“Because it will then be out of your power to prevent its doom.”
“I swear—”
“Pshaw! I trust no oaths. Away to your seat—to your seat, or—”
He pointed the pistol again to the sleeping babe, and with a shudder the young mother sat down by the fire-side.
The tramp of men was now heard below in the passage, and a voice cried, “Detain any one who attempts to leave the house. Should you meet with resistance, cut him down at once.”
“The song!” cried Gray.
He then insinuated himself between the wall and the cot, so that no part of him was visible, and in a hissing whisper, he again cried to the trembling agonised mother,—
“The song! The song!”
A confused sound on the staircase now announced the approach of the persons and once more from his place of concealment, Gray hissed between his teeth,—
“Curses on you! Will you do as I bid you, or must I do the deed?”