernable curiosity to + know more. + </p> + <p> + “Who snatched the paper out of your hand?” I asked, bluntly. + </p> + <p> + The lawyer started. I had taken him by surprise. The instinct of + professional reticence made him pause before he answered me. + </p> + <p> + In the brief interval of silence, Miss Meadowcroft replied to my question + from the other end of the hall. + </p> + <p> + “Naomi Colebrook snatched the paper out of his hand.” + </p> + <p> + “What paper?” + </p> + <p> + A door opened softly behind me. Naomi herself appeared on the threshold; + Naomi herself answered my question. + </p> + <p> + “I will tell you,” she whispered. “Come in here.” + </p> + <p> + One candle only was burning in the room. I looked at her by the dim light. + My resolution to return to England instantly became one of the lost ideas + of my life. + </p> + <p> + “Good God!” I exclaimed, “what has happened now?” + </p> + <p> + She handed me the paper which she had taken from the lawyer’s hand. + </p> + <p> + The “copy” to which he had referred was a copy of the written confession + of Silas Meadowcroft on his return to prison. He accused his brother + Ambrose of the murder of John Jago. He declared on his oath that he had + seen his brother Ambrose commit the crime. + </p> + <p> + In the popular phrase, I could “hardly believe my own eyes.” I read the + last sentences of the confession for the second time: + </p> + <p> + “...I heard their voices at the lime-kiln. They were having words about + Cousin Naomi. I ran to the place to part them. I was not in time. I saw + Ambrose strike the deceased a terrible blow on the head with his + (Ambrose’s) heavy stick. The deceased dropped without a cry. I put my hand + on his heart. He was dead. I was horribly frightened. Ambrose threatened + to kill <i>me</i> next if I said a word to any living soul. He took up the + body and cast it into the quicklime, and threw the stick in after it. We + went on together to the wood. We sat down on a felled tree outside the + wood. Ambrose made up the story that we were to tell if what he had done + was found out. He made me repeat it after him, like a lesson. We were + still at it when Cousin Naomi and Mr. Lefrank came up to us. They know the + rest. This, on my oath, is a true confession. I make it of my own + free-will, repenting me sincerely that I did not make it before.” + </p> + <p> + (Signed) + </p> + <p> + “SILAS MEADOWCROFT.” + </p> + <p> + I laid down the paper, and looked at Naomi once more. She spoke to me with + a strange composure. Immovable determination was in her eye; immovable + determination was in her voice. + </p> + <p> + “Silas has lied away his brother’s life to save himself,” she said. “I see + cowardly falsehood and cowardly cruelty in every line on that paper. + Ambrose is innocent, and the time has come to prove it.” + </p> + <p> + “You forget,” I said, “that we have just failed to prove it.” + </p> + <p> + “John Jago is alive, in hiding from us and from all who know him,” she + went on. “Help me, friend Lefrank, to advertise for him in the + newspapers.” + </p> + <p> + I drew back from her in speechless distress. I own I believed that the new + misery which had fallen on her had affected her brain. + </p> + <p> + “You don’t believe it,” she said. “Shut the door.” + </p> + <p> + I obeyed her. She seated herself, and pointed to a chair near her. + </p> + <p> + “Sit down,” she proceeded. “I am going to do a wrong thing; but there is + no help for it. I am going to break a sacred promise. You remember that + moonlight night when I met him on the garden walk?” + </p> + <p> + “John Jago?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. Now listen. I am going to tell you what passed between John Jago and + me.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IX. THE ADVERTISEMENT. + </h2> + <p> + I WAITED in silence for the disclosure that was now to come. Naomi began + by asking me a question. + </p> + <p> + “You remember when we went to see Ambrose in the prison?” she said. + </p> + <p> + “Perfectly.” + </p> + <p> + “Ambrose told us of something which his villain of a brother said of John + Jago and me. Do you remember what it was?” + </p> + <p> + I remembered perfectly. Silas had said, “John Jago is too sweet on Naomi + not to come back.” + </p> + <p> + “That’s so,” Naomi remarked when I had repeated the words. “I couldn’t + help starting when I heard what Silas had said; and I thought you noticed + me.” + </p> + <p> + “I did notice you.” + </p> + <p> + “Did you wonder what it meant?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “I’ll tell you. It meant this: What Silas Meadowcroft said to his brother + of John Jago was what I myself was thinking of John Jago at that very + moment. It startled me to find my own thought in a man’s mind spoken for + me by a man. I am the person, sir, who has driven John Jago away from + Morwick Farm; and I am the person who can and will bring him back again.” + </p> + <p> + There was something in her manner, more than in her words, which let the + light in suddenly on my mind. + </p> + <p> + “You have told me the secret,” I said. “John Jago is in love with you.” + </p> + <p> + “Mad about me!” she rejoined, dropping her voice to a whisper. “Stark, + staring mad!—that’s the only word for him. After we had taken a few + turns on the gravel-walk, he suddenly broke out like a man beside himself. + He fell down on his knees; he kissed my gown, he kissed my feet; he sobbed + and cried for love of me. I’m not badly off for courage, sir, considering + I’m a woman. No man, that I can call to mind, ever really scared me + before. But I own John Jago frightened me; oh my! he did frighten me! My + heart was in my mouth, and my knees shook under me. I begged and prayed of + him to get up and go away. No; there he knelt, and held by the skirt of my + gown. The words poured out from him like—well, like nothing I can + think of but water from a pump. His happiness and his life, and his hopes + in earth and heaven, and Lord only knows what besides, all depended, he + said, on a word from me. I plucked up spirit enough at that to remind him + that I was promised to Ambrose. ‘I think you ought to be ashamed of + yourself,’ I said, ‘to own that you’re wicked enough to love me when you + know I am promised to another man!’ When I spoke to him he took a new + turn; he began abusing Ambrose. <i>That</i> straightened me up. I snatched + my gown out of his hand, and I gave him my whole mind. ‘I hate you!’ I + said. ‘Even if I wasn’t promised to Ambrose, I wouldn’t marry you—no! + not if there wasn’t another man left in the world to ask me. I hate you, + Mr. Jago! I hate you!’ He saw I was in earnest at last. He got up from my + feet, and he settled down quiet again, all on a sudden. ‘You have said + enough’ (that was how he answered me). ‘You have broken my life. I have no + hopes and no prospects now. I had a pride in the farm, miss, and a pride + in my work; I bore with your brutish cousins’ hatred of me; I was faithful + to Mr. Meadowcroft’s interests; all for your sake, Naomi Colebrook—all + for your sake! I have done with it now; I have done with my life at the + farm. You will never be troubled with me again. I am going away, as the + dumb creatures go when they are sick, to hide myself in a corner, and die. + Do me one last favor. Don’t make me the laughing-stock of the whole + neighborhood. I can’t bear that; it maddens me only to think of it. Give + me your promise never to tell any living soul what I have said to you + to-night—your sacred promise to the man whose life you have broken!’ + I did as he bade me; I gave him my sacred promise with the tears in my + eyes. Yes, that is so. After telling him I hated him (and I did hate him), + I cried over his misery; I did! Mercy, what fools women are! What is the + horrid perversity, sir, which makes us always ready to pity the men? He + held out his hand to me; and he said, ‘Good-by forever!’ and I pitied him. + I said, ‘I’ll shake hands with you if you will give me your promise in + exchange for mine. I beg of you not to leave the farm. What will my uncle + do if you go away? Stay here, and be friends with me, and forget and + forgive, Mr. John.’ He gave me his promise (he can refuse me nothing); and + he gave it again when I saw him again the next morning. Yes. I’ll do him + justice, though I do hate him! I believe he honestly meant to keep his + word as long as my eye was on him. It was only when he was left to himself + that the Devil tempted him to break his promise and leave the farm. I was + brought up to believe in the Devil, Mr. Lefrank; and I find it explains + many things. It explains John Jago. Only let me find out where he has + gone, and I’ll engage he shall come back and clear Ambrose of the + suspicion which his vile brother has cast on him. Here is the pen all + ready for you. Advertise for him, friend Lefrank; and do it right away, + for my sake!” + </p> + <p> + I let her run on, without attempting to dispute her conclusions, until she + could say no more. When she put the pen into my hand, I began the + composition of the advertisement as obediently as if I, too, believed that + John Jago was a living man. + </p> + <p> + In the case of any one else, I should have openly acknowledged that my own + convictions remained unshaken. If no quarrel had taken place at the + lime-kiln, I should have been quite ready, as I viewed the case, to + believe that John Jago’s disappearance was referable to the terrible + disappointment which Naomi had inflicted on him. The same morbid dread of + ridicule which had led him to assert that he cared nothing for Naomi, when + he and Silas had quarreled under my bedroom window, might also have + impelled him to withdraw himself secretly and suddenly from the scene of + his discomfiture. But to ask me to believe, after what had happened at the + lime-kiln, that he was still living, was to ask me to take Ambrose + Meadowcroft’s statement for granted as a true statement of facts. + </p> + <p> + I had refused to do this from the first; and I still persisted in taking + that course. If I had been called upon to decide the balance of + probability between the narrative related by Ambrose in his defense and + the narrative related by Silas in his confession, I must have owned, no + matter how unwillingly, that the confession was, to my mind, the least + incredible story of the two. + </p> + <p> + Could I say this to Naomi? I would have written fifty advertisements + inquiring for John Jago rather than say it; and you would have done the + same, if you had been as fond of her as I was. I drew out the + advertisement, for insertion in the Morwick <i>Mercury</i>, in these + terms: + </p> + <p> + MURDER.—Printers of newspapers throughout the United States are + desired to publish that Ambrose Meadowcroft and Silas Meadowcroft, of + Morwick Farm, Morwick County, are committed for trial on the charge of + murdering John Jago, now missing from the farm and from the neighborhood. + Any person who can give information of the existence of said Jago may save + the lives of two wrongly-accused men by making immediate communication. + Jago is about five feet four inches high. He is spare and wiry; his + complexion is extremely pale, his eyes are dark, and very bright and + restless. The lower part of his face is concealed by a thick black beard + and mustache. The whole appearance of the man is wild and flighty. + </p> + <p> + I added the date and the address. That evening a servant was sent on + horseback to Narrabee to procure the insertion of the advertisement in the + next issue of the newspaper. + </p> + <p> + When we parted that night, Naomi looked almost like her brighter and + happier self. Now that the advertisement was on its way to the + printing-office, she was more than sanguine: she was certain of the + result. + </p> + <p> + “You don’t know how you have comforted me,” she said, in her frank, + warm-hearted way, when we parted for the night. “All the newspapers will + copy it, and we shall hear of John Jago before the week is out.” She + turned to go, and came back again to me. “I will never forgive Silas for + writing that confession!” she whispered in my ear. “If he ever lives under + the same roof with Ambrose again, I—well, I believe I wouldn’t marry + Ambrose if he did! There!” + </p> + <p> + She left me. Through the wakeful hours of the night my mind dwelt on her + last words. That she should contemplate, under any circumstances, even the + bare possibility of not marrying Ambrose, was, I am ashamed to say, a + direct encouragement to certain hopes which I had already begun to form in + secret. The next day’s mail brought me a letter on business. My clerk + wrote to inquire if there was any chance of my returning to England in + time to appear in court at the opening of next law term. I answered, + without hesitation, “It is still impossible for me to fix the date of my + return.” Naomi was in the room while I was writing. How would she have + answered, I wonder, if I had told her the truth, and said, “You are + responsible for this letter?” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER X. THE SHERIFF AND THE GOVERNOR. + </h2> + <p> + THE question of time was now a serious question at Morwick Farm. In six + weeks the court for the trial of criminal cases was to be opened at + Narrabee. + </p> + <p> + During this interval no new event of any importance occurred. + </p> + <p> + Many idle letters reached us relating to the advertisement for John Jago; + but no positive information was received. Not the slightest trace of the + lost man turned up; not the shadow of a doubt was cast on the assertion of + the prosecution, that his body had been destroyed in the kiln. Silas + Meadowcroft held firmly to the horrible confession that he had made. His + brother Ambrose, with equal resolution, asserted his innocence, and + reiterated the statement which he had already advanced. At regular periods + I accompanied Naomi to visit him in the prison. As the day appointed for + the opening of the court approached, he seemed to falter a little in his + resolution; his manner became restless; and he grew irritably suspicious + about the merest trifles. This change did not necessarily imply the + consciousness of guilt: it might merely have indicated natural nervous + agitation as the time for the trial drew near. Naomi noticed the + alteration in her lover. It greatly increased her anxiety, though it never + shook her confidence in Ambrose. Except at meal-times, I was left, during + the period of which I am now writing, almost constantly alone with the + charming American girl. Miss Meadowcroft searched the newspapers for + tidings of the living John Jago in the privacy of her own room. Mr. + Meadowcroft would see nobody but his daughter and his doctor, and + occasionally one or two old friends. I have since had reason to believe + that Naomi, in these days of our intimate association, discovered the true + nature of the feeling with which she had inspired me. But she kept her + secret. Her manner toward me steadily remained the manner of a sister; she + never overstepped by a hair-breadth the safe limits of the character that + she had assumed. + </p> + <p> + The sittings of the court began. After hearing the evidence, and examining + the confession of Silas Meadowcroft, the grand jury found a true bill + against both the prisoners. The day appointed for their trial was the + first day in the new week. + </p> + <p> + I had carefully prepared Naomi’s mind for the decision of the grand jury. + She bore the new blow bravely. + </p> + <p> + “If you are not tired of it,” she said, “come with me to the prison + tomorrow. Ambrose will need a little comfort by that time.” She paused, + and looked at the day’s letters lying on the table. “Still not a word + about John Jago,” she said. “And all the papers have copied the + advertisement. I felt so sure we should hear of him long before this!” + </p> + <p> + “Do you still feel sure that he is living?” I ventured to ask. + </p> + <p> + “I am as certain of it as ever,” she replied, firmly. “He is somewhere in + hiding; perhaps he is in disguise. Suppose we know no more of him than we + know now when the trial begins? Suppose the jury—” She stopped, + shuddering. Death—shameful death on the scaffold—might be the + terrible result of the consultation of the jury. “We have waited for news + to come to us long enough,” Naomi resumed. “We must find the tracks of + John Jago for ourselves. There is a week yet before the trial begins. Who + will help me to make inquiries? Will you be the man, friend Lefrank?” + </p> + <p> + It is needless to add (though I knew nothing would come of it) that I + consented to be the man. + </p> + <p> + We arranged to apply that day for the order of admission to the prison, + and, having seen Ambrose, to devote ourselves immediately to the + contemplated search. How that search was to be conducted was more than I + could tell, and more than Naomi could tell. We were to begin by applying + to the police to help us to find John Jago, and we were then to be guided + by circumstances. Was there ever a more hopeless programme than this? + </p> + <p> + “Circumstances” declared themselves against us at starting. I applied, as + usual, for the order of admission to the prison, and the order was for the + first time refused; no reason being assigned by the persons in authority + for taking this course. Inquire as I might, the only answer given was, + “not to-day.” + </p> + <p> + At Naomi’s suggestion, we went to the prison to seek the explanation which + was refused to us at the office. The jailer on duty at the outer gate was + one of Naomi’s many admirers. He solved the mystery cautiously in a + whisper. The sheriff and the governor of the prison were then speaking + privately with Ambrose Meadowcroft in his cell; they had expressly + directed that no persons should be admitted to see the prisoner that day + but themselves. + </p> + <p> + What did it mean? We returned, wondering, to the farm. There Naomi, + speaking by chance to one of the female servants, made certain + discoveries. + </p> + <p> + Early that morning the sheriff had been brought to Morwick by an old + friend of the Meadowcrofts. A long interview had been held between Mr. + Meadowcroft and his daughter and the official personage introduced by the + friend. Leaving the farm, the sheriff had gone straight to the prison, and + had proceeded with the governor to visit Ambrose in his cell. Was some + potent influence being brought privately to bear on Ambrose? Appearances + certainly suggested that inquiry. Supposing the influence to have been + really exerted, the next question followed, What was the object in view? + We could only wait and see. + </p> + <p> + Our patience was not severely tried. The event of the next day enlightened + us in a very unexpected manner. Before noon, the neighbors brought + startling news from the prison to the farm. + </p> + <p> + Ambrose Meadowcroft had confessed himself to be the murderer of John Jago! + He had signed the confession in the presence of the sheriff and the + governor on that very day. + </p> + <p> + I saw the document. It is needless to reproduce it here. In substance, + Ambrose confessed what Silas had confessed; claiming, however, to have + only struck Jago under intolerable provocation, so as to reduce the nature + of his offense against the law from murder to manslaughter. Was the + confession really the true statement of what had taken place? or had the + sheriff and the governor, acting in the interests of the family name, + persuaded Ambrose to try this desperate means of escaping the ignominy of + death on the scaffold? The sheriff and the governor preserved impenetrable + silence until the pressure put on them judicially at the trial obliged + them to speak. + </p> + <p> + Who was to tell Naomi of this last and saddest of all the calamities which + had fallen on her? Knowing how I loved her in secret, I felt an invincible + reluctance to be the person who revealed Ambrose Meadowcroft’s degradation + to his betrothed wife. Had any other member of the family told her what + had happened? The lawyer was able to answer me; Miss Meadowcroft had told + her. + </p> + <p> + I was shocked when I heard it. Miss Meadowcroft was the last person in the + house to spare the poor girl; Miss Meadowcroft would make the hard tidings + doubly terrible to bear in the telling. I tried to find Naomi, without + success. She had been always accessible at other times. Was she hiding + herself from me now? The idea occurred to me as I was descending the + stairs after vainly knocking at the door of her room. I was determined to + see her. I waited a few minutes, and then ascended the stairs again + suddenly. On the landing I met her, just leaving her room. + </p> + <p> + She tried to run back. I caught her by the arm, and detained her. With her + free hand she held her handkerchief over her face so as to hide it from + me. + </p> + <p> + “You once told me I had comforted you,” I said to her, gently. “Won’t you + let me comfort you now?” + </p> + <p> + She still struggled to get away, and still kept her head turned from me. + </p> + <p> + “Don’t you see that I am ashamed to look you in the face?” she said, in + low, broken tones. “Let me go.” + </p> + <p> + I still persisted in trying to soothe her. I drew her to the window-seat. + I said I would wait until she was able to speak to me. + </p> + <p> + She dropped on the seat, and wrung her hands on her lap. Her downcast eyes + still obstinately avoided meeting mine. + </p> + <p> + “Oh!” she said to herself, “what madness possessed me? Is it possible that + I ever disgraced myself by loving Ambrose Meadowcroft?” She shuddered as + the idea found its way to expression on her lips. The tears rolled slowly + over her cheeks. “Don’t despise me, Mr. Lefrank!” she said, faintly. + </p> + <p> + I tried, honestly tried, to put the confession before her in its least + unfavorable light. + </p> + <p> + “His resolution has given way,” I said. “He has done this, despairing of + proving his innocence, in terror of the scaffold.” + </p> + <p> + She rose, with an angry stamp of her foot. She turned her face on me with + the deep-red flush of shame in it, and the big tears glistening in her + eyes. + </p> + <p> + “No more of him!” she said, sternly. “If he is not a murderer, what else + is he? A liar and a coward! In which of his characters does he disgrace me + most? I have done with him forever! I will never speak to him again!” She + pushed me furiously away from her; advanced a few steps toward her own + door; stopped, and came back to me. The generous nature of the girl spoke + in her next words. “I am not ungrateful to <i>you</i>, friend Lefrank. A + woman in my place is only a woman; and, when she is shamed as I am, she + feels it very bitterly. Give me your hand! God bless you!” + </p> + <p> + She put my hand to her lips before I was aware of her, and kissed it, and + ran back into her room. + </p> + <p> + I sat down on the place which she had occupied. She had looked at me for + one moment when she kissed my hand. I forgot Ambrose and his confession; I + forgot the coming trial; I forgot my professional duties and my English + friends. There I sat, in a fool’s elysium of my own making, with + absolutely nothing in my mind but the picture of Naomi’s face at the + moment when she had last looked at me! + </p> + <p> + I have already mentioned that I was in love with her. I merely add this to + satisfy you that I tell the truth. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XI. THE PEBBLE AND THE WINDOW. + </h2> + <p> + MISS MEADOWCROFT and I were the only representatives of the family at the + farm who attended the trial. We went separately to Narrabee. Excepting the + ordinary greetings at morning and night, Miss Meadowcroft had not said one + word to me since the time when I had told her that I did <i>not</i> + believe John Jago to be a living man. + </p> + <p> + I have purposely abstained from encumbering my narrative with legal + details. I now propose to state the nature of the defense in the briefest + outline only. + </p> + <p> + We insisted on making both the prisoners plead not guilty. This done, we + took an objection to the legality of the proceedings at starting. We + appealed to the old English law, that there should be no conviction for + murder until the body of the murdered person was found, or proof of its + destruction obtained beyond a doubt. We denied that sufficient proof had + been obtained in the case now before the court. + </p> + <p> + The judges consulted, and decided that the trial should go on. + </p> + <p> + We took our next objection when the confessions were produced in evidence. + We declared that they had been extorted by terror, or by undue influence; + and we pointed out certain minor particulars in which the two confessions + failed to corroborate each other. For the rest, our defense on this + occasion was, as to essentials, what our defense had been at the inquiry + before the magistrate. Once more the judges consulted, and once more they + overruled our objection. The confessions were admitted in evidence. On + their side, the prosecution produced one new witness in support of their + case. It is needless to waste time in recapitulating his evidence. He + contradicted himself gravely on cross-examination. We showed plainly, and + after investigation proved, that he was not to be believed on his oath. + </p> + <p> + The chief-justice summed up. + </p> + <p> + He charged, in relation to the confessions, that no weight should be + attached to a confession incited by hope or fear; and he left it to the + jury to determine whether the confessions in this case had been so + influenced. In the course of the trial, it had been shown for the defense + that the sheriff and the governor of the prison had told Ambrose, with his + father’s knowledge and sanction, that the case was clearly against him; + that the only chance of sparing his family the disgrace of his death by + public execution lay in making a confession; and that they would do their + best, if he did confess, to have his sentence commuted to imprisonment for + life. As for Silas, he was proved to have been beside himself with terror + when he made his abominable charge against his brother. We had vainly + trusted to the evidence on these two points to induce the court to reject + the confessions: and we were destined to be once more disappointed in + anticipating that the same evidence would influence the verdict of the + jury on the side of mercy. After an absence of an hour, they returned into + court with a verdict of “Guilty” against both the prisoners. + </p> + <p> + Being asked in due form if they had anything to say in mitigation of their + sentence, Ambrose and Silas solemnly declared their innocence, and + publicly acknowledged that their respective confessions had been wrung + from them by the hope of escaping the hangman’s hands. This statement was + not noticed by the bench. The prisoners were both sentenced to death. + </p> + <p> + On my return to the farm, I did not see Naomi. Miss Meadowcroft informed + her of the result of the trial. Half an hour later, one of the + women-servants handed to me an envelope bearing my name on it in Naomi’s + handwriting. + </p> + <p> + The envelope inclosed a letter, and with it a slip of paper on which Naomi + had hurriedly written these words: “For God’s sake, read the letter I send + to you, and do something about it immediately!” + </p> + <p> + I looked at the letter. It assumed to be written by a gentleman in New + York. Only the day before, he had, by the merest accident, seen the + advertisement for John Jago cut out of a newspaper and pasted into a book + of “curiosities” kept by a friend. Upon this he wrote to Morwick Farm to + say that he had seen a man exactly answering to the description of John + Jago, but bearing another name, working as a clerk in a merchant’s office + in Jersey City. Having time to spare before the mail went out, he had + returned to the office to take another look at the man before he posted + his letter. To his surprise, he was informed that the clerk had not + appeared at his desk that day. His employer had sent to his lodgings, and + had been informed that he had suddenly packed up his hand-bag after + reading the newspaper at breakfast; had paid his rent honestly, and had + gone away, nobody knew where! + </p> + <p> + It was late in the evening when I read these lines. I had time for + reflection before it would be necessary for me to act. + </p> + <p> + Assuming the letter to be genuine, and adopting Naomi’s explanation of the + motive which had led John Jago to absent himself secretly from the farm, I + reached the conclusion that the search for him might be usefully limited + to Narrabee and to the surrounding neighborhood. + </p> + <p> + The newspaper at his breakfast had no doubt given him his first + information of the “finding” of the grand jury, and of the trial to + follow. It was in my experience of human nature that he should venture + back to Narrabee under these circumstances, and under the influence of his + infatuation for Naomi. More than this, it was again in my experience, I am + sorry to say, that he should attempt to make the critical position of + Ambrose a means of extorting Naomi’s consent to listen favorably to his + suit. Cruel indifference to the injury and the suffering which his sudden + absence might inflict on others was plainly implied in his secret + withdrawal from the farm. The same cruel indifference, pushed to a further + extreme, might well lead him to press his proposals privately on Naomi, + and to fix her acceptance of them as the price to be paid for saving her + cousin’s life. + </p> + <p> + To these conclusions I arrived after much thinking. I had determined, on + Naomi’s account, to clear the matter up; but it is only candid to add that + my doubts of John Jago’s existence remained unshaken by the letter. I + believed it to be nothing more nor less than a heartless and stupid + “hoax.” + </p> + <p> + The striking of the hall-clock roused me from my meditations. I counted + the strokes—midnight! + </p> + <p> + I rose to go up to my room. Everybody else in the farm had retired to bed, + as usual, more than an hour since. The stillness in the house was + breathless. I walked softly, by instinct, as I crossed the room to look + out at the night. A lovely moonlight met my view; it was like the + moonlight on the fatal evening when Naomi had met John Jago on the garden + walk. + </p> + <p> + My bedroom candle was on the side-table; I had just lighted it. I was just + leaving the room, when the door suddenly opened, and Naomi herself stood + before me! + </p> + <p> + Recovering the first shook of her sudden appearance, I saw instantly in + her eager eyes, in her deadly-pale cheeks, that something serious had + happened. A large cloak was thrown over her; a white handkerchief was tied + over her head. Her hair was in disorder; she had evidently just risen in + fear and in haste from her bed. + </p> + <p> + “What is it?” I asked, advancing to meet her. + </p> + <p> + She clung, trembling with agitation, to my arm. + </p> + <p> + “John Jago!” she whispered. + </p> + <p> + You will think my obstinacy invincible. I could hardly believe it, even + then! + </p> + <p> + “Where?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “In the back-yard,” she replied, “under my bedroom window!” + </p> + <p> + The emergency was far too serious to allow of any consideration for the + small proprieties of every-day life. + </p> + <p> + “Let me see him!” I said. + </p> + <p> + “I am here to fetch you,” she answered, in her frank and fearless way. + “Come upstairs with me.” + </p> + <p> + Her room was on the first floor of the house, and was the only bedroom + which looked out on the back-yard. On our way up the stairs she told me + what had happened. + </p> + <p> + “I was in bed,” she said, “but not asleep, when I heard a pebble strike + against the window-pane. I waited, wondering what it meant. Another pebble + was thrown against the glass. So far, I was surprised, but not frightened. + I got up, and ran to the window to look out. There was John Jago looking + up at me in the moonlight!” + </p> + <p> + “Did he see you?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. He said, ‘Come down and speak to me! I have something serious to say + to you!’” + </p> + <p> + “Did you answer him?” + </p> + <p> + “As soon as I could catch my breath, I said, ‘Wait a little,’ and ran + downstairs to you. What shall I do?” + </p> + <p> + “Let <i>me</i> see him, and I will tell you.” + </p> + <p> + We entered her room. Keeping cautiously behind the window-curtain, I + looked out. + </p> + <p> + There he was! His beard and mustache were shaved off; his hair was close + cut. But there was no disguising his wild, brown eyes, or the peculiar + movement of his spare, wiry figure, as he walked slowly to and fro in the + moonlight waiting for Naomi. For the moment, my own agitation almost + overpowered me; I had so firmly disbelieved that John Jago was a living + man! + </p> + <p> + “What shall I do?” Naomi repeated. + </p> + <p> + “Is the door of the dairy open?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “No; but the door of the tool-house, round the corner, is not locked.” + </p> + <p> + “Very good. Show yourself at the window, and say to him, ‘I am coming + directly.’” + </p> + <p> + The brave girl obeyed me without a moment’s hesitation. + </p> + <p> + There had been no doubt about his eyes and his gait; there was no doubt + now about his voice, as he answered softly from below—“All right!” + </p> + <p> + “Keep him talking to you where he is now,” I said to Naomi, “until I have + time to get round by the other way to the tool-house. Then pretend to be + fearful of discovery at the dairy, and bring him round the corner, so that + I can hear him behind the door.” + </p> + <p> + We left the house together, and separated silently. Naomi followed my + instructions with a woman’s quick intelligence where stratagems are + concerned. I had hardly been a minute in the tool-house before I heard him + speaking to Naomi on the other side of the door. + </p> + <p> + The first words which I caught distinctly related to his motive for + secretly leaving the farm. Mortified pride—doubly mortified by + Naomi’s contemptuous refusal and by the personal indignity offered to him + by Ambrose—was at the bottom of his conduct in absenting himself + from Morwick. He owned that he had seen the advertisement, and that it had + actually encouraged him to keep in hiding! + </p> + <p> + “After being laughed at and insulted and denied, I was glad,” said the + miserable wretch, “to see that some of you had serious reason to wish me + back again. It rests with you, Miss Naomi, to keep me here, and to + persuade me to save Ambrose by showing myself and owning to my name.” + </p> + <p> + “What do you mean?” I heard Naomi ask, sternly. + </p> + <p> + He lowered his voice; but I could still hear him. + </p> + <p> + “Promise you will marry me,” he said, “and I will go before the magistrate + to-morrow, and show him that I am a living man.” + </p> + <p> + “Suppose I refuse?” + </p> + <p> + “In that case you will lose me again, and none of you will find me till + Ambrose is hanged.” + </p> + <p> + “Are you villain enough, John Jago, to mean what you say?” asked the girl, + raising her voice. + </p> + <p> + “If you attempt to give the alarm,” he answered, “as true as God’s above + us, you will feel my hand on your throat! It’s my turn now, miss; and I am + not to be trifled with. Will you have me for your husband—yes or + no?” + </p> + <p> + “No!” she answered, loudly and firmly. + </p> + <p> + I burst open the door, and seized him as he lifted his hand on her. He had + not suffered from the nervous derangement which had weakened me, and he + was the stronger man of the two. Naomi saved my life. She struck up his + pistol as he pulled it out of his pocket with his free hand and presented + it at my head. The bullet was fired into the air. I tripped up his heels + at the same moment. The report of the pistol had alarmed the house. We two + together kept him on the ground until help arrived. