English literature -- England -- Lancashire; Legends -- England -- Lancashire
At night, as Dick was odding about, he felt fidgety and restless. He
peeped forth at times towards the outhouse where the box was lying,
and as he passed he could not refrain from casting a glance from the
corner of his eye through the half-closed door. The bloody clot he had
seen dwelt upon his imagination; it haunted him like a spectre. He
went to bed before the usual hour, but could not sleep; he tossed and
groaned, but the drowsy god would not be propitiated. The snoring of a
servant in the next bed, too, proved anything but anodyne or oblivion
to his cares. He could not sleep, do what he would. Having pinched his
unfortunate companion till he was tired, but with no other success
than a loud snort, and generally a louder snore than ever, in the end,
Dick, rendered desperate, jumped out of bed, and walked, or rather
staggered across the floor. He looked through the window. It was
light, but the sky was overcast, though objects below might readily be
distinguished. The outhouse where the box lay was in full view; and as
he was looking out listlessly for a few minutes he saw a female figure
bearing a light, who was gliding down stealthily, as he thought, in
the yard below. She entered the building, and Dick could hardly
breathe, he was so terrified. He watched until his eyes ached before
she came out again, when he saw plainly it was his mistress. She bore
something beneath her arm; and as Dick's curiosity was now
sufficiently roused to overcome all fear of consequences, he stole
quickly down-stairs, and by a short route got sufficiently on her
track to watch her proceedings unobserved. He followed into the
garden. She paused, for the first time, under a huge sycamore tree in
the fence, and laid down her burden. She drew something from beneath
her cloak, and, as he thought, began to dig. When this operation was
completed she hastily threw in the burden, and filled up the hole
again; after which, with a rapid step, she came back to the house.
Dick was completely bewildered. He hesitated whether or not to examine
immediately into the nature of the deposit which his mistress seemed
so desirous to conceal; but as he had no light, and his courage was
not then screwed up to the attempt, he satisfied himself at present
with observing the situation, intending to take some other opportunity
to explore this hidden treasure. That his mistress's visit had some
connection with the contents of the mysterious box was now certain,
and whatever she had concealed was part of its contents, a conclusion
equally inevitable; but that she should be so wishful to hide it, was
a problem not easy to be explained without examination. Was it money?
The clotted blood forbade this surmise. A horrible suspicion crossed
him; but it was too horrible for Dick to indulge.
Wondering and guessing, he retraced his steps, and morning dawned on
his still sleepless eyelids.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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