"
"And daredst thou, with such apprehensions upon thy stomach, to commit
thyself alone to my mercy and my keeping? Suppose I should reward thee
according to thine own base suspicions. Understandest thou me?"
"Yes, proud and guilty man, too well! But I fear thee not!"
"What! holdest thou a charmed life? Thou mayest fall into a broil as
well as other men. And who shall require thy blood at my hands?"
"Ere I left," said the divine, warily, "I whispered a word in your
cousin Beaumont's ear. Should I not return, he will be here anon.
Peradventure I am not misunderstood. Thou hadst need be careful of my
life, otherwise thine own may be in jeopardy!"
A fierce and terrible brightness, like the lurid flashes from his own
torment, burst from his eye. The very anger and malice he strove to
quell made it burn still hotter. His visage gathered blackness, cloud
hurrying on cloud, like the grim billows of the storm across a glowing
atmosphere. Rapid was the transition. Rage, apprehension,
abhorrence,--all that hate and malignity could express, threw their
appalling shadows over his features. Still the dark hints uttered by his
visitor seemed to hold him in check.
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