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XII. THE END OF IT. + </h2> + <p> + JOHN JAGO was brought before the magistrate, and John Jago was identified + the next day. + </p> + <p> + The lives of Ambrose and Silas were, of course, no longer in peril, so far + as human justice was concerned. But there were legal delays to be + encountered, and legal formalities to be observed, before the brothers + could be released from prison in the characters of innocent men. + </p> + <p> + During the interval which thus elapsed, certain events happened which may + be briefly mentioned here before I close my narrative. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Meadowcroft the elder, broken by the suffering which he had gone + through, died suddenly of a rheumatic affection of the heart. A codicil + attached to his will abundantly justified what Naomi had told me of Miss + Meadowcroft’s influence over her father, and of the end she had in view in + exercising it. A life income only was left to Mr. Meadowcroft’s sons. The + freehold of the farm was bequeathed to his daughter, with the testator’s + recommendation added, that she should marry his “best and dearest friend, + Mr. John Jago.” + </p> + <p> + Armed with the power of the will, the heiress of Morwick sent an insolent + message to Naomi, requesting her no longer to consider herself one of the + inmates at the farm. Miss Meadowcroft, it should be here added, positively + refused to believe that John Jago had ever asked Naomi to be his wife, or + had ever threatened her, as I had heard him threaten her, if she refused. + She accused me, as she accused Naomi, of trying meanly to injure John Jago + in her estimation, out of hatred toward “that much-injured man;” and she + sent to me, as she had sent to Naomi, a formal notice to leave the house. + </p> + <p> + We two banished ones met the same day in the hall, with our traveling-bags + in our hands. + </p> + <p> + “We are turned out together, friend Lefrank,” said Naomi, with her + quaintly-comical smile. “You will go back to England, I guess; and I must + make my own living in my own country. Women can get employment in the + States if they have a friend to speak for them. Where shall I find + somebody who can give me a place?” + </p> + <p> + I saw my way to saying the right word at the right moment. + </p> + <p> + “I have got a place to offer you,” I replied. + </p> + <p> + She suspected nothing, so far. + </p> + <p> + “That’s lucky, sir,” was all she said. “Is it in a telegraph-office or in + a dry-goods store?” + </p> + <p> + I astonished my little American friend by taking her then and there in my + arms, and giving her my first kiss. + </p> + <p> + “The office is by my fireside,” I said; “the salary is anything in reason + you like to ask me for; and the place, Naomi, if you have no objection to + it, is the place of my wife.” + </p> + <p> + I have no more to say, except that years have passed since I spoke those + words and that I am as fond of Naomi as ever. + </p> + <p> + Some months after our marriage, Mrs. Lefrank wrote to a friend at Narrabee + for news of what was going on at the farm. The answer informed us that + Ambrose and Silas had emigrated to New Zealand, and that Miss Meadowcroft + was alone at Morwick Farm. John Jago had refused to marry her. John Jago + had disappeared again, nobody knew where. + </p> + <p> + NOTE IN CONCLUSION.—The first idea of this little story was + suggested to the author by a printed account of a trial which actually + took place, early in the present century, in the United States. The + published narrative of this strange case is entitled “The Trial, + Confessions, and Conviction of Jesse and Stephen Boorn for the Murder of + Russell Colvin, and the Return of the Man supposed to have been murdered. + By Hon. Leonard Sargeant, Ex-Lieutenant Governor of Vermont. (Manchester, + Vermont, <i>Journal</i> Book and Job Office, 1873.)” It may not be amiss + to add, for the benefit of incredulous readers, that all the “improbable + events” in the story are matters of fact, taken from the printed + narrative. Anything which “looks like truth” is, in nine cases out of ten, + the invention of the author.—W. C. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Dead Alive, by Wilkie Collins + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEAD ALIVE *** + +***** This file should be named 7891-h.htm or 7891-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/7/8/9/7891/ + +Produced by James Rusk, and David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Dead Alive + +Author: Wilkie Collins + +Release Date: April, 2005 [EBook #7891] +Posting Date: July 31, 2009 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEAD ALIVE *** + + + + +Produced by James Rusk + + + + + +THE DEAD ALIVE + +By Wilkie Collins + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE SICK MAN. + +"HEART all right," said the doctor. "Lungs all right. No organic +disease that I can discover. Philip Lefrank, don't alarm yourself. You +are not going to die yet. The disease you are suffering from +is--overwork. The remedy in your case is--rest." + +So the doctor spoke, in my chambers in the Temple (London); having been +sent for to see me about half an hour after I had alarmed my clerk by +fainting at my desk. I have no wish to intrude myself needlessly on the +reader's attention; but it may be necessary to add, in the way of +explanation, that I am a "junior" barrister in good practice. I come +from the channel Island of Jersey. The French spelling of my name +(Lefranc) was Anglicized generations since--in the days when the letter +"k" was still used in England at the end of words which now terminate +in "c." We hold our heads high, nevertheless, as a Jersey family. It is +to this day a trial to my father to hear his son described as a member +of the English bar. + +"Rest!" I repeated, when my medical adviser had done. "My good friend, +are you aware that it is term-time? The courts are sitting. Look at the +briefs waiting for me on that table! Rest means ruin in my case." + +"And work," added the doctor, quietly, "means death." + +I started. He was not trying to frighten me: he was plainly in earnest. + +"It is merely a question of time," he went on. "You have a fine +constitution; you are a young man; but you cannot deliberately overwork +your brain, and derange your nervous system, much longer. Go away at +once. If you are a good sailor, take a sea-voyage. The ocean air is the +best of all air to build you up again. No: I don't want to write a +prescription. I decline to physic you. I have no more to say." + +With these words my medical friend left the room. I was obstinate: I +went into court the same day. + +The senior counsel in the case on which I was engaged applied to me for +some information which it was my duty to give him. To my horror and +amazement, I was perfectly unable to collect my ideas; facts and dates +all mingled together confusedly in my mind. I was led out of court +thoroughly terrified about myself. The next day my briefs went back to +the attorneys; and I followed my doctor's advice by taking my passage +for America in the first steamer that sailed for New York. + +I had chosen the voyage to America in preference to any other trip by +sea, with a special object in view. A relative of my mother's had +emigrated to the United States many years since, and had thriven there +as a farmer. He had given me a general invitation to visit him if I +ever crossed the Atlantic. The long period of inaction, under the name +of _rest_, to which the doctor's decision had condemned me, could +hardly be more pleasantly occupied, as I thought, than by paying a +visit to my relation, and seeing what I could of America in that way. +After a brief sojourn at New York, I started by railway for the +residence of my host--Mr. Isaac Meadowcroft, of Morwick Farm. + +There are some of the grandest natural prospects on the face of +creation in America. There is also to be found in certain States of the +Union, by way of wholesome contrast, scenery as flat, as monotonous, +and as uninteresting to the traveler, as any that the earth can show. +The part of the country in which M. Meadowcroft's farm was situated +fell within this latter category. I looked round me when I stepped out +of the railway-carriage on the platform at Morwick Station; and I said +to myself, "If to be cured means, in my case, to be dull, I have +accurately picked out the very place for the purpose." + +I look back at those words by the light of later events; and I +pronounce them, as you will soon pronounce them, to be the words of an +essentially rash man, whose hasty judgment never stopped to consider +what surprises time and chance together might have in store for him. + +Mr. Meadowcroft's eldest son, Ambrose, was waiting at the station to +drive me to the farm. + +There was no forewarning, in the appearance of Ambrose Meadowcroft, of +the strange and terrible events that were to follow my arrival at +Morwick. A healthy, handsome young fellow, one of thousands of other +healthy, handsome young fellows, said, "How d'ye do, Mr. Lefrank? Glad +to see you, sir. Jump into the buggy; the man will look after your +portmanteau." With equally conventional politeness I answered, "Thank +you. How are you all at home?" So we started on the way to the farm. + +Our conversation on the drive began with the subjects of agriculture +and breeding. I displayed my total ignorance of crops and cattle before +we had traveled ten yards on our journey. Ambrose Meadowcroft cast +about for another topic, and failed to find it. Upon this I cast about +on my side, and asked, at a venture, if I had chosen a convenient time +for my visit The young farmer's stolid brown face instantly brightened. +I had evidently hit, hap-hazard, on an interesting subject. + +"You couldn't have chosen a better time," he said. "Our house has never +been so cheerful as it is now." + +"Have you any visitors staying with you?" + +"It's not exactly a visitor. It's a new member of the family who has +come to live with us." + +"A new member of the family! May I ask who it is?" + +Ambrose Meadowcroft considered before he replied; touched his horse +with the whip; looked at me with a certain sheepish hesitation; and +suddenly burst out with the truth, in the plainest possible words: + +"It's just the nicest girl, sir, you ever saw in your life." + +"Ay, ay! A friend of your sister's, I suppose?" + +"A friend? Bless your heart! it's our little American cousin, Naomi +Colebrook." + +I vaguely remembered that a younger sister of Mr. Meadowcroft's had +married an American merchant in the remote past, and had died many +years since, leaving an only child. I was now further informed that the +father also was dead. In his last moments he had committed his helpless +daughter to the compassionate care of his wife's relations at Morwick. + +"He was always a speculating man," Ambrose went on. "Tried one thing +after another, and failed in all. Died, sir, leaving barely enough to +bury him. My father was a little doubtful, before she came here, how +his American niece would turn out. We are English, you know; and, +though we do live in the United States, we stick fast to our English +ways and habits. We don't much like American women in general, I can +tell you; but when Naomi made her appearance she conquered us all. Such +a girl! Took her place as one of the family directly. Learned to make +herself useful in the dairy in a week's time. I tell you this--she +hasn't been with us quite two months yet, and we wonder already how we +ever got on without her!" + +Once started on the subject of Naomi Colebrook, Ambrose held to that +one topic and talked on it without intermission. It required no great +gift of penetration to discover the impression which the American +cousin had produced in this case. The young fellow's enthusiasm +communicated itself, in a certain tepid degree, to me. I really felt a +mild flutter of anticipation at the prospect of seeing Naomi, when we +drew up, toward the close of evening, at the gates of Morwick Farm. + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE NEW FACES. + +IMMEDIATELY on my arrival, I was presented to Mr. Meadowcroft, the +father. + +The old man had become a confirmed invalid, confined by chronic +rheumatism to his chair. He received me kindly, and a little wearily as +well. His only unmarried daughter (he had long since been left a +widower) was in the room, in attendance on her father. She was a +melancholy, middle-aged woman, without visible attractions of any +sort--one of those persons who appear to accept the obligation of +living under protest, as a burden which they would never have consented +to bear if they had only been consulted first. We three had a dreary +little interview in a parlor of bare walls; and then I was permitted to +go upstairs, and unpack my portmanteau in my own room. + +"Supper will be at nine o'clock, sir," said Miss Meadowcroft. + +She pronounced those words as if "supper" was a form of domestic +offense, habitually committed by the men, and endured by the women. I +followed the groom up to my room, not over-well pleased with my first +experience of the farm. + +No Naomi and no romance, thus far! + +My room was clean--oppressively clean. I quite longed to see a little +dust somewhere. My library was limited to the Bible and the +Prayer-Book. My view from the window showed me a dead flat in a partial +state of cultivation, fading sadly from view in the waning light. Above +the head of my spruce white bed hung a scroll, bearing a damnatory +quotation from Scripture in emblazoned letters of red and black. The +dismal presence of Miss Meadowcroft had passed over my bedroom, and had +blighted it. My spirits sank as I looked round me. Supper-time was +still an event in the future. I lighted the candles and took from my +portmanteau what I firmly believe to have been the first French novel +ever produced at Morwick Farm. It was one of the masterly and charming +stories of Dumas the elder. In five minutes I was in a new world, and +my melancholy room was full of the liveliest French company. The sound +of an imperative and uncompromising bell recalled me in due time to the +regions of reality. I looked at my watch. Nine o'clock. + +Ambrose met me at the bottom of the stairs, and showed me the way to +the supper-room. + +Mr. Meadowcroft's invalid chair had been wheeled to the head of the +table. On his right-hand side sat his sad and silent daughter. She +signed to me, with a ghostly solemnity, to take the vacant place on the +left of her father. Silas Meadowcroft came in at the same moment, and +was presented to me by his brother. There was a strong family likeness +between them, Ambrose being the taller and the handsomer man of the +two. But there was no marked character in either face. I set them down +as men with undeveloped qualities, waiting (the good and evil qualities +alike) for time and circumstances to bring them to their full growth. + +The door opened again while I was still studying the two brothers, +without, I honestly confess, being very favorably impressed by either +of them. A new member of the family circle, who instantly attracted my +attention, entered the room. + +He was short, spare, and wiry; singularly pale for a person whose life +was passed in the country. The face was in other respects, besides +this, a striking face to see. As to the lower part, it was covered with +a thick black beard and mustache, at a time when shaving was the rule, +and beards the rare exception, in America. As to the upper part of the +face, it was irradiated by a pair of wild, glittering brown eyes, the +expression of which suggested to me that there was something not quite +right with the man's mental balance. A perfectly sane person in all his +sayings and doings, so far as I could see, there was still something in +those wild brown eyes which suggested to me that, under exceptionally +trying circumstances, he might surprise his oldest friends by acting in +some exceptionally violent or foolish way. "A little cracked"--that in +the popular phrase was my impression of the stranger who now made his +appearance in the supper-room. + +Mr. Meadowcroft the elder, having not spoken one word thus far, himself +introduced the newcomer to me, with a side-glance at his sons, which +had something like defiance in it--a glance which, as I was sorry to +notice, was returned with the defiance on their side by the two young +men. + +"Philip Lefrank, this is my overlooker, Mr. Jago," said the old man, +formally presenting us. "John Jago, this is my young relative by +marriage, Mr. Lefrank. He is not well; he has come over the ocean for +rest, and change of scene. Mr. Jago is an American, Philip. I hope you +have no prejudice against Americans. Make acquaintance with Mr. Jago. +Sit together." He cast another dark look at his sons; and the sons +again returned it. They pointedly drew back from John Jago as he +approached the empty chair next to me and moved round to the opposite +side of the table. It was plain that the man with the beard stood high +in the father's favor, and that he was cordially disliked for that or +for some other reason by the sons. + +The door opened once more. A young lady quietly joined the party at the +supper-table. + +Was the young lady Naomi Colebrook? I looked at Ambrose, and saw the +answer in his face. Naomi Colebrook at last! + +A pretty girl, and, so far as I could judge by appearances, a good girl +too. Describing her generally, I may say that she had a small head, +well carried, and well set on her shoulders; bright gray eyes, that +looked at you honestly, and meant what they looked; a trim, slight +little figure--too slight for our English notions of beauty; a strong +American accent; and (a rare thing in America) a pleasantly toned +voice, which made the accent agreeable to English ears. Our first +impressions of people are, in nine cases out of ten, the right +impressions. I liked Naomi Colebrook at first sight; liked her pleasant +smile; liked her hearty shake of the hand when we were presented to +each other. "If I get on well with nobody else in this house," I +thought to myself, "I shall certainly get on well with _you_." + +For once in a way, I proved a true prophet. In the atmosphere of +smoldering enmities at Morwick Farm, the pretty American girl and I +remained firm and true friends from first to last. Ambrose made room +for Naomi to sit between his brother and himself. She changed color for +a moment, and looked at him, with a pretty, reluctant tenderness, as +she took her chair. I strongly suspected the young farmer of squeezing +her hand privately, under cover of the tablecloth. + +The supper was not a merry one. The only cheerful conversation was the +conversation across the table between Naomi and me. + +For some incomprehensible reason, John Jago seemed to be ill at ease in +the presence of his young countrywoman. He looked up at Naomi +doubtingly from his plate, and looked down again slowly with a frown. +When I addressed him, he answered constrainedly. Even when he spoke to +Mr. Meadowcroft, he was still on his guard--on his guard against the +two young men, as I fancied by the direction which his eyes took on +these occasions. When we began our meal, I had noticed for the first +time that Silas Meadowcroft's left hand was strapped up with surgical +plaster; and I now further observed that John Jago's wandering brown +eyes, furtively looking at everybody round the table in turn, looked +with a curious, cynical scrutiny at the young man's injured hand. + +By way of making my first evening at the farm all the more embarrassing +to me as a stranger, I discovered before long that the father and sons +were talking indirectly _at_ each other, through Mr. Jago and through +me. When old Mr. Meadowcroft spoke disparagingly to his overlooker of +some past mistake made in the cultivation of the arable land of the +farm, old Mr. Meadowcroft's eyes pointed the application of his hostile +criticism straight in the direction of his two sons. When the two sons +seized a stray remark of mine about animals in general, and applied it +satirically to the mismanagement of sheep and oxen in particular, they +looked at John Jago, while they talked to me. On occasions of this +sort--and they happened frequently--Naomi struck in resolutely at the +right moment, and turned the talk to some harmless topic. Every time +she took a prominent part in this way in keeping the peace, melancholy +Miss Meadowcroft looked slowly round at her in stern and silent +disparagement of her interference. A more dreary and more disunited +family party I never sat at the table with. Envy, hatred, malice and +uncharitableness are never so essentially detestable to my mind as when +they are animated by a sense of propriety, and work under the surface. +But for my interest in Naomi, and my other interest in the little +love-looks which I now and then surprised passing between her and +Ambrose, I should never have sat through that supper. I should +certainly have taken refuge in my French novel and my own room. + +At last the unendurably long meal, served with ostentatious profusion, +was at an end. Miss Meadowcroft rose with her ghostly solemnity, and +granted me my dismissal in these words: + +"We are early people at the farm, Mr. Lefrank. I wish you good-night." + +She laid her bony hands on the back of Mr. Meadowcroft's invalid-chair, +cut him short in his farewell salutation to me, and wheeled him out to +his bed as if she were wheeling him out to his grave. + +"Do you go to your room immediately, sir? If not, may I offer you a +cigar--provided the young gentlemen will permit it?" + +So, picking his words with painful deliberation, and pointing his +reference to "the young gentlemen" with one sardonic side-look at them, +Mr. John Jago performed the duties of hospitality on his side. I +excused myself from accepting the cigar. With studied politeness, the +man of the glittering brown eyes wished me a good night's rest, and left +the room. + +Ambrose and Silas both approached me hospitably, with their open +cigar-cases in their hands. + +"You were quite right to say 'No,'" Ambrose began. "Never smoke with +John Jago. His cigars will poison you." + +"And never believe a word John Jago says to you," added Silas. "He is +the greatest liar in America, let the other be whom he may." + +Naomi shook her forefinger reproachfully at them, as if the two sturdy +young farmers had been two children. + +"What will Mr. Lefrank think," she said, "if you talk in that way of a +person whom your father respects and trusts? Go and smoke. I am ashamed +of both of you." + +Silas slunk away without a word of protest. Ambrose stood his ground, +evidently bent on making his peace with Naomi before he left her. + +Seeing that I was in the way, I walked aside toward a glass door at the +lower end of the room. The door opened on the trim little farm-garden, +bathed at that moment in lovely moonlight. I stepped out to enjoy the +scene, and found my way to a seat under an elm-tree. The grand repose +of nature had never looked so unutterably solemn and beautiful as it +now appeared, after what I had seen and heard inside the house. I +understood, or thought I understood, the sad despair of humanity which +led men into monasteries in the old times. The misanthropical side of +my nature (where is the sick man who is not conscious of that side of +him?) was fast getting the upper hand of me when I felt a light touch +laid on my shoulder, and found myself reconciled to my species once +more by Naomi Colebrook. + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE MOONLIGHT MEETING. + +"I WANT to speak to you," Naomi began "You don't think ill of me for +following you out here? We are not accustomed to stand much on ceremony +in America." + +"You are quite right in America. Pray sit down." + +She seated herself by my side, looking at me frankly and fearlessly by +the light of the moon. + +"You are related to the family here," she resumed, "and I am related +too. I guess I may say to you what I couldn't say to a stranger. I am +right glad you have come here, Mr. Lefrank; and for a reason, sir, +which you don't suspect." + +"Thank you for the compliment you pay me, Miss Colebrook, whatever the +reason may be." + +She took no notice of my reply; she steadily pursued her own train of +thought. + +"I guess you may do some good, sir, in this wretched house," the girl +went on, with her eyes still earnestly fixed on my face. "There is no +love, no trust, no peace, at Morwick Farm. They want somebody here, +except Ambrose. Don't think ill of Ambrose; he is only thoughtless. I +say, the rest of them want somebody here to make them ashamed of their +hard hearts, and their horrid, false, envious ways. You are a +gentleman; you know more than they know; they can't help themselves; +they must look up to _you_. Try, Mr. Lefrank, when you have the +opportunity--pray try, sir, to make peace among them. You heard what +went on at supper-time; and you were disgusted with it. Oh yes, you +were! I saw you frown to yourself; and I know what _that_ means in you +Englishmen." + +There was no choice but to speak one's mind plainly to Naomi. I +acknowledged the impression which had been produced on me at +supper-time just as plainly as I have acknowledged it in these pages. +Naomi nodded her head in undisguised approval of my candor. + +"That will do, that's speaking out," she said. "But--oh my! you put it +a deal too mildly, sir, when you say the men don't seem to be on +friendly terms together here. They hate each other. That's the word, +Mr. Lefrank--hate; bitter, bitter, bitter hate!" She clinched her +little fists; she shook them vehemently, by way of adding emphasis to +her last words; and then she suddenly remembered Ambrose. "Except +Ambrose," she added, opening her hand again, and laying it very +earnestly on my arm. "Don't go and misjudge Ambrose, sir. There is no +harm in poor Ambrose." + +The girl's innocent frankness was really irresistible. + +"Should I be altogether wrong," I asked, "if I guessed that you were a +little partial to Ambrose?" + +An Englishwoman would have felt, or would at least have assumed, some +little hesitation at replying to my question. Naomi did not hesitate +for an instant. + +"You are quite right, sir," she said with the most perfect composure. +"If things go well, I mean to marry Ambrose." + +"If things go well," I repeated. "What does that mean? Money?" + +She shook her head. + +"It means a fear that I have in my own mind," she answered--"a fear, +Mr. Lefrank, of matters taking a bad turn among the men here--the +wicked, hard-hearted, unfeeling men. I don't mean Ambrose, sir; I mean +his brother Silas, and John Jago. Did you notice Silas's hand? John +Jago did that, sir, with a knife." + +"By accident?" I asked. + +"On purpose," she answered. "In return for a blow." + +This plain revelation of the state of things at Morwick Farm rather +staggered me--blows and knives under the rich and respectable roof-tree +of old Mr. Meadowcroft--blows and knives, not among the laborers, but +among the masters! My first impression was like _your_ first +impression, no doubt. I could hardly believe it. + +"Are you sure of what you say?" I inquired. + +"I have it from Ambrose. Ambrose would never deceive me. Ambrose knows +all about it." + +My curiosity was powerfully excited. To what sort of household had I +rashly voyaged across the ocean in search of rest and quiet? + +"May I know all about it too?" I said. + +"Well, I will try and tell you what Ambrose told me. But you must +promise me one thing first, sir. Promise you won't go away and leave us +when you know the whole truth. Shake hands on it, Mr. Lefrank; come, +shake hands on it." + +There was no resisting her fearless frankness. I shook hands on it. +Naomi entered on her narrative the moment I had given her my pledge, +without wasting a word by way of preface. + +"When you are shown over the farm here," she began, "you will see that +it is really two farms in one. On this side of it, as we look from +under this tree, they raise crops: on the other side--on much the +larger half of the land, mind--they raise cattle. When Mr. Meadowcroft +got too old and too sick to look after his farm himself, the boys (I +mean Ambrose and Silas) divided the work between them. Ambrose looked +after the crops, and Silas after the cattle. Things didn't go well, +somehow, under their management. I can't tell you why. I am only sure +Ambrose was not in fault. The old man got more and more dissatisfied, +especially about his beasts. His pride is in his beasts. Without saying +a word to the boys, he looked about privately (_I_ think he was wrong +in that, sir; don't you?)--he looked about privately for help; and, in +an evil hour, he heard of John Jago. Do you like John Jago, Mr. +Lefrank?" + +"So far, no. I don't like him." + +"Just my sentiments, sir. But I don't know: it's likely we may be +wrong. There's nothing against John Jago, except that he is so odd in +his ways. They do say he wears all that nasty hair on his face (I hate +hair on a man's face) on account of a vow he made when he lost his +wife. Don't you think, Mr. Lefrank, a man must be a little mad who +shows his grief at losing his wife by vowing that he will never shave +himself again? Well, that's what they do say John Jago vowed. Perhaps +it's a lie. People are such liars here! Anyway, it's truth (the boys +themselves confess _that_), when John came to the farm, he came with a +first-rate character. The old father here isn't easy to please; and he +pleased the old father. Yes, that's so. Mr. Meadowcroft don't like my +countrymen in general. He's like his sons--English, bitter English, to +the marrow of his bones. Somehow, in spite of that, John Jago got round +him; maybe because John does certainly know his business. Oh yes! +Cattle and crops, John knows his business. Since he's been overlooker, +things have prospered as they didn't prosper in the time of the boys. +Ambrose owned as much to me himself. Still, sir, it's hard to be set +aside for a stranger; isn't it? John gives the orders now. The boys do +their work; but they have no voice in it when John and the old man put +their heads together over the business of the farm. I have been long in +telling you of it, sir, but now you know how the envy and the hatred +grew among the men before my time. Since I have been here, things seem +to get worse and worse. There's hardly a day goes by that hard words +don't pass between the boys and John, or the boys and their father. The +old man has an aggravating way, Mr. Lefrank--a nasty way, as we do call +it--of taking John Jago's part. Do speak to him about it when you get +the chance. The main blame of the quarrel between Silas and John the +other day lies at his door, as I think. I don't want to excuse Silas, +either. It was brutal of him--though he _is_ Ambrose's brother--to +strike John, who is the smaller and weaker man of the two. But it was +worse than brutal in John, sir, to out with his knife and try to stab +Silas. Oh, he did it! If Silas had not caught the knife in his hand +(his hand's awfully cut, I can tell you; I dressed it myself), it might +have ended, for anything I know, in murder--" + +She stopped as the word passed her lips, looked back over her shoulder, +and started violently. + +I looked where my companion was looking. The dark figure of a man was +standing, watching us, in the shadow of the elm-tree. I rose directly +to approach him. Naomi recovered her self-possession, and checked me +before I could interfere. + +"Who are you?" she asked, turning sharply toward the stranger. "What do +you want there?" + +The man stepped out from the shadow into the moonlight, and stood +revealed to us as John Jago. + +"I hope I am not intruding?" he said, looking hard at me. + +"What do you want?" Naomi repeated. + +"I don't wish to disturb you, or to disturb this gentleman," he +proceeded. "When you are quite at leisure, Miss Naomi, you would be +doing me a favor if you would permit me to say a few words to you in +private." + +He spoke with the most scrupulous politeness; trying, and trying +vainly, to conceal some strong agitation which was in possession of +him. His wild brown eyes--wilder than ever in the moonlight--rested +entreatingly, with a strange underlying expression of despair, on +Naomi's face. His hands, clasped lightly in front of him, trembled +incessantly. Little as I liked the man, he did really impress me as a +pitiable object at that moment. + +"Do you mean that you want to speak to me to-night?" Naomi asked, in +undisguised surprise. + +"Yes, miss, if you please, at your leisure and at Mr. Lefrank's." + +Naomi hesitated. + +"Won't it keep till to-morrow?" she said. + +"I shall be away on farm business to-morrow, miss, for the whole day. +Please to give me a few minutes this evening." He advanced a step +toward her; his voice faltered, and dropped timidly to a whisper. "I +really have something to say to you, Miss Naomi. It would be a kindness +on your part--a very, very great kindness--if you will let me say it +before I rest to-night." + +I rose again to resign my place to him. Once more Naomi checked me. + +"No," she said. "Don't stir." She addressed John Jago very reluctantly: +"If you are so much in earnest about it, Mr. John, I suppose it must +be. I can't guess what _you_ can possibly have to say to me which +cannot be said before a third person. However, it wouldn't be civil, I +suppose, to say 'No' in my place. You know it's my business to wind up +the hall-clock at ten every night. If you choose to come and help me, +the chances are that we shall have the hall to ourselves. Will that +do?" + +"Not in the hall, miss, if you will excuse me." + +"Not in the hall!" + +"And not in the house either, if I may make so bold." + +"What do you mean?" She turned impatiently, and appealed to me. "Do +_you_ understand him?" + +John Jago signed to me imploringly to let him answer for himself. + +"Bear with me, Miss Naomi," he said. "I think I can make you understand +me. There are eyes on the watch, and ears on the watch, in the house; +and there are some footsteps--I won't say whose--so soft, that no +person can hear them." + +The last allusion evidently made itself understood. Naomi stopped him +before he could say more. + +"Well, where is it to be?" she asked, resignedly. "Will the garden do, +Mr. John?" + +"Thank you kindly, miss; the garden will do." He pointed to a +gravel-walk beyond us, bathed in the full flood of the moonlight. +"There," he said, "where we can see all round us, and be sure that +nobody is listening. At