第67章 THE HONOURABLE LAURA(5)

From their feet the cascade plunged downward almost vertically to a depth of eighty or a hundred feet before finally losing itself in the sand,and though the stream was but small,its impact upon jutting rocks in its descent divided it into a hundred spirts and splashes that sent up a mist into the upper air.A few marginal drippings had been frozen into icicles,but the centre flowed on unimpeded.

The operatic artist looked down as he halted,but his thoughts were plainly not of the beauty of the scene.His companion with the pistols was immediately in front of him,and there was no handrail on the side of the path toward the chasm.Obeying a quick impulse,he stretched out his arm,and with a superhuman thrust sent Laura's husband reeling over.A whirling human shape,diminishing downward in the moon's rays farther and farther toward invisibility,a smack-smack upon the projecting ledges of rock--at first louder and heavier than that of the brook,and then scarcely to be distinguished from it--then a cessation,then the splashing of the stream as before,and the accompanying murmur of the sea,were all the incidents that disturbed the customary flow of the little waterfall.

The singer waited in a fixed attitude for a few minutes,then turning,he rapidly retraced his steps over the intervening upland toward the road,and in less than a quarter of an hour was at the door of the hotel.Slipping quietly in as the clock struck ten,he said to the landlord,over the bar hatchway -'The bill as soon as you can let me have it,including charges for the supper that was ordered,though we cannot stay to eat it,I am sorry to say.'He added with forced gaiety,'The lady's father and cousin have thought better of intercepting the marriage,and after quarrelling with each other have gone home independently.'

'Well done,sir!'said the landlord,who still sided with this customer in preference to those who had given trouble and barely paid for baiting the horses.'"Love will find out the way!"as the saying is.Wish you joy,sir!'

Signor Smithozzi went upstairs,and on entering the sitting-room found that Laura had crept out from the dark adjoining chamber in his absence.She looked up at him with eyes red from weeping,and with symptoms of alarm.

'What is it?--where is he?'she said apprehensively.

'Captain Northbrook has gone back.He says he will have no more to do with you.'

'And I am quite abandoned by them!--and they'll forget me,and nobody care about me any more!'She began to cry afresh.

'But it is the luckiest thing that could have happened.All is just as it was before they came disturbing us.But,Laura,you ought to have told me about that private marriage,though it is all the same now;it will be dissolved,of course.You are a wid--virtually a widow.'

'It is no use to reproach me for what is past.What am I to do now?'

'We go at once to Cliff-Martin.The horse has rested thoroughly these last three hours,and he will have no difficulty in doing an additional half-dozen miles.We shall be there before twelve,and there are late taverns in the place,no doubt.There we'll sell both horse and carriage to-morrow morning;and go by the coach to Downstaple.Once in the train we are safe.'

'I agree to anything,'she said listlessly.

In about ten minutes the horse was put in,the bill paid,the lady's dried wraps put round her,and the journey resumed.

When about a mile on their way,they saw a glimmering light in advance of them.'I wonder what that is?'said the baritone,whose manner had latterly become nervous,every sound and sight causing him to turn his head.

'It is only a turnpike,'said she.'That light is the lamp kept burning over the door.'

'Of course,of course,dearest.How stupid I am!'

On reaching the gate they perceived that a man on foot had approached it,apparently by some more direct path than the roadway they pursued,and was,at the moment they drew up,standing in conversation with the gatekeeper.

'It is quite impossible that he could fall over the cliff by accident or the will of God on such a light night as this,'the pedestrian was saying.'These two children I tell you of saw two men go along the path toward the waterfall,and ten minutes later only one of 'em came back,walking fast,like a man who wanted to get out of the way because he had done something queer.There is no manner of doubt that he pushed the other man over,and,mark me,it will soon cause a hue and cry for that man.'

The candle shone in the face of the Signor and showed that there had arisen upon it a film of ghastliness.Laura,glancing toward him for a few moments observed it,till,the gatekeeper having mechanically swung open the gate,her companion drove through,and they were soon again enveloped in the white silence.

Her conductor had said to Laura,just before,that he meant to inquire the way at this turnpike;but he had certainly not done so.

As soon as they had gone a little farther the omission,intentional or not,began to cause them some trouble.Beyond the secluded district which they now traversed ran the more frequented road,where progress would be easy,the snow being probably already beaten there to some extent by traffic;but they had not yet reached it,and having no one to guide them their journey began to appear less feasible than it had done before starting.When the little lane which they had entered ascended another hill,and seemed to wind round in a direction contrary to the expected route to Cliff-Martin,the question grew serious.Ever since overhearing the conversation at the turnpike,Laura had maintained a perfect silence,and had even shrunk somewhat away from the side of her lover.

'Why don't you talk,Laura,'he said with forced buoyancy,'and suggest the way we should go?'

'Oh yes,I will,'she responded,a curious fearfulness being audible in her voice.

After this she uttered a few occasional sentences which seemed to persuade him that she suspected nothing.At last he drew rein,and the weary horse stood still.

'We are in a fix,'he said.