登陆注册
5235700000181

第181章 CHAPTER XL.(6)

I have left Hillsborough to avoid a situation that was intolerable and solicitations which I blushed to hear, and for which you would one day have blushed too. This parting is not forever, I hope; but that rests with yourself. Forego your idea of vengeance on that man, whose chastisement you would best alleviate by ending his miserable existence; and learn to love me honorably and patiently, as I love you. Should you obtain this great victory over yourself, you will see me again. Meantime, think of her who loves you to distraction, and whose soul hovers about you unseen. Pray for me, dear one, at midnight, and at eight o'clock every morning; for those are two of the hours I shall pray for you. Do you remember the old church, and how you cried over me? I can write no more: my tears blind me so. Farewell. Your unhappy "GRACE."

Little read this piteous letter, and it was a heavy blow to him; a blow that all the tenderness shown in it could not at first soften.

She had fled from him; she shunned him. It was not from Coventry she fled; it was from him.

He went home cold and sick at heart, and gave himself up to grief and deep regrets for several days.

But soon his powerful and elastic mind, impatient of impotent sorrow, and burning for some kind of action, seized upon vengeance as the only thing left to do.

At this period he looked on Coventry as a beast in human shape, whom he had a moral right to extinguish; only, as he had not a legal right, it must be done with consummate art. He trusted nobody; spoke to nobody; but set himself quietly to find out where Coventry lived, and what were his habits. He did this with little difficulty. Coventry lodged in a principal street, but always dined at a club, and returned home late, walking through a retired street or two; one of these passed by the mouth of a narrow court that was little used.

Little, disguised as a workman, made a complete reconnaissance of this locality, and soon saw that his enemy was at his mercy.

But, while he debated within himself what measure of vengeance he should take, and what noiseless weapon he should use, an unseen antagonist baffled him. That antagonist was Grace Carden. Still foreboding mischief, she wrote to Mr. Coventry, from a town two hundred miles distant:

"Whatever you are now, you were born a gentleman, and will, I think, respect a request from a lady you have wronged. Mr. Little has returned, and I have left Hillsborough; if he encounters you in his despair, he will do you some mortal injury. This will only make matters worse, and I dread the scandal that will follow, and to hear my sad story in a court of law as a justification for his violence.

Oblige me, then, by leaving Hillsborough for a time, as I have done."

On receipt of this, Coventry packed up his portmanteau directly, and, leaving Lally behind to watch the town, and see whether this was a ruse, he went directly to the town whence Grace's letter was dated, and to the very hotel.

This she had foreseen and intended.

He found she had been there, and had left for a neighboring watering-place: he followed her thither, and there she withdrew the clew; she left word she was gone to Stirling; but doubled on him, and soon put hundreds of miles between them. He remained in Scotland, hunting her.

Thus she played the gray plover with him she hated, and kept the beloved hands from crime.

When Little found that Coventry had left Hillsborough, he pretended to himself that he was glad of it. "My darling is right," said he.

"I will obey her, and do nothing contrary to law. I will throw him into prison, that is all." With these moderated views, he called upon his friend Ransome, whom of course he had, as yet, carefully avoided, to ask his aid in collecting the materials for an indictment. He felt sure that Coventry had earned penal servitude, if the facts could only be put in evidence. He found Ransome in low spirits, and that excellent public servant being informed what he was wanted for, said dryly, "Well, but this will require some ability: don't you think your friend Silly Billy would be more likely to do it effectually than John Ransome?"

"Why, Ransome, are you mad?"

"No, I merely do myself justice. Silly Billy smelt that faulty grindstone; and I can't smell a rat a yard from my nose, it seems.

You shall judge for yourself. There have been several burglaries in this town of late, and planned by a master. This put me on my mettle, and I have done all I could, with my small force, and even pryed about in person, night after night, and that is not exactly my business, but I felt it my duty. Well, sir, two nights ago, no more, I had the luck to come round a corner right upon a job:

Alderman Dick's house, full of valuables, and the windows well guarded; but one of his cellars is only covered with a heavy wooden shutter, bolted within. I found this open, and a board wedged in, to keep it ajar: down I went on my knees, saw a light inside, and heard two words of thieves' latin; that was enough, you know; I whipped out the board, jumped on the heavy shutter, and called for the police."

"Did you expect them to come?"

"Not much. These jobs are timed so as not to secure the attendance of the police. But assistance of another kind came; a gentleman full dressed, in a white tie and gloves, ran up, and asked me what it was. 'Thieves in the cellar,' said I, and shouted police, and gave my whistle. The gentleman jumped on the shutter. 'I can keep that down,' said he. 'I'm sure I saw two policemen in acorn Street: run quick!' and he showed me his sword-cane, and seemed so hearty in it, and confident, I ran round the corner, and gave my whistle. Two policemen came up; but, in that moment, the swell accomplice had pulled all his pals out of the cellar, and all I saw of the lot, when I came back, was the swell's swallow-tail coat flying like the wind toward a back slum, where I and my bobbies should have been knocked on the head, if we had tried to follow him; but indeed he was too fleet to give us the chance."

