He went down stairs, and returned to his guest, who had been pressed to eat and drink by Dennis Wayman, and who had yielded good-naturedly to that gentleman's hospitable attentions.
* * * * *
Alone in her room, Jenny Milsom opened the window, and sat looking out into the inky darkness of the night, and listening to the voices of the three men in the room below.
The voices sounded very distinctly in that dilapidated old house. Every now and then a hearty shout of laughter seemed to shake the crazy rafters; but presently the revellers grew silent. Jenny knew they were busy with the cards.
"Yes, yes," she murmured; "it all happens as it happened that night—first the loud voices and laughter; then the silence; then—Great Heaven! will the end be like the end of that night?"
She clasped her hands in silent agony, and sank in a crouching position by the open window, with her head lying on the sill.
For hours this wretched girl sat upon the floor in the same attitude, with the cold wind blowing in upon her. All seemed tranquil in the room below. The voices sounded now and then, subdued and cautious, and there were no more outbursts of jovial laughter.
A dim, gray streak glimmered faint and low in the east—the first pale flicker of dawn. The girl raised her weary eyes towards that chill gray light.
"Oh! if this night were only ended!" she murmured: "if it were only ended without harm!"
The words were still upon her lips, when the voices sounded loud and harsh from the room below. The girl started to her feet, white and trembling. Louder with every moment grew those angry voices. Then came a struggle; some article of furniture fell with a crash; there was the sound of shivered glass, and then a dull heavy noise, which echoed through the house, and shook the weather-beaten wooden walls to their foundations.