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The Broad Highway

Page 78

"Oh, sir!" he broke out, "I do not think there is anything more

terrible than to witness in one we love a sorrow we are unable to

reach!" Here he paused, and I saw that the sweat stood out upon

his brow, and that his hand was tight clenched as he drew it

across his temples. "At last, sir," he went on, speaking once

more in a low, repressed tone, "returning home one day, I found

her--gone."

"Gone?" said I.

"Gone, sir."

"And she left no trace--no letter?"

"No, she left no letter, sir, but I did find something--a

something that had rolled into a corner of the room."

"And what was that?"

"This, sir!" As he spoke, his burning eyes never leaving mine,

he thrust a hand into his bosom--his left hand, for his right was

where it had been all along, hidden in his pocket--and held out

to me a gold seal such as gentlemen wear at their fobs.

"Ah!" I exclaimed.

"Take it!" said the man, thrusting it towards me; "look at it!"

Obediently I took the trinket from him, and, examining it as well

as I might, saw that a letter was engraved upon it, one of those

ornamental initials surrounded by rococo scrolls and flourishes.

"What letter does it bear?" asked the man in a strangled voice.

"It looks very like the letter 'Y,'" I answered "The letter 'Y'!" cried the man, and then, with a gesture sudden

and fierce, he snatched the seal from me, and, thrusting it back

into his bosom, laughed strangely.

"Why do you laugh?" said I.

"To be sure," said he harshly, "the light might be better, and

yet--well! well! my story is nearly done. I lived on in my

lonely house from day to day, and month to month, hoping and

waiting for her to come back to me. And one day she did come

back to me--just about this hour it was, sir, and on just such

another evening; and that same night--she died."

"Good God!" I exclaimed. "Poor fellow!" And, leaning forward, I

laid my hand upon his knee, but, at my touch, he drew back so

quickly, and with a look so evil, that I was startled.

"Hands off!" said he, and so sat staring at me with his

smouldering eyes.

"Are you mad?" said I, and sprang to my feet.

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