"Pooh! do you suppose she would or _could_ do it?"
"Why, yes, I think it"s more"n likely she"d keep her tongue out of grat.i.tude. She"s no common gal, that, and you may put a peg there."
"Ah, that"s it exactly. She"s no common girl, as you say; and I have been envying Duffel his good fortune ever since she has been in the cave. The truth is, I was smitten by her charms the first time I saw her, and was half tempted to play Duffel false then; and now that I can serve myself and disappoint him at the same time, I shall not be slow to avail myself of the opportunity."
"I don"t like this business of runnin" off women, nohow you can fix it. It allers looked mean and cowardly, somehow, and I despise meanness and cowardice above all things."
"Well, that is a pretty speech to come from you, anyhow! as if you had not been engaged in mean acts half your life, for which you would have to swing, if the law should once get his clutches upon you."
"I know I have done some _bad_ things; of _mean_ acts I have performed but few, and the meanest of these was helping to carry off this very gal to the cave; and it was by far the most cowardly. Two men to one woman! It"s actually a disgrace, and I never think of it without feelin" little!"
"I am willing you should think as you please about the matter, so you give me a little help in the affair."
"I don"t know about that; I am tee-totally opposed to meddlin" with women, and I don"t think it"s manly."
"Yes, but in this instance we are compelled, as it were, to take the girl with us. That changes the case, you know, very materially."
"I"m not so sure as we need to take her. I believe she"d keep our secret ef we"d let her go."
"Well, I don"t; and so we differ. But that is not the question. Go she must--go she _shall_! Will you a.s.sist me?"
"Why, I reckon I"ll have to; it wouldn"t hardly be fair to refuse a friend after helpin" an enemy. I"ll stand by you."
"That"s a good fellow! Well, so much is settled. To-morrow Duffel will be away, and I will take the impression for the key. By Jove, won"t it be rich when he finds that he has been robbed and the bird is flown!"
"I think he"ll conclude this partic"lar part of G.o.d"s footstool is likely to become a leetle too hot for him."
"Yes; and about the time he begins to prepare for leaving, he"ll find himself taken care of in a way he doesn"t dream of."
"And there will be one coward less at large in the world."
"And he will be paid for his treason to his friends."
"But how are we to manage him till the time for action comes?"
"Oh, we must be friendly as ever; he is not quite done with us yet, and we must seem to enter into his plans as fully as ever we have done, and, above all, give him no cause to suspect anything is wrong, or that we have any idea of his intentions toward us."
"Then we must go after them horses to-night?"
"Certainly; I would not miss the opportunity, because, if we succeed in taking the horses, they will be under our care, and we can use them for our own purpose."
"Sure enough. But if we don"t get them, what then are we to do?"
"Why, we will take some from the stable."
"I don"t like that much. Ef it is found out, as it will be when we are missed, we shall have the enmity of the Order."
"I know, and have prepared for such an emergency."
"How?"
"I will let you know in good time. We must away, now, to meet Duffel in the "swamp.""
Thus terminated the interview between these bad men. Had Eveline dreamed that such would have been the effect of her revelation to them of Duffel"s purpose, she would have burned the paper sooner than have placed it in their hands. From one snare she falls into another, and there appears to be no end to her misfortunes.
Night was upon the world. In peaceful slumbers the innocent reposed, while the wicked, the thief and robber, stole out upon errands of vice and crime.
"Squire Williams, though in common a follower of that old proverb:
"Early to bed and early to rise, Make a man healthy, wealthy and wise;"
was, on this evening, up until past eleven o"clock, in social chat with a neighbor, who had "dropped in to spend the evening" with him. During the conversation between them, the subject of most engrossing and universal interest in that community, that of horse-stealing, was amply discussed.
"What do you think is best to be done?" inquired the neighbor.
"Well, others may do as they please; but I intend to _defend_ my property,"
was the "Squire"s reply.
"Just the conclusion I have arrived at; and I shall not be surprised if we are called upon very soon to put our resolves into practice."
"Have you heard anything new?"
"Well, no, I haven"t heard anything, but I"ve seen a little, and that, I take it, is about as good."
"Why, yes, it might be better, if it was good for anything at all."
"I do not know how good it is, but my suspicions were excited."
"It is quite an easy matter to have our suspicions excited these exciting times, and on this very exciting subject. There is Mr. Mandeville, has been made to believe that one of the best young men who ever lived, is guilty of stealing his horse first, and his daughter afterward."
"You don"t mean to say that he suspects Mr. Duffel of such crimes?"
"No; he judges a thousand times better man than Duffel; for, between you and me, I have my doubts about this Duffel. I have seen him on two different occasions in company with a couple of, to say the least, very suspicious looking characters."
"You don"t say so!"
"Yes; and what is more, he was evidently on good terms with them, though he did not appear to wish me to think so, and pa.s.sed the matter off indifferently. I might not have thought so much of the circ.u.mstance were it not for the fact that he does not attend to business at all, and yet lives in a better style and more extravagantly than any other young man in the country. I tell you a man can"t live these times, and spend money as he does, without having an income much greater than his."
"Perhaps he is making inroads on his capital."
"That may be, too, though I do not know that it is the case; but I _do_ know that he is absent from home much of the time, occasionally for days together, and n.o.body can tell where he is."
"I have noticed the fact of his absence myself."
"Mr. Mandeville was here to-day, and gave me a history of his troubles. It appears that this Duffel was in love with his daughter--or, as _I_ suppose, with his money--and had proposed to him for her hand, which he was willing to bestow, but the daughter was not. She had placed her affections upon another, and, in my belief, a far worthier object, and to the importunities of both her father and Duffel, she gave a firm and constant refusal. The parent forbid her favorite the house, and he believes that it was through his persuasions that Eveline left her home, of which you, of course, have heard."