She was turning the whole matter
over in her mind. She might possibly save the mansion, though these two
old people were not likely to be able to do so--on the contrary, their
ludicrous terrors would tend to stimulate the wanton cruelty of the
marauders to destroy them with the house. Edith suddenly took her
resolution, and turned her horse's head, directing her attendants to
follow.
"But where are you going to go, Miss Edith?" asked her groom, Oliver,
now speaking for the first time.
"Back to Luckenough."
"What for, Miss Edith, for goodness sake?"
"Back to Luckenough to guard the dear old house, and take care of you
two."
"But oh, Miss Edy! Miss Edy! for Marster in heaven's sake what'll come
o' you?"
"What the Master in heaven wills!"
"Lord, Lord, Miss Edy! ole marse 'ill kill we-dem. What 'ill old marse
say? What 'ill everybody say to a young gal a-doin' of anything like dat
dar? Oh, dear! dear! what will everybody say?"
"They will say," said Edith, "if I meet the enemy and save the
house--they will say that Edith Lance is a heroine, and her name will be
probably preserved in the memory of the neighborhood. But if I fail and
lose my life, they will say that Edith was a cracked-brained girl who
deserved her fate, and that they had always predicted she would come to
a bad end.
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