登陆注册
15457100000095

第95章 CHAPTER XX. LASSITER'S WAY(2)

"No--not at your price!" he answered. His voice had changed or she had lost clearness of hearing.

"Kiss me!...Are you a man? Kiss me and save me!"

"Jane, you never played fair with me. But now you're blisterin' your lips--blackenin' your soul with lies!"

"By the memory of my mother--by my Bible--no! No, I have no Bible! But by my hope of heaven I swear I love you!"

Lassiter's gray lips formed soundless words that meant even her love could not avail to bend his will. As if the hold of her arms was that of a child's he loosened it and stepped away.

"Wait! Don't go! Oh, hear a last word!...May a more just and merciful God than the God I was taught to worship judge me--forgive me--save me! For I can no longer keep silent!...Lassiter, in pleading for Dyer I've been pleading more for my father. My father was a Mormon master, close to the leaders of the church. It was my father who sent Dyer out to proselyte. It was my father who had the blue-ice eye and the beard of gold. It was my father you got trace of in the past years. Truly, Dyer ruined Milly Erne--dragged her from her home--to Utah--to Cottonwoods. But it was for my father! If Milly Erne was ever wife of a Mormon that Mormon was my father! I never knew--never will know whether or not she was a wife. Blind I may be, Lassiter--fanatically faithful to a false religion I may have been but I know justice, and my father is beyond human justice.

Surely he is meeting just punishment--somewhere. Always it has appalled me--the thought of your killing Dyer for my father's sins. So I have prayed!"

"Jane, the past is dead. In my love for you I forgot the past.

This thing I'm about to do ain't for myself or Milly or Fay. It s not because of anythin' that ever happened in the past, but for what is happenin' right now. It's for you!...An' listen. Since I was a boy I've never thanked God for anythin'. If there is a God--an' I've come to believe it--I thank Him now for the years that made me Lassiter!...I can reach down en' feel these big guns, en' know what I can do with them. An', Jane, only one of the miracles Dyer professes to believe in can save him!"

Again for Jane Withersteen came the spinning of her brain in darkness, and as she whirled in endless chaos she seemed to be falling at the feet of a luminous figure--a man--Lassiter--who had saved her from herself, who could not be changed, who would slay rightfully. Then she slipped into utter blackness.

When she recovered from her faint she became aware that she was lying on a couch near the window in her sitting-room. Her brow felt damp and cold and wet, some one was chafing her hands; she recognized Judkins, and then saw that his lean, hard face wore the hue and look of excessive agitation.

"Judkins!" Her voice broke weakly.

"Aw, Miss Withersteen, you're comin' round fine. Now jest lay still a little. You're all right; everythin's all right."

"Where is--he?"

"Who?"

"Lassiter!"

"You needn't worry none about him."

"Where is he? Tell me--instantly."

"War, he's in the other room patchin' up a few triflin' bullet holes."

"Ah!...Bishop' Dyer?"

"When I seen him last--a matter of half an hour ago, he was on his knees. He was some busy, but he wasn't prayin'!"

"How strangely you talk! I'll sit up. I'm--well, strong again.

Tell me. Dyer on his knees! What was he doing?"

"War, beggin' your pardon fer blunt talk, Miss Withersteen, Dyer was on his knees an' not prayin'. You remember his big, broad hands? You've seen 'em raised in blessin' over old gray men an' little curly-headed children like--like Fay Larkin! Come to think of thet, I disremember ever hearin' of his liftin' his big hands in blessin' over a woman. Wal, when I seen him last--jest a little while ago--he was on his knees, not prayin', as I remarked--an' he was pressin' his big hands over some bigger wounds."

"Man, you drive me mad! Did Lassiter kill Dyer?"

"Yes."

"Did he kill Tull?"

"No. Tull's out of the village with most of his riders. He's expected back before evenin'. Lassiter will hev to git away before Tull en' his riders come in. It's sure death fer him here.

An' wuss fer you, too, Miss Withersteen. There'll be some of an uprisin' when Tull gits back."

"I shall ride away with Lassiter. Judkins, tell me all you saw--all you know about this killing." She realized, without wonder or amaze, how Judkins's one word, affirming the death of Dyer--that the catastrophe had fallen--had completed the change whereby she had been molded or beaten or broken into another woman. She felt calm, slightly cold, strong as she had not been strong since the first shadow fell upon her.

"I jest saw about all of it, Miss Withersteen, an' I'll be glad to tell you if you'll only hev patience with me," said Judkins, earnestly. "You see, I've been pecooliarly interested, an' nat'rully I'm some excited. An' I talk a lot thet mebbe ain't necessary, but I can't help thet.

"I was at the meetin'-house where Dyer was holdin' court. You know he allus acts as magistrate an' judge when Tull's away. An' the trial was fer tryin' what's left of my boy riders--thet helped me hold your cattle--fer a lot of hatched-up things the boys never did. We're used to thet, an' the boys wouldn't hev minded bein' locked up fer a while, or hevin' to dig ditches, or whatever the judge laid down. You see, I divided the gold you give me among all my boys, an' they all hid it, en' they all feel rich. Howsomever, court was adjourned before the judge passed sentence. Yes, ma'm, court was adjourned some strange an' quick, much as if lightnin' hed struck the meetin'-house.

