“To kill him.”
“But should he prove the stronger or the bolder, which he may well be, Jacob Gray, you might be worsted in the encounter.”
“It shall not be an encounter,” said Gray.
“You speak in riddles.”
“Listen to me. He is walking uneasily from room to room of the house. He does not suspect any one to be concealed here—that much I can gather from his talk. At sunset I will creep forth, and hiding somewhere in perfect security—watch my opportunity, and shoot him dead.”
“What!” cried Ada indignantly—“murder him?”
“I—I—only act in self-defence—I cannot help it—he would murder me. Hush—hush! Do not speak so loud—you are incautious, Ada—hush—hush!”
CHAPTER XLIX.
The Projected Murder.—The Alarm.—The Death-shot.—Ada’s Anguish and Indignation.
Ada was so much shocked at the proposal of Jacob Gray to commit a deliberate and cold-blooded murder, that now for several minutes she remained perfectly silent—a silence which Gray construed into passive acquiescence in his proposition.