ten o'clock." He paused, and addressed himself +to me. "I beg to apologize, sir, for intruding myself on your +conversation. Please to excuse me." + +His eyes rested with a last anxious, pleading look on Naomi's face. He +bowed to us, and melted away into the shadow of the tree. The distant +sound of a door closed softly came to us through the stillness of the +night. John Jago had re-entered the house. + +Now that he was out of hearing, Naomi spoke to me very earnestly: + +"Don't suppose, sir, I have any secrets with _him_," she said. "I know +no more than you do what he wants with me. I have half a mind not to +keep the appointment when ten o'clock comes. What would you do in my +place?" + +"Having made the appointment," I answered, "it seems to be due to +yourself to keep it. If you feel the slightest alarm, I will wait in +another part of the garden, so that I can hear if you call me." + +She received my proposal with a saucy toss of the head, and a smile of +pity for my ignorance. + +"You are a stranger, Mr. Lefrank, or you would never talk to me in that +way. In America, we don't do the men the honor of letting them alarm +us. In America, the women take care of themselves. He has got my +promise to meet him, as you say; and I must keep my promise. Only +think," she added, speaking more to herself than to me, "of John Jago +finding out Miss Meadowcroft's nasty, sly, underhand ways in the house! +Most men would never have noticed her." + +I was completely taken by surprise. Sad and severe Miss Meadowcroft a +listener and a spy! What next at Morwick Farm? + +"Was that hint at the watchful eyes and ears, and the soft footsteps, +really an allusion to Mr. Meadowcroft's daughter?" I asked. + +"Of course it was. Ah! she has imposed on you as she imposes on +everybody else. The false wretch! She is secretly at the bottom of half +the bad feeling among the men. I am certain of it--she keeps Mr. +Meadowcroft's mind bitter toward the boys. Old as she is, Mr. Lefrank, +and ugly as she is, she wouldn't object (if she could only make him ask +her) to be John Jago's second wife. No, sir; and she wouldn't break her +heart if the boys were not left a stick or a stone on the farm when the +father dies. I have watched her, and I know it. Ah! I could tell you +such things! But there's no time now--it's close on ten o'clock; we +must say good-night. I am right glad I have spoken to you, sir. I say +again, at parting, what I have said already: Use your influence, pray +use your influence, to soften them, and to make them ashamed of +themselves, in this wicked house. We will have more talk about what you +can do to-morrow, when you are shown over the farm. Say good-by now. +Hark! there is ten striking! And look! here is John Jago stealing out +again in the shadow of the tree! Good-night, friend Lefrank; and +pleasant dreams." + +With one hand she took mine, and pressed it cordially; with the other +she pushed me away without ceremony in the direction of the house. A +charming girl--an irresistible girl! I was nearly as bad as the boys. I +declare, _I_ almost hated John Jago, too, as we crossed each other in +the shadow of the tree. + +Arrived at the glass door, I stopped and looked back at the gravel-walk. + +They had met. I saw the two shadowy figures slowly pacing backward and +forward in the moonlight, the woman a little in advance of the man. +What was he saying to her? Why was he so anxious that not a word of it +should be heard? Our presentiments are sometimes, in certain rare +cases, the faithful prophecy of the future. A vague distrust of that +moonlight meeting stealthily took a hold on my mind. "Will mischief +come of it?" I asked myself as I closed the door and entered the house. + +Mischief _did_ come of it. You shall hear how. + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE BEECHEN STICK. + +PERSONS of sensitive, nervous temperament, sleeping for the first time +in a strange house, and in a bed that is new to them, must make up +their minds to pass a wakeful night. My first night at Morwick Farm was +no exception to this rule. The little sleep I had was broken and +disturbed by dreams. Toward six o'clock in the morning, my bed became +unendurable to me. The sun was shining in brightly at the window. I +determined to try the reviving influence of a stroll in the fresh +morning air. + +Just as I got out of bed, I heard footsteps and voices under my window. + +The footsteps stopped, and the voices became recognizable. I had passed +the night with my window open; I was able, without exciting notice from +below, to look out. + +The persons beneath me were Silas Meadowcroft, John Jago, and three +strangers, whose dress and appearance indicated plainly enough that +they were laborers on the farm. Silas was swinging a stout beechen +stick in his hand, and was speaking to Jago, coarsely and insolently +enough, of his moonlight meeting with Naomi on the previous night. + +"Next time you go courting a young lady in secret," said Silas, "make +sure that the moon goes down first, or wait for a cloudy sky. You were +seen in the garden, Master Jago; and you may as well tell us the truth +for once in a way. Did you find her open to persuasion, sir? Did she +say 'Yes?'" + +John Jago kept his temper. + +"If you must have your joke, Mr. Silas," he said, quietly and firmly, +"be pleased to joke on some other subject. You are quite wrong, sir, in +what you suppose to have passed between the young lady and me." + +Silas turned about, and addressed himself ironically to the three +laborers. + +"You hear him, boys? He can't tell the truth, try him as you may. He +wasn't making love to Naomi in the garden last night--oh dear, no! He +has had one wife already; and he knows better than to take the yoke on +his shoulders for the second time!" + +Greatly to my surprise, John Jago met this clumsy jesting with a formal +and serious reply. + +"You are quite right, sir," he said. "I have no intention of marrying +for the second time. What I was saying to Miss Naomi doesn't matter to +you. It was not at all what you choose to suppose; it was something of +quite another kind, with which you have no concern. Be pleased to +understand once for all, Mr. Silas, that not so much as the thought of +making love to the young lady has ever entered my head. I respect her; +I admire her good qualities; but if she was the only woman left in the +world, and if I was a much younger man than I am, I should never think +of asking her to be my wife." He burst out suddenly into a harsh, +uneasy laugh. "No, no! not my style, Mr. Silas--not my style!" + +Something in those words, or in his manner of speaking them, appeared +to exasperate Silas. He dropped his clumsy irony, and addressed himself +directly to John Jago in a tone of savage contempt. + +"Not your style?" he repeated. "Upon my soul, that's a cool way of +putting it, for a man in your place! What do you mean by calling her +'not your style?' You impudent beggar! Naomi Colebrook is meat for your +master!" + +John Jago's temper began to give way at last. He approached defiantly a +step or two nearer to Silas Meadowcroft. + +"Who is my master?" he asked. + +"Ambrose will show you, if you go to him," answered the other. "Naomi +is _his_ sweetheart, not mine. Keep out of his way, if you want to keep +a whole skin on your bones." + +John Jago cast one of his sardonic side-looks at the farmer's wounded +left hand. "Don't forget your own skin, Mr. Silas, when you threaten +mine! I have set my mark on you once, sir. Let me by on my business, or +I may mark you for a second time." + +Silas lifted his beechen stick. The laborers, roused to some rude sense +of the serious turn which the quarrel was taking, got between the two +men, and parted them. I had been hurriedly dressing myself while the +altercation was proceeding; and I now ran downstairs to try what my +influence could do toward keeping the peace at Morwick Farm. + +The war of angry words was still going on when I joined the men +outside. + +"Be off with you on your business, you cowardly hound!" I heard Silas +say. "Be off with you to the town! and take care you don't meet Ambrose +on the way!" + +"Take _you_ care you don't feel my knife again before I go!" cried the +other man. + +Silas made a desperate effort to break away from the laborers who were +holding him. + +"Last time you only felt my fist!" he shouted "Next time you shall feel +_this!_" + +He lifted the stick as he spoke. I stepped up and snatched it out of +his hand. + +"Mr. Silas," I said, "I am an invalid, and I am going out for a walk. +Your stick will be useful to me. I beg leave to borrow it." + +The laborers burst out laughing. Silas fixed his eyes on me with a +stare of angry surprise. John Jago, immediately recovering his +self-possession, took off his hat, and made me a deferential bow. + +"I had no idea, Mr. Lefrank, that we were disturbing you," he said. "I +am very much ashamed of myself, sir. I beg to apologize." + +"I accept your apology, Mr. Jago," I answered, "on the understanding +that you, as the older man, will set the example of forbearance if your +temper is tried on any future occasion as it has been tried today. And +I have further to request," I added, addressing myself to Silas, "that +you will do me a favor, as your father's guest. The next time your good +spirits lead you into making jokes at Mr. Jago's expense, don't carry +them quite so far. I am sure you meant no harm, Mr. Silas. Will you +gratify me by saying so yourself? I want to see you and Mr. Jago shake +hands." + +John Jago instantly held out his hand, with an assumption of good +feeling which was a little overacted, to my thinking. Silas Meadowcroft +made no advance of the same friendly sort on his side. + +"Let him go about his business," said Silas. "I won't waste any more +words on him, Mr. Lefrank, to please _you_. But (saving your presence) +I'm d--d if I take his hand!" + +Further persuasion was plainly useless, addressed to such a man as +this. Silas gave me no further opportunity of remonstrating with him, +even if I had been inclined to do so. He turned about in sulky silence, +and, retracing his steps along the path, disappeared round the corner +of the house. The laborers withdrew next, in different directions, to +begin the day's work. John Jago and I were alone. + +I left it to the man of the wild brown eyes to speak first. + +"In half an hour's time, sir," he said, "I shall be going on business +to Narrabee, our market-town here. Can I take any letters to the post +for you? or is there anything else that I can do in the town?" + +I thanked him, and declined both proposals. He made me another +deferential bow, and withdrew into the house. I mechanically followed +the path in the direction which Silas had taken before me. + +Turning the corner of the house, and walking on for a little way, I +found myself at the entrance to the stables, and face to face with +Silas Meadowcroft once more. He had his elbows on the gate of the yard, +swinging it slowly backward and forward, and turning and twisting a +straw between his teeth. When he saw me approaching him, he advanced a +step from the gate, and made an effort to excuse himself, with a very +ill grace. + +"No offense, mister. Ask me what you will besides, and I'll do it for +you. But don't ask me to shake hands with John Jago; I hate him too +badly for that. If I touched him with one hand, sir, I tell you this, I +should throttle him with the other." + +"That's your feeling toward the man, Mr. Silas, is it?" + +"That's my feeling, Mr. Lefrank; and I'm not ashamed of it either." + +"Is there any such place as a church in your neighborhood, Mr. Silas?" + +"Of course there is." + +"And do you ever go to it?" + +"Of course I do." + +"At long intervals, Mr. Silas?" + +"Every Sunday, sir, without fail." + +Some third person behind me burst out laughing; some third person had +been listening to our talk. I turned round, and discovered Ambrose +Meadowcroft. + +"I understand the drift of your catechism, sir, though my brother +doesn't," he said. "Don't be hard on Silas, sir. He isn't the only +Christian who leaves his Christianity in the pew when he goes out of +church. You will never make us friends with John Jago, try as you may. +Why, what have you got there, Mr. Lefrank? May I die if it isn't my +stick! I have been looking for it everywhere!" + +The thick beechen stick had been feeling uncomfortably heavy in my +invalid hand for some time past. There was no sort of need for my +keeping it any longer. John Jago was going away to Narrabee, and Silas +Meadowcroft's savage temper was subdued to a sulky repose. I handed the +stick back to Ambrose. He laughed as he took it from me. + +"You can't think how strange it feels, Mr. Lefrank, to be out without +one's stick," he said. "A man gets used to his stick, sir; doesn't he? +Are you ready for your breakfast?" + +"Not just yet. I thought of taking a little walk first." + +"All right, sir. I wish I could go with you; but I have got my work to +do this morning, and Silas has his work too. If you go back by the way +you came, you will find yourself in the garden. If you want to go +further, the wicket-gate at the end will lead you into the lane." + +Through sheer thoughtlessness, I did a very foolish thing. I turned +back as I was told, and left the brothers together at the gate of the +stable-yard. + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE NEWS FROM NARRABEE. + +ARRIVED at the garden, a thought struck me. The cheerful speech and +easy manner of Ambrose plainly indicated that he was ignorant thus far +of the quarrel which had taken place under my window. Silas might +confess to having taken his brother's stick, and might mention whose +head he had threatened with it. It was not only useless, but +undesirable, that Ambrose should know of the quarrel. I retraced my +steps to the stable-yard. Nobody was at the gate. I called alternately +to Silas and to Ambrose. Nobody answered. The brothers had gone away to +their work. + +Returning to the garden, I heard a pleasant voice wishing me +"Good-morning." I looked round. Naomi Colebrook was standing at one of +the lower windows of the farm. She had her working apron on, and she +was industriously brightening the knives for the breakfast-table on an +old-fashioned board. A sleek black cat balanced himself on her +shoulder, watching the flashing motion of the knife as she passed it +rapidly to and fro on the leather-covered surface of the board. + +"Come here," she said; "I want to speak to you." + +I noticed, as I approached, that her pretty face was clouded and +anxious. She pushed the cat irritably off her shoulder; she welcomed me +with only the faint reflection of her bright customary smile. + +"I have seen John Jago," she said. "He has been hinting at something +which he says happened under your bedroom window this morning. When I +begged him to explain himself, he only answered, 'Ask Mr. Lefrank; I +must be off to Narrabee.' What does it mean? Tell me right away, sir! +I'm out of temper, and I can't wait!" + +Except that I made the best instead of the worst of it, I told her what +had happened under my window as plainly as I have told it here. She put +down the knife that she was cleaning, and folded her hands before her, +thinking. + +"I wish I had never given John Jago that meeting," she said. "When a +man asks anything of a woman, the woman, I find, mostly repents it if +she says 'Yes.'" + +She made that quaint reflection with a very troubled brow. The +moonlight meeting had left some unwelcome remembrances in her mind. I +saw that as plainly as I saw Naomi herself. + +What had John Jago said to her? I put the question with all needful +delicacy, making my apologies beforehand. + +"I should like to tell _you_," she began, with a strong emphasis on the +last word. + +There she stopped. She turned pale; then suddenly flushed again to the +deepest red. She took up the knife once more, and went on cleaning it +as industriously as ever. + +"I mustn't tell you," she resumed, with her head down over the knife. +"I have promised not to tell anybody. That's the truth. Forget all +about it, sir, as soon as you can. Hush! here's the spy who saw us last +night on the walk and who told Silas!" + +Dreary Miss Meadowcroft opened the kitchen door. She carried an +ostentatiously large Prayer-Book; and she looked at Naomi as only a +jealous woman of middle age _can_ look at a younger and prettier woman +than herself. + +"Prayers, Miss Colebrook," she said in her sourest manner. She paused, +and noticed me standing under the window. "Prayers, Mr. Lefrank," she +added, with a look of devout pity, directed exclusively to my address. + +"We will follow you directly, Miss Meadowcroft," said Naomi. + +"I have no desire to intrude on your secrets, Miss Colebrook." + +With that acrid answer, our priestess took herself and her Prayer-Book +out of the kitchen. I joined Naomi, entering the room by the garden +door. She met me eagerly. "I am not quite easy about something," she +said. "Did you tell me that you left Ambrose and Silas together?" + +"Yes." + +"Suppose Silas tells Ambrose of what happened this morning?" + +The same idea, as I have already mentioned, had occurred to my mind. I +did my best to reassure Naomi. + +"Mr. Jago is out of the way," I replied. "You and I can easily put +things right in his absence." + +She took my arm. + +"Come in to prayers," she said. "Ambrose will be there, and I shall +find an opportunity of speaking to him." + +Neither Ambrose nor Silas was in the breakfast-room when we entered it. +After waiting vainly for ten minutes, Mr. Meadowcroft told his daughter +to read the prayers. Miss Meadowcroft read, thereupon, in the tone of +an injured woman taking the throne of mercy by storm, and insisting on +her rights. Breakfast followed; and still the brothers were absent. +Miss Meadowcroft looked at her father, and said, "From bad to worse, +sir. What did I tell you?" Naomi instantly applied the antidote: "The +boys are no doubt detained over their work, uncle." She turned to me. +"You want to see the farm, Mr. Lefrank. Come and help me to find the +boys." + +For more than an hour we visited one part of the farm after another, +without discovering the missing men. We found them at last near the +outskirts of a small wood, sitting, talking together, on the trunk of a +felled tree. + +Silas rose as we approached, and walked away, without a word of +greeting or apology, into the wood. As he got on his feet, I noticed +that his brother whispered something in his ear; and I heard him +answer, "All right." + +"Ambrose, does that mean you have something to keep a secret from us?" +asked Naomi, approaching her lover with a smile. "Is Silas ordered to +hold his tongue?" + +Ambrose kicked sulkily at the loose stones lying about him. I noticed, +with a certain surprise that his favorite stick was not in his hand, +and was not lying near him. + +"Business," he said in answer to Naomi, not very graciously--"business +between Silas and me. That's what it means, if you must know." + +Naomi went on, woman-like, with her questioning, heedless of the +reception which they might meet with from an irritated man. + +"Why were you both away at prayers and breakfast-time?" she asked next. + +"We had too much to do," Ambrose gruffly replied, "and we were too far +from the house." + +"Very odd," said Naomi. "This has never happened before since I have +been at the farm." + +"Well, live and learn. It has happened now." + +The tone in which he spoke would have warned any man to let him alone. +But warnings which speak by implication only are thrown away on women. +The woman, having still something in her mind to say, said it. + +"Have you seen anything of John Jago this morning?" + +The smoldering ill-temper of Ambrose burst suddenly--why, it was +impossible to guess--into a flame. "How many more questions am I to +answer?" he broke out violently. "Are you the parson putting me through +my catechism? I have seen nothing of John Jago, and I have got my work +to go on with. Will that do for you?" + +He turned with an oath, and followed his brother into the wood. Naomi's +bright eyes looked up at me, flashing with indignation. + +"What does he mean, Mr. Lefrank, by speaking to me in that way? Rude +brute! How dare he do it?" She paused; her voice, look and manner +suddenly changed. "This has never happened before, sir. Has anything +gone wrong? I declare, I shouldn't know Ambrose again, he is so +changed. Say, how does it strike you?" + +I still made the best of a bad case. + +"Something has upset his temper," I said. "The merest trifle, Miss +Colebrook, upsets a man's temper sometimes. I speak as a man, and I +know it. Give him time, and he will make his excuses, and all will be +well again." + +My presentation of the case entirely failed to re-assure my pretty +companion. We went back to the house. Dinner-time came, and the +brothers appeared. Their father spoke to them of their absence from +morning prayers with needless severity, as I thought. They resented the +reproof with needless indignation on their side, and left the room. A +sour smile of satisfaction showed itself on Miss Meadowcroft's thin +lips. She looked at her father; then raised her eyes sadly to the +ceiling, and said, "We can only pray for them, sir." + +Naomi disappeared after dinner. When I saw her again, she had some news +for me. + +"I have been with Ambrose," she said, "and he has begged my pardon. We +have made it up, Mr. Lefrank. Still--still--" + +"Still--_what_, Miss Naomi?" + +"He is not like himself, sir. He denies it; but I can't help thinking +he is hiding something from me." + +The day wore on; the evening came. I returned to my French novel. But +not even Dumas himself could keep my attention to the story. What else +I was thinking of I cannot say. Why I was out of spirits I am unable to +explain. I wished myself back in England: I took a blind, unreasoning +hatred to Morwick Farm. + +Nine o'clock struck; and we all assembled again at supper, with the +exception of John Jago. He was expected back to supper; and we waited +for him a quarter of an hour, by Mr. Meadowcroft's own directions. John +Jago never appeared. + +The night wore on, and still the absent man failed to return. Miss +Meadowcroft volunteered to sit up for him. Naomi eyed her, a little +maliciously I must own, as the two women parted for the night. I +withdrew to my room; and again I was unable to sleep. When sunrise +came, I went out, as before, to breathe the morning air. + +On the staircase I met Miss Meadowcroft ascending to her own room. Not +a curl of her stiff gray hair was disarranged; nothing about the +impenetrable woman betrayed that she had been watching through the +night. + +"Has Mr. Jago not returned?" I asked. + +Miss Meadowcroft slowly shook her head, and frowned at me. + +"We are in the hands of Providence, Mr. Lefrank. Mr. Jago must have +been detained for the night at Narrabee." + +The daily routine of the meals resumed its unalterable course. +Breakfast-time came, and dinner-time came, and no John Jago darkened +the doors of Morwick Farm. Mr. Meadowcroft and his daughter consulted +together, and determined to send in search of the missing man. One of +the more intelligent of the laborers was dispatched to Narrabee to make +inquiries. + +The man returned late in the evening, bringing startling news to the +farm. He had visited all the inns, and all the places of business +resort in Narrabee; he had made endless inquiries in every direction, +with this result--no one had set eyes on John Jago. Everybody declared +that John Jago had not entered the town. + +We all looked at each other, excepting the two brothers, who were +seated together in a dark corner of the room. The conclusion appeared +to be inevitable. John Jago was a lost man. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE LIME-KILN. + +MR. MEADOWCROFT was the first to speak. "Somebody must find John," he +said. + +"Without losing a moment," added his daughter. + +Ambrose suddenly stepped out of the dark corner of the room. + +"_I_ will inquire," he said. + +Silas followed him. + +"I will go with you," he added. + +Mr. Meadowcroft interposed his authority. + +"One of you will be enough; for the present, at least. Go you, Ambrose. +Your brother may be wanted later. If any accident has happened (which +God forbid!) we may have to inquire in more than one direction. Silas, +you will stay at the farm." + +The brothers withdrew together; Ambrose to prepare for his journey, +Silas to saddle one of the horses for him. Naomi slipped out after +them. Left in company with Mr. Meadowcroft and his daughter (both +devoured by anxiety about the missing man, and both trying to conceal +it under an assumption of devout resignation to circumstances), I need +hardly add that I, too, retired, as soon as it was politely possible +for me to leave the room. Ascending the stairs on my way to my own +quarters, I discovered Naomi half hidden by the recess formed by an +old-fashioned window-seat on the first landing. My bright little friend +was in sore trouble. Her apron was over her face, and she was crying +bitterly. Ambrose had not taken his leave as tenderly as usual. She was +more firmly persuaded than ever that "Ambrose was hiding something from +her." We all waited anxiously for the next day. The next day made the +mystery deeper than ever. + +The horse which had taken Ambrose to Narrabee was ridden back to the +farm by a groom from the hotel. He delivered a written message from +Ambrose which startled us. Further inquiries had positively proved that +the missing man had never been near Narrabee. The only attainable +tidings of his whereabouts were tidings derived from vague report. It +was said that a man like John Jago had been seen the previous day in a +railway car, traveling on the line to New York. Acting on this +imperfect information, Ambrose had decided on verifying the truth of +the report by extending his inquiries to New York. + +This extraordinary proceeding forced the suspicion on me that something +had really gone wrong. I kept my doubts to myself; but I was prepared, +from that moment, to see the disappearance of John Jago followed by +very grave results. + +The same day the results declared themselves. + +Time enough had now elapsed for report to spread through the district +the news of what had happened at the farm. Already aware of the bad +feeling existing between the men, the neighbors had been now informed +(no doubt by the laborers present) of the deplorable scene that had +taken place under my bedroom window. Public opinion declares itself in +America without the slightest reserve, or the slightest care for +consequences. Public opinion declared on this occasion that the lost +man was the victim of foul play, and held one or both of the brothers +Meadowcroft responsible for his disappearance. Later in the day, the +reasonableness of this serious view of the case was confirmed in the +popular mind by a startling discovery. It was announced that a +Methodist preacher lately settled at Morwick, and greatly respected +throughout the district, had dreamed of John Jago in the character of a +murdered man, whose bones were hidden at Morwick Farm. Before night the +cry was general for a verification of the preacher's dream. Not only in +the immediate district, but in the town of Narrabee itself, the public +voice insisted on the necessity of a search for the mortal remains of +John Jago at Morwick Farm. + +In the terrible turn which matters had now taken, Mr. Meadowcroft the +elder displayed a spirit and an energy for which I was not prepared. + +"My sons have their faults," he said, "serious faults; and nobody knows +it better than I do. My sons have behaved badly and ungratefully toward +John Jago; I don't deny that, either. But Ambrose and Silas are not +murderers. Make your search! I ask for it; no, I insist on it, after +what has been said, in justice to my family and my name!" + +The neighbors took him at his word. The Morwick section of the American +nation organized itself on the spot. The sovereign people met in +committee, made speeches, elected competent persons to represent the +public interests, and began the search the next day. The whole +proceeding, ridiculously informal from a legal point of view, was +carried on by these extraordinary people with as stern and strict a +sense of duty as if it had been sanctioned by the highest tribunal in +the land. + +Naomi met the calamity that had fallen on the household as resolutely +as her uncle himself. The girl's courage rose with the call which was +made on it. Her one anxiety was for Ambrose. + +"He ought to be here," she said to me. "The wretches in this +neighborhood are wicked enough to say that his absence is a confession +of his guilt." + +She was right. In the present temper of the popular mind, the absence +of Ambrose was a suspicious circumstance in itself. + +"We might telegraph to New York," I suggested, "if you only knew where +a message would be likely to find him." + +"I know the hotel which the Meadowcrofts use at New York," she replied. +"I was sent there, after my father's death, to wait till Miss +Meadowcroft could take me to Morwick." + +We decided on telegraphing to the hotel. I was writing the message, and +Naomi was looking over my shoulder, when we were startled by a strange +voice speaking close behind us. + +"Oh! that's his address, is it?" said the voice. "We wanted his address +rather badly." + +The speaker was a stranger to me. Naomi recognized him as one of the +neighbors. + +"What do you want his address for?" she asked, sharply. + +"I guess we've found the mortal remains of John Jago, miss," the man +replied. "We have got Silas already, and we want Ambrose too, on +suspicion of murder." + +"It's a lie!" cried Naomi, furiously--"a wicked lie!" + +The man turned to me. + +"Take her into the next room, mister," he said, "and let her see for +herself." + +We went together into the next room. + +In one corner, sitting by her father, and holding his hand, we saw +stern and stony Miss Meadowcroft weeping silently. Opposite to them, +crouched on the window-seat, his eyes wandering, his hands hanging +helpless, we next discovered Silas Meadowcroft, plainly self-betrayed +as a panic-stricken man. A few of the persons who had been engaged in +the search were seated near, watching him. The mass of the strangers +present stood congregated round a table in the middle of the room They +drew aside as I approached with Naomi and allowed us to have a clear +view of certain objects placed on the table. + +The center object of the collection was a little heap of charred bones. +Round this were ranged a knife, two metal buttons, and a stick +partially burned. The knife was recognized by the laborers as the +weapon John Jago habitually carried about with him--the weapon with +which he had wounded Silas Meadowcroft's hand. The buttons Naomi +herself declared to have a peculiar pattern on them, which had formerly +attracted her attention to John Jago's coat. As for the stick, burned +as it was, I had no difficulty in identifying the quaintly-carved knob +at the top. It was the heavy beechen stick which I had snatched out of +Silas's hand, and which I had restored to Ambrose on his claiming it as +his own. In reply to my inquiries, I was informed that the bones, the +knife, the buttons and the stick had all been found together in a +lime-kiln then in use on the farm. + +"Is it serious?" Naomi whispered to me as we drew back from the table. + +It would have been sheer cruelty to deceive her now. + +"Yes," I whispered back; "it is serious." + +The search committee conducted its proceedings with the strictest +regularity. The proper applications were made forthwith to a justice of +the peace, and the justice issued his warrant. That night Silas was +committed to prison; and an officer was dispatched to arrest Ambrose in +New York. + +For my part, I did the little I could to make myself useful. With the +silent sanction of Mr. Meadowcroft and his daughter, I went to +Narrabee, and secured the best legal assistance for the defense which +the town could place at my disposal. This done, there was no choice but +to wait for news of Ambrose, and for the examination before the +magistrate which was to follow. I shall pass over the misery in the +house during the interval of expectation; no useful purpose could be +served by describing it now. Let me only say that Naomi's conduct +strengthened me in the conviction that she possessed a noble nature. I +was unconscious of the state of my own feelings at the time; but I am +now disposed to think that this was the epoch at which I began to envy +Ambrose the wife whom he had won. + +The telegraph brought us our first news of Ambrose. He had been +arrested at the hotel, and he was on his way to Morwick. The next day +he arrived, and followed his brother to prison. The two were confined +in separate cells, and were forbidden all communication with each +other. + +Two days later, the preliminary examination took place. Ambrose and +Silas Meadowcroft were charged before the magistrate with the willful +murder of John Jago. I was cited to appear as one of the witnesses; +and, at Naomi's own request, I took the poor girl into court, and sat +by her during the proceedings. My host also was present in his +invalid-chair, with his daughter by his side. + +Such was the result of my voyage across the ocean in search of rest and +quiet; and thus did time and chance fulfill my first hasty foreboding +of the dull life I was to lead at Morwick Farm! + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE MATERIALS IN THE DEFENSE. + +ON our way to the chairs allotted to us in the magistrate's court, we +passed the platform on which the prisoners were standing together. + +Silas took no notice of us. Ambrose made a friendly sign of +recognition, and then rested his hand on the "bar" in front of him. As +she passed beneath him, Naomi was just tall enough to reach his hand on +tiptoe. She took it. "I know you are innocent," she whispered, and gave +him one look of loving encouragement as she followed me to her place. +Ambrose never lost his self-control. I may have been wrong; but I +thought this a bad sign. + +The case, as stated for the prosecution, told strongly against the +suspected men. + +Ambrose and Silas Meadowcroft were charged with the murder of John Jago +(by means of the stick or by use of some other weapon), and with the +deliberate destruction of the body by throwing it into the quicklime. +In proof of this latter assertion, the knife which the deceased +habitually carried about him, and the metal buttons which were known to +belong to his coat, were produced. It was argued that these +indestructible substances, and some fragments of the larger bones had +alone escaped the action of the burning lime. Having produced medical +witnesses to support this theory by declaring the bones to be human, +and having thus circumstantially asserted the discovery of the remains +in the kiln, the prosecution next proceeded to prove that the missing +man had been murdered by the two brothers, and had been by them thrown +into the quicklime as a means of concealing their guilt. + +Witness after witness deposed to the inveterate enmity against the +deceased displayed by Ambrose and Silas. The threatening language they +habitually used toward him; their violent quarrels with him, which had +become a public scandal throughout the neighborhood, and which had +ended (on one occasion at least) in a blow; the disgraceful scene which +had taken place under my window; and the restoration to Ambrose, on the +morning of the fatal quarrel, of the very stick which had been found +among the remains of the dead man--these facts and events, and a host +of minor circumstances besides, sworn to by witnesses whose credit was +unimpeachable, pointed with terrible directness to the conclusion at +which the prosecution had arrived. + +I looked at the brothers as the weight of the evidence pressed more and +more heavily against them. To outward view at least, Ambrose still +maintained his self-possession. It was far otherwise with Silas. Abject +terror showed itself in his ghastly face; in his great knotty hands, +clinging convulsively to the bar at which he stood; in his staring +eyes, fixed in vacant horror on each witness who appeared. Public +feeling judged him on the spot. There he stood, self-betrayed already, +in the popular opinion, as a guilty man! + +The one point gained in cross-examination by the defense related to the +charred bones. + +Pressed on this point, a majority of the medical witnesses admitted +that their examination had been a hurried one; and that it was just +possible that the bones might yet prove to be the remains of an animal, +and not of a man. The presiding magistrate decided upon this that a +second examination should be made, and that the member of the medical +experts should be increased. + +Here the preliminary proceedings ended. The prisoners were remanded for +three days. + +The prostration of Silas, at the close of the inquiry, was so complete, +that it was found necessary to have two men to support him on his +leaving the court. Ambrose leaned over the bar to speak to Naomi before +he followed the jailer out. "Wait," he whispered, confidently, "till +they hear what I have to say!" Naomi kissed her hand to him +affectionately, and turned to me with the bright tears in her eyes. + +"Why don't they hear what he has to say at once?" she asked. "Anybody +can see that Ambrose is innocent. It's a crying shame, sir, to send him +back to prison. Don't you think so yourself?" + +If I had confessed what I really thought, I should have said that +Ambrose had proved nothing to my mind, except that he possessed rare +powers of self-control. It was impossible to acknowledge this to my +little friend. I diverted her mind from the question of her lover's +innocence by proposing that we should get the necessary order, and +visit him in his prison on the next day. Naomi dried her tears, and +gave me a little grateful squeeze of the hand. + +"Oh my! what a good fellow you are!" cried the outspoken American girl. +"When your time comes to be married, sir, I guess the woman won't +repent saying yes to _you!