h, and then down the bank, I was in a
moment where at one glance I saw the hopeless result of what
had occurred. I felt terrified for you--"

"Would to God!" I cried out in so loud a voice, that, with a
look of terror, Henry laid his hand on my mouth; "would to
God!" I repeated in a lower tone, "that you had then
proclaimed to them all what I had done. Would to God! that you
had dragged me into my uncle's presence, and denounced me
as--"

"Hush, hush, be quiet and listen to me: I rushed back to my
room; I found Tracy pale with horror; and when I told her that
the child was dead, she wrung her hands, and again cried out
that you had killed her--murdered her. My rage then grew so
dreadful, that it overpowered hers. You know, alas! you know,
how fearfully I can give way to anger; but it must have been
horrible that day, for that iron-nerved and ungovernable woman
trembled like a leaf before me. I forced her to promise, that
if you did not accuse yourself, she would never reveal what
she had seen, or let it be known that she had been at Elmsley
that day. I made her leave the house in secret, and laid the
strictest commands upon my servant not to tell any one that
she had been with me, which, as he evidently suspected me of a
love affair with Alice, seemed to him quite natural. Hitherto
she has kept her word to me; but I cannot conceal from you
that no efforts of mine have ever succeeded in rooting out of
her mind the conviction that Julia's death was not accidental.
In the stupid and malicious obstinacy of her nature, she
persists in believing that you intentionally removed the
obstacle that stood between you and the eventual possession of
Mr. Middleton's fortune. She had been unfortunately told by
some of the servants of the house, at her previous visit to
Elmsley, that there were constant disputes between you and
Julia; and her suspicious jealousy on Alice's account had
worked her up into such animosity against you, that she even
then carried home with her the idea that you hated and
persecuted my sister's child. She has, however, as I have
already told you, kept her word to me; but there is one
circumstance under which I am perfectly certain that she would
break it; and that is, if, by a marriage with Edward, she saw
you on the point of obtaining those worldly advantages, which
she supposes that you sought in so dreadful a manner. She is
haunted by the idea that Mr. Middleton will leave his fortune
to you; and, by