brazen serpent. She took a hair-pin from one of her
braids, and, insinuating its points under the edge of the tile, raised it
from its place. A small leaden box lay under the tile, which she opened,
and, taking from it a little white powder, which she folded in a scrap of
paper, replaced the box and the tile over it.

Whether Dick had by any means got a knowledge of this proceeding, or
whether he only suspected some unmentionable design on her part, there is
no sufficient means of determining. At any rate, when they met, an hour
or two after these occurrences, he could not help noticing how easily she
seemed to have got over her excitement. She was very pleasant with
him,--too pleasant, Dick thought. It was not Elsie's way to come out of
a fit of anger so easily as that. She had contrived some way of letting
off her spite; that was certain. Dick was pretty cunning, as old Sophy
had said, and, whether or not he had any means of knowing Elsie's private
intentions, watched her closely, and was on his guard against accidents.

For the first time, he took certain precautions with reference to his
diet, such as were quite alien to his common habits. On coming to the
dinner-table, that day, he complained of headache, took but little food,
and refused the cup of coffee which Elsie offered him, saying that it did
not agree with him when he had these attacks.

Here was a new complication. Obviously enough, he could not live in this
way, suspecting everything but plain bread and water, and hardly feeling
safe in meddling with them. Not only had this school-keeping wretch come
between him and the scheme by which he was to secure his future fortune,
but his image had so infected his cousin's mind that she was ready to try
on him some of those tricks which, as he had heard hinted in the village,
she had once before put in practice upon a person who had become odious
to her.

Something must be done, and at once, to meet the double necessities of
this case. Every day, while the young girl was in these relations with
the young man, was only making matters worse. They could exchange words
and looks, they could arrange private interviews, they would be stooping
together over the same book, her hair touching his cheek, her breath
mingling with his, all the magnetic attractions drawing them together
with strange, invisible effluences. As her passion for the schoolmaster
increased, her dislike to him, her cousin, would grow wi