He kept them then in the dark, and went downstairs again to his coffee.
He sat and sipped it, and, with it, his coming vengeance.
All the defeats and mortifications he had endured from Huntercombe
returned to his mind; and now, with one masterstroke he would balance
them all.
Yet he felt a little compunction.
Active hostilities had ceased for many years.
Lady Bassett, at all events, had held out the hand to his wife. The
blow he meditated was very cruel: would not his wife and daughter say
it was barbarous? Would not his own heart, the heart of a father,
reproach him afterward?
These misgivings, that would have restrained a less obstinate man,
irritated Richard Bassett: he went into a rage, and said aloud, "I must
do it: I will do it, come what may."
He told Jessie he valued her much: she should have a black silk gown
for her courage and fidelity; but she must not be faithful by halves.
She must not breathe one word to any soul in the house that the burglar
was there under lock and key; if she did, he should turn her out of the
house that moment.
"Hets!" said the woman, "der ye think I canna haud my whist, when the
maister bids me? I'm nae great clasher at ony time, for my pairt."
At seven o'clock in the morning he sent a note to Sir Charles Bassett,
to say that his house had been attacked last night by two armed
burglars; he and his people had captured one, and wished to take him
before a magistrate at once, since his house was not a fit place to
hold him secure.
Pages:
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548