_" + +Mr. Meadowcroft preserved unbroken silence as we walked back to the +farm on either side of his invalid-chair. His last reserves of +resolution seemed to have given way under the overwhelming strain laid +on them by the proceedings in court. His daughter, in stern indulgence +to Naomi, mercifully permitted her opinion to glimmer on us only +through the medium of quotation from Scripture texts. If the texts +meant anything, they meant that she had foreseen all that had happened; +and that the one sad aspect of the case, to her mind, was the death of +John Jago, unprepared to meet his end. + +I obtained the order of admission to the prison the next morning. + +We found Ambrose still confident of the favorable result, for his +brother and for himself, of the inquiry before the magistrate. He +seemed to be almost as eager to tell, as Naomi was to hear, the true +story of what had happened at the lime-kiln. The authorities of the +prison--present, of course, at the interview--warned him to remember +that what he said might be taken down in writing, and produced against +him in court. + +"Take it down, gentlemen, and welcome," Ambrose replied. "I have +nothing to fear; I am only telling the truth." + +With that he turned to Naomi, and began his narrative, as nearly as I +can remember, in these words: + +"I may as well make a clean breast of it at starting, my girl. After +Mr. Lefrank left us that morning, I asked Silas how he came by my +stick. In telling me how, Silas also told me of the words that had +passed between him and John Jago under Mr. Lefrank's window. I was +angry and jealous; and I own it freely, Naomi, I thought the worst that +could be thought about you and John." + +Here Naomi stopped him without ceremony. + +"Was that what made you speak to me as you spoke when we found you at +the wood?" she asked. + +"Yes." + +"And was that what made you leave me, when you went away to Narrabee, +without giving me a kiss at parting?" + +"It was." + +"Beg my pardon for it before you say a word more." + +"I beg your pardon." + +"Say you are ashamed of yourself." + +"I am ashamed of myself," Ambrose answered penitently. + +"Now you may go on," said Naomi. "Now I'm satisfied." + +Ambrose went on. + +"We were on our way to the clearing at the other side of the wood while +Silas was talking to me; and, as ill luck would have it, we took the +path that led by the lime-kiln. Turning the corner, we met John Jago on +his way to Narrabee. I was too angry, I tell you, to let him pass +quietly. I gave him a bit of my mind. His blood was up too, I suppose; +and he spoke out, on his side, as freely as I did. I own I threatened +him with the stick; but I'll swear to it I meant him no harm. You +know--after dressing Silas's hand--that John Jago is ready with his +knife. He comes from out West, where they are always ready with one +weapon or another handy in their pockets. It's likely enough he didn't +mean to harm me, either; but how could I be sure of that? When he +stepped up to me, and showed his weapon, I dropped the stick, and +closed with him. With one hand I wrenched the knife away from him; and +with the other I caught him by the collar of his rotten old coat, and +gave him a shaking that made his bones rattle in his skin. A big piece +of the cloth came away in my hand. I shied it into the quicklime close +by us, and I pitched the knife after the cloth; and, if Silas hadn't +stopped me, I think it's likely I might have shied John Jago himself +into the lime next. As it was, Silas kept hold of me. Silas shouted out +to him, 'Be off with you! and don't come back again, if you don't want +to be burned in the kiln!' He stood looking at us for a minute, +fetching his breath, and holding his torn coat round him. Then he spoke +with a deadly-quiet voice and a deadly-quiet look: 'Many a true word, +Mr. Silas,' he says, 'is spoken in jest. _I shall not come back +again_.' He turned about, and left us. We stood staring at each other +like a couple of fools. 'You don't think he means it?' I says. 'Bosh!' +says Silas. 'He's too sweet on Naomi not to come back.' What's the +matter now, Naomi?" + +I had noticed it too. She started and turned pale, when Ambrose +repeated to her what Silas had said to him. + +"Nothing is the matter," Naomi answered. "Your brother has no right to +take liberties with my name. Go on. Did Silas say any more while he was +about it?" + +"Yes; he looked into the kiln; and he says, 'What made you throw away +the knife, Ambrose?'--'How does a man know why he does anything,' I +says, 'when he does it in a passion?'--'It's a ripping good knife,' +says Silas; 'in your place, I should have kept it.' I picked up the +stick off the ground. 'Who says I've lost it yet?' I answered him; and +with that I got up on the side of the kiln, and began sounding for the +knife, to bring it, you know, by means of the stick, within easy reach +of a shovel, or some such thing. 'Give us your hand,' I says to Silas. +'Let me stretch out a bit and I'll have it in no time.' Instead of +finding the knife, I came nigh to falling myself into the burning lime. +The vapor overpowered me, I suppose. All I know is, I turned giddy, and +dropped the stick in the kiln. I should have followed the stick to a +dead certainty, but for Silas pulling me back by the hand. 'Let it be,' +says Silas. 'If I hadn't had hold of you, John Jago's knife would have +been the death of you, after all!' He led me away by the arm, and we +went on together on the road to the wood. We stopped where you found +us, and sat down on the felled tree. We had a little more talk about +John Jago. It ended in our agreeing to wait and see what happened, and +to keep our own counsel in the meantime. You and Mr. Lefrank came upon +us, Naomi, while we were still talking; and you guessed right when you +guessed that we had a secret from you. You know the secret now." + +There he stopped. I put a question to him--the first that I had asked +yet. + +"Had you or your brother any fear at that time of the charge which has +since been brought against you?" I said. + +"No such thought entered our heads, sir," Ambrose answered. "How could +_we_ foresee that the neighbors would search the kiln, and say what +they have said of us? All we feared was, that the old man might hear of +the quarrel, and be bitterer against us than ever. I was the more +anxious of the two to keep things secret, because I had Naomi to +consider as well as the old man. Put yourself in my place, and you will +own, sir, that the prospect at home was not a pleasant one for _me_, if +John Jago really kept away from the farm, and if it came out that it +was all my doing." + +(This was certainly an explanation of his conduct; but it was not +satisfactory to my mind.) + +"As _you_ believe, then," I went on, "John Jago has carried out his +threat of not returning to the farm? According to you, he is now alive, +and in hiding somewhere?" + +"Certainly!" said Ambrose. + +"Certainly!" repeated Naomi. + +"Do you believe the report that he was seen traveling on the railway to +New York?" + +"I believe it firmly, sir; and, what is more, I believe I was on his +track. I was only too anxious to find him; and I say I could have found +him if they would have let me stay in New York." + +I looked at Naomi. + +"I believe it too," she said. "John Jago is keeping away." + +"Do you suppose he is afraid of Ambrose and Silas?" + +She hesitated. + +"He _may_ be afraid of them," she replied, with a strong emphasis on +the word "may." + +"But you don't think it likely?" + +She hesitated again. I pressed her again. + +"Do you think there is any other motive for his absence?" + +Her eyes dropped to the floor. She answered obstinately, almost +doggedly, + +"I can't say." + +I addressed myself to Ambrose. + +"Have you anything more to tell us?" I asked. + +"No," he said. "I have told you all I know about it." + +I rose to speak to the lawyer whose services I had retained. He had +helped us to get the order of admission, and he had accompanied us to +the prison. Seated apart he had kept silence throughout, attentively +watching the effect of Ambrose Meadowcroft's narrative on the officers +of the prison and on me. + +"Is this the defense?" I inquired, in a whisper. + +"This is the defense, Mr. Lefrank. What do you think, between +ourselves?" + +"Between ourselves, I think the magistrate will commit them for trial." + +"On the charge of murder?" + +"Yes, on the charge of murder." + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE CONFESSION. + +MY replies to the lawyer accurately expressed the conviction in my +mind. The narrative related by Ambrose had all the appearance, in my +eyes, of a fabricated story, got up, and clumsily got up, to pervert +the plain meaning of the circumstantial evidence produced by the +prosecution. I reached this conclusion reluctantly and regretfully, for +Naomi's sake. I said all I could say to shake the absolute confidence +which she felt in the discharge of the prisoners at the next +examination. + +The day of the adjourned inquiry arrived. + +Naomi and I again attended the court together. Mr. Meadowcroft was +unable, on this occasion, to leave the house. His daughter was present, +walking to the court by herself, and occupying a seat by herself. + +On his second appearance at the "bar," Silas was more composed, and +more like his brother. No new witnesses were called by the prosecution. +We began the battle over the medical evidence relating to the charred +bones; and, to some extent, we won the victory. In other words, we +forced the doctors to acknowledge that they differed widely in their +opinions. Three confessed that they were not certain. Two went still +further, and declared that the bones were the bones of an animal, not +of a man. We made the most of this; and then we entered upon the +defense, founded on Ambrose Meadowcroft's story. + +Necessarily, no witnesses could be called on our side. Whether this +circumstance discouraged him, or whether he privately shared my opinion +of his client's statement, I cannot say. It is only certain that the +lawyer spoke mechanically, doing his best, no doubt, but doing it +without genuine conviction or earnestness on his own part. Naomi cast +an anxious glance at me as he sat down. The girl's hand, as I took it, +turned cold in mine. She saw plain signs of the failure of the defense +in the look and manner of the counsel for the prosecution; but she +waited resolutely until the presiding magistrate announced his +decision. I had only too clearly foreseen what he would feel it to be +his duty to do. Naomi's head dropped on my shoulder as he said the +terrible words which committed Ambrose and Silas Meadowcroft to take +their trial on the charge of murder. + +I led her out of the court into the air. As I passed the "bar," I saw +Ambrose, deadly pale, looking after us as we left him: the magistrate's +decision had evidently daunted him. His brother Silas had dropped in +abject terror on the jailer's chair; the miserable wretch shook and +shuddered dumbly, like a cowed dog. + +Miss Meadowcroft returned with us to the farm, preserving unbroken +silence on the way back. I could detect nothing in her bearing which +suggested any compassionate feeling for the prisoners in her stern and +secret nature. On Naomi's withdrawal to her own room, we were left +together for a few minutes; and then, to my astonishment, the outwardly +merciless woman showed me that she, too, was one of Eve's daughters, +and could feel and suffer, in her own hard way, like the rest of us. +She suddenly stepped close up to me, and laid her hand on my arm. + +"You are a lawyer, ain't you?" she asked. + +"Yes." + +"Have you had any experience in your profession?" + +"Ten years' experience." + +"Do _you_ think--" She stopped abruptly; her hard face softened; her +eyes dropped to the ground. "Never mind," she said, confusedly. "I'm +upset by all this misery, though I may not look like it. Don't notice +me." + +She turned away. I waited, in the firm persuasion that the unspoken +question in her mind would sooner or later force its way to utterance +by her lips. I was right. She came back to me unwillingly, like a woman +acting under some influence which the utmost exertion of her will was +powerless to resist. + +"Do _you_ believe John Jago is still a living man?" + +She put the question vehemently, desperately, as if the words rushed +out of her mouth in spite of her. + +"I do _not_ believe it," I answered. + +"Remember what John Jago has suffered at the hands of my brothers," she +persisted. "Is it not in your experience that he should take a sudden +resolution to leave the farm?" + +I replied, as plainly as before, + +"It is _not_ in my experience." + +She stood looking at me for a moment with a face of blank despair; then +bowed her gray head in silence, and left me. As she crossed the room to +the door, I saw her look upward; and I heard her say to herself softly, +between her teeth, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord." + +It was the requiem of John Jago, pronounced by the woman who loved him. + +When I next saw her, her mask was on once more. Miss Meadowcroft was +herself again. Miss Meadowcroft could sit by, impenetrably calm, while +the lawyers discussed the terrible position of her brothers, with the +scaffold in view as one of the possibilities of the "case." + +Left by myself, I began to feel uneasy about Naomi. I went upstairs, +and, knocking softly at her door, made my inquiries from outside. The +clear young voice answered me sadly, "I am trying to bear it: I won't +distress you when we meet again." I descended the stairs, feeling my +first suspicion of the true nature of my interest in the American girl. +Why had her answer brought the tears into my eyes? I went out, walking +alone, to think undisturbedly. Why did the tones of her voice dwell on +my ear all the way? Why did my hand still feel the last cold, faint +pressure of her fingers when I led her out of court? + +I took a sudden resolution to go back to England. + +When I returned to the farm, it was evening. The lamp was not yet +lighted in the hall. Pausing to accustom my eyes to the obscurity +indoors, I heard the voice of the lawyer whom we had employed for the +defense speaking to some one very earnestly. + +"I'm not to blame," said the voice. "She snatched the paper out of my +hand before I was aware of her." + +"Do you want it back?" asked the voice of Miss Meadowcroft. + +"No; it's only a copy. If keeping it will help to quiet her, let her keep +it by all means. Good evening." + +Saying these last words, the lawyer approached me on his way out of the +house. I stopped him without ceremony; I felt an ungovernable curiosity +to know more. + +"Who snatched the paper out of your hand?" I asked, bluntly. + +The lawyer started. I had taken him by surprise. The instinct of +professional reticence made him pause before he answered me. + +In the brief interval of silence, Miss Meadowcroft replied to my +question from the other end of the hall. + +"Naomi Colebrook snatched the paper out of his hand." + +"What paper?" + +A door opened softly behind me. Naomi herself appeared on the +threshold; Naomi herself answered my question. + +"I will tell you," she whispered. "Come in here." + +One candle only was burning in the room. I looked at her by the dim +light. My resolution to return to England instantly became one of the +lost ideas of my life. + +"Good God!" I exclaimed, "what has happened now?" + +She handed me the paper which she had taken from the lawyer's hand. + +The "copy" to which he had referred was a copy of the written +confession of Silas Meadowcroft on his return to prison. He accused his +brother Ambrose of the murder of John Jago. He declared on his oath +that he had seen his brother Ambrose commit the crime. + +In the popular phrase, I could "hardly believe my own eyes." I read the +last sentences of the confession for the second time: + +"...I heard their voices at the lime-kiln. They were having words about +Cousin Naomi. I ran to the place to part them. I was not in time. I saw +Ambrose strike the deceased a terrible blow on the head with his +(Ambrose's) heavy stick. The deceased dropped without a cry. I put my +hand on his heart. He was dead. I was horribly frightened. Ambrose +threatened to kill _me_ next if I said a word to any living soul. He +took up the body and cast it into the quicklime, and threw the stick in +after it. We went on together to the wood. We sat down on a felled tree +outside the wood. Ambrose made up the story that we were to tell if +what he had done was found out. He made me repeat it after him, like a +lesson. We were still at it when Cousin Naomi and Mr. Lefrank came up +to us. They know the rest. This, on my oath, is a true confession. I +make it of my own free-will, repenting me sincerely that I did not make +it before." + +(Signed) + +"SILAS MEADOWCROFT." + + +I laid down the paper, and looked at Naomi once more. She spoke to me +with a strange composure. Immovable determination was in her eye; +immovable determination was in her voice. + +"Silas has lied away his brother's life to save himself," she said. "I +see cowardly falsehood and cowardly cruelty in every line on that +paper. Ambrose is innocent, and the time has come to prove it." + +"You forget," I said, "that we have just failed to prove it." + +"John Jago is alive, in hiding from us and from all who know him," she +went on. "Help me, friend Lefrank, to advertise for him in the +newspapers." + +I drew back from her in speechless distress. I own I believed that the +new misery which had fallen on her had affected her brain. + +"You don't believe it," she said. "Shut the door." + +I obeyed her. She seated herself, and pointed to a chair near her. + +"Sit down," she proceeded. "I am going to do a wrong thing; but there +is no help for it. I am going to break a sacred promise. You remember +that moonlight night when I met him on the garden walk?" + +"John Jago?" + +"Yes. Now listen. I am going to tell you what passed between John Jago +and me." + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE ADVERTISEMENT. + +I WAITED in silence for the disclosure that was now to come. Naomi +began by asking me a question. + +"You remember when we went to see Ambrose in the prison?" she said. + +"Perfectly." + +"Ambrose told us of something which his villain of a brother said of +John Jago and me. Do you remember what it was?" + +I remembered perfectly. Silas had said, "John Jago is too sweet on +Naomi not to come back." + +"That's so," Naomi remarked when I had repeated the words. "I couldn't +help starting when I heard what Silas had said; and I thought you +noticed me." + +"I did notice you." + +"Did you wonder what it meant?" + +"Yes." + +"I'll tell you. It meant this: What Silas Meadowcroft said to his +brother of John Jago was what I myself was thinking of John Jago at +that very moment. It startled me to find my own thought in a man's mind +spoken for me by a man. I am the person, sir, who has driven John Jago +away from Morwick Farm; and I am the person who can and will bring him +back again." + +There was something in her manner, more than in her words, which let +the light in suddenly on my mind. + +"You have told me the secret," I said. "John Jago is in love with you." + +"Mad about me!" she rejoined, dropping her voice to a whisper. "Stark, +staring mad!--that's the only word for him. After we had taken a few +turns on the gravel-walk, he suddenly broke out like a man beside +himself. He fell down on his knees; he kissed my gown, he kissed my +feet; he sobbed and cried for love of me. I'm not badly off for +courage, sir, considering I'm a woman. No man, that I can call to mind, +ever really scared me before. But I own John Jago frightened me; oh my! +he did frighten me! My heart was in my mouth, and my knees shook under +me. I begged and prayed of him to get up and go away. No; there he +knelt, and held by the skirt of my gown. The words poured out from him +like--well, like nothing I can think of but water from a pump. His +happiness and his life, and his hopes in earth and heaven, and Lord +only knows what besides, all depended, he said, on a word from me. I +plucked up spirit enough at that to remind him that I was promised to +Ambrose. 'I think you ought to be ashamed of yourself,' I said, 'to own +that you're wicked enough to love me when you know I am promised to +another man!' When I spoke to him he took a new turn; he began abusing +Ambrose. _That_ straightened me up. I snatched my gown out of his hand, +and I gave him my whole mind. 'I hate you!' I said. 'Even if I wasn't +promised to Ambrose, I wouldn't marry you--no! not if there wasn't +another man left in the world to ask me. I hate you, Mr. Jago! I hate +you!' He saw I was in earnest at last. He got up from my feet, and he +settled down quiet again, all on a sudden. 'You have said enough' (that +was how he answered me). 'You have broken my life. I have no hopes and +no prospects now. I had a pride in the farm, miss, and a pride in my +work; I bore with your brutish cousins' hatred of me; I was faithful to +Mr. Meadowcroft's interests; all for your sake, Naomi Colebrook--all +for your sake! I have done with it now; I have done with my life at the +farm. You will never be troubled with me again. I am going away, as the +dumb creatures go when they are sick, to hide myself in a corner, and +die. Do me one last favor. Don't make me the laughing-stock of the whole +neighborhood. I can't bear that; it maddens me only to think of it. +Give me your promise never to tell any living soul what I have said to +you to-night--your sacred promise to the man whose life you have +broken!' I did as he bade me; I gave him my sacred promise with the +tears in my eyes. Yes, that is so. After telling him I hated him (and I +did hate him), I cried over his misery; I did! Mercy, what fools women +are! What is the horrid perversity, sir, which makes us always ready to +pity the men? He held out his hand to me; and he said, 'Good-by +forever!' and I pitied him. I said, 'I'll shake hands with you if you +will give me your promise in exchange for mine. I beg of you not to +leave the farm. What will my uncle do if you go away? Stay here, and be +friends with me, and forget and forgive, Mr. John.' He gave me his +promise (he can refuse me nothing); and he gave it again when I saw him +again the next morning. Yes. I'll do him justice, though I do hate him! +I believe he honestly meant to keep his word as long as my eye was on +him. It was only when he was left to himself that the Devil tempted him +to break his promise and leave the farm. I was brought up to believe in +the Devil, Mr. Lefrank; and I find it explains many things. It explains +John Jago. Only let me find out where he has gone, and I'll engage he +shall come back and clear Ambrose of the suspicion which his vile +brother has cast on him. Here is the pen all ready for you. Advertise +for him, friend Lefrank; and do it right away, for my sake!" + +I let her run on, without attempting to dispute her conclusions, until +she could say no more. When she put the pen into my hand, I began the +composition of the advertisement as obediently as if I, too, believed +that John Jago was a living man. + +In the case of any one else, I should have openly acknowledged that my +own convictions remained unshaken. If no quarrel had taken place at the +lime-kiln, I should have been quite ready, as I viewed the case, to +believe that John Jago's disappearance was referable to the terrible +disappointment which Naomi had inflicted on him. The same morbid dread +of ridicule which had led him to assert that he cared nothing for +Naomi, when he and Silas had quarreled under my bedroom window, might +also have impelled him to withdraw himself secretly and suddenly from +the scene of his discomfiture. But to ask me to believe, after what had +happened at the lime-kiln, that he was still living, was to ask me to +take Ambrose Meadowcroft's statement for granted as a true statement of +facts. + +I had refused to do this from the first; and I still persisted in +taking that course. If I had been called upon to decide the balance of +probability between the narrative related by Ambrose in his defense and +the narrative related by Silas in his confession, I must have owned, no +matter how unwillingly, that the confession was, to my mind, the least +incredible story of the two. + +Could I say this to Naomi? I would have written fifty advertisements +inquiring for John Jago rather than say it; and you would have done the +same, if you had been as fond of her as I was. I drew out the +advertisement, for insertion in the Morwick _Mercury_, in these terms: + + +MURDER.--Printers of newspapers throughout the United States are +desired to publish that Ambrose Meadowcroft and Silas Meadowcroft, of +Morwick Farm, Morwick County, are committed for trial on the charge of +murdering John Jago, now missing from the farm and from the +neighborhood. Any person who can give information of the existence of +said Jago may save the lives of two wrongly-accused men by making +immediate communication. Jago is about five feet four inches high. He +is spare and wiry; his complexion is extremely pale, his eyes are dark, +and very bright and restless. The lower part of his face is concealed +by a thick black beard and mustache. The whole appearance of the man is +wild and flighty. + + +I added the date and the address. That evening a servant was sent on +horseback to Narrabee to procure the insertion of the advertisement in +the next issue of the newspaper. + +When we parted that night, Naomi looked almost like her brighter and +happier self. Now that the advertisement was on its way to the +printing-office, she was more than sanguine: she was certain of the +result. + +"You don't know how you have comforted me," she said, in her frank, +warm-hearted way, when we parted for the night. "All the newspapers +will copy it, and we shall hear of John Jago before the week is out." +She turned to go, and came back again to me. "I will never forgive +Silas for writing that confession!" she whispered in my ear. "If he +ever lives under the same roof with Ambrose again, I--well, I believe I +wouldn't marry Ambrose if he did! There!" + +She left me. Through the wakeful hours of the night my mind dwelt on +her last words. That she should contemplate, under any circumstances, +even the bare possibility of not marrying Ambrose, was, I am ashamed to +say, a direct encouragement to certain hopes which I had already begun +to form in secret. The next day's mail brought me a letter on business. +My clerk wrote to inquire if there was any chance of my returning to +England in time to appear in court at the opening of next law term. I +answered, without hesitation, "It is still impossible for me to fix the +date of my return." Naomi was in the room while I was writing. How +would she have answered, I wonder, if I had told her the truth, and +said, "You are responsible for this letter?" + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE SHERIFF AND THE GOVERNOR. + +THE question of time was now a serious question at Morwick Farm. In six +weeks the court for the trial of criminal cases was to be opened at +Narrabee. + +During this interval no new event of any importance occurred. + +Many idle letters reached us relating to the advertisement for John +Jago; but no positive information was received. Not the slightest trace +of the lost man turned up; not the shadow of a doubt was cast on the +assertion of the prosecution, that his body had been destroyed in the +kiln. Silas Meadowcroft held firmly to the horrible confession that he +had made. His brother Ambrose, with equal resolution, asserted his +innocence, and reiterated the statement which he had already advanced. +At regular periods I accompanied Naomi to visit him in the prison. As +the day appointed for the opening of the court approached, he seemed to +falter a little in his resolution; his manner became restless; and he +grew irritably suspicious about the merest trifles. This change did not +necessarily imply the consciousness of guilt: it might merely have +indicated natural nervous agitation as the time for the trial drew +near. Naomi noticed the alteration in her lover. It greatly increased +her anxiety, though it never shook her confidence in Ambrose. Except at +meal-times, I was left, during the period of which I am now writing, +almost constantly alone with the charming American girl. Miss +Meadowcroft searched the newspapers for tidings of the living John Jago +in the privacy of her own room. Mr. Meadowcroft would see nobody but +his daughter and his doctor, and occasionally one or two old friends. I +have since had reason to believe that Naomi, in these days of our +intimate association, discovered the true nature of the feeling with +which she had inspired me. But she kept her secret. Her manner toward +me steadily remained the manner of a sister; she never overstepped by a +hair-breadth the safe limits of the character that she had assumed. + +The sittings of the court began. After hearing the evidence, and +examining the confession of Silas Meadowcroft, the grand jury found a +true bill against both the prisoners. The day appointed for their trial +was the first day in the new week. + +I had carefully prepared Naomi's mind for the decision of the grand +jury. She bore the new blow bravely. + +"If you are not tired of it," she said, "come with me to the prison +tomorrow. Ambrose will need a little comfort by that time." She paused, +and looked at the day's letters lying on the table. "Still not a word +about John Jago," she said. "And all the papers have copied the +advertisement. I felt so sure we should hear of him long before this!" + +"Do you still feel sure that he is living?" I ventured to ask. + +"I am as certain of it as ever," she replied, firmly. "He is somewhere +in hiding; perhaps he is in disguise. Suppose we know no more of him +than we know now when the trial begins? Suppose the jury--" She +stopped, shuddering. Death--shameful death on the scaffold--might be +the terrible result of the consultation of the jury. "We have waited +for news to come to us long enough," Naomi resumed. "We must find the +tracks of John Jago for ourselves. There is a week yet before the trial +begins. Who will help me to make inquiries? Will you be the man, friend +Lefrank?" + +It is needless to add (though I knew nothing would come of it) that I +consented to be the man. + +We arranged to apply that day for the order of admission to the prison, +and, having seen Ambrose, to devote ourselves immediately to the +contemplated search. How that search was to be conducted was more than +I could tell, and more than Naomi could tell. We were to begin by +applying to the police to help us to find John Jago, and we were then +to be guided by circumstances. Was there ever a more hopeless programme +than this? + +"Circumstances" declared themselves against us at starting. I applied, +as usual, for the order of admission to the prison, and the order was +for the first time refused; no reason being assigned by the persons in +authority for taking this course. Inquire as I might, the only answer +given was, "not to-day." + +At Naomi's suggestion, we went to the prison to seek the explanation +which was refused to us at the office. The jailer on duty at the outer +gate was one of Naomi's many admirers. He solved the mystery cautiously +in a whisper. The sheriff and the governor of the prison were then +speaking privately with Ambrose Meadowcroft in his cell; they had +expressly directed that no persons should be admitted to see the +prisoner that day but themselves. + +What did it mean? We returned, wondering, to the farm. There Naomi, +speaking by chance to one of the female servants, made certain +discoveries. + +Early that morning the sheriff had been brought to Morwick by an old +friend of the Meadowcrofts. A long interview had been held between Mr. +Meadowcroft and his daughter and the official personage introduced by +the friend. Leaving the farm, the sheriff had gone straight to the +prison, and had proceeded with the governor to visit Ambrose in his +cell. Was some potent influence being brought privately to bear on +Ambrose? Appearances certainly suggested that inquiry. Supposing the +influence to have been really exerted, the next question followed, What +was the object in view? We could only wait and see. + +Our patience was not severely tried. The event of the next day +enlightened us in a very unexpected manner. Before noon, the neighbors +brought startling news from the prison to the farm. + +Ambrose Meadowcroft had confessed himself to be the murderer of John +Jago! He had signed the