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?"
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
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
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.