"I must; the rain is driving in--"
"Tell the young ladies. Let me see them- "
"Indeed, I will not. You are not what you ought to be, or you
wouldn't make such a noise. Move off."
"But I must die if I am turned away."
"Not you. I'm fear'd you have some ill plans agate, that bring you
about folk's houses at this time o' night. If you've any followers-
-housebreakers or such like--anywhere near, you may tell them we are
not by ourselves in the house; we have a gentleman, and dogs, and
guns." Here the honest but inflexible servant clapped the door to
and bolted it within.
This was the climax. A pang of exquisite suffering--a throe of true
despair--rent and heaved my heart. Worn out, indeed, I was; not
another step could I stir. I sank on the wet doorstep: I groaned--
I wrung my hands--I wept in utter anguish. Oh, this spectre of
death! Oh, this last hour, approaching in such horror! Alas, this
isolation--this banishment from my kind! Not only the anchor of
hope, but the footing of fortitude was gone--at least for a moment;
but the last I soon endeavoured to regain.
"I can but die," I said, "and I believe in God. Let me try to wait
His will in silence."
These words I not only thought, but uttered; and thrusting back all
my misery into my heart, I made an effort to compel it to remain
there--dumb and still.
"All men must die," said a voice quite close at hand; "but all are
not condemned to meet a lingering and premature doom, such as yours
would be if you perished here of want."
"Who or what speaks?" I asked, terrified at the unexpected sound,
and incapable now of deriving from any occurrence a hope of aid. A
form was near--what form, the pitch-dark night and my enfeebled
vision prevented me from distinguishing. With a loud long knock,
the new-comer appealed to the door.
"Is it you, Mr. St. John?" cried Hannah.
"Yes--yes; open quickly."
"Well, how wet and cold you must be, such a wild night as it is!
Come in--your sisters are quite uneasy about you, and I believe
there are bad folks about. There has been a beggar-woman--I declare
she is not gone yet!--laid down there. Get up! for shame! Move
off, I say!"
"Hush, Hannah! I have a word to say to the woman. You have done
your duty in excluding, now let me do mine in admitting her. I was
near, and listened to both you and her. I think this is a peculiar
case--I must at least examine into it. Young woman, rise, and pass
before me into the house."