It was a fearful point he had, reached.
He was tempted at one moment to give up all his plans and to disappear
suddenly from the place, leaving with the schoolmaster, who had come
between him and his object, an anonymous token of his personal sentiments
which would be remembered a good while in the history of the town of
Rockland. This was but a momentary thought; the great Dudley property
could not be given up in that way.
Something must happen at once to break up all this order of things. He
could think of but one Providential event adequate to the emergency,--an
event foreshadowed by various recent circumstances, but hitherto floating
in his mind only as a possibility. Its occurrence would at once change
the course of Elsie's feelings, providing her with something to think of
besides mischief, and remove the accursed obstacle which was thwarting
all his own projects. Every possible motive, then,--his interest, his
jealousy, his longing for revenge, and now his fears for his own
safety,--urged him to regard the happening of a certain casualty as a
matter of simple necessity.
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