In the best room of Treveling’s house sat the old General and a young
man, known as Clement Murdock. He was a relative of Treveling, and was
much esteemed by the old General.
General Treveling was a man of fifty. Years had whitened the hair of
the old soldier and bent the once stalwart form.
Murdock was some thirty years old--a dark, sallow-faced man, with a
piercing black eye and a haughty bearing.
The young man had just entered, and returning the General’s cordial
greeting, had taken a seat by his side.
“What’s the news?” asked Treveling.
“Nothing particular, General,” replied the other.
“Nothing fresh from the red-skins? It’s about time for them to be on
the war-path against us again.”
“They have not forgotten the thrashing they got last year, I suppose,”
said the young man. “But I want to speak with you on a subject which I
have thought a great deal of lately.”
The old General looked astonished at this beginning.
“Very well, what is it?” he asked.
“In regard to your daughter, Virginia, General,” said Murdock, slowly.
“I would like your permission to pay my addresses to her. I have long
loved your daughter, and I should like to make her my wife.”
“Well, Clement, you know that you have my best wishes. There isn’t a
man in the settlement that I would rather give my child to. But, win
her consent: _that_ comes first, of course. If she is willing, I shall
not object.”
The joy of Murdock plainly showed itself in his face.
“That is all I ask, General,” he said, quickly. “I thought it but right
that you should know my intentions first.”
“Well, you have my good will, Clement,” said the old soldier, “and I
do not doubt but that you will find favor in the eyes of Virginia. She
will be home soon. She has gone for blackberries down the river.”
And as the father spoke the door opened and Virginia entered, followed
by the young adventurer, Harvey Winthrop.
“Oh, father, I have had such an escape,” said the maiden, quickly; then
she gave an account of her adventure in the forest with the bear.
“Why, sir, I owe you the life of my child!” cried the General,
earnestly, when the girl had finished her story. “How may I call your
name?”
“Winthrop--Harvey Winthrop, an adventurer seeking his fortune on the
border,” replied the young man.
“You must drive your stakes with us, for a short time, at least, if
we can not induce you to make Point Pleasant your permanent home,”
said the old soldier, heartily. “I am General Treveling, sir; this,
my daughter, Virginia, and this gentleman a relative of ours, Clement
Murdock.”
Although Murdock shook hands in a friendly way with the stranger who
had rescued his fair cousin from the bear, yet, in his heart, he wished
him at the bottom of the Ohio. Was Clement afraid that the handsome
stranger would interfere with his plans regarding the gentle Virginia?
Frankly--in the same spirit that it was given--Winthrop accepted the
invitation of the old soldier. Perhaps, too, the thought that he should
enjoy the society of the fair girl, whose life he had saved, had
something to do with his ready acceptance of the hospitality of the old
General.
Leaving her father and Winthrop engaged in busy conversation, Virginia
withdrew into the inner room. Murdock, seizing the opportunity,
followed. He had resolved to declare his passion at once. He had been
an open and avowed lover of Virginia’s for some time. In fact, all the
settlers thought it would be a match. And Murdock, though he did not
openly say that he was the accepted suitor of the General’s daughter,
yet by many a sly hint he contrived to impress all with that belief.
So, one by one, his rivals for the girl’s favor had withdrawn from the
contest, and left the field clear to the scheming lover.
Yet now, even at the eleventh hour, when he had thought the hand of the
girl was his beyond a doubt, this young stranger had stepped into the
field, and that under such circumstances that the girl’s gratitude if
not her love must be surely his.
Murdock was sorely annoyed at the accident which had given the young
man such a claim to the girl’s esteem. He determined, however, to ask
for the hand of the girl at once.
Virginia turned in some little astonishment when she discovered that
she was followed by Clement.
He carefully closed the door behind him and approached the young girl.
“Virginia,” he said, in his softest and smoothest tones, “I have long
wished for an opportunity to tell you how much I love you. I have
spoken to your father, and he approves my suit. Virginia, can you give
me the priceless treasure of your love? Will you be my wife?”
