urse this night."

There was, however, such an expression on his countenance as could not
be mistaken even by a common observer, much less by such an acute one
as Barney Casey, who had his eye upon him for such a length of time!
His countenance, Barney saw plainly, was as dark as hell, and seemed to
catch its inspiration from that damnable region.

"Barney," said he, "I shall watch the sick bed, and nurse my brother
Charles tonight, in order, if possible, to sustain him until Greatrakes
cures him to-morrow."

"Ah, it's you that is the affectionate brother," replied Barney, who had
read deliberate murder in his countenance. "But," he exclaimed, after
Woodward had gone, "if you watch him this night, I will watch you. You
know now that he stands between you and your mother's property, and you
will put him out of the way if you can. Yes, I will watch you well this
night."

The minute poisoned doses which he had contrived to administer to his
brother were always followed by an excessive thirst. Now, Barney had,
as we have often said, strong suspicions; but on this occasion he was
determined to place himself in a position from which he could watch
every movement of Woodward without being suspected himself. His usual
sleeping place was in a low gallery below stairs; but it so happened
that there was a closet beside Charles's bed in which there was neither
bed nor furniture of any kind, with the exception of a single chair. The
door between them had, as is usual, two panes of glass in; it, through
which any person in the dark could see what happened in the room in
which Charles slept.

Barney locked the door on the inside, and it was well that he did so,
for in a short time Woodward came in, with a guilty and a stealthy pace,
and having looked, like a murderer, about the room, he approached the
closet door and tried to open it; but finding that it was locked his
apprehensions vanished, and he deliberately, on seeing that his brother
was asleep, took a bottle out of his pocket, and having poured about a
wine-glassful of the poison into the small jug which contained the usual
drink of the patient, he left the room, satisfied that, as soon as
his brother awoke, he would take the deadly draught. When he departed,
Barney came out, and having substituted another for it--for there was a
variety of potions on the sick table--he, too, stealthily descended
the stairs, and going to the dog-kennel deliberately administered the
pernic