She did not remain long at the window; in a
little while the song ceased, and the light was withdrawn from the
apartment. The musician had retired.
"They say, Guy, that music can quiet the most violent spirit, and it
seems to have had its influence upon you. Does she not sing like a
mocking-bird?--is she not a sweet, a true creature? Why, man! so forward
and furious but now, and now so lifeless! bestir ye! The night wanes."
The person addressed started from his stupor, and, as if utterly
unconscious of what had been going on, _ad interim_, actually replied to
the speech of his companion made a little while prior to the appearance
and music of the young girl, whose presence at that moment had most
probably prevented strife and, possibly, bloodshed. He spoke as if the
interruption had made only a momentary break in the sentence which he
now concluded:--
"He lies at the point of my knife, under my hands, within my power,
without chance of escape, and I am to be held back--kept from
striking--kept from my revenge--and for what? There may be little gain
in the matter--it may not bring money, and there may be some risk! If it
be with you, Munro, to have neither love nor hate, but what you do, to
do only for the profit and spoil that come of it, it is not so with me.
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