Page:The Knife.pdf/31

Rh The gipsy sat erect in the miserable cart, and every now and then his dark ferocious eye would single out some individual for a piercing and malignant gaze: that night many a pillow was haunted by his peculiar and evil look. He evidently enjoyed the terror of his victims; and but for his fetters, none would have guessed him to be the criminal whom but one short hour separated from eternity. The gibbet had been erected within fifty yards of Mrs. Bird's shop, and a long and dreary way there was before the murderer could reach the place of his crime and of its punishment. The usually lonely moor was covered with people; and to the left the gallows, dimly seen through the thick fog, stood out every moment more distinctly, as the mist melted into rain. The prisoners were placed upon the scaffold, and their fetters knocked off: so great was the stillness, that almost every ear heard the clank of the chains as they fell to the ground. Again the clergyman pressed forward to offer the holy, the only hope that can visit such an hour. The gipsy pushed him aside, and actually turned towards the hangman, who, silent and unmoved, waited to perform his dreadful duty. Suddenly roused from the state of stupefaction to which fear had reduced her, the female filled the air with shrieks. Disengaging herself from the officers, and rushing towards her husband, she clung