Major Vigoureux

eep straight on,"

ardily. "I really think the gen

a matter of life and death. And we cannot be m

as apt to turn peevish when frightened, "a

at out with Mr. Pope, if you haven't made up your minds about it by this t

is a capital thing to do in a fog), but only to let it go abruptly a moment later. "Besides,"

ly a little nervous. "If you ask me, it's better you were thinking of those poor souls out

d groped their way forward for twenty paces or

her shoe, for her sole had just encountered turf; "and this is one. My dear Charlotte, if

. "Besides"-with sudden spirit-"if you want to stand on on

fidence; but at the seventh stride or so a sharp exclamation es

s the

st run against it.... Yes, this must

you s

aring away to the right;

not mistaken-we can bear away from it to the left, on purpose, and then as like

within an ace of calling her a fool

ago you were

tershall's garden, we have only to hold on by t

l ended, and the

i-

, desperately, and with conviction, "that one

l's voice had begun to shake by this time, but she steadi

it were!" said Mr

ar Cha

ouldn't care who he was. A pump? What earthly use is

can'

y n

hat Mumford's is on the

ide of the road, as I have

ght. It is Mumford's pump, for I have just bruised m

that nobody shows a light. I don't like to call people unfeeling; but really, with folks

rth-that it really was a pump, and Mumford's. But this cost them dear, for at the end of the

ng sympathetically in a circle, "I don't understand wha

e! Of course, it's not on t

or I remember it distinctly." (Another pause, and a sigh.) "For my p

ing in a direction precisely opposite. Moreover, the behaviour of Mumford's pump troubled her more than she cared to confess, even to herself. It stood on the right of the road as you went towards St. Hugh's; but they had encou

ger trod the causeway. They were on turf, and, so far as they could feel it in the darkness, the turf seemed to be mounting in a fairly stiff slope.

, with a little

it. We have

makes you

at bell! Can'

pe apparently was nettled by th

are walking straig

d to me like t

to alarm the people in Old Town. I heard him say this very night that it used to be the cust

for even to her scattered intelligence it was a thing incredible that they should

f over the cliffs, it's no thanks"-bitterly-"to them we might have relied on. B

to this?" announced Mis

r opinion until she saw wh

side of us. Now we have only to keep by the railing and feel our way-if you'll follow me-and we must fi

is time of night," said Mrs. Pop

ne, then; that is, unless you pr

Miss Gabriel's heels. The bell continued tolling, not far away; yet so

" asserted Mrs. Pope, coming to a desperate

s Gabriel conceded; "but no do

the church bell. For my part, I don't b

E

stopped

riel's blood ran cold, there in the darkness, as Mrs. Pop

teeth might not be heard to chatter. "Whoever was ringing the be

iration came

e at all, but in the churchyard; and these rails don'

've been following them for

owing round and round them, and at this rate there'

ou are right. You walk to the left, feeling round them, and I'll walk

f you leave me-if once I lose hol

e. We must stay here and cry out at th

y didn't we thin

g of itself; and if we can hear the bell, very

? I declare to you my whol

voice, despite herself, quavere

much as an extremely nervous person see

. much lou

h, Elizabeth, and i

till....

s like waking

-el

on earth's the matter?" answered a

izabeth! Heaven

e again, and a dot of light s

him, Eli

. unless the fog.... Hi, there! Help! Here are

through a breach in a wall, stepped Mrs. Treacher wi

nd Miss Gabriel?

reacher! But, howe

d Mrs. Treacher

!... You don't tell me y

cher, shortly, lifting her lanter

voice rocked a little before she recovered her self-command. "Wou

nd you have hold of the rails round the old powder magazine. But what you're

me to her companion's help. She did so by leaning back limply against

th Miss Gabriel's help supported her up the slo

lantern revealed to her through the fast-thinning fog a portion of

, "that is, unless you'd rather have her laid out

t woman-caught up the all but inanimate lady in both arms, and bore her into the passage, nodding to Mis

hough he do mostly use to keep his books and papers upon it." She laid down her burden. "Oh, you needn'

t, travelled across the stooping shoulders of Mrs. Treacher and fastened itself upon a garment of gaudily-str

acher, rising and stepping to a corner cupboard. "If he keeps such a

easons the Commandant had, for two or three years

a drop of gin I keep against Treacher's attacks." (Let not Mrs. Treacher's idiom frighten the reader. She meant only that h

s on the writing-table," she added; "if you

over the lamp's flame; but her eyes still questioned the antimacassar. She was bendin

er, dear?" asked Miss

She looked up in surprise, for Mrs. Treacher could

n-a woman clad in furs-a woman with diamonds fl

abriel

t, looked her in the eyes, and w

d, and sank back aga