"Just a little, perhaps," said I, and, while she dabbed at her
pretty eyes with her snowy apron, I took pen and ink from the
shelf where I kept them, which, together with George's letter, I
set upon the anvil. "Now," said I, in answer to her questioning
look, "write down just here, below where George signed his name,
what you told me a moment ago."
"You mean, that I--"
"That you love him, yes."
"Oh, Mr. Peter!"
"Prudence," said I, "it is the only way, so far as I can see, of
saving George from himself; and no sweet, pure maid need be ashamed
to tell her love, especially to such a man as this, who worships
the very ground that little shoe of yours has once pressed."
She glanced up at me, under her wet lashes, as I said this, and a
soft light beamed in her eyes, and a smile hovered upon her red lips.
"Do he--really, Mr. Peter?"
"Indeed he does, Prudence, though I think you must know that
without my telling you." So she stooped above the anvil,
blushing a little, and sighing a little, and crying a little,
and, with fingers that trembled somewhat, to be sure, wrote these
four words: "George, I love you."
"What now, Mr. Peter?" she inquired, seeing me begin to unbuckle
my leather apron.
"Now," I answered, "I am going to look for Black George."
"No!--no!" she cried, laying her hands upon my arm, "no! no! if
'ee do meet him, he--he'll kill 'ee!"
"I don't think he will," said I, shaking my head.
"Oh, don't go!--don't go!" she pleaded, shaking my arm in her
eagerness; "he be so strong and wild and quick--he'll give 'ee
no chance to speak--'twill be murder!"
"Prudence," said I, "my mind is set on it. I am going--for your
sake, for his sake, and my own;" saying which, I loosed her hands
gently and took down my coat from its peg.
"Dear God!" she exclaimed, staring down at the floor with wide
eyes, "if he were to kill 'ee--!"
"Well," said I, "my search would be ended and I should be a deal
wiser in all things than I am to-day."
"And he--would be hanged!" said Prudence, shuddering.
"Probably--poor fellow!" said I. At this she glanced quickly up,
and once again the crimson dyed her cheeks.