He would never care to come back now to Fern's Hollow.
No! he would get away to some far-off country, where he should never more
hear the master's name spoken. Let him keep the place, he thought, and
let it be a curse to him, for he had bought it with a child's blood. If
the law gave him back Fern's Hollow, it would not avenge little Nan's
death; and he had no power. But the master was a murderer; and Stephen
knelt down on the desolate hearth, where no prayer had ever been uttered,
and prayed God that the sin and punishment of murder might rest upon his
enemy.
Was it consolation that filled Stephen's heart when he rose from his
knees? It seemed as if his spirit had grown suddenly harder, and in some
measure stronger. He did not feel afraid now of going down to the cabin,
where the little lifeless corpse was stretched out; and he strode away
down the hill with rapid steps. When the thought of Martha, and his
grandfather, and Miss Anne crossed his mind, it was with no gentle,
tender emotion, but with a strange feeling that he no longer cared for
them. All his love was gone with little Nan. Only the thought of the
master, and the terrible reckoning that lay before him, sent a thrill
through his heart.
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