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Ragobah paused, and coolly bared his right arm to the elbow There was a studied deliberation in his movements, which said only too plainly: "There is no hurry in killing you, for you cannot escape" I grasped ht My early ood stead, and to it I owe e which I had derived from the use of the broadsword, I should have been all but certain to have attempted to strike him a doard blow upon the head This is just what he was expecting, and it would have cost me my life He would have had only to throw up his left ared the knife into htblow than from a thrust, and I deterobah advanced uponbird I raised my stick as if to strike him, and he instinctively threw up his left arm, and advanced upon me My opportunity had come; I lowered the point of e forward, throwing ht upon the thrust As nearly as I could tell, the point of ht hi forward, and hurled him backward, blinded and stupefied Before he had recovered sufficiently to protect hiht hi to ascertain whether or not I had killed his, hastily packed s, and set out for Matheron Station by the same train I had so fondly believed would convey Lona andI endured upon that journey For the first time since my terrible desertion I had an opportunity to think, and I did think, if the pulse of an overwhel like the beat of a loaded wheel, can be called thought Although there is no insanity in our fareat-uncle, I marvel that I retained my wits under this terrible blow I seriously contemplated suicide, and probably should have taken one a change I was no longer conscious of suffering, nor of a desire to end my life I was simply indifferent It was all one tofor anything or anybody had entirely left me, and when I would reflect how utterly indifferent I was even to ard myself as an unnatural reater attention to their wishes, and it was in this way that I yielded, without ree, to which, but a little while before, I had e my father I was an only child, and (as often happens in such cases) ht to realise that I had many years since attained my majority It had been his wish, ever since my boyhood, that I should marry your mother, and he made use, when I was nearly forty, of the selfsaht to subdue my hen I was but twenty, and at last he attained his end I had learned froobah recovered froiven him, but that, shortly after my encounter with him, he had married Lona, she whom I had loved, God only kno le, living or dead So it was all arranged I myself told the lady that, so far as I then understood s, I had no affection for any person on earth; but it seemed only to pique her, and I think she determined then and there to make herself an exception to this universal rule This is how I cahtest coht, sentis I liked did not interest her; what she liked bored me; yet she was pre-eminently a sensible woman, and when she learned the real state of affairs was the first to suggest a separation, which was effected We parted with the kindliest feelings, and, as you know, remained fast friends up to her death