, which you seem to
abhor so much. Nothing stands between him and it but a dying girl."

"How is that, madam?"

"Why, my lord, his Uncle Hamilton, my brother, had a daughter, an only
child, who died of decline, as her mother before her did. This foolish
child was inveigled into an unaccountable affection for the daughter
of Mr. Goodwin--a deep, designing, artful girl--who contrived to gain a
complete ascendency over both father and daughter. For months before
my niece's death this cunning girl, prompted by her designing family,
remained at her sick bed, tended her, nursed her, and would scarcely
allow a single individual to approach her except herself. In short,
she gained such an undue and iniquitous influence over both parent and
child, that her diabolical object was accomplished."

"Diabolical! Well, I can see nothing diabolical in it, for so far.
Affection and sympathy on the one hand, and gratitude on the other--that
seems much more like the thing. But proceed, madam."

"Why, my poor brother, who became silly and enfeebled in intellect by
the loss of his child, was prevailed on by Miss Goodwin and her family
to adopt her as his daughter, and by a series of the most artful and
selfish manoeuvres they succeeded in getting the poor imbecile and
besotted old man to make a will in her favor; and the consequence was
that he left her twelve hundred a year, both to her and her issue,
should she marry and have any; but in case she should have no issue,
then, after her death, it was to revert to my son Woodward for whom it
was originally intended by my brother. It was a most unprincipled and
shameful transaction on the part of these Goodwins. Providence, however,
would seem to have punished them for their iniquity, for Miss Goodwin is
dying--at least, beyond all hope. The property, of course, will soon
be in my son's possession, where it ought to have been ever since his
uncle's death. Am I not right, then, in calculating on that property as
his?"

"Why, the circumstances you speak of are recent; I remember them well
enough. There was a lawsuit about the will?"

"There was, my lord."

"And the instrument was proved strictly legal and valid?"

"The suit was certainly determined against us."

"I'll tell you what, Mrs. Lindsay; I am certain that I myself would have
acted precisely as your brother did. I know the Goodwins, too, and I
know, besides, that they are incapable of reverting to either fraud or
undue influenc