The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1870-01-28

bIarst him." continued Bilson, after i
pause.
"Well, Tubing, my lad, yau can
bring them pheasauts i & muck cart,
tomorrow, 50 get thecs on the way
hOamc."
And they both left the stable, Giles
Gmping out Of tlie yard into the High
Street, white his patron returned to
his coy seat in the blr-pIrlOr.
In vain the old mare neighed, and
tossed lier glossy heud, and turned
round the length of her tether with
surprise in her dim and dewy eye; for
full twenty minutes from the time Of
their departure, Jane never changed
her attitude. She stood little with
/ in the stall, her hands clasped before
her, her head inclined little forward,
and her eyes bent OH an OLD surcingie
that had fallen from its peg, and lay
OH the b0ulders. H.F face WAS white
and drawn, and there were dark
circles round her eyes that gave them
cJlor and brightness. She had not
been Well since the night of the fight
had not hoped to be well in mind or
/ body until then; and the hope that ut
| that moment leaped up in her bosom
/ like a tongue Of sudden fire, warming
1 her starved heart, and bringing the
scanty blood to her sunken cheek,
was Il wicked hOpe-a hope that found
/ its fuel in a contemplated sin.
Revenge she had determined on
/ secured the means tO wreak her mad
wrath on the Thickleys; but now she
was ready tO tear into n thousand
/ pieces the mortgage that George IN
gleby had reluctantly made over 10
! her-tO tear it into a thousand pieces
on one condition. But the concession
of that one condition it was no easy
matter to obtain. If she could only
cast him without the charmed circle
of honOr-prOve him cOwardly row.
| dy-make him hold his insOlent head
i'm bitter shame; and then-thcn offer
to lift him up again, open out to him
once more the road towealth and hon
or, be his benefactrcss, his sole refuge
and means of escape.
1t was foolish scheme-a scheme
that no novelist would permit his
heroine to conceive, much less essay,
but am writing n narrative of facts,
and must cen take those facts rs they
come. However, if it promised little
in one way, it at least prOffered re-
venge, "a keen and double-edged re-
Venge.
1t is right to let the reader know,
too that Jane was a great believer in
money. She had scraped and saved
all her life, and although she Occa-
siOnly bestowed broken victuals on
such beggars as presented themselves
ut the door of the inn, she had never
been known to give away coin. She
had all her life heartily despised poor
people, and looked up prOportiOnately
to those who were rich, richer, and
richest. 1t was her way, as it was of
most of those who were comfortable
i'm Blazen. Yet she would have part
ed with every cent for Ralph's love,
and trudged behind him barefooted to
the end Of the world. What wonder
if she counted somewhat on the effect
of her money and land, after his dis
grace, his degradation from honorable
repute, when he would be ready to ac-
cept anything that gave him fOOthOld
and weapon for fight
When she had made her election
when the impulse had cowed and con-
quered the principle-Jane re-entcred
the house, opened the door of the par
lOr, and beckoned BilsOn out. He fol-
lowed her into the small, 9audy, pri-
vate room, once the pride of her heart,
and neither questioned her with look
nor word, until she had told him that
she knew the nature of the bond be-
tween him and Giles Tubing.
"And know whose hand bF0u ght
Henry Thickley. down." she said,
meeting his gaze without blcnching.
al tell you, John BilsOn, Ralph Tat
esOn struck that blow, and Giles Tub
ling saw him do it. And, moreover,
John BilsOn, sent Giles Tubing to
the squire to say that George Ingleby
was too i'll to ride over, and that's
how it came about that Giles took the
near cut through the preserves that
day, and that hour. Either Ralph
Tateson or Giles struck the blow, at
any rate. Which was it? You shall
decide"
George Ingleby, by-the-bye, had
been i'll for several days-too i'll to
keep his appointment with Squire
Thickley. Two old enemies, rheuma-
tism and ague, had attacked him to-
gether, and brought him to his bed.
Jane nursed him, while Mrs. IngIeby
attended to the house, and sent his
orders to the foreman at the farm. He
liked Jane much better, perhaps, than
he liked anybody or anything else,
except money; and he was not n lit
tie afraid of her. There was no sign
of breaking down in James face-of
feminine irresOlution and fear. She
met the curative ferOcity of BilsOn's
glance with no thought of him, her
whole mind being bent upon her
scheme.
"You shall decide" she said, quiet
ly; and he did decide, having no other
alternative, and Giles Tubing was
aware of the decision before the sun
went down that day. So it came
about that Ralph TatestOn was arrested |
on the strength of Tubling's costly
affidavit; that he was examined before |
the local magistrates, whom, to the |
best of my yrecollcctiOn, he snubbed and !
insulted; that he was committed to |
await his trial at the assiZes. Amy !
fell down, as if shot, when the result |
of the examination was made known !
to her, and raved so long and wildly
thereafter, and lost so much of her
flesh and lOveliness, that her father
began to despair of ever being permit
ted to play her against Quatrechique's
title and gold. But changed as she
was, the change i'm her was not greater
than that which took place in Jane
People whispered aboutit, and shrank
from Miss ROystOn, if they met her in
the streets. She was so white, so
wonderfully thin and ghostlike, and
her eyes were two flames. 1t was
rumored all over the town one morn
ing, that she had offered old TatestOn
money, and that, being drunk, he had
cursed her as a witness against his
handsome boy.