"
"Thou sayest truly," replied the stranger; "but the power that allows of
their wicked torments may have seen fit to provide an agent of its own, to
defeat their subtleties. We will now draw nearer to the gate, in order
that an eye may be kept on their malicious designs."
Submission spoke with gravity, and not without a certain manner of
solemnity. Dudley yielded, though with a divided and a disturbed mind, to
his suggestion. Still he followed in the footsteps of the stranger, with a
caution that might well have eluded the vigilance of any agency short of
that which drew its means of information from sources deeper than any of
human power.
When the two watches had found a secret and suitable place, not far from
the postern, they disposed themselves in silence to await the result. The
outbuildings lay in deep quiet, not a sound of any sort arising from all
of the many tenants they were known to contain. The lines of ragged
fences; the blackened stumps, capped with little pyramids of snow; the
taller and sometimes suspiciously-looking stubs; an insulated tree, and
finally the broad border of forest,--were alike motionless, gloomy, and
clothed in the doubtful forms of night.
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