"If Alice dies, there is but one way,"—he said moodily, with a fixed light in his eyes.—"But this Marion,—ah! Something more of her history is written here. Let me read,—" Once more he bent over the Red Book. Even as his eyes were fixed upon the page, a shadow was cast over it, and then a dark object interposed between him and the light; and the next moment all was darkness. But on the instant, before the darkness came, he looked up, and saw before him a brawny form, a face stamped with ferocious brutality; an upraised hand grasping a knife, which glittered as it rose. This he saw for an instant only, and then all was blackness.
"Not wid de knife, Dirk! Let me fix him wid dis,—and do yer see to de Red Book!"
There was a sound as of a weapon whizzing through the air, and Dermoyne was felled to the floor by a blow from the "Slung-shot."
As the first gleam of morning stole into the bed-chamber, touching, with rosy light, the faces of the sleeping wife and her children, Barnhurst stealthily arose, dressed himself, and stole on tiptoe from the place. In the dark he descended the stairway, and all the while,—from loss of sleep, combined with the excitement of the past night,—he shook in every nerve. His thoughts were black and desperate.
"Ruin wherever I turn! If I escape this man, there remains the villain whom I met last night, in Trinity Church. On one side exposure, on the other death. What can be done? Cut the matter short, and renouncing all my prospects, seek safety in flight? or remain,—dare all the chances,—exposure,—the death of a dog,—all,—and trust to my good fortune?"
He paused at the foot of the stairway, and a hope shot through his heart,—"If I could see Godiva all might yet be well! Yes, I must, I will see Godiva."
Uttering the name of Godiva, (new to the reader and to our history,) he approached the parlor door. "Now for this man!" he said, and shuddered. He opened the door, and looked around; the first rays of morning were stealing through the window-curtains, but the room was vacant. Dermoyne was not there. The carpet was torn near the sofa, the table overturned, and there was blood upon the carpet and sofa. But Dermoyne had disappeared.