His treatment of you has placed me under everlasting
obligations; he shall share what we have. My one bitter,
unavailing regret is that Solomon Mahaffy will not be here to
partake of our altered fortunes." And the judge sighed deeply.
"Uncle Bob told me Mr. Mahaffy got hurt in a duel, grandfather?"
said Hannibal.
"He was as inexperienced as a child in the use of firearms, and
he had to deal with scoundrels who had neither mercy nor generous
feeling--but his courage was magnificent."
Presently Hannibal was deep in his account of those adventures he
had shared with Miss Betty.
"And Miss Malroy--where is she now?" asked the judge, in the
first pause of the boy's narrative.
"She's at Mr. Bowen's house. Mr. Carrington and Mr. Cavendish
are here too. Mrs. Cavendish stayed down yonder at the Bates'
plantation. Grandfather, it were Captain Murrell who had me
stole--do you reckon he was going to take me back to Mr. Bladen?"
"I will see Miss Malroy in the morning. We must combine--our
interests are identical. There should be hemp in this for more
than one scoundrel! I can see now how criminal my disinclination
to push myself to the front has been!" said the judge, with
conviction. "Never again will I shrink from what I know to be a
public duty."
A little later they went down-stairs, where the judge had Yancy
make up a bed for himself and Hannibal on the floor. He would
watch alone beside Mahaffy, he was certain this would have been
the dead man's wish; then he said good night and mounted heavily
to the floor above to resume his vigil and his musings.
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