said he; "but the viper will be remembered by its sting, after we have
discovered it to be a poisonous reptile with a beautiful outside. And
much gratitude is due to Heaven, that the base infection of his nature
has been fully disclosed, before you were bound to him by indissoluble
ties." Constantia asked if Monthault was the accuser of Eustace.
"Monthault," replied the Doctor, "is silent. A chain of evidence
confirms, that he was merely an agent in this iniquitous design of
tearing you from me."--"Impossible," replied Constance, "never did agent
embark with such eager passion in the views of another. It was for
himself, the monster pleaded; and it was only a mean attempt to quiet my
cries for assistance, when he talked of carrying me to Eustace.--Fortunate
dissembler, how well he contrives to throw the guilt of his own treasons
on that ill-fated youth."

"Dear, credulous girl," returned the Doctor, "I have often bid you love
young Evellin, and do not wonder that you find it hard to unlearn that
lesson. Yet, rest assured, it is not on dubious testimony, that I found
my conviction of his being corrupted by the lax morality of these evil
times, in which one party deems an attachment to the antient
constitution an excuse for debauchery, and the other uses the verbiage
of religion as a commutation for obedience to its precepts. It is most
true, Eustace was publicly disgraced by Lord Hopton, accused of crimes
to which he pleaded guilty, suspected of others which he faintly denied.
With horror I must tell you that his unfortunate honourable father had
the anguish of witnessing his shame."

Constance raised her streaming eyes and clasped hands to Heaven,
exclaiming, "If his crimes have been any thing worse than the
precipitation of thoughtless youth, there is no truth in man. Till his
fame is cleared I will not name him. But I shall never cease to think of
him till this heart ceases to beat, or rather till my intellects are too
clouded to discern the difference between error and depravity. You have
often said that one of the sorest calamities of this turbulent period is
the celebrity acquired by successful wickedness, which encourages
offenders to traffic largely in iniquity; but the fate of poor Eustace
continues to exhibit the severity of retributive justice. Discarded by
both his fathers, and divorced from his love, where has the pennyless
outcast funds to feed the craving avarice of criminal associates, to
suborn accompli