The old man stepped back, feeling the wisdom of his companion’s proceedings as far as caution was concerned; and by the time he had stepped back, North was inside the great vault, holding the door for him to enter.
“There, let’s have the light now,” said the doctor bitterly. “Be firm. You are not afraid to face a dead man?”
“Nay, I’m not sheered now, doctor,” whispered Moredock; “but you’ll—you’ll—you’ll—”
“Pay you?”
“Ay, doctor. You see, it’s—it’s—”
“Don’t halt and stammer, man,” said the doctor sternly. “This is a terrible business, but I can trust you, and you can trust me. Stand by me firmly over this, and I will give you enough every year to make you comfortable to the end of your days.”
“Hi, doctor, that’s speaking out like a man,” said Moredock, smiling hideously as he opened the horn lanthorn to snuff the candle with his fingers, when the light shone full in his face. “And he warn’t no good, were he?”
“I dare say he valued his life as highly as I valued mine—yesterday,” added the doctor softly.
“And he tried to kill you, didn’t he?” whispered Moredock, closing the lanthorn again.
“As much as I tried to kill him, I suppose,” said North. “We were fighting like two brute beasts.”