onsisted of a wife and three young children! That wife was Margaret
Roberts--or rather Margaret Stone; for, notwithstanding the
representations of Cutler, her union with Stone had been perfectly
legal. By what arts he had succeeded in inducing her to elope with him,
we can only judge from his previous proceedings; but this is certain,
that resentment toward Stone, who, she probably believed, had unfairly
trapped her, was as likely to move her impulsive and unstable spirit, as
any other motive. Add to this, the wound given to her vanity by the
sudden departure of her young husband upon a long campaign, with the
acuteness given to this feeling by the arts of Cutler, and we shall not
be at a loss to explain her action.

Whether she had not bitterly repented her criminal haste, we know not;
but that hardship and suffering of some sort had preyed upon her spirit,
was evident in her appearance. Her beauty was much faded; she had grown
pale and thin; and though she was scarcely yet in the prime of
womanhood, her step was heavy and spiritless. She was not happy, of
course, but her misery was not only negative: the gnawings of remorse
were but too positive and real!

Cutler was changed almost as much as his victim. The lapse of seven
years had added a score to his apparent age; and, if we are to credit
the representations of persons who were probably looking for signs of
vice, the advance of time had brought out, in well-marked lineaments,
upon his countenance, the evil traits of his character. His cheeks were
sunken, his features attenuated, and his figure exceedingly spare, but
he still exhibited marks of great personal strength and activity. His
glance, always of doubtful meaning, was now unsettled and furtive; and I
have heard one of the actors in this history assert, that it had a
scared, apprehensive expression, as if he were in constant expectation
of meeting a dangerous enemy.

Nor is this at all improbable, for during the seven years which had
elapsed since the consummation of his design upon Margaret, he had
emigrated no less than three times--frightened away, at each removal, by
some intimation, or suspicion, that the avenger was on his track! No
wonder that his look was wary, and his face pale and haggard!

On this, his fourth migration, he had crossed the prairies from the
waters of the Wabash; and having placed the wide expanse of waving plain
between him and the settlements, he at length considered himself sa