we
know that nothing but your death is wanted, at this moment, to crown her
rapacity and her deception with success. We are sure of these things.
We are sure that she is young, bold, and clever--that she has neither
doubts, scruples, nor pity--and that she possesses the personal
qualities which men in general (quite incomprehensibly to _me!_) are
weak enough to admire. These are not fancies, Mr. Noel, but facts; you
know them as well as I do."

He made a sign in the affirmative, and Mrs. Lecount went on:

"Keep in your mind what I have said of the past, sir, and now look with
me to the future. I hope and trust you have a long life still before
you; but let us, for the moment only, suppose the case of your
death--your death leaving this will behind you, which gives your fortune
to your cousin George. I am told there is an office in London in which
copies of all wills must be kept. Any curious stranger who chooses to
pay a shilling for the privilege may enter that office, and may read any
will in the place at his or her discretion. Do you see what I am coming
to, Mr. Noel? Your disinherited widow pays her shilling, and reads your
will. Your disinherited widow sees that the Combe-Raven money, which has
gone from your father to you, goes next from you to Mr. George Bartram.
What is the certain end of that discovery? The end is, that you leave
to your cousin and your friend the legacy of this woman's vengeance
and this woman's deceit-vengeance made more resolute, deceit made more
devilish than ever, by her exasperation at her own failure. What is your
cousin George? He is a generous, unsuspicious man; incapable of deceit
himself, and fearing no deception in others. Leave him at the mercy
of your wife's unscrupulous fascinations and your wife's unfathomable
deceit, and I see the end as certainly as I see you sitting there! She
will blind his eyes, as she blinded yours; and, in spite of _you_, in
spite of _me_, she will have the money!"

She stopped, and left her last words time to gain their hold on his
mind. The circumstances had been stated so clearly, the conclusion from
them had been so plainly drawn, that he seized her meaning without an
effort, and seized it at once.

"I see!" he said, vindictively clinching his hands. "I understand,
Lecount! She shan't have a farthing. What shall I do? Shall I leave
the money to the admiral?" He paused, and considered a little. "No,"
he resumed; "there's the same danger in leaving