at
the windy night seemed very far away, indeed, and the lamplight and
fire to lend an inspiration to his nimble tongue, until, in a lull
of the engaging discourse, he caught my uncle peering greedily into
the cabin, all but licking his lips, his nostrils distended to the
savor, his flooded eyes fixed upon the fresh beef and vegetables in
manifest longing, every wrinkle and muscle of his broad face off
guard. My tutor--somewhat affected, I fancy, by this display--turned
to me with a little frown of curiosity, an intrusive regard, it
seemed to me, which I might in all courtesy fend off for the future.
'Twas now time, thinks I, to enlighten him with the knowledge I
had: a task I had no liking for, since in its accomplishment I must
stir my uncle unduly.

"Uncle Nick," says I, "'tis like Mr. Cather will be havin' a cut off
my roast."

"The parson?" my uncle demanded.

"Ay," says I, disregarding his scowl; "a bit o' roast beef."

"Not he!" snaps my uncle. "Not a bite!"

I nerved myself--with a view wholly to Cather's information. "Uncle
Nick," I proceeded, my heart thumping, such was the temerity of the
thing, "'tis a dirty night without, an' here's Mr. Cather just joined
the ship, an' I 'low, now, the night, Uncle Nick, that maybe you--"

"Me?" roars my uncle, in a flare of rage and horror. "_Me_ touch it?
ME!"

The vehemence of this amazed my tutor, who could supply no cause for
the outburst; but 'twas no more than I had expected in the beginning.

"Me!" my uncle gasped.

There was a knock at the door....

* * * * *

Ay, a knock at the door! 'Twas a thing most unexpected. That there
should come a knock at the door! 'Twas past believing. 'Twas no timid
tapping; 'twas a clamor--without humility or politeness. Who should
knock? There had been no outcry; 'twas then no wreck or sudden peril
of our people. Again it rang loud and authoritative--as though one
came by right of law or in vindictive anger. My uncle, shocked all
at once out of a wide-eyed daze of astonishment, pushed back from the
board, in a terrified flurry, his face purpled and swollen, and
blundered about for his staff; but before he had got to his feet, our
maid-servant, on a fluttering run from the kitchen, was come to
the door. The gale broke in--rushing noises and a swirl of wet
wind. We listened; there was a voice, not the maid-servant's--thin,
high-tempered, lifted in irascible demand--but never a wor