In a little while, my
child, you will be alone. I know you too well not to foresee you will be
a pilgrim through life. The bruised reed may endure, but it will never
rise. You have that within you, Harvey, that will guide you aright;
persevere as you have begun, for the duties of life are never to be
neglected and"--a noise in the adjoining room interrupted the dying
man, and the impatient peddler hastened to learn the cause, followed by
Katy and the black. The first glance of his eye on the figure in the
doorway told the trader but too well his errand, and the fate that
probably awaited himself. The intruder was a man still young in years,
but his lineaments bespoke a mind long agitated by evil passions. His
dress was of the meanest materials, and so ragged and unseemly, as to
give him the appearance of studied poverty. His hair was prematurely
whitened, and his sunken, lowering eye avoided the bold, forward look of
innocence. There was a restlessness in his movements, and an agitation
in his manner, that proceeded from the workings of the foul spirit
within him, and which was not less offensive to others than distressing
to himself. This man was a well-known leader of one of those gangs of
marauders who infested the county with a semblance of patriotism, and
who were guilty of every grade of offense, from simple theft up to
murder.
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