confession in the presence of the sheriff and +the governor on that very day. + +I saw the document. It is needless to reproduce it here. In substance, +Ambrose confessed what Silas had confessed; claiming, however, to have +only struck Jago under intolerable provocation, so as to reduce the +nature of his offense against the law from murder to manslaughter. Was +the confession really the true statement of what had taken place? or +had the sheriff and the governor, acting in the interests of the family +name, persuaded Ambrose to try this desperate means of escaping the +ignominy of death on the scaffold? The sheriff and the governor +preserved impenetrable silence until the pressure put on them +judicially at the trial obliged them to speak. + +Who was to tell Naomi of this last and saddest of all the calamities +which had fallen on her? Knowing how I loved her in secret, I felt an +invincible reluctance to be the person who revealed Ambrose +Meadowcroft's degradation to his betrothed wife. Had any other member +of the family told her what had happened? The lawyer was able to answer +me; Miss Meadowcroft had told her. + +I was shocked when I heard it. Miss Meadowcroft was the last person in +the house to spare the poor girl; Miss Meadowcroft would make the hard +tidings doubly terrible to bear in the telling. I tried to find Naomi, +without success. She had been always accessible at other times. Was she +hiding herself from me now? The idea occurred to me as I was descending +the stairs after vainly knocking at the door of her room. I was +determined to see her. I waited a few minutes, and then ascended the +stairs again suddenly. On the landing I met her, just leaving her room. + +She tried to run back. I caught her by the arm, and detained her. With +her free hand she held her handkerchief over her face so as to hide it +from me. + +"You once told me I had comforted you," I said to her, gently. "Won't +you let me comfort you now?" + +She still struggled to get away, and still kept her head turned from +me. + +"Don't you see that I am ashamed to look you in the face?" she said, in +low, broken tones. "Let me go." + +I still persisted in trying to soothe her. I drew her to the +window-seat. I said I would wait until she was able to speak to me. + +She dropped on the seat, and wrung her hands on her lap. Her downcast +eyes still obstinately avoided meeting mine. + +"Oh!" she said to herself, "what madness possessed me? Is it possible +that I ever disgraced myself by loving Ambrose Meadowcroft?" She +shuddered as the idea found its way to expression on her lips. The +tears rolled slowly over her cheeks. "Don't despise me, Mr. Lefrank!" +she said, faintly. + +I tried, honestly tried, to put the confession before her in its least +unfavorable light. + +"His resolution has given way," I said. "He has done this, despairing +of proving his innocence, in terror of the scaffold." + +She rose, with an angry stamp of her foot. She turned her face on me +with the deep-red flush of shame in it, and the big tears glistening in +her eyes. + +"No more of him!" she said, sternly. "If he is not a murderer, what +else is he? A liar and a coward! In which of his characters does he +disgrace me most? I have done with him forever! I will never speak to +him again!" She pushed me furiously away from her; advanced a few steps +toward her own door; stopped, and came back to me. The generous nature +of the girl spoke in her next words. "I am not ungrateful to _you_, +friend Lefrank. A woman in my place is only a woman; and, when she is +shamed as I am, she feels it very bitterly. Give me your hand! God +bless you!" + +She put my hand to her lips before I was aware of her, and kissed it, +and ran back into her room. + +I sat down on the place which she had occupied. She had looked at me +for one moment when she kissed my hand. I forgot Ambrose and his +confession; I forgot the coming trial; I forgot my professional duties +and my English friends. There I sat, in a fool's elysium of my own +making, with absolutely nothing in my mind but the picture of Naomi's +face at the moment when she had last looked at me! + +I have already mentioned that I was in love with her. I merely add this +to satisfy you that I tell the truth. + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE PEBBLE AND THE WINDOW. + +MISS MEADOWCROFT and I were the only representatives of the family at +the farm who attended the trial. We went separately to Narrabee. +Excepting the ordinary greetings at morning and night, Miss Meadowcroft +had not said one word to me since the time when I had told her that I +did _not_ believe John Jago to be a living man. + +I have purposely abstained from encumbering my narrative with legal +details. I now propose to state the nature of the defense in the +briefest outline only. + +We insisted on making both the prisoners plead not guilty. This done, +we took an objection to the legality of the proceedings at starting. We +appealed to the old English law, that there should be no conviction for +murder until the body of the murdered person was found, or proof of its +destruction obtained beyond a doubt. We denied that sufficient proof +had been obtained in the case now before the court. + +The judges consulted, and decided that the trial should go on. + +We took our next objection when the confessions were produced in +evidence. We declared that they had been extorted by terror, or by +undue influence; and we pointed out certain minor particulars in which +the two confessions failed to corroborate each other. For the rest, our +defense on this occasion was, as to essentials, what our defense had +been at the inquiry before the magistrate. Once more the judges +consulted, and once more they overruled our objection. The confessions +were admitted in evidence. On their side, the prosecution produced one +new witness in support of their case. It is needless to waste time in +recapitulating his evidence. He contradicted himself gravely on +cross-examination. We showed plainly, and after investigation proved, +that he was not to be believed on his oath. + +The chief-justice summed up. + +He charged, in relation to the confessions, that no weight should be +attached to a confession incited by hope or fear; and he left it to the +jury to determine whether the confessions in this case had been so +influenced. In the course of the trial, it had been shown for the +defense that the sheriff and the governor of the prison had told +Ambrose, with his father's knowledge and sanction, that the case was +clearly against him; that the only chance of sparing his family the +disgrace of his death by public execution lay in making a confession; +and that they would do their best, if he did confess, to have his +sentence commuted to imprisonment for life. As for Silas, he was proved +to have been beside himself with terror when he made his abominable +charge against his brother. We had vainly trusted to the evidence on +these two points to induce the court to reject the confessions: and we +were destined to be once more disappointed in anticipating that the +same evidence would influence the verdict of the jury on the side of +mercy. After an absence of an hour, they returned into court with a +verdict of "Guilty" against both the prisoners. + +Being asked in due form if they had anything to say in mitigation of +their sentence, Ambrose and Silas solemnly declared their innocence, +and publicly acknowledged that their respective confessions had been +wrung from them by the hope of escaping the hangman's hands. This +statement was not noticed by the bench. The prisoners were both +sentenced to death. + +On my return to the farm, I did not see Naomi. Miss Meadowcroft +informed her of the result of the trial. Half an hour later, one of the +women-servants handed to me an envelope bearing my name on it in +Naomi's handwriting. + +The envelope inclosed a letter, and with it a slip of paper on which +Naomi had hurriedly written these words: "For God's sake, read the +letter I send to you, and do something about it immediately!" + +I looked at the letter. It assumed to be written by a gentleman in New +York. Only the day before, he had, by the merest accident, seen the +advertisement for John Jago cut out of a newspaper and pasted into a +book of "curiosities" kept by a friend. Upon this he wrote to Morwick +Farm to say that he had seen a man exactly answering to the description +of John Jago, but bearing another name, working as a clerk in a +merchant's office in Jersey City. Having time to spare before the mail +went out, he had returned to the office to take another look at the man +before he posted his letter. To his surprise, he was informed that the +clerk had not appeared at his desk that day. His employer had sent to +his lodgings, and had been informed that he had suddenly packed up his +hand-bag after reading the newspaper at breakfast; had paid his rent +honestly, and had gone away, nobody knew where! + +It was late in the evening when I read these lines. I had time for +reflection before it would be necessary for me to act. + +Assuming the letter to be genuine, and adopting Naomi's explanation of +the motive which had led John Jago to absent himself secretly from the +farm, I reached the conclusion that the search for him might be +usefully limited to Narrabee and to the surrounding neighborhood. + +The newspaper at his breakfast had no doubt given him his first +information of the "finding" of the grand jury, and of the trial to +follow. It was in my experience of human nature that he should venture +back to Narrabee under these circumstances, and under the influence of +his infatuation for Naomi. More than this, it was again in my +experience, I am sorry to say, that he should attempt to make the +critical position of Ambrose a means of extorting Naomi's consent to +listen favorably to his suit. Cruel indifference to the injury and the +suffering which his sudden absence might inflict on others was plainly +implied in his secret withdrawal from the farm. The same cruel +indifference, pushed to a further extreme, might well lead him to press +his proposals privately on Naomi, and to fix her acceptance of them as +the price to be paid for saving her cousin's life. + +To these conclusions I arrived after much thinking. I had determined, +on Naomi's account, to clear the matter up; but it is only candid to +add that my doubts of John Jago's existence remained unshaken by the +letter. I believed it to be nothing more nor less than a heartless and +stupid "hoax." + + +The striking of the hall-clock roused me from my meditations. I counted +the strokes--midnight! + +I rose to go up to my room. Everybody else in the farm had retired to +bed, as usual, more than an hour since. The stillness in the house was +breathless. I walked softly, by instinct, as I crossed the room to look +out at the night. A lovely moonlight met my view; it was like the +moonlight on the fatal evening when Naomi had met John Jago on the +garden walk. + +My bedroom candle was on the side-table; I had just lighted it. I was +just leaving the room, when the door suddenly opened, and Naomi herself +stood before me! + +Recovering the first shook of her sudden appearance, I saw instantly in +her eager eyes, in her deadly-pale cheeks, that something serious had +happened. A large cloak was thrown over her; a white handkerchief was +tied over her head. Her hair was in disorder; she had evidently just +risen in fear and in haste from her bed. + +"What is it?" I asked, advancing to meet her. + +She clung, trembling with agitation, to my arm. + +"John Jago!" she whispered. + +You will think my obstinacy invincible. I could hardly believe it, even +then! + +"Where?" I asked. + +"In the back-yard," she replied, "under my bedroom window!" + +The emergency was far too serious to allow of any consideration for the +small proprieties of every-day life. + +"Let me see him!" I said. + +"I am here to fetch you," she answered, in her frank and fearless way. +"Come upstairs with me." + +Her room was on the first floor of the house, and was the only bedroom +which looked out on the back-yard. On our way up the stairs she told me +what had happened. + +"I was in bed," she said, "but not asleep, when I heard a pebble strike +against the window-pane. I waited, wondering what it meant. Another +pebble was thrown against the glass. So far, I was surprised, but not +frightened. I got up, and ran to the window to look out. There was John +Jago looking up at me in the moonlight!" + +"Did he see you?" + +"Yes. He said, 'Come down and speak to me! I have something serious to +say to you!'" + +"Did you answer him?" + +"As soon as I could catch my breath, I said, 'Wait a little,' and ran +downstairs to you. What shall I do?" + +"Let _me_ see him, and I will tell you." + +We entered her room. Keeping cautiously behind the window-curtain, I +looked out. + +There he was! His beard and mustache were shaved off; his hair was +close cut. But there was no disguising his wild, brown eyes, or the +peculiar movement of his spare, wiry figure, as he walked slowly to and +fro in the moonlight waiting for Naomi. For the moment, my own +agitation almost overpowered me; I had so firmly disbelieved that John +Jago was a living man! + +"What shall I do?" Naomi repeated. + +"Is the door of the dairy open?" I asked. + +"No; but the door of the tool-house, round the corner, is not locked." + +"Very good. Show yourself at the window, and say to him, 'I am coming +directly.'" + +The brave girl obeyed me without a moment's hesitation. + +There had been no doubt about his eyes and his gait; there was no doubt +now about his voice, as he answered softly from below--"All right!" + +"Keep him talking to you where he is now," I said to Naomi, "until I +have time to get round by the other way to the tool-house. Then pretend +to be fearful of discovery at the dairy, and bring him round the +corner, so that I can hear him behind the door." + +We left the house together, and separated silently. Naomi followed my +instructions with a woman's quick intelligence where stratagems are +concerned. I had hardly been a minute in the tool-house before I heard +him speaking to Naomi on the other side of the door. + +The first words which I caught distinctly related to his motive for +secretly leaving the farm. Mortified pride--doubly mortified by Naomi's +contemptuous refusal and by the personal indignity offered to him by +Ambrose--was at the bottom of his conduct in absenting himself from +Morwick. He owned that he had seen the advertisement, and that it had +actually encouraged him to keep in hiding! + +"After being laughed at and insulted and denied, I was glad," said the +miserable wretch, "to see that some of you had serious reason to wish +me back again. It rests with you, Miss Naomi, to keep me here, and to +persuade me to save Ambrose by showing myself and owning to my name." + +"What do you mean?" I heard Naomi ask, sternly. + +He lowered his voice; but I could still hear him. + +"Promise you will marry me," he said, "and I will go before the +magistrate to-morrow, and show him that I am a living man." + +"Suppose I refuse?" + +"In that case you will lose me again, and none of you will find me till +Ambrose is hanged." + +"Are you villain enough, John Jago, to mean what you say?" asked the +girl, raising her voice. + +"If you attempt to give the alarm," he answered, "as true as God's +above us, you will feel my hand on your throat! It's my turn now, miss; +and I am not to be trifled with. Will you have me for your husband--yes +or no?" + +"No!" she answered, loudly and firmly. + +I burst open the door, and seized him as he lifted his hand on her. He +had not suffered from the nervous derangement which had weakened me, +and he was the stronger man of the two. Naomi saved my life. She struck +up his pistol as he pulled it out of his pocket with his free hand and +presented it at my head. The bullet was fired into the air. I tripped +up his heels at the same moment. The report of the pistol had alarmed +the house. We two together kept him on the ground until help arrived. + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE END OF IT. + +JOHN JAGO was brought before the magistrate, and John Jago was +identified the next day. + +The lives of Ambrose and Silas were, of course, no longer in peril, so +far as human justice was concerned. But there were legal delays to be +encountered, and legal formalities to be observed, before the brothers +could be released from prison in the characters of innocent men. + +During the interval which thus elapsed, certain events happened which +may be briefly mentioned here before I close my narrative. + +Mr. Meadowcroft the elder, broken by the suffering which he had gone +through, died suddenly of a rheumatic affection of the heart. A codicil +attached to his will abundantly justified what Naomi had told me of +Miss Meadowcroft's influence over her father, and of the end she had in +view in exercising it. A life income only was left to Mr. Meadowcroft's +sons. The freehold of the farm was bequeathed to his daughter, with the +testator's recommendation added, that she should marry his "best and +dearest friend, Mr. John Jago." + +Armed with the power of the will, the heiress of Morwick sent an +insolent message to Naomi, requesting her no longer to consider herself +one of the inmates at the farm. Miss Meadowcroft, it should be here +added, positively refused to believe that John Jago had ever asked +Naomi to be his wife, or had ever threatened her, as I had heard him +threaten her, if she refused. She accused me, as she accused Naomi, of +trying meanly to injure John Jago in her estimation, out of hatred +toward "that much-injured man;" and she sent to me, as she had sent to +Naomi, a formal notice to leave the house. + +We two banished ones met the same day in the hall, with our +traveling-bags in our hands. + +"We are turned out together, friend Lefrank," said Naomi, with her +quaintly-comical smile. "You will go back to England, I guess; and I +must make my own living in my own country. Women can get employment in +the States if they have a friend to speak for them. Where shall I find +somebody who can give me a place?" + +I saw my way to saying the right word at the right moment. + +"I have got a place to offer you," I replied. + +She suspected nothing, so far. + +"That's lucky, sir," was all she said. "Is it in a telegraph-office or +in a dry-goods store?" + +I astonished my little American friend by taking her then and there in +my arms, and giving her my first kiss. + +"The office is by my fireside," I said; "the salary is anything in +reason you like to ask me for; and the place, Naomi, if you have no +objection to it, is the place of my wife." + +I have no more to say, except that years have passed since I spoke +those words and that I am as fond of Naomi as ever. + +Some months after our marriage, Mrs. Lefrank wrote to a friend at +Narrabee for news of what was going on at the farm. The answer informed +us that Ambrose and Silas had emigrated to New Zealand, and that Miss +Meadowcroft was alone at Morwick Farm. John Jago had refused to marry +her. John Jago had disappeared again, nobody knew where. + +NOTE IN CONCLUSION.--The first idea of this little story was suggested +to the author by a printed account of a trial which actually took +place, early in the present century, in the United States. The +published narrative of this strange case is entitled "The Trial, +Confessions, and Conviction of Jesse and Stephen Boorn for the Murder +of Russell Colvin, and the Return of the Man supposed to have been +murdered. By Hon. Leonard Sargeant, Ex-Lieutenant Governor of Vermont. +(Manchester, Vermont, _Journal_ Book and Job Office, 1873.)" It may not +be amiss to add, for the benefit of incredulous readers, that all the +"improbable events" in the story are matters of fact, taken from the +printed narrative. Anything which "looks like truth" is, in nine cases +out of ten, the invention of the author.--W. C. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Dead Alive, by Wilkie Collins + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEAD ALIVE *** + +***** This file should be named 7891.txt or 7891.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/7/8/9/7891/ + +Produced by James Rusk + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Dead Alive + +Author: Wilkie Collins + +Release Date: April, 2005 [EBook #7891] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on May 31, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEAD ALIVE *** + + + + +Produced by James Rusk + + + + +THE DEAD ALIVE. + +By Wilkie Collins + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE SICK MAN. + +"HEART all right," said the doctor. "Lungs all right. No organic +disease that I can discover. Philip Lefrank, don't alarm yourself. You +are not going to die yet. The disease you are suffering from +is--overwork. The remedy in your case is--rest." + +So the doctor spoke, in my chambers in the Temple (London); having been +sent for to see me about half an hour after I had alarmed my clerk by +fainting at my desk. I have no wish to intrude myself needlessly on the +reader's attention; but it may be necessary to add, in the way of +explanation, that I am a "junior" barrister in good practice. I come +from the channel Island of Jersey. The French spelling of my name +(Lefranc) was Anglicized generations since--in the days when the letter +"k" was still used in England at the end of words which now terminate +in "c." We hold our heads high, nevertheless, as a Jersey family. It is +to this day a trial to my father to hear his son described as a member +of the English bar. + +"Rest!" I repeated, when my medical adviser had done. "My good friend, +are you aware that it is term-time? The courts are sitting. Look at the +briefs waiting for me on that table! Rest means ruin in my case." + +"And work," added the doctor, quietly, "means death." + +I started. He was not trying to frighten me: he was plainly in earnest. + +"It is merely a question of time," he went on. "You have a fine +constitution; you are a young man; but you cannot deliberately overwork +your brain, and derange your nervous system, much longer. Go away at +once. If you are a good sailor, take a sea-voyage. The ocean air is the +best of all air to build you up again. No: I don't want to write a +prescription. I decline to physic you. I have no more to say." + +With these words my medical friend left the room. I was obstinate: I +went into court the same day. + +The senior counsel in the case on which I was engaged applied to me for +some information which it was my duty to give him. To my horror and +amazement, I was perfectly unable to collect my ideas; facts and dates +all mingled together confusedly in my mind. I was led out of court +thoroughly terrified about myself. The next day my briefs went back to +the attorneys; and I followed my doctor's advice by taking my passage +for America in the first steamer that sailed for New York. + +I had chosen the voyage to America in preference to any other trip by +sea, with a special object in view. A relative of my mother's had +emigrated to the United States many years since, and had thriven there +as a farmer. He had given me a general invitation to visit him if I +ever crossed the Atlantic. The long period of inaction, under the name +of _rest_, to which the doctor's decision had condemned me, could +hardly be more pleasantly occupied, as I thought, than by paying a +visit to my relation, and seeing what I could of America in that way. +After a brief sojourn at New York, I started by railway for the +residence of my host--Mr. Isaac Meadowcroft, of Morwick Farm. + +There are some of the grandest natural prospects on the face of +creation in America. There is also to be found in certain States of the +Union, by way of wholesome contrast, scenery as flat, as monotonous, +and as uninteresting to the traveler, as any that the earth can show. +The part of the country in which M. Meadowcroft's farm was situated +fell within this latter category. I looked round me when I stepped out +of the railway-carriage on the platform at Morwick Station; and I said +to myself, "If to be cured means, in my case, to be dull, I have +accurately picked out the very place for the purpose." + +I look back at those words by the light of later events; and I +pronounce them, as you will soon pronounce them, to be the words of an +essentially rash man, whose hasty judgment never stopped to consider +what surprises time and chance together might have in store for him. + +Mr. Meadowcroft's eldest son, Ambrose, was waiting at the station to +drive me to the farm. + +There was no forewarning, in the appearance of Ambrose Meadowcroft, of +the strange and terrible events that were to follow my arrival at +Morwick. A healthy, handsome young fellow, one of thousands of other +healthy, handsome young fellows, said, "How d'ye do, Mr. Lefrank? Glad +to see you, sir. Jump into the buggy; the man will look after your +portmanteau." With equally conventional politeness I answered, "Thank +you. How are you all at home?" So we started on the way to the farm. + +Our conversation on the drive began with the subjects of agriculture +and breeding. I displayed my total ignorance of crops and cattle before +we had traveled ten yards on our journey. Ambrose Meadowcroft cast +about for another topic, and failed to find it. Upon this I cast about +on my side, and asked, at a venture, if I had chosen a convenient time +for my visit The young farmer's stolid brown face instantly brightened. +I had evidently hit, hap-hazard, on an interesting subject. + +"You couldn't have chosen a better time," he said. "Our house has never +been so cheerful as it is now." + +"Have you any visitors staying with you?" + +"It's not exactly a visitor. It's a new member of the family who has +come to live with us." + +"A new member of the family! May I ask who it is?" + +Ambrose Meadowcroft considered before he replied; touched his horse +with the whip; looked at me with a certain sheepish hesitation; and +suddenly burst out with the truth, in the plainest possible words: + +"It's just the nicest girl, sir, you ever saw in your life." + +"Ay, ay! A friend of your sister's, I suppose?" + +"A friend? Bless your heart! it's our little American cousin, Naomi +Colebrook." + +I vaguely remembered that a younger sister of Mr. Meadowcroft's had +married an American merchant in the remote past, and had died many +years since, leaving an only child. I was now further informed that the +father also was dead. In his last moments he had committed his helpless +daughter to the compassionate care of his wife's relations at Morwick. + +"He was always a speculating man," Ambrose went on. "Tried one thing +after another, and failed in all. Died, sir, leaving barely enough to +bury him. My father was a little doubtful, before she came here, how +his American niece would turn out. We are English, you know; and, +though we do live in the United States, we stick fast to our English +ways and habits. We don't much like American women in general, I can +tell you; but when Naomi made her appearance she conquered us all. Such +a girl! Took her place as one of the family directly. Learned to make +herself useful in the dairy in a week's time. I tell you this--she +hasn't been with us quite two months yet, and we wonder already how we +ever got on without her!" + +Once started on the subject of Naomi Colebrook, Ambrose held to that +one topic and talked on it without intermission. It required no great +gift of penetration to discover the impression which the American +cousin had produced in this case. The young fellow's enthusiasm +communicated itself, in a certain tepid degree, to me. I really felt a +mild flutter of anticipation at the prospect of seeing Naomi, when we +drew up, toward the close of evening, at the gates of Morwick Farm. + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE NEW FACES. + +IMMEDIATELY on my arrival, I was presented to Mr. Meadowcroft, the +father. + +The old man had become a confirmed invalid, confined by chronic +rheumatism to his chair. He received me kindly, and a little wearily as +well. His only unmarried daughter (he had long since been left a +widower) was in the room, in attendance on her father. She was a +melancholy, middle-aged woman, without visible attractions of any +sort--one of those persons who appear to accept the obligation of +living under protest, as a burden which they would never have consented +to bear if they had only been consulted first. We three had a dreary +little interview in a parlor of bare walls; and then I was permitted to +go upstairs, and unpack my portmanteau in my own room. + +"Supper will be at nine o'clock, sir," said Miss Meadowcroft. + +She pronounced those words as if "supper" was a form of domestic +offense, habitually committed by the men, and endured by the women. I +followed the groom up to my room, not over-well pleased with my first +experience of the farm. + +No Naomi and no romance, thus far! + +My room was clean--oppressively clean. I quite longed to see a little +dust somewhere. My library was limited to the Bible and the +Prayer-book. My view from the window showed me a dead flat in a partial +state of cultivation, fading sadly from view in the waning light. Above +the head of my spruce white bed hung a scroll, bearing a damnatory +quotation from Scripture in emblazoned letters of red and black. The +dismal presence of Miss Meadowcroft had passed over my bedroom, and had +blighted it. My spirits sank as I looked round me. Supper-time was +still an event in the future. I lighted the candles and took from my +portmanteau what I firmly believe to have been the first French novel +ever produced at Morwick Farm. It was one of the masterly and charming +stories of Dumas the elder. In five minutes I was in a new world, and +my melancholy room was full of the liveliest French company. The sound +of an imperative and uncompromising bell recalled me in due time to the +regions of reality. I looked at my watch. Nine o'clock. + +Ambrose met me at the bottom of the stairs, and showed me the way to +the supper-room. + +Mr. Meadowcroft's invalid chair had been wheeled to the head of the +table. On his right-hand side sat his sad and silent daughter. She +signed to me, with a ghostly solemnity, to take the vacant place on the +left of her father. Silas Meadowcroft came in at the same moment, and +was presented to me by his brother. There was a strong family likeness +between them, Ambrose being the taller and the handsomer man of the +two. But there was no marked character in either face. I set them down +as men with undeveloped qualities, waiting (the good and evil qualities +alike) for time and circumstances to bring them to their full growth. + +The door opened again while I was still studying the two brothers, +without, I honestly confess, being very favorably impressed by either +of them. A new member of the family circle, who instantly attracted my +attention, entered the room. + +He was short, spare, and wiry; singularly pale for a person whose life +was passed in the country. The face was in other respects, besides +this, a striking face to see. As to the lower part, it was covered with +a thick black beard and mustache, at a time when shaving was the rule, +and beards the rare exception, in America. As to the upper part of the +face, it was irradiated by a pair of wild, glittering brown eyes, the +expression of which suggested to me that there was something not quite +right with the man's mental balance. A perfectly sane person in all his +sayings and doings, so far as I could see, there was still something in +those wild brown eyes which suggested to me that, under exceptionally +trying circumstances, he might surprise his oldest friends by acting in +some exceptionally violent or foolish way. "A little cracked"--that in +the popular phrase was my impression of the stranger who now made his +appearance in the supper-room. + +Mr. Meadowcroft the elder, having not spoken one word thus far, himself +introduced the newcomer to me, with a side-glance at his sons, which +had something like defiance in it--a glance which, as I was sorry to +notice, was returned with the defiance on their side by the two young +men. + +"Philip Lefrank, this is my overlooker, Mr. Jago," said the old man, +formally presenting us. "John Jago, this is my young relative by +marriage, Mr. Lefrank. He is not well; he has come over the ocean for +rest, and change of scene. Mr. Jago is an American, Philip. I hope you +have no prejudice against Americans. Make acquaintance with Mr. Jago. +Sit together." He cast another dark look at his sons; and the sons +again returned it. They pointedly drew back from John Jago as he +approached the empty chair next to me and moved round to the opposite +side of the table. It was plain that the man with the beard stood high +in the father's favor, and that he was cordially disliked for that or +for some other reason by the sons. + +The door opened once more. A young lady quietly joined the party at the +supper-table. + +Was the young lady Naomi Colebrook? I looked at Ambrose, and saw the +answer in his face. Naomi Colebrook at last! + +A pretty girl, and, so far as I could judge by appearances, a good girl +too. Describing her generally, I may say that she had a small head, +well carried, and well set on her shoulders; bright gray eyes, that +looked at you honestly, and meant what they looked; a trim, slight +little figure--too slight for our English notions of beauty; a strong +American accent; and (a rare thing in America) a pleasantly toned +voice, which made the accent agreeable to English ears. Our first +impressions of people are, in nine cases out of ten, the right +impressions. I liked Naomi Colebrook at first sight; liked her pleasant +smile; liked her hearty shake of the hand when we were presented to +each other. "If I get on well with nobody else in this house," I +thought to myself, "I shall certainly get on well with _you_." + +For once in a way, I proved a true prophet. In the atmosphere of +smoldering enmities at Morwick Farm, the pretty American girl and I +remained firm and true friends from first to last. Ambrose made room +for Naomi to sit between his brother and himself. She changed color for +a moment, and looked at him, with a pretty, reluctant tenderness, as +she took her chair. I strongly suspected the young farmer of squeezing +her hand privately, under cover of the tablecloth. + +The supper was not a merry one. The only cheerful conversation was the +conversation across the table between Naomi and me. + +For some incomprehensible reason, John Jago seemed to be ill at ease in +the presence of his young countrywoman. He looked up at Naomi +doubtingly from his plate, and looked down again slowly with a frown. +When I addressed him, he answered constrainedly. Even when he spoke to +Mr. Meadowcroft, he was still on his guard--on his guard against the +two young men, as I fancied by the direction which his eyes took on +these occasions. When we began our meal, I had noticed for the first +time that Silas Meadowcroft's left hand was strapped up with surgical +plaster; and I now further observed that John Jago's wandering brown +eyes, furtively looking at everybody round the table in turn, looked +with a curious, cynical scrutiny at the young man's injured hand. + +By way of making my first evening at the farm all the