F. Colburn (Francis Colburn) Adams
Chapter 72
stand before a jury,) will send you up for a twelve-months'
residence in Mount Rascal."
It will be almost needless here to add, that Mr. Soloman had, in an
interview with the Judge, arranged, in consideration of a goodly
fee, to assume the responsibility of the betrayal at the St.
Cecilia; and also to bring about a reconciliation between him and
the girl he so passionately sought.
"Keep out of the way a few days, and everything will blow over and
come right. I will procure you the Judge's friendship--yes, his
money, if you want. More than that, I will acknowledge my guilt to
Anna; and being as generous of heart as she is beautiful, she will,
having discovered the mistake, forgive me and make amends to the
Judge for her foolish act.
It is almost superfluous to add, that the apparent sincerity with
which the accommodation man pleaded, had its effect on the
weak-minded man. He loved dearly the girl, but poverty hung like a
leaden cloud over him. Poverty stripped him of the means of
gratifying her ambition; poverty held him fast locked in its
blighting chains; poverty forbid his rescuing her from the condition
necessity had imposed upon her; poverty was goading him into crime;
and through crime only did he see the means of securing to himself
the cherished object of his love.
"I am not dead to your friendship, but I am too sad at heart to make
any pledge that involves Anna, at this moment. We met in
wretchedness, came up in neglect and crime, sealed our love with the
hard seal of suffering. Oh! what a history of misery my heart could
unfold, if it had but a tongue!" George replies, in subdued accents,
as a tear courses down his cheek.
Extending his hand, with an air of encouragement, Mr. Soloman says
nothing in the world would so much interest him as a history of the
relations existing between George and Anna. Their tastes, aims, and
very natures, are different. To him their connection is clothed in
mystery.
CHAPTER IX.
IN WHICH A GLEAM OF LIGHT IS SHED ON THE HISTORY OF ANNA BONARD.