Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 22 — page 5: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

4 “ Ha, ha! ‘one of them would crusl: one in pieces. _in ” ning. ~ the clouds, it revealed several shafts but a few Whitelaw. 5 imagination, law, evidence, and the seaffold, He did not repiy at once ; he reflected and made up his mind before answering. “ Come along, Nattie—come along,” he said, hoarsely. “I did but try you. You don’t sup- pose I’d murder you ?” ' ‘* 1 don’t know,” said Nathalia. What a fancy !” Ralph laughed, as if the absurdity of the idea was paramount; but that: laugh struck more terror to the heart of. Nathalia than threats. - “You are hard on your uncle, Nathalia. Kill you.indeed! Well, it would be pretty business, wouldn’t it?” av 4 He moved onward, and Nathalia followed re luetantly. ‘Do tell me where we are going,” she said. Don't be |: “To a cabin not far off, Nattie. seared. Who's going. to harm ye—eh? It's) rough here; take hold of my arm. How it’ rains! haven't seen such a storm in a long time. I'll go down to Fort Brady fo-morrow. | Do “igs want to send for anything, Nathalia ?” She did not reply ; she could not? there was something so unnatural in this transition. She thought of the cat that holds its trembling vic- tim, the mouse, gingerly between its soft paws, as if afraid of injuring it. She longed ‘for the light of morning—it was so dreadful to be with him in the darkness. - Sle wished, too, to see that face before ber, and read her fate in its ex- pression, ‘T’ve been stern to you sometimes, Nattie” —his voice was quite gentle, strangely gentle — “but in moments of reflection I’ve been sorry for it. We're all very human, Nattie. I know how you regard me. If the whole thing was written out in the Bible, | couldn't know your thoughts better. Don’t shrink and trem- ble, child! I’m in my better mood, now. Ralph Quimby has his demon, but he has his an- gel, too. The worst of us has his angel, Nat- tie. ‘Take my arm, neice.” Poor Nathalia, child of nature and of truth, was fairly bewildered. There was such a change in Ralph Quimby ; his voice was toned down to auch a softness; his manner was so humble. There could not be deceitin this. He stopped ; she half mechanically moved to his side and took his arm, The voice of kindness charmed her ; it was seldom that she heard it. She was not certain of it, now; but it. was so like, that she was doubtful, and gave him the benefit of the doubt. . wa “1 knew your father, Nathalia.” Did his voice grow a little harder, or was it imagination ? } | «Was he a rood man, uncle ?” ‘Her feminine arm pressed his a little, just to remind him that she had human affections, - “He wad proud, and had a “deal of book- learning ; but he married—he married—” ‘Whom did he marry, uncle Ralph ?” “A very beautiful girl,” replied Quimby, huskily. “Do I resemble her ®” asked Nattie. “Too much — too much! ‘Hér name was Rosalie. It’s near morning, I should think ~— shouldn't you? Tread carefully, niecé ; we're near some mines, I believe.’ A tumble down I loved your mother, Nattie.”’ _ Nathalia suddenly drew her arm from Quim- |» by’s. ; ~« You, sir—rovu ?” “Ha, ha! Is it strange that I should have a heart? Well, your father had the same: feel- Tis yoice was harsh, then. “ Forgive me,” said Nathalia. “I meant no harm, indeed.” She took his arm again. “1 dare.say not—I are say not.” He laughed in a manner that made her re- gret that she was so near him. She had never seer him in such a mood before; she could pot comprehend it; it was paet her philosophy. Hr instinets told her that little good could come out of him; but hope made her charita- ble. i We're very near the mines, child ; it would | be a terrible thing to fall into one of them. Let us stop till a flash of lightning shows us where We are.”’ They stood still; but the storm was again re- ‘Seaing. and it was some minutes before the light- lazed upon them ; when it did' dart from yards from them, ; | “ Now we can goon without fear,” said Ralph. “The cabin | spoke of is not far off,” that i feel; the tortures that torture me; the , him all in all, sterrible pleasure in this moment ; it gives form | “JT shudder!” answered Nathalia. “There is | formed Ralph that this person, calling himeelf & singular awe upon me.” ~ Whitelaw, had dwelt for years on the lake shore, ‘* Your voice is like your mother’s.” living the life of a hermit in some hidden and ** You: must. tell me about her, some time unknown retreat. His sudden appearance at Youseldom meution her,and youlooksostrange the hut would have surprised Ralph under ordi- ly when you do, that.yon terrify me. Obl we nary circumstances; but, coming as he did, are walking directly into the mines.” the event certainly was remarkable, not to say “Yes; werare _— near them.” rovidential. The boy, Owen, too, the miner The man pause ; had encountered at various places, in his wan- ‘On the very brink of a shaft!” cried Na- derings. The lad was harmless, and there being thalia, as another gleam showed her a yawning | no natural affinity between guilt and innocenee, abyss at her feet. . Ralph secretly hated the demented youth. , “'Donot move! Keep still! Ill feel about As Whitelaw approached, the miner put him. and find a safe way from this dangerous spot. | self in a position to observe him. . The former There are traps «}l.around us, I’m afraid. I paused near the thicket, looked abstractedly wonder how I could. lose myself among these around, leaned against a tree, folded his arms pitfalls. Do not take astep, Nattie,totheright upon his chest, and sighed. nor left.” » “So sunshine comes after darkness,” he said, Quimby disengaged her arm from his, and | “and calm after tempest. It is the law of the stood silently beside her. natural world—some say of the moral world, “What are you-doing ?” said Nathalia, trem- also; but it’s a lie—a foul lie! Where is my ulously,; © sunshine? Where is my calm? I have suffered %2'm thinking,” replied Quimby, “whether a | the curse of Cain without his crime.” secret would be safe in a copper-mine |” | Ralph crouched upon his hands and knees ; Ao feeling of horror ereptover Nathalia. Her | he glared out from his lair like a beast of prey. eyes, quickened by apprehension, conquered the | In his eagerness, he stirred the) bushes; but darkness, and saw the gaping mouth of the sbafi | Whitelaw was too much absorbed to notice the and the face. of Kalph Quimby. Ax evil face and an evil eye were “ Your father,” he said, huskily, “robbed me of more than, life. Robbed,.did I say? He stole from me my love, my wife; for which I shate “him, and her, and you! I have lived for revenge. Judge Lynch nor the scaffold shail cheat.me of revenge!”’ | All softness had gone out of that voice ; it | was harsh.and croaking as a raven’s, Nathalia did not speak ; she could not... Her head swam | followed by a fit of trembling—a_ universal ‘with a dizzy, sense of peril... A great dread was | tremor of his frame. Several times he seemed upon her. A silence ensued ; it Jasted half.a | disposed to spring from his hiding-place and minute. The thunder muttered far, up among | east himself upon Whitelaw, but as often re- the vailed stars, and waves of white light billow- | strained the impulse.” ed to.and fro.on the eastern verge of the hori- | | “Ab! why do I, hope?” added Whitelaw, in zon. A solemn resignation @rifted through the | the same pensive voice.“ But I Aave hoped— consciousness of Nathalia. _Ido hope! . And for what? Heaven knows, I Ralph perceived or felt her silent terror. _ cannot tell , “Remember your words, Nattie. ‘1°}] betray | Whitelaw was agitated. He lifted his hat from your secret. I will give you up to the /aw.’, Do | his head, pressed.a hand to his brow, and turned you know, girl, that Law. is the most horrible | his face imploringly to heaven. word in the world? Do you know that it isthe | “Tis he—'tis,he!” muttered Ralph. “ The torment of my. life? Do you know thatI dream light shines full upon him. The same accursed of it, nights? Remorseless creature! Offshoot, beauty of form and feature! That gray hair de- offspring, part, parcel of my deadly enemy! you ceived me. Years have passed since | saw him. mever, never, never can understand the feelings ..He is greatly changed, yet much the saie, take One may disguise himself from fear that makes me sleepless! , But there