I felt that I could stand to be shot at every day and
all day long, with such remarks of solicitude for a reward; and I
continued to reassure her, with, the tenderest caresses and in complete
forgetfulness of our situation, till the voice of Northmour recalled me to
myself.
"An air gun," he said. "They wish to make no noise."
I put Clara aside, and looked at him. He was standing with his back to the
fire and his hands clasped behind him; and I knew by the black look on his
face, that passion was boiling within. I had seen just such a look before
he attacked me, that March night, in the adjoining chamber; and, though I
could make every allowance for his anger, I confess I trembled for the
consequences. He gazed straight before him; but he could see us with the
tail of his eye, and his temper kept rising like a gale of wind. With
regular battle awaiting us outside, this prospect of an internecine strife
within the walls began to daunt me.
Suddenly, as I was thus closely watching his expression and prepared
against the worst, I saw a change, a flash, a look of relief, upon his
face. He took up the lamp which stood beside him on the table, and turned
to us with an air of some excitement.
"There is one point that we must know," said he. "Are they going to
butcher the lot of us, or only Huddlestone? Did they take you for him, or
fire at you for your own _beaux yeux_?"
"They took me for him, for certain," I replied.
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