The painful
shock which had so sharply ended Perez' brief delusion, that Desire
might possibly accept his devotion, had at the same time roused him to
a recognition of the critical position of himself and his father's
family. What business had he or they lingering here in Stockbridge?
Yesterday, in the vague unpractical way in which hopeful lovers do all
their thinking he had thought they might remain indefinitely. Now he
saw that it would be tempting Providence to postpone any further the
carrying out of his original plan, of moving with them to New York
State. The present insurrection might last a longer or shorter time,
but there was no reason to think it would result in remedying the
already desperate financial condition of the family. The house was to
have been sold the past week, and doubtless would be as soon as
affairs were a little quieter. Reuben was, moreover, liable to re-arrest
and imprisonment on his old debt, and as for himself, he knew that his
life was forfeit to the gallows for the part he had taken in the
rebellion.
Once across the state line, however, they would be as safe as in
Europe, for the present Union of the states was not yet formed, and
the loose and nerveless bond of the old Federation, then in its last
stage of decrepitude, left the states practically foreign countries to
each other.
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