is a | my love, but not from my hate.” “And why should I be forbidden to hope?” and reality to the fixed purpose of many years. - Whitelaw went on. “I may yet discover some movement, on him. ‘*] was happy once,” he continued, in a mel- ancholy tone ; ‘‘ but that was years ago, False- hood has done its work. I had a wife—I had a child; I have neither now—none, none to love me!” There was a smile of grim satisfaction on the lips of Ralph Quimby ; but it quickly passed, Curged,. cursed, was he who robbed me of al] | clue—a faint trace—a footstep, as it were, in the that I doted on! Thou, Nathalia, art a part of , sand. Such thoughts, such possibilities strength- him; and the devils/whisper that he will, suffer | €2 me,” in. thee!” ,.. Whitelaw replaced his hat, and returned to the The young girl elasped her white hands, and but, with the same slow, thoughtful step. Ralph turned her glassy eyes toward the impenetrable Quimby arose; he gazed after the retreating heavens: . | | figure. Various emotions stamped their images “Don’t fear, Nattie! don’t think of evil!., upon his countenance, First came hatred, then You are with a man whom. your father stabbvd | doubt, next a sort of secret terror. to the heart. Ha, ha, ha! Gvod-night, Nattie “ Robber! villain!” he exclaimed, shaking his ‘~a long, dark, eternal, night! 1 hate the hu- clenched hand at the gra:ually-reeeding form of manrace! Good-night, Nattie! Down—down!” Whitelaw. _“* When youstole her love, youmade The hand of Ralph Quimby was thrust out; @n,enemy of me; and such—such an enemy ! the fingers fell like. the teeth.of a vampyre upon There are not many such haters as Ralph Quim- the white shoulders of Nathalia; he pushed her, by! Ralph Quimby !—it does well enougl: to be and with-a faint cry, she sank in the abyss! | ealled by. What matters it? I can be remam- Ralph Quimby stood a moment on the verge , bered as well, or hanged as well (if it comes to of the pit, then, with a shriek of mad iamph, _ that) by that name as any.” The miner paused, turned and fled. . ressed both his toil-hardened hands to his ' meal ronzed forehead, and added, in a voice broken CHAPTER IV. with emotion : : OUT OF ‘THE MINE. “Woman! woman! thou makest saints or The first rays of morning trembled in the | sinners ofusall! Ismy revenge complete? It east. ‘The. storm. had news 1 and the air was Ww clear; fresh, and .balmy.. Ralph Quimby lay Ralph's features gleamed, with strange eager- hidden in the thicket. He had not slept, nor ; Tess, | could he ; 80 perturbed and tossed was his dark | ‘‘ Perhaps it’s too late? But there's a possi- mind: There were moments when remorse for | bility.” . what he had done rolled. over him like the bil- He checked himself. lows of a tempestuous sea; but the demon of | .‘ No, no; the fall was too great,” he hurried- revenge that had followed him so long, and stood ly added, “ Fool that I was, to be so hasty! at his side night and day, was not easily con- | 1t would have been the crowning-point of hu- quered. | man malice,” -: His place of concealment was not far fromthe __Impelled by the new impulse that was upon hut, toward which, raising himeelf a little from | him, Ralph ran from the spot like a deer. In the ground, and putting aside the tangled bush- | fifteen minutes he reached the eopper-mines. es, he occasional y looked. He saw hitelaw, | It was not without feelings of awe that he aj- resentlyycoming from. that. direction, advanc- roached the shaft into which he had pushed os with slow/an thoughtful steps. This man athalie. He saw her smal! foot-prints on the had ‘not been long in the: neighborhood of the | brink, the broken earth where Ten Miles Trace, or, if so, had kept himself re- slipped off, and the bushes which her hands had markably close. Ralph had. met him a few caught.. He stopped, and closed his eyes an in- times; exchanging, merely common salutations, | stant. He was not so calloused to crime as not might have been sweeter. . What a thought!” — They had shunned each other. as if by mutual | to have some sense of the wickedness of what le sohatints Tt ia true that ee + ha ine bad done, His kuces did tremble as he stood : Eomicbooks (E() er feet had |