o my letter seemed to imply that you would not disobey my uncle.
Montreuil, who was still lurking in the neighbourhood and who at night
privately met or sought me, affected exultation at the incipient success
of his advice. He pretended to receive perpetual intelligence of your
motions and conduct, and he informed me now that Isora had come to your
house on hearing of your wound; that you had not (agreeably,
Montreuil added to his view of your character) taken advantage of her
indiscretion; that immediately on receiving your uncle's and my own
letters, you had separated yourself from her; and, that though you
still visited her, it was apparently with a view of breaking off all
connection by gradual and gentle steps; at all events, you had taken no
measures towards marriage.

"Now, then," said Montreuil, "for one finishing stroke, and the prize is
yours. Your uncle cannot, you find, live long: could he but be persuaded
to leave his property to Gerald or to you, with only a trifling legacy
(comparatively speaking) to Morton, that worldly-minded and enterprising
person would be utterly prevented from marrying a penniless and unknown
foreigner. Nothing but his own high prospects, so utterly above the
necessity of fortune in a wife, can excuse such a measure now, even to
his own mind; if therefore, we can effect this transfer of property,
and in the meanwhile prevent Morton from marrying, your rival is gone
forever, and with his brilliant advantages of wealth will also vanish
his merits in the eyes of Isora. Do not be startled at this thought:
there is no crime in it; I, your confessor, your tutor, the servant
of the Church, am the last person to counsel, to hint even, at what is
criminal; but the end sanctifies all means. By transferring this vast
property, you do not only insure your object, but you advance the great
cause of Kings, the Church, and of the Religion which presides over
both. Wealth, in Morton's possession, will be useless to this cause,
perhaps pernicious: in your hands or in Gerald's, it will be of
inestimable service. Wealth produced from the public should be applied
to the uses of the public, yea, even though a petty injury to one
individual be the price."

Thus, and in this manner, did Montreuil prepare my mind for the step he
meditated; but I was not yet ripe for it. So inconsistent is guilt, that
I could commit murder, wrong, almost all villany that passion dictated,
but I was struck aghast by the tho