the handkerchief; and I said to him, 'What has come of Clarke?' an' he frowned, and looking at me, said, 'Harkye, I know not what you mean, but, as sure as the devil keeps watch for souls, I will shoot you through the head, if you ever let that d—d tongue of yours let slip a single word about Clarke, or me, or Mr. Aram; so look to yourself!'
"An' I was all scared, and trimbled from limb to limb; an' for two whole yearn arterwards (long arter Aram and Houseman were both gone) I niver could so much as open my lips on the matter; and afore he went, Mr. Aram would sometimes look at me, not sternly-like as the villain Houseman, but as if he would read to the bottom of my heart. Oh! I was as if you had taken a mountain off of me, when he an' Houseman left the town, for sure as the sun shines, I believes from what I have now said, that they two murdered Clarke on that same February night. An' now, Mr. Summers, I feels more easy then I has felt for many a long day; an' if I have not told it afore, it is because I
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