a black malignity dominated the beaten man after his reverse; and, inasmuch as jane stanberry, now at the cross ways of her life, fell from honour and played a base part out of fear, her lover continued to believe that his enemy alone was responsible for jane’s weakness. he blamed the girl, but his love did not diminish, and he still supposed that anthony maybridge once removed, she would return to him with eyes that again saw clearly. he attributed his conqueror’s conduct to a tremendous strength of purpose, whereas mere feebleness and an amorous nature were responsible for it. the woman was at least as guilty as the man; and now an added blame belonged to her, for while anthony henceforth openly declared himself the rival of richard, she held the balance a little longer between them—chiefly from fear of mrs. daccombe. her decision was made, yet very carefully she concealed it, and richard continued in error.
from his mistaken conclusion, and smarting still with venom bred of the wounds anthony had inflicted, the keeper proceeded to a criminal deed. p. 244such active hatred as he now felt stuck at nothing, and within a fortnight of his reverse came the evil inspiration that he waited for.
a veiled antagonism reigned between the men after their battle; then matters seemed to sink into customary course. richard absented himself from home more than usual; anthony abandoned shooting, and took to hunting instead.
once more it happened that the warrener saw a light burning in no. 4 case house by night, and, passing by, heard maybridge within, whistling to pass the time until jane’s arrival. richard slunk by awhile, and presently, like a ghost, jane flitted past him. a flash of light fell upon the waste as she opened the door; then all grew dark again. still the wronged lover remained within earshot, and accident killed his sudden gust of passion against the girl, for he heard a sob and listened to a weak, vain protest from her against the double part she was constrained to play. she accused anthony of drawing her to him against all honour and right feeling; whereupon the listener departed, not desirous to hear more, and confirmed in his belief.
he visited the old case house in the middle of the next day, and ground his teeth at sight of a rough carving—two hearts with familiar initials beneath them. then he examined the concealed p. 245blasting powder, and surveyed its position with respect to the main walls of the building. satisfied of this, he proceeded into the air, took a heavy clasp knife, dug down a foot beneath the grass and turf and removed two bricks from the foundation of the case house. within them was a thin layer of concrete; the matchboarding followed; and then came the gunpowder. calculating the exact spot of his excavation, richard entered the hut and pursued his work from inside, after carefully moving the powder beyond reach of any spark that might be struck from his attack on the concrete. with light, numerous blows he gained his end, and soon had a clean hole running from beneath the magazine to the ground outside. this he filled with gunpowder, replaced the mass of the explosive above it, returned the bricks to their original positions, and covered up the space outside with turf and dry fern.
a scrap of touchwood and a match would do all the rest.
richard daccombe completed his preparations just in time, for as he moved away to the moor, he saw his brother davey in the valley. thereupon dick hid behind a rock to surprise the youngster unpleasantly should his goal be the case house. but davey had either seen his brother, or knew that he was not far distant. at least, he showed p. 246himself too wary to run any risk, and pursued an innocent matter of climbing a pine tree for a wood-pigeon’s nest. nor did he come down again until richard had gone upon his way to the warren.
