Sam Rice's Romance [pp. 372-381]

8 SAM RICE'S ROMA NCE.
Mrs. Page took a walk by moonlight.
Laughing gossips commented on it after
their fashion; and disagreeable gossips
remarked that they came home very late,
after their fashion. But nobody, they
believed, saw where they went, or what
they did. Yet those two came from performing an act of Christian charity, each
with a sense of guilt and unworthiness
very irritating to endure, albeit from very
different causes. One, because an unwelcome suspicion had thrust itself into
his mind; and the other
The ground of Sam's suspicion was a
photograph, which, in handling the gambler's body somewhat awkwardly, by
reason of its weight-Mrs. Page had
found, at the last, she could not render
any assistance-had slipped from some
receptacle in its clothing. A hastyglance,
under the full light of the moon, had
shown him the features of the lady who
sat twelve paces away, with her hands
over her face. It is not always those
that sin who suffer most from the consciousness of sin; and Sam, perhaps,
with that hint of possible-nay, almost
certain-wickedness in his breast-pocket, was more burdened by the weight of'
it than many a criminal about to suffer
all the terrors of the law; for the woman
that he loved stood accused, if not con victed, before his conscience and her
own, and he could not condemn, because
his heart refused to judge her.
When the two stood together under
the light of the lamp in the deserted par lor of the Silver Brick Hotel, the long
silence which by her quick perceptions
had been recognized as accusing her,
upon what evidence she did not yet
know, was at length broken by Sam's
voice, husky with agitation.
"Mrs. Page," he said, assuming an
unconscious dignity of mien and stern ness of countenance, "I shall ask you
some questions, sometime, which you
may not think quite polite. And you
must answer me: you understand. I'm
bound to know the truth about this
man."
"About this man!" Then he suspected her of connection with the wretched
criminal whose body had only just now
been hidden from mocking eyes? How
much did he suspect? how much did he
know? Her pale face and frightened
eyes seemed to ask these questions of
him; but not a sound escaped her lips.
The imploring look, so strange upon her
usually bright face, touched all that was
tender in Sam's romantic nature. In
another moment he would have recalled
his demand, and trusted her infinitely;
but in that critical moment she fainted
quite away, to his mingled sorrow and
alarm; and, Mrs. Shaughnessy being
summoned, Sam received a wordy reprimand for having no more sense than
to keep a sick woman up half of the
night-smarting under which undeserved censure, he retired, to think over the
events of the evening.
The hour of departure from Lucky dog, for Sam's coach, was four o'clock
in the morning; and its driver was not
a little surprised, when about to mount
the box, to discover Mrs. Page waiting
to take a seat beside him. After the ad venture of the previous night, it was
with some restraint that he addressed
her; and there was wanting, also, some thing of his cheerful alacrity of manner,
when he requested the stranger who
had taken the box-seat, to yield it to a
lady. The stranger's mood seemed con genial, for he declined to abdicate, inti mating that there was room for the lady
between himself and the driver, if she
insisted upon an outside seat.
But Mrs. Page did not insist. She
whispered Sam to open the coach -door,
and quietly took a seat inside; and Sam,
with a sense of irritation very unusual
with him, climbed reluctantly to his
place, giving the "cayuses" the lash in
a way that set them off on a keen run.
By the time he had gotten his team cool
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