more embarrassing +to me as a stranger, I discovered before long that the father and sons +were talking indirectly _at_ each other, through Mr. Jago and through +me. When old Mr. Meadowcroft spoke disparagingly to his overlooker of +some past mistake made in the cultivation of the arable land of the +farm, old Mr. Meadowcroft's eyes pointed the application of his hostile +criticism straight in the direction of his two sons When the two sons +seized a stray remark of mine about animals in general, and applied it +satirically to the mismanagement of sheep and oxen in particular, they +looked at John Jago, while they talked to me. On occasions of this +sort--and they happened frequently--Naomi struck in resolutely at the +right moment, and turned the talk to some harmless topic. Every time +she took a prominent part in this way in keeping the peace, melancholy +Miss Meadowcroft looked slowly round at her in stern and silent +disparagement of her interference. A more dreary and more disunited +family party I never sat at the table with. Envy, hatred, malice and +uncharitableness are never so essentially detestable to my mind as when +they are animated by a sense of propriety, and work under the surface. +But for my interest in Naomi, and my other interest in the little +love-looks which I now and then surprised passing between her and +Ambrose, I should never have sat through that supper. I should +certainly have taken refuge in my French novel and my own room. + +At last the unendurably long meal, served with ostentatious profusion, +was at an end. Miss Meadowcroft rose with her ghostly solemnity, and +granted me my dismissal in these words: + +"We are early people at the farm, Mr. Lefrank. I wish you good-night." + +She laid her bony hands on the back of Mr. Meadowcroft's invalid-chair, +cut him short in his farewell salutation to me, and wheeled him out to +his bed as if she were wheeling him out to his grave. + +"Do you go to your room immediately, sir? If not, may I offer you a +cigar--provided the young gentlemen will permit it?" + +So, picking his words with painful deliberation, and pointing his +reference to "the young gentlemen" with one sardonic side-look at them, +Mr. John Jago performed the duties of hospitality on his side. I +excused myself from accepting the cigar. With studied politeness, the +man of the glittering brown eyes wished me a goodnight's rest, and left +the room. + +Ambrose and Silas both approached me hospitably, with their open +cigar-cases in their hands. + +"You were quite right to say 'No,'" Ambrose began. "Never smoke with +John Jago. His cigars will poison you." + +"And never believe a word John Jago says to you," added Silas. "He is +the greatest liar in America, let the other be whom he may." + +Naomi shook her forefinger reproachfully at them, as if the two sturdy +young farmers had been two children. + +"What will Mr. Lefrank think," she said, "if you talk in that way of a +person whom your father respects and trusts? Go and smoke. I am ashamed +of both of you." + +Silas slunk away without a word of protest. Ambrose stood his ground, +evidently bent on making his peace with Naomi before he left her. + +Seeing that I was in the way, I walked aside toward a glass door at the +lower end of the room. The door opened on the trim little farm-garden, +bathed at that moment in lovely moonlight. I stepped out to enjoy the +scene, and found my way to a seat under an elm-tree. The grand repose +of nature had never looked so unutterably solemn and beautiful as it +now appeared, after what I had seen and heard inside the house. I +understood, or thought I understood, the sad despair of humanity which +led men into monasteries in the old times. The misanthropical side of +my nature (where is the sick man who is not conscious of that side of +him?) was fast getting the upper hand of me when I felt a light touch +laid on my shoulder, and found myself reconciled to my species once +more by Naomi Colebrook. + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE MOONLIGHT MEETING. + +"I WANT to speak to you," Naomi began "You don't think ill of me for +following you out here? We are not accustomed to stand much on ceremony +in America." + +"You are quite right in America. Pray sit down." + +She seated herself by my side, looking at me frankly and fearlessly by +the light of the moon. + +"You are related to the family here," she resumed, "and I am related +too. I guess I may say to you what I couldn't say to a stranger. I am +right glad you have come here, Mr. Lefrank; and for a reason, sir, +which you don't suspect." + +"Thank you for the compliment you pay me, Miss Colebrook, whatever the +reason may be." + +She took no notice of my reply; she steadily pursued her own train of +thought. + +"I guess you may do some good, sir, in this wretched house," the girl +went on, with her eyes still earnestly fixed on my face. "There is no +love, no trust, no peace, at Morwick Farm. They want somebody here, +except Ambrose. Don't think ill of Ambrose; he is only thoughtless. I +say, the rest of them want somebody here to make them ashamed of their +hard hearts, and their horrid, false, envious ways. You are a +gentleman; you know more than they know; they can't help themselves; +they must look up to _you_. Try, Mr. Lefrank, when you have the +opportunity--pray try, sir, to make peace among them. You heard what +went on at supper-time; and you were disgusted with it. Oh yes, you +were! I saw you frown to yourself; and I know what _that_ means in you +Englishmen." + +There was no choice but to speak one's mind plainly to Naomi. I +acknowledged the impression which had been produced on me at +supper-time just as plainly as I have acknowledged it in these pages. +Naomi nodded her head in undisguised approval of my candor. + +"That will do, that's speaking out," she said. "But--oh my! you put it +a deal too mildly, sir, when you say the men don't seem to be on +friendly terms together here. They hate each other. That's the word, +Mr. Lefrank--hate; bitter, bitter, bitter hate!" She clinched her +little fists; she shook them vehemently, by way of adding emphasis to +her last words; and then she suddenly remembered Ambrose. "Except +Ambrose," she added, opening her hand again, and laying it very +earnestly on my arm. "Don't go and misjudge Ambrose, sir. There is no +harm in poor Ambrose." + +The girl's innocent frankness was really irresistible. + +"Should I be altogether wrong," I asked, "if I guessed that you were a +little partial to Ambrose?" + +An Englishwoman would have felt, or would at least have assumed, some +little hesitation at replying to my question. Naomi did not hesitate +for an instant. + +"You are quite right, sir," she said with the most perfect composure. +"If things go well, I mean to marry Ambrose." + +"If things go well," I repeated. "What does that mean? Money?" + +She shook her head. + +"It means a fear that I have in my own mind," she answered--"a fear, +Mr. Lefrank, of matters taking a bad turn among the men here--the +wicked, hard-hearted, unfeeling men. I don't mean Ambrose, sir; I mean +his brother Silas, and John Jago. Did you notice Silas's hand? John +Jago did that, sir, with a knife." + +"By accident?" I asked. + +"On purpose," she answered. "In return for a blow." + +This plain revelation of the state of things at Morwick Farm rather +staggered me--blows and knives under the rich and respectable roof-tree +of old Mr. Meadowcroft--blows and knives, not among the laborers, but +among the masters! My first impression was like _your_ first +impression, no doubt. I could hardly believe it. + +"Are you sure of what you say?" I inquired. + +"I have it from Ambrose. Ambrose would never deceive me. Ambrose knows +all about it." + +My curiosity was powerfully excited. To what sort of household had I +rashly voyaged across the ocean in search of rest and quiet? + +"May I know all about it too?" I said. + +"Well, I will try and tell you what Ambrose told me. But you must +promise me one thing first, sir. Promise you won't go away and leave us +when you know the whole truth. Shake hands on it, Mr. Lefrank; come, +shake hands on it." + +There was no resisting her fearless frankness. I shook hands on it. +Naomi entered on her narrative the moment I had given her my pledge, +without wasting a word by way of preface. + +"When you are shown over the farm here," she began, "you will see that +it is really two farms in one. On this side of it, as we look from +under this tree, they raise crops: on the other side--on much the +larger half of the land, mind--they raise cattle. When Mr. Meadowcroft +got too old and too sick to look after his farm himself, the boys (I +mean Ambrose and Silas) divided the work between them. Ambrose looked +after the crops, and Silas after the cattle. Things didn't go well, +somehow, under their management. I can't tell you why. I am only sure +Ambrose was not in fault. The old man got more and more dissatisfied, +especially about his beasts. His pride is in his beasts. Without saying +a word to the boys, he looked about privately (_I_ think he was wrong +in that, sir; don't you?)--he looked about privately for help; and, in +an evil hour, he heard of John Jago. Do you like John Jago, Mr. +Lefrank?" + +"So far, no. I don't like him." + +"Just my sentiments, sir. But I don't know: it's likely we may be +wrong. There's nothing against John Jago, except that he is so odd in +his ways. They do say he wears all that nasty hair on his face (I hate +hair on a man's face) on account of a vow he made when he lost his +wife. Don't you think, Mr. Lefrank, a man must be a little mad who +shows his grief at losing his wife by vowing that he will never shave +himself again? Well, that's what they do say John Jago vowed. Perhaps +it's a lie. People are such liars here! Anyway, it's truth (the boys +themselves confess _that_), when John came to the farm, he came with a +first-rate character. The old father here isn't easy to please; and he +pleased the old father. Yes, that's so. Mr. Meadowcroft don't like my +countrymen in general. He's like his sons--English, bitter English, to +the marrow of his bones. Somehow, in spite of that, John Jago got round +him; maybe because John does certainly know his business. Oh yes! +Cattle and crops, John knows his business. Since he's been overlooker, +things have prospered as they didn't prosper in the time of the boys. +Ambrose owned as much to me himself. Still, sir, it's hard to be set +aside for a stranger; isn't it? John gives the orders now. The boys do +their work; but they have no voice in it when John and the old man put +their heads together over the business of the farm. I have been long in +telling you of it, sir, but now you know how the envy and the hatred +grew among the men before my time. Since I have been here, things seem +to get worse and worse. There's hardly a day goes by that hard words +don't pass between the boys and John, or the boys and their father. The +old man has an aggravating way, Mr. Lefrank--a nasty way, as we do call +it--of taking John Jago's part. Do speak to him about it when you get +the chance. The main blame of the quarrel between Silas and John the +other day lies at his door, as I think. I don't want to excuse Silas, +either. It was brutal of him--though he _is_ Ambrose's brother--to +strike John, who is the smaller and weaker man of the two. But it was +worse than brutal in John, sir, to out with his knife and try to stab +Silas. Oh, he did it! If Silas had not caught the knife in his hand +(his hand's awfully cut, I can tell you; I dressed it myself), it might +have ended, for anything I know, in murder--" + +She stopped as the word passed her lips, looked back over her shoulder, +and started violently. + +I looked where my companion was looking. The dark figure of a man was +standing, watching us, in the shadow of the elm-tree. I rose directly +to approach him. Naomi recovered her self-possession, and checked me +before I could interfere. + +"Who are you?" she asked, turning sharply toward the stranger. "What do +you want there?" + +The man stepped out from the shadow into the moonlight, and stood +revealed to us as John Jago. + +"I hope I am not intruding?" he said, looking hard at me. + +"What do you want?" Naomi repeated. + +"I don't wish to disturb you, or to disturb this gentleman," he +proceeded. "When you are quite at leisure, Miss Naomi, you would be +doing me a favor if you would permit me to say a few words to you in +private." + +He spoke with the most scrupulous politeness; trying, and trying +vainly, to conceal some strong agitation which was in possession of +him. His wild brown eyes--wilder than ever in the moonlight--rested +entreatingly, with a strange underlying expression of despair, on +Naomi's face. His hands, clasped lightly in front of him, trembled +incessantly. Little as I liked the man, he did really impress me as a +pitiable object at that moment. + +"Do you mean that you want to speak to me to-night?" Naomi asked, in +undisguised surprise. + +"Yes, miss, if you please, at your leisure and at Mr. Lefrank's." + +Naomi hesitated. + +"Won't it keep till to-morrow?" she said. + +"I shall be away on farm business to-morrow, miss, for the whole day. +Please to give me a few minutes this evening." He advanced a step +toward her; his voice faltered, and dropped timidly to a whisper. "I +really have something to say to you, Miss Naomi. It would be a kindness +on your part--a very, very great kindness--if you will let me say it +before I rest to-night." + +I rose again to resign my place to him. Once more Naomi checked me. + +"No," she said. "Don't stir." She addressed John Jago very reluctantly: +"If you are so much in earnest about it, Mr. John, I suppose it must +be. I can't guess what _you_ can possibly have to say to me which +cannot be said before a third person. However, it wouldn't be civil, I +suppose, to say 'No' in my place. You know it's my business to wind up +the hall-clock at ten every night. If you choose to come and help me, +the chances are that we shall have the hall to ourselves. Will that +do?" + +"Not in the hall, miss, if you will excuse me." + +"Not in the hall!" + +"And not in the house either, if I may make so bold." + +"What do you mean?" She turned impatiently, and appealed to me. "Do +_you_ understand him?" + +John Jago signed to me imploringly to let him answer for himself. + +"Bear with me, Miss Naomi," he said. "I think I can make you understand +me. There are eyes on the watch, and ears on the watch, in the house; +and there are some footsteps--I won't say whose--so soft, that no +person can hear them." + +The last allusion evidently made itself understood. Naomi stopped him +before he could say more. + +"Well, where is it to be?" she asked, resignedly. "Will the garden do, +Mr. John?" + +"Thank you kindly, miss; the garden will do." He pointed to a +gravel-walk beyond us, bathed in the full flood of the moonlight. +"There," he said, "where we can see all round us, and be sure that +nobody is listening. At ten o'clock." He paused, and addressed himself +to me. "I beg to apologize, sir, for intruding myself on your +conversation. Please to excuse me." + +His eyes rested with a last anxious, pleading look on Naomi's face. He +bowed to us, and melted away into the shadow of the tree. The distant +sound of a door closed softly came to us through the stillness of the +night. John Jago had re-entered the house. + +Now that he was out of hearing, Naomi spoke to me very earnestly: + +"Don't suppose, sir, I have any secrets with _him_," she said. "I know +no more than you do what he wants with me. I have half a mind not to +keep the appointment when ten o'clock comes. What would you do in my +place?" + +"Having made the appointment," I answered, "it seems to be due to +yourself to keep it. If you feel the slightest alarm, I will wait in +another part of the garden, so that I can hear if you call me." + +She received my proposal with a saucy toss of the head, and a smile of +pity for my ignorance. + +"You are a stranger, Mr. Lefrank, or you would never talk to me in that +way. In America, we don't do the men the honor of letting them alarm +us. In America, the women take care of themselves. He has got my +promise to meet him, as you say; and I must keep my promise. Only +think," she added, speaking more to herself than to me, "of John Jago +finding out Miss Meadowcroft's nasty, sly, underhand ways in the house! +Most men would never have noticed her." + +I was completely taken by surprise. Sad and severe Miss Meadowcroft a +listener and a spy! What next at Morwick Farm? + +"Was that hint at the watchful eyes and ears, and the soft footsteps, +really an allusion to Mr. Meadowcroft's daughter?" I asked. + +"Of course it was. Ah! she has imposed on you as she imposes on +everybody else. The false wretch! She is secretly at the bottom of half +the bad feeling among the men. I am certain of it--she keeps Mr. +Meadowcroft's mind bitter toward the boys. Old as she is, Mr. Lefrank, +and ugly as she is, she wouldn't object (if she could only make him ask +her) to be John Jago's second wife. No, sir; and she wouldn't break her +heart if the boys were not left a stick or a stone on the farm when the +father dies. I have watched her, and I know it. Ah! I could tell you +such things! But there's no time now--it's close on ten o'clock; we +must say good-night. I am right glad I have spoken to you, sir. I say +again, at parting, what I have said already: Use your influence, pray +use your influence, to soften them, and to make them ashamed of +themselves, in this wicked house. We will have more talk about what you +can do to-morrow, when you are shown over the farm. Say good-by now. +Hark! there is ten striking! And look! here is John Jago stealing out +again in the shadow of the tree! Good-night, friend Lefrank; and +pleasant dreams." + +With one hand she took mine, and pressed it cordially; with the other +she pushed me away without ceremony in the direction of the house. A +charming girl--an irresistible girl! I was nearly as bad as the boys. I +declare, _I_ almost hated John Jago, too, as we crossed each other in +the shadow of the tree. + +Arrived at the glass door, I stopped and looked back at the gravelwalk. + +They had met. I saw the two shadowy figures slowly pacing backward and +forward in the moonlight, the woman a little in advance of the man. +What was he saying to her? Why was he so anxious that not a word of it +should be heard? Our presentiments are sometimes, in certain rare +cases, the faithful prophecy of the future. A vague distrust of that +moonlight meeting stealthily took a hold on my mind. "Will mischief +come of it?" I asked myself as I closed the door and entered the house. + +Mischief _did_ come of it. You shall hear how. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE BEECHEN STICK. + +PERSONS of sensitive, nervous temperament, sleeping for the first time +in a strange house, and in a bed that is new to them, must make up +their minds to pass a wakeful night. My first night at Morwick Farm was +no exception to this rule. The little sleep I had was broken and +disturbed by dreams. Toward six o'clock in the morning, my bed became +unendurable to me. The sun was shining in brightly at the window. I +determined to try the reviving influence of a stroll in the fresh +morning air. + +Just as I got out of bed, I heard footsteps and voices under my window. + +The footsteps stopped, and the voices became recognizable. I had passed +the night with my window open; I was able, without exciting notice from +below, to look out. + +The persons beneath me were Silas Meadowcroft, John Jago, and three +strangers, whose dress and appearance indicated plainly enough that +they were laborers on the farm. Silas was swinging a stout beechen +stick in his hand, and was speaking to Jago, coarsely and insolently +enough, of his moonlight meeting with Naomi on the previous night. + +"Next time you go courting a young lady in secret," said Silas, "make +sure that the moon goes down first, or wait for a cloudy sky. You were +seen in the garden, Master Jago; and you may as well tell us the truth +for once in a way. Did you find her open to persuasion, sir? Did she +say 'Yes?'" + +John Jago kept his temper. + +"If you must have your joke, Mr. Silas," he said, quietly and firmly, +"be pleased to joke on some other subject. You are quite wrong, sir, in +what you suppose to have passed between the young lady and me." + +Silas turned about, and addressed himself ironically to the three +laborers. + +"You hear him, boys? He can't tell the truth, try him as you may. He +wasn't making love to Naomi in the garden last night--oh dear, no! He +has had one wife already; and he knows better than to take the yoke on +his shoulders for the second time!" + +Greatly to my surprise, John Jago met this clumsy jesting with a formal +and serious reply. + +"You are quite right, sir," he said. "I have no intention of marrying +for the second time. What I was saying to Miss Naomi doesn't matter to +you. It was not at all what you choose to suppose; it was something of +quite another kind, with which you have no concern. Be pleased to +understand once for all, Mr. Silas, that not so much as the thought of +making love to the young lady has ever entered my head. I respect her; +I admire her good qualities; but if she was the only woman left in the +world, and if I was a much younger man than I am, I should never think +of asking her to be my wife." He burst out suddenly into a harsh, +uneasy laugh. "No, no! not my style, Mr. Silas--not my style!" + +Something in those words, or in his manner of speaking them, appeared +to exasperate Silas. He dropped his clumsy irony, and addressed himself +directly to John Jago in a tone of savage contempt. + +"Not your style?" he repeated. "Upon my soul, that's a cool way of +putting it, for a man in your place! What do you mean by calling her +'not your style?' You impudent beggar! Naomi Colebrook is meat for your +master!" + +John Jago's temper began to give way at last. He approached defiantly a +step or two nearer to Silas Meadowcroft. + +"Who is my master?" he asked. + +"Ambrose will show you, if you go to him," answered the other. "Naomi +is _his_ sweetheart, not mine. Keep out of his way, if you want to keep +a whole skin on your bones." + +John Jago cast one of his sardonic side-looks at the farmer's wounded +left hand. "Don't forget your own skin, Mr. Silas, when you threaten +mine! I have set my mark on you once, sir. Let me by on my business, or +I may mark you for a second time." + +Silas lifted his beechen stick. The laborers, roused to some rude sense +of the serious turn which the quarrel was taking, got between the two +men, and parted them. I had been hurriedly dressing myself while the +altercation was proceeding; and I now ran downstairs to try what my +influence could do toward keeping the peace at Morwick Farm. + +The war of angry words was still going on when I joined the men +outside. + +"Be off with you on your business, you cowardly hound!" I heard Silas +say. "Be off with you to the town! and take care you don't meet Ambrose +on the way!" + +"Take _you_ care you don't feel my knife again before I go!" cried the +other man. + +Silas made a desperate effort to break away from the laborers who were +holding him. + +"Last time you only felt my fist!" he shouted "Next time you shall feel +_this!_" + +He lifted the stick as he spoke. I stepped up and snatched it out of +his hand. + +"Mr. Silas," I said, "I am an invalid, and I am going out for a walk. +Your stick will be useful to me. I beg leave to borrow it." + +The laborers burst out laughing. Silas fixed his eyes on me with a +stare of angry surprise. John Jago, immediately recovering his +self-possession, took off his hat, and made me a deferential bow. + +"I had no idea, Mr. Lefrank, that we were disturbing you," he said. "I +am very much ashamed of myself, sir. I beg to apologize." + +"I accept your apology, Mr. Jago," I answered, "on the understanding +that you, as the older man, will set the example of forbearance if your +temper is tried on any future occasion as it has been tried today. And +I have further to request," I added, addressing myself to Silas, "that +you will do me a favor, as your father's guest. The next time your good +spirits lead you into making jokes at Mr. Jago's expense, don't carry +them quite so far. I am sure you meant no harm, Mr. Silas. Will you +gratify me by saying so yourself? I want to see you and Mr. Jago shake +hands." + +John Jago instantly held out his hand, with an assumption of good +feeling which was a little overacted, to my thinking. Silas Meadowcroft +made no advance of the same friendly sort on his side. + +"Let him go about his business," said Silas. "I won't waste any more +words on him, Mr. Lefrank, to please _you_. But (saving your presence) +I'm d--d if I take his hand!" + +Further persuasion was plainly useless, addressed to such a man as +this. Silas gave me no further opportunity of remonstrating with him, +even if I had been inclined to do so. He turned about in sulky silence, +and, retracing his steps along the path, disappeared round the corner +of the house. The laborers withdrew next, in different directions, to +begin the day's, work. John Jago and I were alone. + +I left it to the man of the wild brown eyes to speak first. + +"In half an hour's time, sir," he said, "I shall be going on business +to Narrabee, our market-town here. Can I take any letters to the post +for you? or is there anything else that I can do in the town?" + +I thanked him, and declined both proposals. He made me another +deferential bow, and withdrew into the house. I mechanically followed +the path in the direction which Silas had taken before me. + +Turning the corner of the house, and walking on for a little way, I +found myself at the entrance to the stables, and face to face with +Silas Meadowcroft once more. He had his elbows on the gate of the yard, +swinging it slowly backward and forward, and turning and twisting a +straw between his teeth. When he saw me approaching him, he advanced a +step from the gate, and made an effort to excuse himself, with a very +ill grace. + +"No offense, mister. Ask me what you will besides, and I'll do it for +you. But don't ask me to shake hands with John Jago; I hate him too +badly for that. If I touched him with one hand, sir, I tell you this, I +should throttle him with the other." + +"That's your feeling toward the man, Mr. Silas, is it?" + +"That's my feeling, Mr. Lefrank; and I'm not ashamed of it either." + +"Is there any such place as a church in your neighborhood, Mr. Silas?" + +"Of course there is." + +"And do you ever go to it?" + +"Of course I do." + +"At long intervals, Mr. Silas?" + +"Every Sunday, sir, without fail." + +Some third person behind me burst out laughing; some third person had +been listening to our talk. I turned round, and discovered Ambrose +Meadowcroft. + +"I understand the drift of your catechism, sir, though my brother +doesn't," he said. "Don't be hard on Silas, sir. He isn't the only +Christian who leaves his Christianity in the pew when he goes out of +church. You will never make us friends with John Jago, try as you may. +Why, what have you got there, Mr. Lefrank? May I die if it isn't my +stick! I have been looking for it everywhere!" + +The thick beechen stick had been feeling uncomfortably heavy in my +invalid hand for some time past. There was no sort of need for my +keeping it any longer. John Jago was going away to Narrabee, and Silas +Meadowcroft's savage temper was subdued to a sulky repose. I handed the +stick back to Ambrose. He laughed as he took it from me. + +"You can't think how strange it feels, Mr. Lefrank, to be out without +one's stick," he said. "A man gets used to his stick, sir; doesn't he? +Are you ready for your breakfast?" + +"Not just yet. I thought of taking a little walk first." + +"All right, sir. I wish I could go with you; but I have got my work to +do this morning, and Silas has his work too. If you go back by the way +you came, you will find yourself in the garden. If you want to go +further, the wicket-gate at the end will lead you into the lane." + +Through sheer thoughtlessness, I did a very foolish thing. I turned +back as I was told, and left the brothers together at the gate of the +stable-yard. + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE NEWS FROM NARRABEE. + +ARRIVED at the garden, a thought struck me. The cheerful speech and +easy manner of Ambrose plainly indicated that he was ignorant thus far +of the quarrel which had taken place under my window. Silas might +confess to having taken his brother's stick, and might mention whose +head he had threatened with it. It was not only useless, but +undesirable, that Ambrose should know of the quarrel. I retraced my +steps to the stable-yard. Nobody was at the gate. I called alternately +to Silas and to Ambrose. Nobody answered. The brothers had gone away to +their work. + +Returning to the garden, I heard a pleasant voice wishing me +"Good-morning." I looked round. Naomi Colebrook was standing at one of +the lower windows of the farm. She had her working apron on, and she +was industriously brightening the knives for the breakfast-table on an +old-fashioned board. A sleek black cat balanced himself on her +shoulder, watching the flashing motion of the knife as she passed it +rapidly to and fro on the leather-covered surface of the board. + +"Come here," she said; "I want to speak to you." + +I noticed, as I approached, that her pretty face was clouded and +anxious. She pushed the cat irritably off her shoulder; she welcomed me +with only the faint reflection of her bright customary smile. + +"I have seen John Jago," she said. "He has been hinting at something +which he says happened under your bedroom window this morning. When I +begged him to explain himself, he only answered, 'Ask Mr. Lefrank; I +must be off to Narrabee.' What does it mean? Tell me right away, sir! +I'm out of temper, and I can't wait!" + +Except that I made the best instead of the worst of it, I told her what +had happened under my window as plainly as I have told it here. She put +down the knife that she was cleaning, and folded her hands before her, +thinking. + +"I wish I had never given John Jago that meeting," she said. "When a +man asks anything of a woman, the woman, I find, mostly repents it if +she says 'Yes.'" + +She made that quaint reflection with a very troubled brow. The +moonlight meeting had left some unwelcome remembrances in her mind. I +saw that as plainly as I saw Naomi herself. + +What had John Jago said to her? I put the question with all needful +delicacy, making my apologies beforehand. + +"I should like to tell _you_," she began, with a strong emphasis on the +last word. + +There she stopped. She turned pale; then suddenly flushed again to the +deepest red. She took up the knife once more, and went on cleaning it +as industriously as ever. + +"I mustn't tell you," she resumed, with her head down over the knife. +"I have promised not to tell anybody. That's the truth. Forget all +about it, sir, as soon as you can. Hush! here's the spy who saw us last +night on the walk and who told Silas!" + +Dreary Miss Meadowcroft opened the kitchen door. She carried an +ostentatiously large Prayer-book; and she looked at Naomi as only a +jealous woman of middle age _can_ look at a younger and prettier woman +than herself. + +"Prayers, Miss Colebrook," she said in her sourest manner. She paused, +and noticed me standing under the window. "Prayers, Mr. Lefrank," she +added, with a look of devout pity, directed exclusively to my address. + +"We will follow you directly, Miss Meadowcroft," said Naomi. + +"I have no desire to intrude on your secrets Miss Colebrook." + +With that acrid answer, our priestess took herself and her Prayer-book +out of the kitchen. I joined Naomi, entering the room by the garden +door. She met me eagerly. "I am not quite easy about something," she +said. "Did you tell me that you left Ambrose and Silas together?" + +"Yes." + +"Suppose Silas tells Ambrose of what happened this morning?" + +The same idea, as I have already mentioned, had occurred to my mind. I +did my best to reassure Naomi. + +"Mr. Jago is out of the way," I replied. "You and I can easily put +things right in his absence." + +She took my arm. + +"Come in to prayers," she said. "Ambrose will be there, and I shall +find an opportunity of speaking to him." + +Neither Ambrose nor Silas was in the breakfast-room when we entered it. +After waiting vainly for ten minutes, Mr. Meadowcroft told his daughter +to read the prayers. Miss Meadowcroft read, thereupon, in the tone of +an injured woman taking the throne of mercy by storm, and insisting on +her rights. Breakfast followed; and still the brothers were absent. +Miss Meadowcroft looked at her father, and said, "From bad to worse, +sir. What did I tell you?" Naomi instantly applied the antidote: "The +boys are no doubt detained over their work, uncle." She turned to me. +"You want to see the farm, Mr. Lefrank. Come and help me to find the +boys." + +For more than an hour we visited one part of the farm after another, +without discovering the missing men. We found them at last near the +outskirts of a small wood, sitting, talking together, on the trunk of a +felled tree. + +Silas rose as we approached, and walked away, without a word of +greeting or apology, into the wood. As he got on his feet, I noticed +that his brother whispered something in his ear; and I heard him +answer, "All right." + +"Ambrose, does that mean you have something to keep a secret from us?" +asked Naomi, approaching her lover with a smile. "Is Silas ordered to +hold his tongue?" + +Ambrose kicked sulkily at the loose stones lying about him. I noticed, +with a certain surprise that his favorite stick was not in his hand, +and was not lying near him. + +"Business," he said in answer to Naomi, not very graciously--"business +between Silas and me. That's what it means, if you must know." + +Naomi went on, woman-like, with her questioning, heedless of the +reception which they might meet with from an irritated man. + +"Why were you both away at prayers and breakfast-time?" she asked next. + +"We had too much to do," Ambrose gruffly replied, "and we were too far +from the house." + +"Very odd," said Naomi. "This has never happened before since I have +been at the farm." + +"Well, live and learn. It has happened now." + +The tone in which he spoke would have warned any man to let him alone. +But warnings which speak by implication only are thrown away on women. +The woman, having still something in her mind to say, said it. + +"Have you seen anything of John Jago this morning?" + +The smoldering ill-temper of Ambrose burst suddenly--why, it was +impossible to guess--into a flame. "How many more questions am I to +answer?" he broke out violently. "Are you the parson putting me through +my catechism? I have seen nothing of John Jago, and I have got my work +to go on with. Will that do for you?" + +He turned with an oath, and followed his brother into the wood. Naomi's +bright eyes looked up at me, flashing with indignation. + +"What does he mean, Mr. Lefrank, by speaking to me in that way? Rude +brute! How dare he do it?" She paused; her voice, look and manner +suddenly changed. "This has never happened before, sir. Has anything +gone wrong? I declare, I shouldn't know Ambrose again, he is so +changed. Say, how