recognized those qualities in some agency apparently of good,--and it
seemed yet doubtful if Vivian were the agent,--I should have cried, "It
is he; and the better angel has triumphed!" With the same (alas! with a
yet more impulsive) quickness, when the agency was of evil, and the
agent equally dubious, I felt that the qualities revealed the man, and
that the demon had prevailed.

Mile after mile, stage after stage, were passed on the dreary,
interminable, high north road. I narrated to my companion, more
intelligibly than I had yet done, my causes for apprehension. The
Captain at first listened eagerly, then checked me on the sudden.
"There may be nothing in all this," he cried. "Sir, we must be men
here,--have our heads cool, our reason clear; stop!" And leaning back
in the chaise, Roland refused further conversation, and as the night
advanced, seemed to sleep. I took pity on his fatigue, and devoured my
heart in silence. At each stage we heard of the party of which we were
in pursuit. At the first stage or two we were less than an hour behind;
gradually, as we advanced, we lost ground, despite the most lavish
liberality to the post-boys. I supposed, at length, that the mere
circumstance of changing, at each relay, the chaise as well as the
horses, was the cause of our comparative slowness; and on saying this to
Roland as we were changing horses, somewhere about midnight, he at once
called up the master of the inn and gave him his own price for
permission to retain the chaise till the journey's end. This was so
unlike Roland's ordinary thrift, whether dealing with my money or his
own,--so unjustified by the fortune of either,--that I could not help
muttering something in apology.

"Can you guess why I was a miser?" said Roland, calmly.