Encouraged by
this she spoke again, and still louder than before, saying, "See him I
will, and from me alone, shall he hear the news I am come to tell." The
next minute she heard the casement open, and saw the head of the old man
obtruded from thence, and she heard a querulous, broken voice, asking
what was the matter? Tamar stepped back a few paces, in order that she
might have a clearer view of the speaker, and then looking up, she said,
"I am come Mr. Salmon as a friend, and only as a friend, to warn you of
a danger which threatens you,--hear me, and you may be saved,--but if
you refuse to hear me, I tell you, that you may be a ghastly livid
corpse before the morning."
"Rebecca, Rebecca!" cried the old man, "Rebecca, I say, speak to her,"
and his voice faltered, the accents becoming puling.
"Hear her not," said the dame, "she is a deceiver, she is come to get
money out of you."
"And heaven knows," cried Mr. Salmon, "that she is then coming to gather
fruit from a barren tree. Money, indeed! and where am I to find money,
even for her,--though she come in such a guise, as would wring the last
drop of the heart's blood?"
"Tush!" said Rebecca, "you are rambling and dreaming again;" but the old
man heard her not, he had left the lattice, and in a few seconds he
appeared within the passage.
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