The Dead Alive | Page 8

stillness of the
night. John Jago had re-entered the house.
Now that he was out of hearing, Naomi spoke to me very earnestly:
"Don't suppose, sir, I have any secrets with him," she said. "I know no
more than you do what he wants with me. I have half a mind not to
keep the appointment when ten o'clock comes. What would you do in
my place?"
"Having made the appointment," I answered, "it seems to be due to
yourself to keep it. If you feel the slightest alarm, I will wait in another
part of the garden, so that I can hear if you call me."
She received my proposal with a saucy toss of the head, and a smile of
pity for my ignorance.
"You are a stranger, Mr. Lefrank, or you would never talk to me in that
way. In America, we don't do the men the honor of letting them alarm
us. In America, the women take care of themselves. He has got my
promise to meet him, as you say; and I must keep my promise. Only
think," she added, speaking more to herself than to me, "of John Jago
finding out Miss Meadowcroft's nasty, sly, underhand ways in the
house! Most men would never have noticed her."
I was completely taken by surprise. Sad and severe Miss Meadowcroft
a listener and a spy! What next at Morwick Farm?
"Was that hint at the watchful eyes and ears, and the soft footsteps,
really an allusion to Mr. Meadowcroft's daughter?" I asked.
"Of course it was. Ah! she has imposed on you as she imposes on
everybody else. The false wretch! She is secretly at the bottom of half
the bad feeling among the men. I am certain of it--she keeps Mr.
Meadowcroft's mind bitter toward the boys. Old as she is, Mr. Lefrank,
and ugly as she is, she wouldn't object (if she could only make him ask
her) to be John Jago's second wife. No, sir; and she wouldn't break her

heart if the boys were not left a stick or a stone on the farm when the
father dies. I have watched her, and I know it. Ah! I could tell you such
things! But there's no time now--it's close on ten o'clock; we must say
good-night. I am right glad I have spoken to you, sir. I say again, at
parting, what I have said already: Use your influence, pray use your
influence, to soften them, and to make them ashamed of themselves, in
this wicked house. We will have more talk about what you can do
to-morrow, when you are shown over the farm. Say good-by now. Hark!
there is ten striking! And look! here is John Jago stealing out again in
the shadow of the tree! Good-night, friend Lefrank; and pleasant
dreams."
With one hand she took mine, and pressed it cordially; with the other
she pushed me away without ceremony in the direction of the house. A
charming girl--an irresistible girl! I was nearly as bad as the boys. I
declare, I almost hated John Jago, too, as we crossed each other in the
shadow of the tree.
Arrived at the glass door, I stopped and looked back at the gravelwalk.
They had met. I saw the two shadowy figures slowly pacing backward
and forward in the moonlight, the woman a little in advance of the man.
What was he saying to her? Why was he so anxious that not a word of
it should be heard? Our presentiments are sometimes, in certain rare
cases, the faithful prophecy of the future. A vague distrust of that
moonlight meeting stealthily took a hold on my mind. "Will mischief
come of it?" I asked myself as I closed the door and entered the house.
Mischief did come of it. You shall hear how.
CHAPTER IV.
THE BEECHEN STICK.
PERSONS of sensitive, nervous temperament, sleeping for the first
time in a strange house, and in a bed that is new to them, must make up
their minds to pass a wakeful night. My first night at Morwick Farm
was no exception to this rule. The little sleep I had was broken and

disturbed by dreams. Toward six o'clock in the morning, my bed
became unendurable to me. The sun was shining in brightly at the
window. I determined to try the reviving influence of a stroll in the
fresh morning air.
Just as I got out of bed, I heard footsteps and voices under my window.
The footsteps stopped, and the voices became recognizable. I had
passed the night with my window open; I was able, without exciting
notice from below, to look out.
The persons beneath me were Silas Meadowcroft, John Jago, and three
strangers, whose dress and appearance indicated plainly enough that