The girl flushed to the temples at the words of Murdock. She had
suspected that he sought her, but had carefully avoided leading him to
think that she favored his suit. For, to tell the truth, the young girl
did not love but rather feared him. There was a bad look in the fierce
black eyes, and ugly lines about the sensual mouth, and these things
she had noticed. In her heart Virginia thought that Murdock was far
from being a good man.
“I am sorry, Mr. Murdock, that you have spoken in this way to me,” said
the girl, slowly, and with evident embarrassment. “It grieves me that I
must pain you with a refusal. I can not accept the love that you offer.”
Murdock started in anger, and the frown that knit his brows showed
plainly his deep displeasure.
“Are you in earnest?” he asked, in amazement.
“Surely I am,” replied the girl. She did not like the tone in which the
question was put.
“Had you not better take time to think over the matter?” he said. “You
may change your mind.”
“That is not likely,” she answered, coldly. “I can decide now as well
as any time in the future. I feel that I can not love you.”
“Do you love any one else?” he asked, quickly.
A faint flush came to the cheeks of the girl, which did not escape the
jealous eyes of the rejected lover.
“You have no right to ask that question,” she cried.
“Will you answer it?”
“No!”
“No?”
“No!” repeated Virginia, all the fire of her nature roused by the
insolent manner of the man who stood lowering before her.
“You do not dare to answer it.”
“It is no business of yours what my motive is,” replied Virginia,
proudly.
“You fancy yourself in love with some one. You can not deceive me. Let
your lover look to himself. If you can not be my wife, I swear that
you shall not be the wife of any other man. You are a beautiful girl,
Virginia, but your beauty will be fatal to the mortal that dares to
cross my path!” Murdock spoke in heat, and the angry glare of a demon
shot from his fierce black eyes.
“If I have a lover, he will be able to defend himself from the coward
who only dares to threaten a woman!” And with these words Virginia
swept proudly from the room.
“By all the powers of darkness, I swear that I will find means to
bend your haughty spirit, and on your knees you will be glad to ask
my pardon for those proud words!” cried the baffled lover, his voice
hoarse with rage.
Then he left the house by the back door and gained the street. He did
not care to meet the eyes of the old General, for he readily guessed
that his discomfiture would easily be perceived.
“Who can this lover be?” he mused, as he walked slowly down the street.
“Can it be this young stranger who saved her from the bear in the
ravine? It may be. I am sure that there isn’t a lad on the border that
is favored by her, for I have watched her closely. Is the prize then
that I have toiled so to gain to be snatched from my hand by this
adventurer? She must marry me, or--_she must die_! She is the only
obstacle between me and the fortune of the old General. That fortune I
am determined to have, and the silly caprice of a weak girl shall not
keep me from it.”
Stern and frowning was the brow of Clement Murdock as he strode along.
Dark and gloomy thoughts were passing rapidly through his mind.
“The die is cast--I have decided,” he muttered, as he walked onward.
“First to find _who_ this lover is, that has crossed my path--for
that the girl has a lover or is in love with some one, I am certain.
I marked the slight flush that crimsoned her cheek when I charged her
with loving another; that blush revealed to me the truth. I have a
rival, and a dangerous one, for she loves him. I _must_ discover who
it is. If the young adventurer is the man, let him look to himself,
for the fortune that he comes to seek by the banks of the Ohio, may
resolve itself into a grave in the forest with the gaunt gray wolves as
mourners. True, the acquaintanceship is but a few hours old, but love
comes at first sight, sometimes. The fortune of my relative shall be
mine, either with Virginia or without her. I must find some willing
tools to aid me, for I feel a presentiment that I shall have need of
strong arms and reckless hearts, ere long.”
Then the eyes of Murdock caught sight of a little group of settlers at
the lower end of the station near the bank of the Kanawha.
“Hallo! what’s the meaning of that I wonder?” he exclaimed; “there’s
evidently some trouble afloat. Another Indian attack, perhaps. I must
see what it is.” And he advanced to the group.