Beth Norvell - Page 157/177

"You--you will go with me?" her voice trembling, yet for the first time

exhibiting a trace of interest. "If I go, you will go?"

"Yes, yes; can you suppose I would ever permit you to go alone? Do you

give me your promise?"

She still held her head pressed between the palms of her hands, her

dishevelled hair hanging far below the waist, her dark eyes, wild and

filled with terror, roving about as though seeking to pierce the

surrounding darkness.

"Oh, my God! I don't know!" she cried in a breathless sob. "I don't

know! Why won't you go? Why won't you go, and leave me here with him,

until some one else comes? I cannot understand; my brain is on fire.

But that would be better--yes, yes! Do that. I--I am not afraid of

him."

He caught her outflung hand firmly within his own grasp. She

shuddered, as if the contact were painful, yet made no effort to

escape, her eyes widening as she looked at him.

"No, I will not go one step without you." He held her helpless, his

face grown stern, seeing in this his only hope of influencing her

action. "Can it be you believe me such a cur? Beth, we both

comprehend the wrong this man has done, the evil of his life the

provocation given for such an act as this. He deserved it all. This

is no time for blame. If we desired to aid him, our remaining here now

would accomplish nothing. Others will discover the body and give it

proper care. But, oh, God! do you realize what it will inevitably mean

for us to be discovered here?--the disgrace, the stigma, the

probability of arrest and conviction, the ruthless exposure of

everything? I plead with you to think of all this, and no longer

hesitate. We have no time for that. Leave here with me before it

becomes too late. I believe I know a way out, and there is opportunity

if we move quickly. But the slightest delay may close every avenue for

escape. Beth, Beth, blot out all else, and tell me you will go!"

The intense agony apparent in his voice seemed to break her down

utterly. The tears sprang blinding to her dry eyes, her head bent

forward.

"And," she asked, as if the thought had not yet reached her

understanding, "you will not go without--without me?"

"No; whatever the result, no."

She lifted her face, white, haggard, and looked at him through the mist

obscuring her eyes, no longer wide opened in wildness.

"Then I must go; I must go," she exclaimed, a shudder shaking her from

head to foot; "God help me, I must go!"

A moment she gazed blankly back toward the motionless body on the

ground, the ghastly countenance upturned to the stars, her own face as

white as the dead, one hand pressing back her dark hair. She reeled

from sudden faintness, yet, before he could touch her in support, she

had sunk upon her knees, with head bowed low, the long tresses trailing

upon the ground.