登陆注册
5213500000124

第124章 The Ancient Law (18)

CHAPTER VIII.How Christopher Comes Into His Revenge "So this was Maria's trick all along," he repeated, as he lurched out into the road."This was what she had schemed for from the beginning--this was what her palavering and her protestations meant.Oh, it had been a deep game from the first, only he had been too much of a blind fool to see the truth." A hundred facts arose to drive in the discovery; a hundred trivial details now bristled with importance.Why had she been so willing--so eager, even--to give away her little property, unless she intended to divert him with the crumbs while she reached for the whole loaf?

Why, again, had she shrunk so from mentioning him to his grandfather? And why, still further, had she always fearfully postponed a meeting between the two? He remembered suddenly that she had once drawn Molly behind the trees when the old man passed along the road.Poor, defrauded Molly! Forgetting his bitter quarrel with her, he was ready to fall upon her neck in maudlin sympathy.

Yes, it was all plain now--as clear as day.He saw one by one each devilish move that she had made, and he meant to pay her back for all before the night was over.He would tell her what he thought of her, freely, fully, in words that she would never forget.The names that he would use, the curses he would utter, spun deliriously in his head, and as he went on he found himself speaking his phrases aloud to the darkness, trying upon the silence the effect of each blighting sentence.

The lights of the Hall twinkled presently among the trees, and, crossing the lawn, he crept into the little area under the back steps.If Maria was not in the kitchen, the servant would be, he argued, and he would send up a peremptory summons which would bring her down upon the instant.It was not late enough for her to be in bed, at least, and he chuckled over the thought of the sleepless night which she would spend.

Pushing back the door cautiously on its old, rusty hinges, he entered on tip-toe and glanced suspiciously around.The room was empty, but a lamp with a smoked chimney burned upon the table, and there were the glimmering embers of a wood fire in the stove.

It was just as he had left it the evening before, and this aroused in him a feeling of surprise, so long a stretch appeared to cover the last twenty-four hours.The same basket of chicken feathers was in the sagging split-bottomed chair, the same pile of black walnuts lay on the hearth, and the rusted hammer was still lying where he had dropped it upon the bricks.Even the smell was the same--a mixture of baked bread and burned feathers.

Going to the door that led into the house, he opened it and looked up the dark staircase; then a sound reached him from the dining-room, and with nervous shiver he turned away and came back to the stove.A dread paralysed him lest the meeting with Maria should be delayed until his courage oozed out of him, and to nerve himself for the encounter he summoned to mind all the evidence, which gathered in a cloud of witnesses, to prove her treachery.Once it occurred to him that after a few minutes of waiting he might tighten the screw upon his nerves and so pluck up the audacity, if not the resolution, to ascend the stair boldly and denounce her in the presence of his grandfather.But the memory of Fletcher's face wagged before him, and, quaking with terror, he huddled with open palms above the stove.Then, pacing slowly up and down the room, he set to work frantically to lash himself into the drunken bravado which he miscalled courage.

Of a sudden his hunger assailed him, violent, convulsive, and, going over to the tin safe, he rummaged among the cold scraps he found there, devouring greedily the food which lead been set by for the hounds.A bottle of Miss Saidie's raspberry vinegar was hidden in one corner, and he tore the paper label from the cork and drank like a man who perishes from thirst.His energy, which had evaporated from fatigue and hunger, surged back in spasms of anger, and as he turned away, invigorated, from the safe, he realised as he had never done before the full measure of his rage against Maria.At the moment, had she come in upon him, he felt that he could have struck her in the face.

But she did not come, and the slow minutes fretted him in their passage.A flame shot up in the stove, and, catching a knot of resinous pine, burned steadily, licking patiently about the fading embers.The air became charged again with the odour of burned feathers, and he saw that a handful, with the dried blood of the fowl still adhering to them, had been scattered upon the ashes.As he idly noted the colours of red and black, he remembered with bitterness that he had raised game-cocks once when he was a boy at the Hall, and that Maria had smashed a nestful of his eggs in a fit of passion.The incident swelled to enormous proportions in his thoughts, and he determined that he would remind her of it in the interview that was before them.

The door into the house creaked suddenly behind him; he wheeled about nervously, and then stood with hanging jaws staring into the face of Fletcher.

"So it is you, is it?" said the old man, raising the stick he carried."So it is you, as I suspected--you darn rascal!"But the power of speech had departed from Will in the presence that he dreaded, and he stood clutching tightly to his harvest hat, and shaking his head as if to deny the obvious fact of his own identity.

