"I couldn't rightly make out, but I heerd Maaster Wilfred zay that he'd kill yer weth hes own 'and rather than you shud ever 'ave her. Then I 'eerd Jake Blackburn ax what 'ee'd got to do wi' that, and your brother told 'im that ef Miss Ruth didn't come down from 'er 'igh 'oss, there'd be some work for 'im to do." "You don't mean to say that Wilfred would use this villain to kill Ruth?" "I don't say nothin', sur, but I knaw Maaster Wilfred wur awful mad, and wur tellin' Jake that ef 'ee ded'n do as he was told he'd put a 'angman's rope round es nuddick. I 'eerd un zay, too, that he wud tell 'er you was dead, and that it wur 'er place to 'ave him, and if she wudden--well, and then they was whisperin' one to another." "And are you sure they were going there?" "As sure as I can be, sur. I 'eerd em zay they'd git to Morton Hall by ten o'clock." "And now it's after two. Why did you not tell me before?" "I've bin three times this mornin' sur, but they zaid they wudden wake 'ee. I've told 'ee as soon as ever I cud." I could not believe in what Bill had said, it was too terrible, but I hurried madly back to the house, he keeping by my side. "Do you really think he is capable of such a thing as you hinted at, Bill?" I said. "I'm sure 'ee's capable of doin' any devilish thing," said Bill; "beside, 'e've bin drinkin' 'ard lately." The thought was ghastly in the extreme, and yet as I remembered the look on his face the night before, when he said he would ever seek to curse my life, I felt the truth of Bill's words. He had tried to murder me in order to retain wealth, would he not murder her rather than see her make me happy? Then the thought came to me--was this a part of the curse? For the past eleven years I had never known real happiness. Before I had raised the cup to my lips it had been dashed out of my hand. Was it to be now as it had ever been? For a moment I believed that an evil power attended me, and that I could not rid myself of the evil to which I had been born. Then I thought of old Deborah Teague's words. "You ca'ant curse waun that do love everybody, and whose heart es full ov love." This comforted me; not that I believed particularly in anything she might say, but because her words sounded true. Anyhow, if such were the case, I would resist my fate, I would struggle to the end, and God would help me. I rushed to the stables, where two or three men lolled around. "Are the horses all in the stables?" I asked. "No, sur, there be two gone." "Good ones?" "The best we've got, sur. Brown Molly es a thora breed, sur, and will run till she do drop; and Prince is nearly so good." "Have you a good horse now?" "There's Bess. She's a bra mare, jist brok in, sur." "Saddle her at once for me, and stop! Do you know who has the other two horses?" "No, sur; but Master Wilfred do often take hosses without we knawin' 'bout it." "Just so. Bring Bess to the hall door immediately."