does it strike you?" + +I still made the best of a bad case. + +"Something has upset his temper," I said. "The merest trifle, Miss +Colebrook, upsets a man's temper sometimes. I speak as a man, and I +know it. Give him time, and he will make his excuses, and all will be +well again." + +My presentation of the case entirely failed to re-assure my pretty +companion. We went back to the house. Dinner-time came, and the +brothers appeared. Their father spoke to them of their absence from +morning prayers with needless severity, as I thought. They resented the +reproof with needless indignation on their side, and left the room. A +sour smile of satisfaction showed itself on Miss Meadowcroft's thin +lips. She looked at her father; then raised her eyes sadly to the +ceiling, and said, "We can only pray for them, sir." + +Naomi disappeared after dinner. When I saw her again, she had some news +for me. + +"I have been with Ambrose," she said, "and he has begged my pardon. We +have made it up, Mr. Lefrank. Still--still--" + +"Still--_what_, Miss Naomi?" + +"He is not like himself, sir. He denies it; but I can't help thinking +he is hiding something from me." + +The day wore on; the evening came. I returned to my French novel. But +not even Dumas himself could keep my attention to the story. What else +I was thinking of I cannot say. Why I was out of spirits I am unable to +explain. I wished myself back in England: I took a blind, unreasoning +hatred to Morwick Farm. + +Nine o'clock struck; and we all assembled again at supper, with the +exception of John Jago. He was expected back to supper; and we waited +for him a quarter of an hour, by Mr. Meadowcroft's own directions. John +Jago never appeared. + +The night wore on, and still the absent man failed to return. Miss +Meadowcroft volunteered to sit up for him. Naomi eyed her, a little +maliciously I must own, as the two women parted for the night. I +withdrew to my room; and again I was unable to sleep. When sunrise +came, I went out, as before, to breathe the morning air. + +On the staircase I met Miss Meadowcroft ascending to her own room. Not +a curl of her stiff gray hair was disarranged; nothing about the +impenetrable woman betrayed that she had been watching through the +night. + +"Has Mr. Jago not returned?" I asked. + +Miss Meadowcroft slowly shook her head, and frowned at me. + +"We are in the hands of Providence, Mr. Lefrank. Mr. Jago must have +been detained for the night at Narrabee." + +The daily routine of the meals resumed its unalterable course. +Breakfast-time came, and dinner-time came, and no John Jago darkened +the doors of Morwick Farm. Mr. Meadowcroft and his daughter consulted +together, and determined to send in search of the missing man. One of +the more intelligent of the laborers was dispatched to Narrabee to make +inquiries. + +The man returned late in the evening, bringing startling news to the +farm. He had visited all the inns, and all the places of business +resort in Narrabee; he had made endless inquiries in every direction, +with this result--no one had set eyes on John Jago. Everybody declared +that John Jago had not entered the town. + +We all looked at each other, excepting the two brothers, who were +seated together in a dark corner of the room. The conclusion appeared +to be inevitable. John Jago was a lost man. + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE LIMEKILN. + +MR. MEADOWCROFT was the first to speak. "Somebody must find John," he +said. + +"Without losing a moment," added his daughter. + +Ambrose suddenly stepped out of the dark corner of the room. + +"_I_ will inquire," he said. + +Silas followed him. + +"I will go with you," he added. + +Mr. Meadowcroft interposed his authority. + +"One of you will be enough; for the present, at least. Go you, Ambrose. +Your brother may be wanted later. If any accident has happened (which +God forbid!) we may have to inquire in more than one direction. Silas, +you will stay at the farm." + +The brothers withdrew together; Ambrose to prepare for his journey, +Silas to saddle one of the horses for him. Naomi slipped out after +them. Left in company with Mr. Meadowcroft and his daughter (both +devoured by anxiety about the missing man, and both trying to conceal +it under an assumption of devout resignation to circumstances), I need +hardly add that I, too, retired, as soon as it was politely possible +for me to leave the room. Ascending the stairs on my way to my own +quarters, I discovered Naomi half hidden by the recess formed by an +old-fashioned window-seat on the first landing. My bright little friend +was in sore trouble. Her apron was over her face, and she was crying +bitterly. Ambrose had not taken his leave as tenderly as usual. She was +more firmly persuaded than ever that "Ambrose was hiding something from +her." We all waited anxiously for the next day. The next day made the +mystery deeper than ever. + +The horse which had taken Ambrose to Narrabee was ridden back to the +farm by a groom from the hotel. He delivered a written message from +Ambrose which startled us. Further inquiries had positively proved that +the missing man had never been near Narrabee. The only attainable +tidings of his whereabouts were tidings derived from vague report. It +was said that a man like John Jago had been seen the previous day in a +railway car, traveling on the line to New York. Acting on this +imperfect information, Ambrose had decided on verifying the truth of +the report by extending his inquiries to New York. + +This extraordinary proceeding forced the suspicion on me that something +had really gone wrong. I kept my doubts to myself; but I was prepared, +from that moment, to see the disappearance of John Jago followed by +very grave results. + +The same day the results declared themselves. + +Time enough had now elapsed for report to spread through the district +the news of what had happened at the farm. Already aware of the bad +feeling existing between the men, the neighbors had been now informed +(no doubt by the laborers present) of the deplorable scene that had +taken place under my bedroom window. Public opinion declares itself in +America without the slightest reserve, or the slightest care for +consequences. Public opinion declared on this occasion that the lost +man was the victim of foul play, and held one or both of the brothers +Meadowcroft responsible for his disappearance. Later in the day, the +reasonableness of this serious view of the case was confirmed in the +popular mind by a startling discovery. It was announced that a +Methodist preacher lately settled at Morwick, and greatly respected +throughout the district, had dreamed of John Jago in the character of a +murdered man, whose bones were hidden at Morwick Farm. Before night the +cry was general for a verification of the preacher's dream. Not only in +the immediate district, but in the town of Narrabee itself, the public +voice insisted on the necessity of a search for the mortal remains of +John Jago at Morwick Farm. + +In the terrible turn which matters had now taken, Mr. Meadowcroft the +elder displayed a spirit and an energy for which I was not prepared. + +"My sons have their faults," he said, "serious faults; and nobody knows +it better than I do. My sons have behaved badly and ungratefully toward +John Jago; I don't deny that, either. But Ambrose and Silas are not +murderers. Make your search! I ask for it; no, I insist on it, after +what has been said, in justice to my family and my name!" + +The neighbors took him at his word. The Morwick section of the American +nation organized itself on the spot. The sovereign people met in +committee, made speeches, elected competent persons to represent the +public interests, and began the search the next day. The whole +proceeding, ridiculously informal from a legal point of view, was +carried on by these extraordinary people with as stern and strict a +sense of duty as if it had been sanctioned by the highest tribunal in +the land. + +Naomi met the calamity that had fallen on the household as resolutely +as her uncle himself. The girl's courage rose with the call which was +made on it. Her one anxiety was for Ambrose. + +"He ought to be here," she said to me. "The wretches in this +neighborhood are wicked enough to say that his absence is a confession +of his guilt." + +She was right. In the present temper of the popular mind, the absence +of Ambrose was a suspicious circumstance in itself. + +"We might telegraph to New York," I suggested, "if you only knew where +a message would be likely to find him." + +"I know the hotel which the Meadowcrofts use at New York," she replied. +"I was sent there, after my father's death, to wait till Miss +Meadowcroft could take me to Morwick." + +We decided on telegraphing to the hotel. I was writing the message, and +Naomi was looking over my shoulder, when we were startled by a strange +voice speaking close behind us. + +"Oh! that's his address, is it?" said the voice. "We wanted his address +rather badly." + +The speaker was a stranger to me. Naomi recognized him as one of the +neighbors. + +"What do you want his address for?" she asked, sharply. + +"I guess we've found the mortal remains of John Jago, miss," the man +replied. "We have got Silas already, and we want Ambrose too, on +suspicion of murder." + +"It's a lie!" cried Naomi, furiously--"a wicked lie!" + +The man turned to me. + +"Take her into the next room, mister," he said, "and let her see for +herself." + +We went together into the next room. + +In one corner, sitting by her father, and holding his hand, we saw +stern and stony Miss Meadowcroft weeping silently. Opposite to them, +crouched on the window-seat, his eyes wandering, his hands hanging +helpless, we next discovered Silas Meadowcroft, plainly self-betrayed +as a panic-stricken man. A few of the persons who had been engaged in +the search were seated near, watching him. The mass of the strangers +present stood congregated round a table in the middle of the room They +drew aside as I approached with Naomi and allowed us to have a clear +view of certain objects placed on the table. + +The center object of the collection was a little heap of charred bones. +Round this were ranged a knife, two metal buttons, and a stick +partially burned. The knife was recognized by the laborers as the +weapon John Jago habitually carried about with him--the weapon with +which he had wounded Silas Meadowcroft's hand. The buttons Naomi +herself declared to have a peculiar pattern on them, which had formerly +attracted her attention to John Jago's coat. As for the stick, burned +as it was, I had no difficulty in identifying the quaintly-carved knob +at the top. It was the heavy beechen stick which I had snatched out of +Silas's hand, and which I had restored to Ambrose on his claiming it as +his own. In reply to my inquiries, I was informed that the bones, the +knife, the buttons and the stick had all been found together in a +limekiln then in use on the farm. + +"Is it serious?" Naomi whispered to me as we drew back from the table. + +It would have been sheer cruelty to deceive her now. + +"Yes," I whispered back; "it is serious." + +The search committee conducted its proceedings with the strictest +regularity. The proper applications were made forthwith to a justice of +the peace, and the justice issued his warrant. That night Silas was +committed to prison; and an officer was dispatched to arrest Ambrose in +New York. + +For my part, I did the little I could to make myself useful. With the +silent sanction of Mr. Meadowcroft and his daughter, I went to +Narrabee, and secured the best legal assistance for the defense which +the town could place at my disposal. This done, there was no choice but +to wait for news of Ambrose, and for the examination before the +magistrate which was to follow. I shall pass over the misery in the +house during the interval of expectation; no useful purpose could be +served by describing it now. Let me only say that Naomi's conduct +strengthened me in the conviction that she possessed a noble nature. I +was unconscious of the state of my own feelings at the time; but I am +now disposed to think that this was the epoch at which I began to envy +Ambrose the wife whom he had won. + +The telegraph brought us our first news of Ambrose. He had been +arrested at the hotel, and he was on his way to Morwick. The next day +he arrived, and followed his brother to prison. The two were confined +in separate cells, and were forbidden all communication with each +other. + +Two days later, the preliminary examination took place. Ambrose and +Silas Meadowcroft were charged before the magistrate with the willful +murder of John Jago. I was cited to appear as one of the witnesses; +and, at Naomi's own request, I took the poor girl into court, and sat +by her during the proceedings. My host also was present in his +invalid-chair, with his daughter by his side. + +Such was the result of my voyage across the ocean in search of rest and +quiet; and thus did time and chance fulfill my first hasty foreboding +of the dull life I was to lead at Morwick Farm! + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE MATERIALS IN THE DEFENSE. + +ON our way to the chairs allotted to us in the magistrate's court, we +passed the platform on which the prisoners were standing together. + +Silas took no notice of us. Ambrose made a friendly sign of +recognition, and then rested his hand on the "bar" in front of him. As +she passed beneath him, Naomi was just tall enough to reach his hand on +tiptoe. She took it. "I know you are innocent," she whispered, and gave +him one look of loving encouragement as she followed me to her place. +Ambrose never lost his self-control. I may have been wrong; but I +thought this a bad sign. + +The case, as stated for the prosecution, told strongly against the +suspected men. + +Ambrose and Silas Meadowcroft were charged with the murder of John Jago +(by means of the stick or by use of some other weapon), and with the +deliberate destruction of the body by throwing it into the quicklime. +In proof of this latter assertion, the knife which the deceased +habitually carried about him, and the metal buttons which were known to +belong to his coat, were produced. It was argued that these +indestructible substances, and some fragments of the larger bones had +alone escaped the action of the burning lime. Having produced medical +witnesses to support this theory by declaring the bones to be human, +and having thus circumstantially asserted the discovery of the remains +in the kiln, the prosecution next proceeded to prove that the missing +man had been murdered by the two brothers, and had been by them thrown +into the quicklime as a means of concealing their guilt. + +Witness after witness deposed to the inveterate enmity against the +deceased displayed by Ambrose and Silas. The threatening language they +habitually used toward him; their violent quarrels with him, which had +become a public scandal throughout the neighborhood, and which had +ended (on one occasion at least) in a blow; the disgraceful scene which +had taken place under my window; and the restoration to Ambrose, on the +morning of the fatal quarrel, of the very stick which had been found +among the remains of the dead man--these facts and events, and a host +of minor circumstances besides, sworn to by witnesses whose credit was +unimpeachable, pointed with terrible directness to the conclusion at +which the prosecution had arrived. + +I looked at the brothers as the weight of the evidence pressed more and +more heavily against them. To outward view at least, Ambrose still +maintained his self-possession. It was far otherwise with Silas. Abject +terror showed itself in his ghastly face; in his great knotty hands, +clinging convulsively to the bar at which he stood; in his staring +eyes, fixed in vacant horror on each witness who appeared. Public +feeling judged him on the spot. There he stood, self-betrayed already, +in the popular opinion, as a guilty man! + +The one point gained in cross-examination by the defense related to the +charred bones. + +Pressed on this point, a majority of the medical witnesses admitted +that their examination had been a hurried one; and that it was just +possible that the bones might yet prove to be the remains of an animal, +and not of a man. The presiding magistrate decided upon this that a +second examination should be made, and that the member of the medical +experts should be increased. + +Here the preliminary proceedings ended. The prisoners were remanded for +three days. + +The prostration of Silas, at the close of the inquiry, was so complete, +that it was found necessary to have two men to support him on his +leaving the court. Ambrose leaned over the bar to speak to Naomi before +he followed the jailer out. "Wait," he whispered, confidently, "till +they hear what I have to say!" Naomi kissed her hand to him +affectionately, and turned to me with the bright tears in her eyes. + +"Why don't they hear what he has to say at once?" she asked. "Anybody +can see that Ambrose is innocent. It's a crying shame, sir, to send him +back to prison. Don't you think so yourself?" + +If I had confessed what I really thought, I should have said that +Ambrose had proved nothing to my mind, except that he possessed rare +powers of self-control. It was impossible to acknowledge this to my +little friend. I diverted her mind from the question of her lover's +innocence by proposing that we should get the necessary order, and +visit him in his prison on the next day. Naomi dried her tears, and +gave me a little grateful squeeze of the hand. + +"Oh my! what a good fellow you are!" cried the outspoken American girl. +"When your time comes to be married, sir, I guess the woman won't +repent saying yes to _you!_" + +Mr. Meadowcroft preserved unbroken silence as we walked back to the +farm on either side of his invalid-chair. His last reserves of +resolution seemed to have given way under the overwhelming strain laid +on them by the proceedings in court. His daughter, in stern indulgence +to Naomi, mercifully permitted her opinion to glimmer on us only +through the medium of quotation from Scripture texts. If the texts +meant anything, they meant that she had foreseen all that had happened; +and that the one sad aspect of the case, to her mind, was the death of +John Jago, unprepared to meet his end. + +I obtained the order of admission to the prison the next morning. + +We found Ambrose still confident of the favorable result, for his +brother and for himself, of the inquiry before the magistrate. He +seemed to be almost as eager to tell, as Naomi was to hear, the true +story of what had happened at the limekiln. The authorities of the +prison--present, of course, at the interview--warned him to remember +that what he said might be taken down in writing, and produced against +him in court. + +"Take it down, gentlemen, and welcome," Ambrose replied. "I have +nothing to fear; I am only telling the truth." + +With that he turned to Naomi, and began his narrative, as nearly as I +can remember, in these words: + +"I may as well make a clean breast of it at starting, my girl. After +Mr. Lefrank left us that morning, I asked Silas how he came by my +stick. In telling me how, Silas also told me of the words that had +passed between him and John Jago under Mr. Lefrank's window. I was +angry and jealous; and I own it freely, Naomi, I thought the worst that +could be thought about you and John." + +Here Naomi stopped him without ceremony. + +"Was that what made you speak to me as you spoke when we found you at +the wood?" she asked. + +"Yes." + +"And was that what made you leave me, when you went away to Narrabee, +without giving me a kiss at parting?" + +"It was." + +"Beg my pardon for it before you say a word more." + +"I beg your pardon." + +"Say you are ashamed of yourself." + +"I am ashamed of myself," Ambrose answered penitently. + +"Now you may go on," said Naomi. "Now I'm satisfied." + +Ambrose went on. + +"We were on our way to the clearing at the other side of the wood while +Silas was talking to me; and, as ill luck would have it, we took the +path that led by the limekiln. Turning the corner, we met John Jago on +his way to Narrabee. I was too angry, I tell you, to let him pass +quietly. I gave him a bit of my mind. His blood was up too, I suppose; +and he spoke out, on his side, as freely as I did. I own I threatened +him with the stick; but I'll swear to it I meant him no harm. You +know--after dressing Silas's hand--that John Jago is ready with his +knife. He comes from out West, where they are always ready with one +weapon or another handy in their pockets. It's likely enough he didn't +mean to harm me, either; but how could I be sure of that? When he +stepped up to me, and showed his weapon, I dropped the stick, and +closed with him. With one hand I wrenched the knife away from him; and +with the other I caught him by the collar of his rotten old coat, and +gave him a shaking that made his bones rattle in his skin. A big piece +of the cloth came away in my hand. I shied it into the quicklime close +by us, and I pitched the knife after the cloth; and, if Silas hadn't +stopped me, I think it's likely I might have shied John Jago himself +into the lime next. As it was, Silas kept hold of me. Silas shouted out +to him, 'Be off with you! and don't come back again, if you don't want +to be burned in the kiln!' He stood looking at us for a minute, +fetching his breath, and holding his torn coat round him. Then he spoke +with a deadly-quiet voice and a deadly-quiet look: 'Many a true word, +Mr. Silas,' he says, 'is spoken in jest. _I shall not come back +again_.' He turned about, and left us. We stood staring at each other +like a couple of fools. 'You don't think he means it?' I says. 'Bosh!' +says Silas. 'He's too sweet on Naomi not to come back.' What's the +matter now, Naomi?" + +I had noticed it too. She started and turned pale, when Ambrose +repeated to her what Silas had said to him. + +"Nothing is the matter," Naomi answered. "Your brother has no right to +take liberties with my name. Go on. Did Silas say any more while he was +about it?" + +"Yes; he looked into the kiln; and he says, 'What made you throw away +the knife, Ambrose?'--'How does a man know why he does anything,' I +says, 'when he does it in a passion?'--'It's a ripping good knife,' +says Silas; 'in your place, I should have kept it.' I picked up the +stick off the ground. 'Who says I've lost it yet?' I answered him; and +with that I got up on the side of the kiln, and began sounding for the +knife, to bring it, you know, by means of the stick, within easy reach +of a shovel, or some such thing. 'Give us your hand,' I says to Silas. +'Let me stretch out a bit and I'll have it in no time.' Instead of +finding the knife, I came nigh to falling myself into the burning lime. +The vapor overpowered me, I suppose. All I know is, I turned giddy, and +dropped the stick in the kiln. I should have followed the stick to a +dead certainty, but for Silas pulling me back by the hand. 'Let it be,' +says Silas. 'If I hadn't had hold of you, John Jago's knife would have +been the death of you, after all!' He led me away by the arm, and we +went on together on the road to the wood. We stopped where you found +us, and sat down on the felled tree. We had a little more talk about +John Jago. It ended in our agreeing to wait and see what happened, and +to keep our own counsel in the meantime. You and Mr. Lefrank came upon +us, Naomi, while we were still talking; and you guessed right when you +guessed that we had a secret from you. You know the secret now." + +There he stopped. I put a question to him--the first that I had asked +yet. + +"Had you or your brother any fear at that time of the charge which has +since been brought against you?" I said. + +"No such thought entered our heads, sir," Ambrose answered. "How could +_we_ foresee that the neighbors would search the kiln, and say what +they have said of us? All we feared was, that the old man might hear of +the quarrel, and be bitterer against us than ever. I was the more +anxious of the two to keep things secret, because I had Naomi to +consider as well as the old man. Put yourself in my place, and you will +own, sir, that the prospect at home was not a pleasant one for _me_, if +John Jago really kept away from the farm, and if it came out that it +was all my doing." + +(This was certainly an explanation of his conduct; but it was not +satisfactory to my mind.) + +"As _you_ believe, then," I went on, "John Jago has carried out his +threat of not returning to the farm? According to you, he is now alive, +and in hiding somewhere?" + +"Certainly!" said Ambrose. + +"Certainly!" repeated Naomi. + +"Do you believe the report that he was seen traveling on the railway to +New York?" + +"I believe it firmly, sir; and, what is more, I believe I was on his +track. I was only too anxious to find him; and I say I could have found +him if they would have let me stay in New York." + +I looked at Naomi. + +"I believe it too," she said. "John Jago is keeping away." + +"Do you suppose he is afraid of Ambrose and Silas?" + +She hesitated. + +"He _may_ be afraid of them," she replied, with a strong emphasis on +the word "may." + +"But you don't think it likely?" + +She hesitated again. I pressed her again. + +"Do you think there is any other motive for his absence?" + +Her eyes dropped to the floor. She answered obstinately, almost +doggedly, + +"I can't say." + +I addressed myself to Ambrose. + +"Have you anything more to tell us?" I asked. + +"No," he said. "I have told you all I know about it." + +I rose to speak to the lawyer whose services I had retained. He had +helped us to get the order of admission, and he had accompanied us to +the prison. Seated apart he had kept silence throughout, attentively +watching the effect of Ambrose Meadowcroft's narrative on the officers +of the prison and on me. + +"Is this the defense?" I inquired, in a whisper. + +"This is the defense, Mr. Lefrank. What do you think, between +ourselves?" + +"Between ourselves, I think the magistrate will commit them for trial." + +"On the charge of murder?" + +"Yes, on the charge of murder." + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE CONFESSION. + +MY replies to the lawyer accurately expressed the conviction in my +mind. The narrative related by Ambrose had all the appearance, in my +eyes, of a fabricated story, got up, and clumsily got up, to pervert +the plain meaning of the circumstantial evidence produced by the +prosecution. I reached this conclusion reluctantly and regretfully, for +Naomi's sake. I said all I could say to shake the absolute confidence +which she felt in the discharge of the prisoners at the next +examination. + +The day of the adjourned inquiry arrived. + +Naomi and I again attended the court together. Mr. Meadowcroft was +unable, on this occasion, to leave the house. His daughter was present, +walking to the court by herself, and occupying a seat by herself. + +On his second appearance at the "bar," Silas was more composed, and +more like his brother. No new witnesses were called by the prosecution. +We began the battle over the medical evidence relating to the charred +bones; and, to some extent, we won the victory. In other words, we +forced the doctors to acknowledge that they differed widely in their +opinions. Three confessed that they were not certain. Two went still +further, and declared that the bones were the bones of an animal, not +of a man. We made the most of this; and then we entered upon the +defense, founded on Ambrose Meadowcroft's story. + +Necessarily, no witnesses could be called on our side. Whether this +circumstance discouraged him, or whether he privately shared my opinion +of his client's statement, I cannot say. It is only certain that the +lawyer spoke mechanically, doing his best, no doubt, but doing it +without genuine conviction or earnestness on his own part. Naomi cast +an anxious glance at me as he sat down. The girl's hand, as I took it, +turned cold in mine. She saw plain signs of the failure of the defense +in the look and manner of the counsel for the prosecution; but she +waited resolutely until the presiding magistrate announced his +decision. I had only too clearly foreseen what he would feel it to be +his duty to do. Naomi's head dropped on my shoulder as he said the +terrible words which committed Ambrose and Silas Meadowcroft to take +their trial on the charge of murder. + +I led her out of the court into the air. As I passed the "bar," I saw +Ambrose, deadly pale, looking after us as we left him: the magistrate's +decision had evidently daunted him. His brother Silas had dropped in +abject terror on the jailer's chair; the miserable wretch shook and +shuddered dumbly, like a cowed dog. + +Miss Meadowcroft returned with us to the farm, preserving unbroken +silence on the way back. I could detect nothing in her bearing which +suggested any compassionate feeling for the prisoners in her stern and +secret nature. On Naomi's withdrawal to her own room, we were left +together for a few minutes; and then, to my astonishment, the outwardly +merciless woman showed me that she, too, was one of Eve's daughters, +and could feel and suffer, in her own hard way, like the rest of us. +She suddenly stepped close up to me, and laid her hand on my arm. + +"You are a lawyer, ain't you?" she asked. + +"Yes." + +"Have you had any experience in your profession?" + +"Ten years' experience." + +"Do _you_ think--" She stopped abruptly; her hard face softened; her +eyes dropped to the ground. "Never mind," she said, confusedly. "I'm +upset by all this misery, though I may not look like it. Don't notice +me." + +She turned away. I waited, in the firm persuasion that the unspoken +question in her mind would sooner or later force its way to utterance +by her lips. I was right. She came back to me unwillingly, like a woman +acting under some influence which the utmost exertion of her will was +powerless to resist. + +"Do _you_ believe John Jago is still a living man?" + +She put the question vehemently, desperately, as if the words rushed +out of her mouth in spite of her. + +"I do _not_ believe it," I answered. + +"Remember what John Jago has suffered at the hands of my brothers," she +persisted. "Is it not in your experience that he should take a sudden +resolution to leave the farm?" + +I replied, as plainly as before, + +"It is _not_ in my experience." + +She stood looking at me for a moment with a face of blank despair; then +bowed her gray head in silence, and left me. As she crossed the room to +the door, I saw her look upward; and I heard her say to herself softly, +between her teeth, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord." + +It was the requiem of John Jago, pronounced by the woman who loved him. + +When I next saw her, her mask was on once more. Miss Meadowcroft was +herself again. Miss Meadowcroft could sit by, impenetrably calm, while +the lawyers discussed the terrible position of her brothers, with the +scaffold in view as one of the possibilities of the "case." + +Left by myself, I began to feel uneasy about Naomi. I went upstairs, +and, knocking softly at her door, made my inquiries from outside. The +clear young voice answered me sadly, "I am trying to bear it: I won't +distress you when we meet again." I descended the stairs, feeling my +first suspicion of the true nature of my interest in the American girl. +Why had her answer brought the tears into my eyes? I went out, walking +alone, to think undisturbedly. Why did the tones of her voice dwell on +my ear all the way? Why did my hand still feel the last cold, faint +pressure of her fingers when I led her out of court? + +I took a sudden resolution to go back to England. + +When I returned to the farm, it was evening. The lamp was not yet +lighted in the hall. Pausing to accustom my eyes to the obscurity +indoors, I heard the voice of the lawyer whom we had employed for the +defense speaking to some one very earnestly. + +"I'm not to blame," said the voice. "She snatched the paper out of my +hand before I was aware of her." + +"Do you want it back?" asked the voice of Miss Meadowcroft. + +"No; it's only copy. If keeping it will help to quiet her, let her keep +it by all means. Good evening." + +Saying these last words, the lawyer approached me on his way out of the +house. I stopped him without ceremony; I felt an ungovernable curiosity +to know more. + +"Who snatched the paper out of your hand?" I asked, bluntly. + +The lawyer started. I had taken him by surprise. The instinct of +professional reticence made him pause before he answered me. + +In the brief interval of silence, Miss Meadowcroft replied to my +question from the other end of the hall. + +"Naomi Colebrook snatched the paper out of his hand." + +"What paper?" + +A door opened softly behind me. Naomi herself appeared on the +threshold; Naomi herself answered my question. + +"I will tell you," she whispered. "Come in here." + +One candle only was burning in the room. I looked at her by the dim +light. My resolution to return to England instantly became one of the +lost ideas of my life. + +"Good God!" I exclaimed, "what has happened now?" + +She handed me the paper which she had taken from the lawyer's hand. + +The "copy" to which he had referred was a copy of the written +confession of Silas Meadowcroft on his return to prison. He accused his +brother Ambrose of the murder of John Jago. He declared on his oath +that he had seen his brother Ambrose commit the crime. + +In the popular phrase, I could "hardly believe my own eyes." I read the +last sentences of the confession for the second time: + +"...I heard their voices at the limekiln. They were having words about +Cousin Naomi. I ran to the place to part them. I was not in time. I saw +Ambrose strike the deceased a terrible blow on the head with his +(Ambrose's) heavy stick. The deceased dropped without a cry. I put my +hand on his heart. He was dead. I was horribly frightened. Ambrose +threatened to kill _me_ next if I said a word to any living soul. He +took up the body and cast it into the quicklime, and threw the stick in +after it. We went on together to the wood. We sat down on a felled tree +outside the wood. Ambrose made up the story that we were to tell if +what he had done was found out. He made me repeat it after him, like a +lesson. We were still at it when Cousin Naomi and Mr. Lefrank came up +to us. They know the rest. This, on my oath, is a true confession. I +make it of my own free-will, repenting me sincerely that I did not make +it before." + +(Signed) + +"SILAS MEADOWCROFT." + + +I laid down the paper, and looked at Naomi once more. She spoke to me +with a strange composure. Immovable determination was in her eye; +immovable determination was in her voice. + +"Silas has lied away his brother's life to save himself," she said. "I +see cowardly falsehood and cowardly cruelty in every line on that +paper. Ambrose is innocent, and the time has come to prove it." + +"You forget," I said, "that we have just failed to prove it." + +"John Jago is alive, in hiding from us and from all who know him," she +went on. "Help me, friend Lefrank, to advertise for him in the +newspapers." + +I drew back from her in speechless distress. I own I believed that the +new misery which had fallen on her had affected her brain. + +"You don't believe it," she said. "Shut the door." + +I obeyed her. She seated herself, and pointed to a chair near her. + +"Sit down," she proceeded. "I am going to do a wrong thing; but there +is no help for it. I am going to break a sacred promise. You remember +that moonlight night when I met him on the garden walk?" + +"John Jago?" + +"Yes. Now listen. I am going to tell you what passed between John Jago +and me." + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE ADVERTISEMENT. + +I WAITED in silence for the disclosure that was now to come. Naomi +began by asking me a question. + +"You remember when we went to see Ambrose in the prison?" she said. + +"Perfectly." + +"Ambrose told us of something which his villain of a brother said of +John Jago and me. Do you remember what it was?" + +I remembered perfectly. Silas had said, "John Jago is too sweet on +Naomi not to come back." + +"That's so," Naomi remarked when I had repeated the words. "I couldn't +help starting when I heard what Silas had said; and I thought you +noticed me." + +"I did notice you." + +"Did you wonder what it meant?" + +"Yes." + +"I'll tell you. It meant this: What Silas Meadowcroft said to his +brother of John Jago was what I myself was thinking of John Jago at +that very moment. It startled me to find my own thought in a man's mind +spoken for me by a man. I am the person, sir, who has driven John Jago +away from Morwick Farm; and I am the person who can and will bring him +back again." + +There was something in her manner, more than in her words, which let +the light in suddenly on my mind. + +"You have told me the secret," I said. "John Jago is in love with you." + +"Mad about me!" she rejoined, dropping her voice to a whisper. "Stark, +staring mad!