"I thought it was you," pursued Fletcher, licking his dry lips.

"I heard a noise, and I picked up my stick, thinking it was you.

I'll have no thieving beggars on my place, I tell you, so the quicker you git off the better.When were you here last, I'd like to know?""Yesterday," answered Will, speaking the truth from sheer physical inability to frame a lie."I came to see Maria.She's cheated me--she's cheated me all along.""Then she lied," said Fletcher softly."Then she lied and Ididn't know it."

同类推荐
  • 佛说第一义法胜经

    佛说第一义法胜经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 上清太极真人神仙经

    上清太极真人神仙经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 山海慧菩萨经

    山海慧菩萨经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 送张侍御赴郴州别驾

    送张侍御赴郴州别驾

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 铁眉三巴掌禅师语录

    铁眉三巴掌禅师语录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 不见鱼书至

    不见鱼书至

    上元佳节,新王准许新入宫的宫女们回家团聚。除了偶尔几队巡逻的士兵经过,整个王宫,幽静的可怕。苑秋嬷嬷站在谴思宫的高处,看着这没有一点儿人气儿的宫殿,即使修缮的和从前一样,也终归不是从前的谴思宫了。因为最重要的人不见了,那位曾经能够给整个王宫带来欢乐的鱼书公主。
  • Amours de Voyage

    Amours de Voyage

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 倾天策,绝代女仙

    倾天策,绝代女仙

    苍原大陆命似草芥,弱者如蝼蚁,强者为尊。洪飞雪,灵根全无、废材之身,被镇长孙子欺负落水丢命。再醒来,她已不再是她。沦为祭品?且看我携带父母逃出魔族试炼地,从此一家尊荣。有何异能?本姑娘听得懂万千动物语言,还听得懂植物说话,体内更有两个空间。晋级艰难?拥有三个丹田,不小心就成跳跃式晋级!身份单一?本姑娘是秘笈宗师,再兼阵法师、炼丹药,偶尔客串一下炼宝师。势单力薄?这不是问题。前有大宗门为靠山,更有整个家族为依仗,身边还有忠犬美男相随,不愁打架落败。且看女主如何踏上从废材到强者的巅峰之路。感情版:她是仙境之主,一代女仙;他是仙界神将;相爱便会引来殒命大劫。经过万千年的修炼,六分躯体的他,每一部分皆生灵智化成人形,然,每一人都爱她入骨。他阴狠张狂,亦正亦邪,饮仙血、吞魔魂、食修士内丹、虐仙姬,令世间神魔闻风丧胆。天地间,唯有她能净化他的灵魂,劝阻他的狠辣。*推荐本人的《独妻策,倾城花嫁》http://m.wkkk.net/a/980862/m.wkkk.net《倾君策,隐身贵女》http://m.wkkk.net/a/1227201/m.wkkk.net《贵女临门:暴君的伪善皇后》http://m.wkkk.net/a/1382192/m.wkkk.net*该文为爽文,女主腹黑,男主霸道又毒舌。若干配角各有千秋、跑龙套的也是林林总总。
  • 战神之路系列第三部

    战神之路系列第三部

    为了追求真爱,我进入了另一个陌生的国度--幻魔大陆。在这里,我拥有数种身份,却发现了又一个强大的自己。是什么力量能复制幻魔大陆人、神、魔三界第一强者的身体?会有谁拥有控制三界的能力?为了摆脱命运的安排,无奈之下踏入了挑战自己的战神之路!
  • 独立(青少年成长智慧丛书)

    独立(青少年成长智慧丛书)

    青少年成长智慧丛书》针对当代少年儿童应具备的十种素质,把古今中外的经典故事按关键词归类,精编成十本故事集。每个故事后设计有“换位思考”与“成长感悟”小栏目。用以充分调动孩子们思考问题的积极性,给孩子们以无限启迪。
  • 盛宠帝王妻

