Stranica 199 [199]
147
ing his foot upon the ground. “ Don’t
keep me here!"
The woman, who had hesitated at first, |
walked boldly in without any further in¬
vitation, and Mr. Bumble, who was
ashamed, or afraid to hang behind, fol¬
lowed, obviously very ill at his ease, and
with scarcely any of that remarkable dig¬
nity which was usually his chief charac¬
teristic.
“ What the devil made you stand lin¬
gering there in the wet?" said Monks,
turning round, and addressing Bumble,
after he had bolted the door behind them.
“ We—we were only cooling our¬
selves,” stammered Bumble, looking ap¬
prehensively about him.
* Cooling yourselves !” retorted Monks.
*“ Not all the rain that ever fell, or ever
will fall, will put as much of hell’s fire
out as a man can carry about with him.
You won't cool yourself so easily, don’t
think it!”
With this agreeable speech Monks
turned short upon the matron, and bent
his fierce gaze upon her, till even she,
who was not easily cowed, was fain to
withdraw her eyes, and turn them towards
the ground.
“This is the woman, is it?" demanded
Monks.
“Hem! That is the woman,” replied
Mr. Bumble, mindful of his wife’s cau¬
tion.
c You think women never can keep se¬
crets, | suppose?" said the matron, inter¬
posing, and returning as she spoke the
searching look of Monks.
“T know they will always keep one till
it’s found out,” said Monks contemptu¬
ously.
6: And what may that be?” asked the
matron in the same tone. |
“The loss of their own name,”
replied Monks: “so, by the same rule, if
a woman’s a party to a secret that might
hang or transport her, I’m not afraid of
her telling it to anybody, not I. Do you
understand me?"
“No,” rejoined the matron, slightly
colouring as she spoke.
6 Of course you don’t!” said Monks
ironically. “ How should you?"
Bestowing something half-way between
a sneer and a scowl upon his two compa¬
nions, and again beckoning them to follow
him, the man hastened across the apart¬
ment, which was of considerable extent,
but low in the roof, and was preparing to
|
streamed down the aperture, and a peal
of thunder followed, which shook the
crazy building to its centre.
“Hear it!” he cried, shrinking back.
“Hear it rolling and crashing away as if
it echoed through a thousand caverns,
where the devils are hiding from it. Fire
the sound! I hate it.”
He remained silent for a few moments,
and then removing his hands suddenly
from his face, showed, to the unspeakable
discomposure of Mr. Bumble, that it was
much distorted, and nearly black.
“These fits come over me now and
then,” said Monks, observing his alarm,
“and thunder sometimes brings them on.
Don’t mind me now; it’s all over this
once.”
Thus speaking, he led the way up the
ladder, and hastily closing the window¬
shutter of the room into which it led, low¬
ered a lantern which hung at the end of
a rope and pulley passed through one of
the heavy beams in the ceiling, and
which cast a dim light upon an old table
and three chairs that were placed be¬
neath it.
6 Now,” said Monks, when they had all
three seated themselves, “the sooner we
come to our business, the better for all.
The woman knows what it is, does she!"
The question was addressed to Bumble ;
but his wife anticipated the reply, by in¬
timating that she was perfectly acquaint¬
ed with it.
“He is right in saying that you were
with this hag the night she died, and that
she told you something—”
“ About the mother of the boy you
named,” rephed the matron interrupting
him. “ Yes.”
c "The first question is, of what nature
was her communication?” said Monks.
‘'That’s the second,” observed the wo¬
man with much deliberation. “ The first
is, what may the communication be
worth?” ,
c Who the devil can tell that, without
knowing of what. kind it is?" asked
Monks.
“ Nobody better than you, I am per¬
suaded,” answered Mrs. Bumble, who did
not want for spirit, as her yokefellow
could abundantly testify.
“Humph!” said Monks significantly,
and with a look of eager inquiry, “ there
may be money’s worth to get, eh?"
“Perhaps there may,” was the com¬
posed reply.
“Something that was taken from her,”
said Monks eagerly ; " something that she
wore—something that—”