"I hed trouble attendin' the trial, but I got in. There was a good many people there, all my boys, an' Judge Dyer with his several clerks. Also he hed with him the five riders who've been guardin' him pretty close of late. They was Carter, Wright, Jengessen, an' two new riders from Stone Bridge. I didn't hear their names, but I heard they was handy men with guns an' they looked more like rustlers than riders. Anyway, there they was, the five all in a row.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 迷迭天下

    迷迭天下

    江湖一朝风云起,斩不尽几许仇怨。迷迭暗香残,世事血雨风。圣物一出西域改,利益牵连朝堂争。硝烟弥漫天涯路,红颜化作枯骨冢,更那堪情爱一夕断,生死怎由她。
  • 东风不定晴

    东风不定晴

    如果说每个人的一生中都会犯错误,那么阿锦的出生就是她最大的错误。本是大汉最为尊贵的长公主,侥幸逃脱于风谲云诡的汉宫风云,却改变了数人之命运。本是享尽万千宠爱的长安小霸王,却深陷于扑朔迷离的身世之谜无法自拔。本是匈奴众兵闻风丧胆的巾帼女将,终究逃不开阴谋算计鬼蜮伎俩的桎梏。她因身世迷雾,惶惶度日,沦为朝局后宫阴谋斗争牺牲品。直到霍去病为她而死,他们唯一的儿子也丧命于阴险手段。她才幡然醒悟,放下手中的刀剑以无上智计将敌人悉数斩落于权利的马下。这是一段被隐藏的汉宫秘史,囊括了鄂邑长公主阿锦一生酸甜苦楚精妙绝伦。
  • 中国观人学全书

    中国观人学全书

    本书以清代曾国藩的《冰鉴》、三国时期刘邵的《人物志》以及诸多古代识人大师的思想精华为本,再加以现代科学的论证,以如何鉴别人才为中心思想,由外及里,由形及心,从性格、语言等各方面做了详尽的论述,对现代人的创业、工作和生活都有很强的实际指导作用。
  • 正待华容时

    正待华容时

    上天跟她开了个玩笑,给了她名分却没给她身份。公主?好吧,并不受宠。太子?可以,人人想杀。没事给人杀着玩儿,鼻青脸肿挨剑挡刀全是她,一个预言定终身,从此整个南楚围着她转。当时年少不知事,流着血也想飞的更高,到头来却发现她的人生想要的不过是两件东西:活着,然后爱他!宫闱冷殿,她见证自己朝代的兴盛,也亲睹它的倾覆,那人在狼烟雨幕中回头,却不在是当年华容时候。ps:本文男女主双处,女主内心强大,男主阴险狡诈,喜欢的都来跳坑呀!
  • 可惜凌晨没有太阳

    可惜凌晨没有太阳

    “康小璐,你等等我啊,别走那么快,你不是说过会等我的嘛。”“木头,你走快点,走快点,怎么这么慢,老大不等你了诶,”“木头,木头,你怎么不见了,你在哪啊,啊呜呜呜…”“猜猜我是谁,哈哈哈”………
  • TFBOYS:再见七月

    TFBOYS:再见七月

    七月不仅仅是一个季节,等你想起七月时,请一定要想起我,因为七月是我曾爱过你的季节。——再见七月。
  • 刀剑猎人

    刀剑猎人

    也许你没有听说过,有一类职业叫做“刀剑猎人”。他们隐伏在暗处,以狩猎各个时代的刀剑为生。漫长的战争史上,埋葬了无数败亡和陨落的兵器。在特定的时空条件下,武器与使用者的契约将被激活,昔日的旧主将会手持刀剑,重临人间。我和哥哥,都是初涉狩猎圈的年轻猎人。我们辗转于世界各地,与不同时代的英雄交手。我们经历九死一生的战斗,也见证一个个传奇的名字带着光辉陨落。刺客,骑士,剑圣,战神……火焰巨人,海上军团,英雄陨落,天降少女……直到那一天,哥哥唯一一次狩猎失败,巨大的刀剑之轮浮现在半空……暴雨如注,京都陆沉,谁在暗处发出冷冷的嗤笑声?
  • 第九神座

    第九神座

    天地初创,在创世的力量洪流中诞生了九座神座,九位天选之子夺得神座九分天下,由此天下九州始分,洪荒混战由此结束。但好景不长,第九神座崩坠,天下再次陷入了动荡和混乱中,失去了所有者的第九神座成为了天下英豪争夺的目标,然而千百年过去了,仍无人遂愿。在大陆无人注意到的一隅,失意少年偶遇一枚会说话的戒指,由此无意间卷入到了第九神座的争夺中,等待他的将会是一场震惊天下的冒险。
  • 凡尘枯

    凡尘枯

    主角是普通县城的一个三岁孩童,原本一生平平无奇,后来被一个下山历练的修道之人看中并带回了山门。在门派中,主角偶然发现了自己神秘的身世,并且奇怪的发觉魂魄竟然有两个主导意识,在另一个意识的帮助下,一路见神杀神,见佛杀佛,直至征服整个神界。只是···主角戏剧性的发现,自己竟然不属于这个世界
  • 纵横八方

    纵横八方

    地球小子在穿越过程中获得空间晶石碎片,被空间晶石改造过肉身,在异界发挥出不一样的光彩。