he property?"

"As to that, you know there can be no doubt about it; there is the
will--the stupid; will, by which she got it."

"I shall see her again, however--nay, in spite of them I shall see
her time after time, and shall give her the Evil Eye, until the; scene
closes--until I attend her funeral."

"My mind is somewhat at ease," replied his mother; "because I was
alarmed lest you should have had recourse to any process that might have
brought you within the operation of the law."

"Make your mind easy on that point, my dear mother. No law compels a man
to close his eyes; a cat, you know, may look on a king; but of one thing
you may be certain--she dies--the victim is mine."

"One thing is certain," replied his mother, "that if she and Charles
should marry, you are ousted from the property."

"Don't trouble yourself about such a contingency; I have taken steps
which I think will prevent that. I speak in a double sense; but if I
find, after all, that they are likely to fail, I shall take others still
more decisive."

CHAPTER XIII. Woodward is Discarded from Mr. Goodwin's Family

--Other Particulars of Importance.

The reader sees that Harry Woodward, having ascertained the mutual
affection which subsisted between his brother and Alice, resorted to
such measures as were likely to place obstructions in the way of their
meeting, which neither of them was likely to remove. He felt, now,
satisfied that Charles, in consequence of the malignant fabrications
which he himself had palmed upon him for truth, would, most assuredly,
make no further attempt to renew their former intimacy. When Alice, too,
stated to him, that if she married not Charles, whether he proved worthy
of her or otherwise, she would never marry another, he felt that she was
unconsciously advancing the diabolical plans which he was projecting and
attempting to carry into effect. If she died without marriage or without
issue, the property, at her death, according to his uncle's will,
reverted, as we have said, to himself. His object, therefore, was to
expedite her demise with as little delay as possible, in order that he
might become master of the patrimony. With this generous principle for
his guide, he made it a point to visit the Goodwins, and to see Alice
as often as was compatible with the ordinary usages of society. Had
Caterine Collins not put the unsuspecting and timid girl on her guard
against the influence of the Evil Eye, as poss