Let him keep the place, he thought, and let it be a curse to him, for he had bought it with a child's blood.

If the law gave him back Fern's Hollow, it would not avenge little Nan's death; and he had no power.

But the master was a murderer; and Stephen knelt down on the desolate hearth, where no prayer had ever been uttered, and prayed God that the sin and punishment of murder might rest upon his enemy.
Was it consolation that filled Stephen's heart when he rose from his knees?
It seemed as if his spirit had grown suddenly harder, and in some measure stronger.

He did not feel afraid now of going down to the cabin, where the little lifeless corpse was stretched out; and he strode away down the hill with rapid steps.

When the thought of Martha, and his grandfather, and Miss Anne crossed his mind, it was with no gentle, tender emotion, but with a strange feeling that he no longer cared for them.