her care on the Lord, whom she had loved and served from her very
infancy; and her head had not rested many moments upon her pillow ere she
fell into a deep, sweet sleep, that lasted until morning.

While Elsie slept, and Mr. Travilla galloped homeward by the longer route,
the moon, peering through the cloud curtains, looked down upon a dark
figure, standing behind a tree not many yards distant from the thicket
Elsie had besought her friend to shun. The man held a revolver in his
hand, ready cocked for instant use. His attitude was that of one
listening intently for some expected sound.

He had stood thus for hours, and was growing very weary. "Curse the
wretch!" he muttered, "does he court all night? How many hours have I been
here waiting for my chance for a shot at him? It's getting to be no joke,
hungry, cold, tired enough to lie down here on the ground. But I'll stick
it out, and shoot him down like a dog. He thinks to enjoy the prize he
snatched from me, but he'll find himself mistaken, or my name's n----" The
sentence ended with a fierce grinding of the teeth. Hark! was that the
distant tread of a horse? He bent his ear to the earth, and almost held
his breath to listen. Yes, faint but unmistakable; the sounds filled him
with a fiendish joy. For years he had nursed his hatred of Travilla, whom
he blamed almost exclusively for his failure to get possession of Elsie's
fortune.

He sprang up and again placed himself in position to fire. But what had
become of the welcome sounds? Alas for his hoped-for revenge; they had
died away entirely. The horse and his rider must have taken some other
road. More low-breathed, bitter curses: yet perchance it was not the man
for whose life he thirsted. He would wait and hope on.

But the night waned: one after another the moon and stars set and day
began to break in the east; the birds waking in their nests overhead grew
clamorous with joy, yet their notes seemed to contain a warning tone for
him, bidding him begone ere the coming of the light hated by those whose
deeds are evil. Chilled by the frosty air, and stiff and sore from long
standing in a constrained position, he limped away, and disappeared in the
deeper shadows of the woods.

Arthur's words of warning had taken their desired effect; and cowardly, as
base, wicked, and cruel, the man made haste to flee from the scene of his
intended crime, imagining at times that he even heard the bloodhounds
already on his track.