同类推荐
  • ESSAYS-1

    ESSAYS-1

    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。
  • 近世社会龌龊史

    近世社会龌龊史

    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。
  • 渚宫旧事

    渚宫旧事

    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。
  • On Generation and Corruption

    On Generation and Corruption

    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。
  • Marquise de Ganges

    Marquise de Ganges

    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
  • 世界最具震撼性的战争故事(1)

    世界最具震撼性的战争故事(1)

    我的课外第一本书——震撼心灵阅读之旅经典文库,《阅读文库》编委会编。通过各种形式的故事和语言,讲述我们在成长中需要的知识。
  • 回收商的万界之旅

    回收商的万界之旅

    作为一个拥有逆天外挂的时空旅行者,流云总感觉,自己所倚仗的外挂,似乎跟自己所预想的不太一样……为什么我有一种不详的预感,难道未来我的画风,可能有些不太正常?现已加入宇宙大能的豪华养成计划……我在万界打酱油系列……民国—金书—漫威—现代—魔禁—诛仙—?
  • Strife

    Strife

    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。
  • 综漫之玄幻神豪

    综漫之玄幻神豪

    当一个人有了天大的机遇,他自然就会变强。但当这个机遇大到他无法承受的时候呢?他会变得孤独,空虚。那时他会做什么呢?斗罗大陆,斗破苍穹,神印王座……接下来还有很多就不一一赘述了。我会慢慢写的。
  • 万王归一

    万王归一

    仙珠下凡,先天神力,后天努力,为情为义,争天斗地,所向披靡。
  • 戚少,你家青梅又跑啦

    戚少,你家青梅又跑啦

    推荐新书《盛世嫡妃,腹黑王爷太撩人》大爆料:某贵族学校一女子居然进入了会长车内,并给了他一脚!表面上,所有能够出现戚野薄的地方便会出现该女子;然而该女子却数次离开,让一众粉丝牵肠肚挂。看似联姻的外衣下,某人内心早已打定主意,联姻?你是哪位?不存在!戚野薄却早已吃味,将所有的一切偷偷打理好,顺带拔除一切情敌。/我要选择自由/先绑定好我/你是我世界的唯一/强宠!本文一对一
  • 巅峰对决:马云马化腾争霸风云录

    巅峰对决:马云马化腾争霸风云录

    这是一本关于马云马化腾两人的书。随着互联网的发展,从原来的PC电脑端到现在的手机支付端,我们的生活正因为互联网在渐渐发生变化,而马云马化腾作为互联网两大巨头,他们的一个决定或许就会改变我们的生活方式。在马年开年之际,“二马”在发红包,打车软件领域如火如荼的开展争夺,随后在互联网区域各种“圈地,强强联合”,比如腾讯牵手京东,阿里牵手360等等一系列事件,因此我们相信马云马化腾他们一定是在“谋划”着做大事,了解他们的思想,了解他们的作为,我们才能深入的获悉身边的世界在如何改变。
  • 佛说身毛喜竖经

    佛说身毛喜竖经

    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。
  • 假作真时

    假作真时

    《假作真时》是沪上知名作家、译者、外国文学资深编辑黄昱宁近年来的散文佳作结集。第一部分是回忆性随笔,那些家族故事、听过的歌、难忘的人、吃过的家常食物、故去的老翻译家,都在作者笔下呈现出非虚构文体的迷人张力,而我们也借由这些讲述得以回望一种生活,一段人生,一个时代;第二部分则是关于小说和电影的评论,侧重于探讨文学和影像之间的“转译”,探讨故事的变身,为我们示范了一种文本精读的技巧。两个部分互为诠释,构成了一幅虚实无间的立体拼图,也展现出作者成熟的文学观。
  • 改革大师:王安石

    改革大师:王安石

    改革家王安石,锐意富强,勇于冲破旧俗樊篱,指引新路,政治家王安石,特立独行,别于流俗腐儒,务实精进,文学家王安石,笔力冷峻深刻,文坛领袖名至实归!《中国古代文臣谋士:改革大师(王安石)》中优美生动的文字、简明通俗的语言、图文并茂的形式,把中国文化中的物态文化、制度文化、行为文化、精神文化等知识要点全面展示给读者。点点滴滴的文化知识仿佛颗颗繁星,组成了灿烂辉煌的中国文化的天穹。