    盛宠帝王妻

    她,慕容溪,看着亲人血染大地,誓要仇人血债血偿。人前,她是世人眼中不学无术,淫荡无耻的纨绔公主。人后,她是世人眼中阴狠无情,手眼通天的星月阁主。十年隐忍,百般筹谋,终于一朝将所有仇人尽数消灭。一路走来,艰难异常,但是因为有他们的陪伴而幸福。——————他,豪门弃子,妖孽倾城,却在她面前永远如同孩子般单纯。他,病弱皇子,温柔如风,却愿意为她将自己双手染满鲜血。他,寒门士子,清朗正值,却为她一而再再而三违背原则。他,传奇将军,阳光俊朗,却在她面前永远傲娇别扭、他,江湖浪子,崇尚自由,却愿意为她放弃自由自在的生活。他,世外隐士,冷情谪仙,却独独对她动了心,动了情。他,第一首富,绝顶腹黑,却独独喜欢对她撒娇卖萌。江山动荡间,且看一代传奇女帝如何带领美男臣子除奸臣,平藩王,定外族,开启一片盛世华章。
  • 病娇弟弟你别不要脸呀

    病娇弟弟你别不要脸呀

    《1v1宠文高甜。。欢迎入坑〒_〒》第一次见面5岁,江晨害羞道“甜甜”。某男低着她“甜甜别试图离开我,不然我不敢保证我会做出什么事情”甜甜秒变脸“晨晨~怎么会那?”说完甜甜把门反锁了……反锁了站在外面的江晨“甜甜,宝宝错了让我进去好不好?”…………
  • 冷血女人

    冷血女人

    你离开的那一刻,我在心中咒骂你冷血。然而,也许这一切都是我无法理解的。
  • 觅佳缘

    觅佳缘

    一缕清风两不欠,只留残香舞满天。人世黄泉,相隔何止天涯?情之所系,相近不过咫尺。相遇,相知,相恋,相守,她不再是北界那个顽劣执拗的狐妖;他亦不是天界那个执掌天命的仙君,再相遇时,又会是何种模样?
  • 王爷你好毒

    王爷你好毒

    (亲们,喜欢这本书可以进群——79475720讨论剧情用哈~)他——是天盛国最英勇冷酷的虞王,在她嫁给他的那一天起,他就想尽一切办法折磨着她。他——是天盛国最英明的帝王,长相俊美的他虽然中意了她,却只能把她金屋藏娇不敢示人。他——是天盛国最年轻的睿王,外表阳光秀美的他却有着一颗比谁都要执着的心。再见到她的那一刻起,他迷上了自己的兄嫂,却因至高的权益不肯与她厮守。他——是天盛国最放荡不羁的浪子,有着脱俗外貌的他曾发誓这辈子定不为女人所累,至到她的出现,他似乎已经慢慢改变了原来的初衷。她——一个只想过平凡日子的穿越者,却因现实的无奈,而一步步将她逼向险峰,当她蓦然回首的时候,才发现自己已不是当初的她。人前,她是一个受人尊崇的虞王妃。人后,她是皇帝最宠爱的女人之一。白昼,她是虞王折磨的对象之首。夜晚,她是闻名江湖的杀手“镜”。如此神秘的一个女人,她究竟是什么的附身?当一切又一切的谜底被揭穿,那些曾经负过她的男人又将是怎样的诧异与不可思议?新文《夫君别硬来》已发,一本作者重塑风格的,书亲们表错过哈!!!简介夫君为年度贺岁轻喜剧小说》¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥收藏···票票……全部打劫!有时间,亲们还可以留言支持!!!其实,我并不傻,拿现代的话来说,我只是大智若愚罢了。因为我的个性平和,不喜争斗,所以总是以退为进,以和为贵。而你,堂堂东昭国的丞相之子却以为我傻得掉渣,而且极度认为娶我为妻就如娶了一个笑话。其实你错了,你错得离谱。以一个有着现代思想的我,又岂会真是一个傻子?只是很多时候,我不想强迫你罢了,事事由着你的后果,竟然换来的是助纣为虐。好吧,你来得猖獗,好我也“傻”得坚决。正文段落*1;新婚半月,我独守空房,你怕遭人耻笑,放下屋中娇娘不管,而倚在风尘女子的怀中畅饮独醉。我得知,只是笑,并不责怪,因为我能理解一个娶了自己不爱之人的心。2;初次见你,你竟带着一位美得挪不开眼的女人在房中大演春宫,我诧异的同时,只能故做平静的说;你继续。其实我虾米也没看到”然后上前取了一块薄弱不堪的丝绸垫子自觉去书房入睡。而你,却认为我是一个彻底的傻子,看见自己的夫君与别的女人相好,却无动于衷,也只有傻女人才会如此。3;回家数日,你一声不吭,你又领着那美绝人寰的女子离家三月,再次回来,你们不干正事,又躲在屋里娇喘连连。