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AND THE GHOST'S BARGAIN. |
375 |
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steps back to the old college, and to that part of it where the general porch was, and where, alone, the pavement was worn by the tread of the students' feet.
The keeper's house stood just within the iron gates, forming a part of the chief quadrangle. There was a little cloister outside, and from that sheltered place he knew he could look in at the window of their ordinary room, and sec who was within. The iron gates were shut, but his hand was familiar with the fastening, and drawing it back by thrusting in his wrist between the bars, he passed through softly, shut it again, and crept up to the window, crumbling the thin crust of snow with his feet.
The fire, to which he had directed the boy last night, shining brightly through the glass, made an illuminated place upon the ground. Instinctively avoiding this, and going round it, he looked in at the window. At first, he thought that there wras no one there, and that the blaze was reddening only the old beams in the ceiling and the dark walls : but peering in more narrowly, he saw the object of his search coiled asleep before it on the floor. He passed quickly to the door, opened it, and went in.
The creature lay in such a fiery heat, that, as the Chemist stooped to rouse him, it scorched his head. So soon as he was touched, the boy, not half awake, clutching his rags together with the instinct of flight upon him, half rolled and half ran into a distant corner of the room, where, heaped upon the ground, he struck his foot out to defend himself.
" Get up !" said the Chemist. " You have not forgotten me ?"
" You let me alone !" returned the boy. " This is the woman's house—not yours."
The Chemist's steady eye controlled him somewhat, or inspired him with enough submission to be raised upon his feet, and looked at.
" Who washed them, and put those bandages where they were bruised and cracked ?" asked the Chemist, pointing to their altered state.
" The woman did."
"And is it she who has made you cleaner in the face, too ?"
" Yes, the woman."
Redlaw asked these questions to attract his eyes towards himself, and with the same intent now held him by the chin, and threw his wild hair back, though he loathed to touch him. The boy watched his eyes keenly, as if he thought it needful to his own defence, not knowing what he might do next; and Redlaw could see well that no change came over him.
" Where are they ?" he inquired.
"The woman's out." |
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