Other considerations, had he needed
them, were powerful, now that he had taken the first step, to keep him
on that terrible path which he had so long marked out for himself. To
disclose the position of his victim now would have been not only to make
void his future plans, but to place his own fate at Solomon's mercy. Yet
he found his heart less hard than the petrifaction it had undergone, the
constant droppings of wrong and hardship for twenty years, should have
rendered it. He did not wake until late, and the first sound that broke
upon his ear was the tinkling of the bell of the little church, for it
was Sunday morning. He compared it for a moment with something that he
had been dreaming of: a man in a well chipping footsteps for himself in
the brick wall, up which he climbed a few feet, and then fell down
again. Then a pitiful, unceasing cry of "Help, help!--help, help!" rang
in his ears, instead of the voice that called people to prayers. Even
when that ceased, the wind and rain--for the weather was wild and
wet--beating against the window-pane, brought with them doleful shrieks.
Sometimes a sudden gust seemed to bear upon it confused voices and the
tramp of hurrying feet; and then he would knit his brow and clench his
hand, with the apprehension that they had found his enemy, and were
bringing him to the door.
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