Oldal 238 [238]
180
sickness, the rigid face of the corpse, and
the calm sleep of the child—midnight was
upon them all.
The hour had not struck two minutes,
when a voung lady, accompanied by a
rey-haired gentleman, alighted from a
Radi asy-tavrave within a short distance
of the bridge, and, having dismissed the
vehicle, walked straight towards it. They
had scarcely set foot upon the pavement,
when the girl started, and immediately
made towards them.
They walked onwards, looking about
them with the air of persons who enter¬
tained some very slight expectation which
had little chance of being realized, when
they were suddenly joined by this new
associate. They halted with an exclama¬
tion of surprise, but suppressed it imme¬
diately, for a man in the garments of a
countryman came close up — brushed
against them indeed—at that precise mo¬
ment. —
s: Not here,” said Nancy, hurriedly.
* T am afraid to speak to you here. Come
away—out of the public road—down the
steps yonder.”
As she uttered these words, and indi¬
eated with her hand the direction in which
she wished them to proceed, the country¬
man looked round, and roughly asking
what they took up the whole pavement
for, passed on.
. The steps to which the gir) had pointed
were those which, on the Surrey bank
and on the same side of the bridge as
Saint Saviour’s church, form a landing¬
stairs from the river. To this spot the
man, hastened unobserved; and after a
moment’s survey of the place, he began
. to descend.
These stairs are a part of the bridge;
they consist of three flights. Just below
the end of the second going down, the
stone wall on the left terminates in an
ornamental pilaster, facing towards the
Thames. At this point the lower steps
widen, so that a person turning that angle
of the wall is necessarily unseen by any
others on the stairs who chance to be
above him, if only a step.
Noah looked hastily round when he
reached this point, and as there seemed
no better place of concealment, and, the
tide being out, there was plenty of room,
he slipped aside, with his back to the
pilaster, and there waited, pretty certain
that they would come no lower, and that
even if he could not hear what was said,
he could follow them again with safety.
place, and so eager was the spy to pene¬
trate the motives of an interview so dif¬
ferent from what he had been led to ex¬
pect, that he more than once gave the
matter up for lost, and persuaded himself
either they had stopped far above, or re¬
sorted to some entirely different spot to
hold their mysterious conversation. He
was on the very point of emerging from
his hiding-place, and regaining the road
above, when he heard the sound of foot¬
and directly afterwards of voices
almost close to his ear.
He drew himself straight upright
against the wall, and scarcely breathing,
listened attentively. |
‘This is far enough,” said a voice
which was evidently that of the gentle¬
man. “I will not suffer the young lady
to go any further. Many people would
have distrusted you too much to have
come even so far, but you see Í am wil¬
ling to humour you.”
4 To humour me!” cried the voice of
the girl whom he had followed. “ You’re
considerate, indeed, sir. " To humour me!’
Well, well, it’s no matter.”
“ Why; for what, "—said the gentle¬
man, in a kinder tone, “ for what purpose
can you have brought us to this strange
place? Why not have let me speak to
you above there, where it is light, and
there is something stirring, instead of
bringing us to this dark and dismal
hole?" : |
“T told you before,” replied Nancy,
“that I was afraid to speak to you there.
I don’t know why it is,” said the girl
shuddering, “but I have such a fear and
dread upon me to-night that I can hardly
stand.”
“ A fear of what?” asked the
man, who seemed to pity her.
c [ scarcely know of what,” replied the
girl. “I wish I did. Horrible thoughts
of death, and shrouds with blood upon
them, and a fear that has made me burn
as if I was on fire, have been upon me all
day. J was reading a book to-night to
while the time away, and the same things
came into the print.”
“ Tmagination,” said the gentleman,
soothing her.
s No imagination,” replied the girl in
a hoarse voice. “I’ll swear I saw ‘cof:
fin’ written in every page of the book in
large black letters—ay, and they car¬
ried one close to me in the streets to¬
night.”
“There is nothing unusual] in that,”
said the gentleman. " They have passed
gentle¬