He laid her down gently, groaning
in a tone of unspeakable anguish:
"Miss Mayfield! My God! what have I done?" And with an awful cry,
between a shriek and a groan, the wretched man cast himself upon the
ground by the side of the fallen body.
The storm was beating wildly upon the assassin and his victim; but the
one felt it no more than the other. At length the sound of footsteps was
heard approaching fast and near. In the very anguish of remorse the
instinct of self-preservation seized the wretched man, and he started up
and fled as from the face of the avenger of blood.
CHAPTER XXV.
THE STRUGGLE ENDED.
In the meantime Jacquelina had reached home sooner than she had
expected. It was just dark, and the rain was beginning to fall as she
sprang from the carriage and darted into the house.
Mrs. Waugh met her in the hall, took her hand, and said:
"Oh, my dear Lapwing! I'm so glad you have come back, bad as the weather
is; for indeed the professor gives me a great deal of anxiety, and if
you had stayed away to-night I could not have been answerable for the
consequences. There, now; hurry up-stairs and change your dress, and
come down to tea. It is all ready, and we have a pair of canvasback
ducks roasted.
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