Then the man would slip into cover of the shadows, and steal out into
the road, and Gordon would jump into the buggy, and he and Aaron would
follow him. He knew the man well enough to be sure that he would never
venture an attack upon James and Clemency with witnesses. If only Aaron
would come! Gordon became surer that the mare had balked. He vowed
within himself that she should be shot the next day if she had. Every
moment he thought he heard the sound of wheels and horse's hoofs. His
nervous tension became something terrible. Once he thought of stealing
through the house, and out by the front door, and walking to meet James
and Clemency so as to warn them. But that would leave the helpless woman
upstairs alone. He dared not do that.
He thought then of going to the front of the house, and watching there,
and endeavoring to intercept James and Clemency before they turned into
the driveway. But he felt that he could not for one second relax his
watch upon the watching man, and he had no guarantee whatever that, at
the first sound of wheels, the man himself would not make for the front
of the house. Then he thought, as always, of not disturbing the sick
woman whose room faced the road. It seemed to him that his only course
was to remain where he was and wait for the return of Aaron before James
and Clemency.
He knew now that the horse must have balked. His only hope
was that James and Clemency, since it was such a fine night, and time
is so short for lovers, might take such a long drive that even the balky
mare might relent. Always he heard at intervals the trot of a horse,
which only existed in his imagination. He began to wonder if he should
know when Aaron, or Clemency and James, actually did drive into the
yard, if he should be quick enough. Suddenly he thought of the dog: that
he would follow him, and of what might happen. The dog's chain-leash was
on the table. He stole across, got it, fastened it to the animal's
collar, and made the end secure to a staple which he had had fixed in
the wall for that purpose. As yet no intention of injury to the man
except in self-defense was in his mind. If actually attacked, he must
defend himself, of course, but he wished more than anything to drive the
intruder away with no collision. That was what he hoped for. The time
went on, and the strain upon the doctor's nerves was nearly driving him
mad. Sometimes the mare balked for hours. He began to hope that Aaron
would leave her, and return home on foot. That would settle the matter.
But he remembered a strange trait of obstinacy in Aaron. He remembered
how he had once actually sat all night in the buggy while the mare
balked.