Fabiola : or, The church of the catacombs - Digital Repository Services

TRUE TO 77.
he exclaimed 'It must, lie,' lie added iii :m undertone; nnd
then turning to CaStennan, lie went, on in \\ trembling voice:
'
Naught can I tell you now, nor in Ihis I ]ilaee; am loo much
afraid lint meet me lo-night, at leu o'clock, on the moors, near
the dead oak' you know Hie spot?'
Very well,' replied Caslenuan.
'
To-morrow I will be secu-
rity for you, if you tell me all I want to-night.'
Harkwright left the house.
'Ah! 'said Isaac with great satisfaction, 'we have been two
years working for nothing;
but now we have the secret.'
' / have worked two years, but truly I know not what you
have done, save sit quietly at home,' replied his gloomy com-
panion.
'
Never mind, Master Casterman ; you will reap
the fruits
thereof.
After some bargaining over their goods the two parted. Anxiously
did Casterman await the appointed hour, when he was to
meet his new acquaintance on the moors those same moors be-
fore pictured in bright sunshine, but now dreary and desolate;
such they would appear on a stormy November night. It was
about ten o'clock when, amidst the darkness, a figure might have
been noticed advancing slowly and cautiously across the plain,
towards a spot where an ancient oak, that had long since ceased
to put forth leaves, stretched its blanched arms to the heavens,
seeming in the surrounding gloom like some gaunt spectre, guardian
of the moors.
Certainly it was not pleasure that at such a time, had brought
that lone individual to a place like this; nor, as was apparent
from his manner, had any good purpose called him out; for
there is in one who is doing a duty, however disagreeable it may
be, a certain steadiness of bearing, and a tirmess of step, which
were wanting in him of whom we speak. At times he crept
rather than walked along; then again he would hurry forward, as
if desirous of flying from his own thoughts; more than once he
looked anxiously behind him, as if he feared that he was pursued;
several times he stopped altogether, and gazed around.
At last he reached the old oak. The moon, piercing through the
broken clouds, now lent her light to the scene; and the timid visitor
drew back with terror, as the form of a tall man, who had
been leaning against the ivy which mantled the trunk of the tree,
so that he seemed to form part of it, now stood erect before him.
arrested."
The unhappy man had finished speakincr, and had crouched
back, shuddering against the thick ivy, as a sudden mist shrieked
ominously through the branches of the old tree. Castcrman, ac
customed to the uproar of the elements, scarcely noticed the
wild sounds; his mind was wholly occupied in trying to dis-
cover what Harkwright's real object was; and it occurred to
the wrecker, that it might be only a clever device on the part of
bis new acquaintance, who. under the pretence of betraying Sir
Reginald, was seeking information in order to frustrate the
plans for his ruin.
'
It is strange indeed,' he said, after a long pause,
'
that a man
should give up his friends so willingly; doubtless some strong
i pushed
you thereunto. How comes it, that one in so goodly
a position as you are should want to borrow money from a Jew,
ami should lr: iii such urgent need that you will even betray
your master to obtain it V 1 must know all. Speak?'
I cannot.,' cried the wretched Andrew. '
But don't murder me'
I will
'
do anything you like! And he tried to rele;
from the iron grasp of Stephen
nnaii quickly perceived that he had to deal with one of
those cowardly natures that will do anything through fear. II