--that's the only word for him. After we had taken a few +turns on the gravel-walk, he suddenly broke out like a man beside +himself. He fell down on his knees; he kissed my gown, he kissed my +feet; he sobbed and cried for love of me. I'm not badly off for +courage, sir, considering I'm a woman. No man, that I can call to mind, +ever really scared me before. But I own John Jago frightened me; oh my! +he did frighten me! My heart was in my mouth, and my knees shook under +me. I begged and prayed of him to get up and go away. No; there he +knelt, and held by the skirt of my gown. The words poured out from him +like--well, like nothing I can think of but water from a pump. His +happiness and his life, and his hopes in earth and heaven, and Lord +only knows what besides, all depended, he said, on a word from me. I +plucked up spirit enough at that to remind him that I was promised to +Ambrose. 'I think you ought to be ashamed of yourself,' I said, 'to own +that you're wicked enough to love me when you know I am promised to +another man!' When I spoke to him he took a new turn; he began abusing +Ambrose. _That_ straightened me up. I snatched my gown out of his hand, +and I gave him my whole mind. 'I hate you!' I said. 'Even if I wasn't +promised to Ambrose, I wouldn't marry you--no! not if there wasn't +another man left in the world to ask me. I hate you, Mr. Jago! I hate +you!' He saw I was in earnest at last. He got up from my feet, and he +settled down quiet again, all on a sudden. 'You have said enough' (that +was how he answered me). 'You have broken my life. I have no hopes and +no prospects now. I had a pride in the farm, miss, and a pride in my +work; I bore with your brutish cousins' hatred of me; I was faithful to +Mr. Meadowcroft's interests; all for your sake, Naomi Colebrook--all +for your sake! I have done with it now; I have done with my life at the +farm. You will never be troubled with me again. I am going away, as the +dumb creatures go when they are sick, to hide myself in a corner, and +die. Do me one last favor. Don't make me the laughingstock of the whole +neighborhood. I can't bear that; it maddens me only to think of it. +Give me your promise never to tell any living soul what I have said to +you to-night--your sacred promise to the man whose life you have +broken!' I did as he bade me; I gave him my sacred promise with the +tears in my eyes. Yes, that is so. After telling him I hated him (and I +did hate him), I cried over his misery; I did! Mercy, what fools women +are! What is the horrid perversity, sir, which makes us always ready to +pity the men? He held out his hand to me; and he said, 'Good-by +forever!' and I pitied him. I said, 'I'll shake hands with you if you +will give me your promise in exchange for mine. I beg of you not to +leave the farm. What will my uncle do if you go away? Stay here, and be +friends with me, and forget and forgive, Mr. John.' He gave me his +promise (he can refuse me nothing); and he gave it again when I saw him +again the next morning. Yes. I'll do him justice, though I do hate him! +I believe he honestly meant to keep his word as long as my eye was on +him. It was only when he was left to himself that the Devil tempted him +to break his promise and leave the farm. I was brought up to believe in +the Devil, Mr. Lefrank; and I find it explains many things. It explains +John Jago. Only let me find out where he has gone, and I'll engage he +shall come back and clear Ambrose of the suspicion which his vile +brother has cast on him. Here is the pen all ready for you. Advertise +for him, friend Lefrank; and do it right away, for my sake!" + +I let her run on, without attempting to dispute her conclusions, until +she could say no more. When she put the pen into my hand, I began the +composition of the advertisement as obediently as if I, too, believed +that John Jago was a living man. + +In the case of any one else, I should have openly acknowledged that my +own convictions remained unshaken. If no quarrel had taken place at the +limekiln, I should have been quite ready, as I viewed the case, to +believe that John Jago's disappearance was referable to the terrible +disappointment which Naomi had inflicted on him. The same morbid dread +of ridicule which had led him to assert that he cared nothing for +Naomi, when he and Silas had quarreled under my bedroom window, might +also have impelled him to withdraw himself secretly and suddenly from +the scene of his discomfiture. But to ask me to believe, after what had +happened at the limekiln, that he was still living, was to ask me to +take Ambrose Meadowcroft's statement for granted as a true statement of +facts. + +I had refused to do this from the first; and I still persisted in +taking that course. If I had been called upon to decide the balance of +probability between the narrative related by Ambrose in his defense and +the narrative related by Silas in his confession, I must have owned, no +matter how unwillingly, that the confession was, to my mind, the least +incredible story of the two. + +Could I say this to Naomi? I would have written fifty advertisements +inquiring for John Jago rather than say it; and you would have done the +same, if you had been as fond of her as I was. I drew out the +advertisement, for insertion in the Morwick _Mercury_, in these terms: + + +MURDER.--Printers of newspapers throughout the United States are +desired to publish that Ambrose Meadowcroft and Silas Meadowcroft, of +Morwick Farm, Morwick County, are committed for trial on the charge of +murdering John Jago, now missing from the farm and from the +neighborhood. Any person who can give information of the existence of +said Jago may save the lives of two wrongly-accused men by making +immediate communication. Jago is about five feet four inches high. He +is spare and wiry; his complexion is extremely pale, his eyes are dark, +and very bright and restless. The lower part of his face is concealed +by a thick black beard and mustache. The whole appearance of the man is +wild and flighty. + + +I added the date and the address. That evening a servant was sent on +horseback to Narrabee to procure the insertion of the advertisement in +the next issue of the newspaper. + +When we parted that night, Naomi looked almost like her brighter and +happier self. Now that the advertisement was on its way to the +printing-office, she was more than sanguine: she was certain of the +result. + +"You don't know how you have comforted me," she said, in her frank, +warm-hearted way, when we parted for the night. "All the newspapers +will copy it, and we shall hear of John Jago before the week is out." +She turned to go, and came back again to me. "I will never forgive +Silas for writing that confession!" she whispered in my ear. "If he +ever lives under the same roof with Ambrose again, I--well, I believe I +wouldn't marry Ambrose if he did! There!" + +She left me. Through the wakeful hours of the night my mind dwelt on +her last words. That she should contemplate, under any circumstances, +even the bare possibility of not marrying Ambrose, was, I am ashamed to +say, a direct encouragement to certain hopes which I had already begun +to form in secret. The next day's mail brought me a letter on business. +My clerk wrote to inquire if there was any chance of my returning to +England in time to appear in court at the opening of next law term. I +answered, without hesitation, "It is still impossible for me to fix the +date of my return." Naomi was in the room while I was writing. How +would she have answered, I wonder, if I had told her the truth, and +said, "You are responsible for this letter?" + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE SHERIFF AND THE GOVERNOR. + +THE question of time was now a serious question at Morwick Farm. In six +weeks the court for the trial of criminal cases was to be opened at +Narrabee. + +During this interval no new event of any importance occurred. + +Many idle letters reached us relating to the advertisement for John +Jago; but no positive information was received. Not the slightest trace +of the lost man turned up; not the shadow of a doubt was cast on the +assertion of the prosecution, that his body had been destroyed in the +kiln. Silas Meadowcroft held firmly to the horrible confession that he +had made. His brother Ambrose, with equal resolution, asserted his +innocence, and reiterated the statement which he had already advanced. +At regular periods I accompanied Naomi to visit him in the prison. As +the day appointed for the opening of the court approached, he seemed to +falter a little in his resolution; his manner became restless; and he +grew irritably suspicious about the merest trifles. This change did not +necessarily imply the consciousness of guilt: it might merely have +indicated natural nervous agitation as the time for the trial drew +near. Naomi noticed the alteration in her lover. It greatly increased +her anxiety, though it never shook her confidence in Ambrose. Except at +meal-times, I was left, during the period of which I am now writing, +almost constantly alone with the charming American girl. Miss +Meadowcroft searched the newspapers for tidings of the living John Jago +in the privacy of her own room. Mr. Meadowcroft would see nobody but +his daughter and his doctor, and occasionally one or two old friends. I +have since had reason to believe that Naomi, in these days of our +intimate association, discovered the true nature of the feeling with +which she had inspired me. But she kept her secret. Her manner toward +me steadily remained the manner of a sister; she never overstepped by a +hair-breadth the safe limits of the character that she had assumed. + +The sittings of the court began. After hearing the evidence, and +examining the confession of Silas Meadowcroft, the grand jury found a +true bill against both the prisoners. The day appointed for their trial +was the first day in the new week. + +I had carefully prepared Naomi's mind for the decision of the grand +jury. She bore the new blow bravely. + +"If you are not tired of it," she said, "come with me to the prison +tomorrow. Ambrose will need a little comfort by that time." She paused, +and looked at the day's letters lying on the table. "Still not a word +about John Jago," she said. "And all the papers have copied the +advertisement. I felt so sure we should hear of him long before this!" + +"Do you still feel sure that he is living?" I ventured to ask. + +"I am as certain of it as ever," she replied, firmly. "He is somewhere +in hiding; perhaps he is in disguise. Suppose we know no more of him +than we know now when the trial begins? Suppose the jury--" She +stopped, shuddering. Death--shameful death on the scaffold--might be +the terrible result of the consultation of the jury. "We have waited +for news to come to us long enough," Naomi resumed. "We must find the +tracks of John Jago for ourselves. There is a week yet before the trial +begins. Who will help me to make inquiries? Will you be the man, friend +Lefrank!" + +It is needless to add (though I knew nothing would come of it) that I +consented to be the man. + +We arranged to apply that day for the order of admission to the prison, +and, having seen Ambrose, to devote ourselves immediately to the +contemplated search. How that search was to be conducted was more than +I could tell, and more than Naomi could tell. We were to begin by +applying to the police to help us to find John Jago, and we were then +to be guided by circumstances. Was there ever a more hopeless programme +than this? + +"Circumstances" declared themselves against us at starting. I applied, +as usual, for the order of admission to the prison, and the order was +for the first time refused; no reason being assigned by the persons in +authority for taking this course. Inquire as I might, the only answer +given was, "not to-day." + +At Naomi's suggestion, we went to the prison to seek the explanation +which was refused to us at the office. The jailer on duty at the outer +gate was one of Naomi's many admirers. He solved the mystery cautiously +in a whisper. The sheriff and the governor of the prison were then +speaking privately with Ambrose Meadowcroft in his cell; they had +expressly directed that no persons should be admitted to see the +prisoner that day but themselves. + +What did it mean? We returned, wondering, to the farm. There Naomi, +speaking by chance to one of the female servants, made certain +discoveries. + +Early that morning the sheriff had been brought to Morwick by an old +friend of the Meadowcrofts. A long interview had been held between Mr. +Meadowcroft and his daughter and the official personage introduced by +the friend. Leaving the farm, the sheriff had gone straight to the +prison, and had proceeded with the governor to visit Ambrose in his +cell. Was some potent influence being brought privately to bear on +Ambrose? Appearances certainly suggested that inquiry. Supposing the +influence to have been really exerted, the next question followed, What +was the object in view? We could only wait and see. + +Our patience was not severely tried. The event of the next day +enlightened us in a very unexpected manner. Before noon, the neighbors +brought startling news from the prison to the farm. + +Ambrose Meadowcroft had confessed himself to be the murderer of John +Jago! He had signed the confession in the presence of the sheriff and +the governor on that very day. + +I saw the document. It is needless to reproduce it here. In substance, +Ambrose confessed what Silas had confessed; claiming, however, to have +only struck Jago under intolerable provocation, so as to reduce the +nature of his offense against the law from murder to manslaughter. Was +the confession really the true statement of what had taken place? or +had the sheriff and the governor, acting in the interests of the family +name, persuaded Ambrose to try this desperate means of escaping the +ignominy of death on the scaffold? The sheriff and the governor +preserved impenetrable silence until the pressure put on them +judicially at the trial obliged them to speak. + +Who was to tell Naomi of this last and saddest of all the calamities +which had fallen on her? Knowing how I loved her in secret, I felt an +invincible reluctance to be the person who revealed Ambrose +Meadowcroft's degradation to his betrothed wife. Had any other member +of the family told her what had happened? The lawyer was able to answer +me; Miss Meadowcroft had told her. + +I was shocked when I heard it. Miss Meadowcroft was the last person in +the house to spare the poor girl; Miss Meadowcroft would make the hard +tidings doubly terrible to bear in the telling. I tried to find Naomi, +without success. She had been always accessible at other times. Was she +hiding herself from me now? The idea occurred to me as I was descending +the stairs after vainly knocking at the door of her room. I was +determined to see her. I waited a few minutes, and then ascended the +stairs again suddenly. On the landing I met her, just leaving her room. + +She tried to run back. I caught her by the arm, and detained her. With +her free hand she held her handkerchief over her face so as to hide it +from me. + +"You once told me I had comforted you," I said to her, gently. "Won't +you let me comfort you now?" + +She still struggled to get away, and still kept her head turned from +me. + +"Don't you see that I am ashamed to look you in the face?" she said, in +low, broken tones. "Let me go." + +I still persisted in trying to soothe her. I drew her to the +window-seat. I said I would wait until she was able to speak to me. + +She dropped on the seat, and wrung her hands on her lap. Her downcast +eyes still obstinately avoided meeting mine. + +"Oh!" she said to herself, "what madness possessed me? Is it possible +that I ever disgraced myself by loving Ambrose Meadowcroft?" She +shuddered as the idea found its way to expression on her lips. The +tears rolled slowly over her cheeks. "Don't despise me, Mr. Lefrank!" +she said, faintly. + +I tried, honestly tried, to put the confession before her in its least +unfavorable light. + +"His resolution has given way," I said. "He has done this, despairing +of proving his innocence, in terror of the scaffold." + +She rose, with an angry stamp of her foot. She turned her face on me +with the deep-red flush of shame in it, and the big tears glistening in +her eyes. + +"No more of him!" she said, sternly. "If he is not a murderer, what +else is he? A liar and a coward! In which of his characters does he +disgrace me most? I have done with him forever! I will never speak to +him again!" She pushed me furiously away from her; advanced a few steps +toward her own door; stopped, and came back to me. The generous nature +of the girl spoke in her next words. "I am not ungrateful to _you_, +friend Lefrank. A woman in my place is only a woman; and, when she is +shamed as I am, she feels it very bitterly. Give me your hand! God +bless you!" + +She put my hand to her lips before I was aware of her, and kissed it, +and ran back into her room. + +I sat down on the place which she had occupied. She had looked at me +for one moment when she kissed my hand. I forgot Ambrose and his +confession; I forgot the coming trial; I forgot my professional duties +and my English friends. There I sat, in a fool's elysium of my own +making, with absolutely nothing in my mind but the picture of Naomi's +face at the moment when she had last looked at me! + +I have already mentioned that I was in love with her. I merely add this +to satisfy you that I tell the truth. + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE PEBBLE AND THE WINDOW. + +MISS MEADOWCROFT and I were the only representatives of the family at +the farm who attended the trial. We went separately to Narrabee. +Excepting the ordinary greetings at morning and night, Miss Meadowcroft +had not said one word to me since the time when I had told her that I +did _not_ believe John Jago to be a living man. + +I have purposely abstained from encumbering my narrative with legal +details. I now propose to state the nature of the defense in the +briefest outline only. + +We insisted on making both the prisoners plead not guilty. This done, +we took an objection to the legality of the proceedings at starting. We +appealed to the old English law, that there should be no conviction for +murder until the body of the murdered person was found, or proof of its +destruction obtained beyond a doubt. We denied that sufficient proof +had been obtained in the case now before the court. + +The judges consulted, and decided that the trial should go on. + +We took our next objection when the confessions were produced in +evidence. We declared that they had been extorted by terror, or by +undue influence; and we pointed out certain minor particulars in which +the two confessions failed to corroborate each other. For the rest, our +defense on this occasion was, as to essentials, what our defense had +been at the inquiry before the magistrate. Once more the judges +consulted, and once more they overruled our objection. The confessions +were admitted in evidence. On their side, the prosecution produced one +new witness in support of their case. It is needless to waste time in +recapitulating his evidence. He contradicted himself gravely on +cross-examination. We showed plainly, and after investigation proved, +that he was not to be believed on his oath. + +The chief-justice summed up. + +He charged, in relation to the confessions, that no weight should be +attached to a confession incited by hope or fear; and he left it to the +jury to determine whether the confessions in this case had been so +influenced. In the course of the trial, it had been shown for the +defense that the sheriff and the governor of the prison had told +Ambrose, with his father's knowledge and sanction, that the case was +clearly against him; that the only chance of sparing his family the +disgrace of his death by public execution lay in making a confession; +and that they would do their best, if he did confess, to have his +sentence commuted to imprisonment for life. As for Silas, he was proved +to have been beside himself with terror when he made his abominable +charge against his brother. We had vainly trusted to the evidence on +these two points to induce the court to reject the confessions: and we +were destined to be once more disappointed in anticipating that the +same evidence would influence the verdict of the jury on the side of +mercy. After an absence of an hour, they returned into court with a +verdict of "Guilty" against both the prisoners. + +Being asked in due form if they had anything to say in mitigation of +their sentence, Ambrose and Silas solemnly declared their innocence, +and publicly acknowledged that their respective confessions had been +wrung from them by the hope of escaping the hangman's hands. This +statement was not noticed by the bench. The prisoners were both +sentenced to death. + +On my return to the farm, I did not see Naomi. Miss Meadowcroft +informed her of the result of the trial. Half an hour later, one of the +women-servants handed to me an envelope bearing my name on it in +Naomi's handwriting. + +The envelope inclosed a letter, and with it a slip of paper on which +Naomi had hurriedly written these words: "For God's sake, read the +letter I send to you, and do something about it immediately!" + +I looked at the letter. It assumed to be written by a gentleman in New +York. Only the day before, he had, by the merest accident, seen the +advertisement for John Jago cut out of a newspaper and pasted into a +book of "curiosities" kept by a friend. Upon this he wrote to Morwick +Farm to say that he had seen a man exactly answering to the description +of John Jago, but bearing another name, working as a clerk in a +merchant's office in Jersey City. Having time to spare before the mail +went out, he had returned to the office to take another look at the man +before he posted his letter. To his surprise, he was informed that the +clerk had not appeared at his desk that day. His employer had sent to +his lodgings, and had been informed that he had suddenly packed up his +hand-bag after reading the newspaper at breakfast; had paid his rent +honestly, and had gone away, nobody knew where! + +It was late in the evening when I read these lines. I had time for +reflection before it would be necessary for me to act. + +Assuming the letter to be genuine, and adopting Naomi's explanation of +the motive which had led John Jago to absent himself secretly from the +farm, I reached the conclusion that the search for him might be +usefully limited to Narrabee and to the surrounding neighborhood. + +The newspaper at his breakfast had no doubt given him his first +information of the "finding" of the grand jury, and of the trial to +follow. It was in my experience of human nature that he should venture +back to Narrabee under these circumstances, and under the influence of +his infatuation for Naomi. More than this, it was again in my +experience, I am sorry to say, that he should attempt to make the +critical position of Ambrose a means of extorting Naomi's consent to +listen favorably to his suit. Cruel indifference to the injury and the +suffering which his sudden absence might inflict on others was plainly +implied in his secret withdrawal from the farm. The same cruel +indifference, pushed to a further extreme, might well lead him to press +his proposals privately on Naomi, and to fix her acceptance of them as +the price to be paid for saving her cousin's life. + +To these conclusions I arrived after much thinking. I had determined, +on Naomi's account, to clear the matter up; but it is only candid to +add that my doubts of John Jago's existence remained unshaken by the +letter. I believed it to be nothing more nor less than a heartless and +stupid "hoax." + + +The striking of the hall-clock roused me from my meditations. I counted +the strokes--midnight! + +I rose to go up to my room. Everybody else in the farm had retired to +bed, as usual, more than an hour since. The stillness in the house was +breathless. I walked softly, by instinct, as I crossed the room to look +out at the night. A lovely moonlight met my view; it was like the +moonlight on the fatal evening when Naomi had met John Jago on the +garden walk. + +My bedroom candle was on the side-table; I had just lighted it. I was +just leaving the room, when the door suddenly opened, and Naomi herself +stood before me! + +Recovering the first shook of her sudden appearance, I saw instantly in +her eager eyes, in her deadly-pale cheeks, that something serious had +happened. A large cloak was thrown over her; a white handkerchief was +tied over her head. Her hair was in disorder; she had evidently just +risen in fear and in haste from her bed. + +"What is it?" I asked, advancing to meet her. + +She clung, trembling with agitation, to my arm. + +"John Jago!" she whispered. + +You will think my obstinacy invincible. I could hardly believe it, even +then! + +"Where?" I asked. + +"In the back-yard," she replied, "under my bedroom window!" + +The emergency was far too serious to allow of any consideration for the +small proprieties of every-day life. + +"Let me see him!" I said. + +"I am here to fetch you," she answered, in her frank and fearless way. +"Come upstairs with me." + +Her room was on the first floor of the house, and was the only bedroom +which looked out on the back-yard. On our way up the stairs she told me +what had happened. + +"I was in bed," she said, "but not asleep, when I heard a pebble strike +against the window-pane. I waited, wondering what it meant. Another +pebble was thrown against the glass. So far, I was surprised, but not +frightened. I got up, and ran to the window to look out. There was John +Jago looking up at me in the moonlight!" + +"Did he see you?" + +"Yes. He said, 'Come down and speak to me! I have something serious to +say to you!'" + +"Did you answer him?" + +"As soon as I could catch my breath, I said, 'Wait a little,' and ran +downstairs to you. What shall I do?" + +"Let _me_ see him, and I will tell you." + +We entered her room. Keeping cautiously behind the window-curtain, I +looked out. + +There he was! His beard and mustache were shaved off; his hair was +close cut. But there was no disguising his wild, brown eyes, or the +peculiar movement of his spare, wiry figure, as he walked slowly to and +fro in the moonlight waiting for Naomi. For the moment, my own +agitation almost overpowered me; I had so firmly disbelieved that John +Jago was a living man! + +"What shall I do?" Naomi repeated. + +"Is the door of the dairy open?" I asked. + +"No; but the door of the tool-house, round the corner, is not locked." + +"Very good. Show yourself at the window, and say to him, 'I am coming +directly.'" + +The brave girl obeyed me without a moment's hesitation. + +There had been no doubt about his eyes and his gait; there was no doubt +now about his voice, as he answered softly from below--"All right!" + +"Keep him talking to you where he is now," I said to Naomi, "until I +have time to get round by the other way to the tool-house. Then pretend +to be fearful of discovery at the dairy, and bring him round the +corner, so that I can hear him behind the door." + +We left the house together, and separated silently. Naomi followed my +instructions with a woman's quick intelligence where stratagems are +concerned. I had hardly been a minute in the tool-house before I heard +him speaking to Naomi on the other side of the door. + +The first words which I caught distinctly related to his motive for +secretly leaving the farm. Mortified pride--doubly mortified by Naomi's +contemptuous refusal and by the personal indignity offered to him by +Ambrose--was at the bottom of his conduct in absenting himself from +Morwick. He owned that he had seen the advertisement, and that it had +actually encouraged him to keep in hiding! + +"After being laughed at and insulted and denied, I was glad," said the +miserable wretch, "to see that some of you had serious reason to wish +me back again. It rests with you, Miss Naomi, to keep me here, and to +persuade me to save Ambrose by showing myself and owning to my name." + +"What do you mean?" I heard Naomi ask, sternly. + +He lowered his voice; but I could still hear him. + +"Promise you will marry me," he said, "and I will go before the +magistrate to-morrow, and show him that I am a living man." + +"Suppose I refuse?" + +"In that case you will lose me again, and none of you will find me till +Ambrose is hanged." + +"Are you villain enough, John Jago, to mean what you say?" asked the +girl, raising her voice. + +"If you attempt to give the alarm," he answered, "as true as God's +above us, you will feel my hand on your throat! It's my turn now, miss; +and I am not to be trifled with. Will you have me for your husband--yes +or no?" + +"No!" she answered, loudly and firmly. + +I burst open the door, and seized him as he lifted his hand on her. He +had not suffered from the nervous derangement which had weakened me, +and he was the stronger man of the two. Naomi saved my life. She struck +up his pistol as he pulled it out of his pocket with his free hand and +presented it at my head. The bullet was fired into the air. I tripped +up his heels at the same moment The report of the pistol had alarmed +the house. We two together kept him on the ground until help arrived. + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE END OF IT. + +JOHN JAGO was brought before the magistrate, and John Jago was +identified the next day. + +The lives of Ambrose and Silas were, of course, no longer in peril, so +far as human justice was concerned. But there were legal delays to be +encountered, and legal formalities to be observed, before the brothers +could be released from prison in the characters of innocent men. + +During the interval which thus elapsed, certain events happened which +may be briefly mentioned here before I close my narrative. + +Mr. Meadowcroft the elder, broken by the suffering which he had gone +through, died suddenly of a rheumatic affection of the heart. A codicil +attached to his will abundantly justified what Naomi had told me of +Miss Meadowcroft's influence over her father, and of the end she had in +view in exercising it. A life income only was left to Mr. Meadowcroft's +sons. The freehold of the farm was bequeathed to his daughter, with the +testator's recommendation added, that she should marry his "best and +dearest friend, Mr. John Jago." + +Armed with the power of the will, the heiress of Morwick sent an +insolent message to Naomi, requesting her no longer to consider herself +one of the inmates at the farm. Miss Meadowcroft, it should be here +added, positively refused to believe that John Jago had ever asked +Naomi to be his wife, or had ever threatened her, as I had heard him +threaten her, if she refused. She accused me, as she accused Naomi, of +trying meanly to injure John Jago in her estimation, out of hatred +toward "that much-injured man;" and she sent to me, as she had sent to +Naomi, a formal notice to leave the house. + +We two banished ones met the same day in the hall, with our +traveling-bags in our hands. + +"We are turned out together, friend Lefrank," said Naomi, with her +quaintly-comical smile. "You will go back to England, I guess; and I +must make my own living in my own country. Women can get employment in +the States if they have a friend to speak for them. Where shall I find +somebody who can give me a place?" + +I saw my way to saying the right word at the right moment. + +"I have got a place to offer you," I replied. + +She suspected nothing, so far. + +"That's lucky, sir," was all she said. "Is it in a telegraph-office or +in a dry-goods store?" + +I astonished my little American friend by taking her then and there in +my arms, and giving her my first kiss. + +"The office is by my fireside," I said; "the salary is anything in +reason you like to ask me for; and the place, Naomi, if you have no +objection to it, is the place of my wife." + +I have no more to say, except that years have passed since I spoke +those words and that I am as fond of Naomi as ever. + +Some months after our marriage, Mrs. Lefrank wrote to a friend at +Narrabee for news of what was going on at the farm. The answer informed +us that Ambrose and Silas had emigrated to New Zealand, and that Miss +Meadowcroft was alone at Morwick Farm. John Jago had refused to marry +her. John Jago had disappeared again, nobody knew where. + +NOTE IN CONCLUSION.--The first idea of this little story was suggested +to the author by a printed account of a trial which actually took +place, early in the present century, in the United States. The +published narrative of this strange case is entitled "The Trial, +Confessions, and Conviction of Jesse and Stephen Boorn for the Murder +of Russell Colvin, and the Return of the Man supposed to have been +murdered. By Hon. Leonard Sargeant, Ex-Lieutenant Governor of Vermont. +(Manchester, Vermont, _Journal_ Book and Job Office, 1873.)" It may not +be amiss to add, for the benefit of incredulous readers, that all the +"improbable events" in the story are matters of fact, taken from the +printed narrative. Anything which "looks like truth" is, in nine cases +out of ten, the invention of the author.--W. C. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Dead Alive, by Wilkie Collins + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEAD ALIVE *** + +This file should be named cdead10.txt or cdead10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, cdead11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, cdead10a.txt + +Produced by James Rusk + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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