“Has he indeed?  Then he may be worth plucking.  But can we rely on your companion?”

“Oh yes; Dick is true as steel.  He will not take an active part in the affair, because he does not like my taking the girl, on one side, and for the reason that Hadley has never wronged him, on the other, but he will be as far from betraying us as we ourselves; I will answer for him there.”

Dick!  Hadley!  In the quickness of the lightning’s flash, the whole truth beamed into Eveline’s soul.  Her pretended guides were none other than Duffel’s accomplices, and the plotters, afterward, of her own destruction, and she was now on her way to that cave in Virginia!

But the horrors of her own situation were lost sight of in contemplating the fate that was hanging over Hadley, who was to be killed for his money!  As the light of these great truths broke in upon her mind, she came very near screaming out in affright, but fortunately did not.  She still listened to see if she could learn how the dark deed of blood was to be consummated, but the mode of dispatching victims seemed to be understood by both and was only alluded to and not explained, and the villains soon left the spot and re-entered the house.

What a world of conflicting emotions and thoughts now contended in the bosom of the long and deeply tried girl!  She knew Hadley lived; but oh, what a fate hung over him!  Could she save him?  Alas! it seemed an impossibility.  Should she make the effort, it might only hasten the catastrophe she would prevent.  If she could only put him on his guard; but that was out of her power, for she could hear Dick walking to and fro across the large room, and she believed he was a sentry on guard.

In this dilemma she sat down on the only chair in the room, and leaned her head upon her hand.  She then found that her brow was covered with large drops of cold perspiration, which the intensity of her feelings had forced out.  What to do she knew not; and so she sat, in an agony of suspense, while the slow moments passed away.  At length she thought of her arms, which she still retained, and as she did so, resolved to use them in case of emergency, either for the preservation of her lover, or to preserve herself from the fate in store for her if Hadley should be murdered and she carried off.

From the first, Hadley did not like the appearance of things about the house, nor the looks of his host, who was not only rough in features and manners, but carried with him a countenance with a very sinister expression upon it, and an eye that spoke of crime and a guilty soul; but when Dick gave the warning, he was doubly confirmed in his first impressions, and resolved to profit by the advice so singularly volunteered.  He did not undress, but before extinguishing his light examined his pistols, a brace of which he had procured for defense, to see that they were in proper order for immediate use.  After making all needful preparations, he put out his candle, and remained in perfect quiet.  Soon he heard the two men return, and then Dick went above to rest, and the others were left alone.