Page:Braddon--The Trail of the Serpent.djvu/67

Rh "Why, in Blind Peter, to be sure. Where should it be?"

"How should I know?" said Jabez, following her. He thought himself safe even in Blind Peter, having nothing of value about him, and having considerable faith in the protecting power of his strong right arm.

The old woman led the way into the little mountain gorge, choked up with rickety hovels lately erected, or crazy old houses which had once been goodly residences, in the days when the site of Blind Peter had been a pleasant country lane. The house she entered was of this latter class; and she led the way into a stone-paved room, which had once been a tolerably spacious entrance-hall.

It was lighted by one feeble little candle with a long drooping wick, stuck in an old ginger-beer bottle; and by this dim light Jabez saw, seated on heap of rubbish by the desolate hearth, his own reflection—a man dressed, unlike him, in the rough garments of a labourer, but whose face gave back as faithfully as ever glass had done the shadow of his own.

old woman stared aghast, first at one of the young men, then at the other.

"Why, then, he isn't Jim!" she exclaimed.

"Who isn't Jim, grandmother? What do you mean? Here I am, back again; a bundle of aching bones, old rags, and empty pockets. I've done no good where I've been; so you needn't ask me for any money, for I haven't earned a farthing either by fair means or foul."

"But the other," she said,—"this young gentleman. Look at him, Jim."

The man took up the candle, snuffed it with his fingers, and walked straight to Jabez. He held the light before the face of the usher, and surveyed him with a leisurely stare. That individual's blue eyes winked and blinked at the flame like an owl's in the sunshine, and looked every way except straight into the eyes looking into his.

"Why, curse his impudence!" said the man, with a faint sickly laugh; "I'm blest if he hasn't been and boned my mug. I hope it'll do him more good than it's done me," he added, bitterly.

"I can't make out the meaning of this," mumbled the old woman. "It's all dark to me. I saw where the other one was put myself. I saw it done, and safely done too. Oh, yes, of course"