The Illegal Marriage — page 100: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

92 THE ILLEGAL MARRIAGE. death of old Morgan, and succession to his large estate. Whatever old Hawks might do was nothing to him, he tried to argue with himself, and even if detected, the consequences must fall upon the old reprobate alone. He was weak, very weak, this misguided young man, and not even the whisperings of nature, or the presentiments with which the air seemed ladened, had the power to make him think seriously upon the wickedness of his course. It was fast growing dark as he passed through the last bit of wood, and saw the high roofs and chimneys of the castle, half a mile beyond. The sun had gone down behind him while riding along the sandy wood, and the purple haze which had hung about the landscape all day, was now deep- ening intoa black cloud. Hesaw that a storm was approaching. He was now nearing the castle, and, tying his horse to the fence near a clump of bushes, he walked on toward the place. It was the night of which we first spoke, and, as already remarked in a previous chapter, the air seemed full of evil omens. As the twilight deepened, he, too, began to feel an unaccountable depression of mind. Even the cows seemed to look mournfully as he passed the stables; and the ducks and other fowls were un- usually noisy in their evening gossip, as they sought sheltered resting-places for the night. The gloomy presage of sorrow which had fallen upon his mind, grew stronger as he neared the house, and could not be shaken off. Unlike Stan- nard, who was at that moment enjoying a cigar upon his porch, Guerry could not reason about the comicbooks.co