"It is better to stand together."
"It is already—I'll wager that much—every man for himself. You must take the North Road to Hull; you are sure of a ship there."
"And how the devil, sister, am I to reach Hull?"
"Take the sorrel horse; if any one sees you, you are for Squire Mason's;" then hastily unlocking a drawer, she brought a little bag of gold and put it in his hand. "There is enough and to spare for your road to Paris." He flung the gold from him, and Matilda clasping her hands frantically, cried "My God, Stephen, are you not going?"
"Storm your utmost, Matilda. I care not a rap; I will not budge from this spot."
"But you must go! Stephen, Stephen, for my sake," and she burst into passionate tears and sobs.
"Be quiet, Matilda. Women's counsel is always unlucky, but I will run, if you say so. I feel like an ever-lasting scoundrel to do it."
"They will all run—if they can. There is a little time yet in your favour. The mail-rider does not pass here till eight o'clock, or after. You have four or five hours' grace."
He rose as she spoke, and she kissed him with passionate tenderness. When he left the room, she ran to the roof of the house to watch which road he took. If he went northward, he was for Hull, and bent on saving his life; but if he went south, he was for London, and would doubtless have the fate on Tower Hill he had been warned against. In about a quarter of an hour she saw him riding at great speed northward, and after watching him until he became a speck on the horizon, she went back to her room, and she was weeping bitterly though quite unconscious of it.
Her first act was to tear Jane's letter into minute pieces. She did it with an inconceivable passion. Every shred of the paper fluttered into the fire as if in conscious suffering, and when the last particle was consumed, she stood with her folded hand on her mouth, looking at the white ashy films, and considering what next to do. Her face was set and frowning; she was summoning to her aid, by the very intensity of her feeling, whatever power she possessed to counsel her perplexity.