Then at the other
end of the meadow near the woods he distinguished several men,
Fentress and his friends beyond question. The judge laughed
aloud. In spite of everything he was keeping his engagement, he
was plucking his triumph out of the very dregs of failure. The
judge threw himself over the fence, a corner of the quilt caught
on one of the rails; he turned to release it, and in that instant
two pistol shots rang out sharply in the morning air.
CHAPTER XXXIV
THE DUEL
It had been with no little reluctance that Solomon Mahaffy
accompanied Yancy and Cavendish to Belle Plain; he would have
preferred to remain in Raleigh in attendance upon judge Price.
Intimately acquainted with the judge's mental processes, he could
follow all the devious workings of that magnificent mind; he
could fathom the simply hellish ingenuity he was capable of
putting forth to accomplish temporary benefits. Permitting his
thoughts to dwell upon the mingled strength and weakness which
was so curiously blended in Slocum Price's character, he had
horrid visions of that great soul, freed from the trammels of
restraint, confiding his melancholy history to Mr. Pegloe in the
hope of bolstering his fallen credit at the City Tavern.
Always where the judge was concerned he fluctuated between
extremes of doubt and confidence. He felt that under the urgent
spur of occasion his friend could rise to any emergency, while a
sustained activity made demands which he could not satisfy; then
his efforts were discounted by his insane desire to realize at
once on his opportunities; in his haste he was for ever plucking
unripe fruit; and though he might keep one eye on the main chance
the other was fixed just as resolutely on the nearest tavern.
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