"  Now  you  talk  like  a  girl  of  sense,"  he  declared,  return
ing  her  warm  caresses  ;  "  I  love  none  but  you,  but  in
order  to  retain  my  power  over  Colonel  Miles,  it  is  necessary  to
wed  his  daughter,  and  as  soon  as  our  object  in  this  country  shall
be  achieved,  we  shall  leave  our  dupes,  and  fly  away  to  enjoy  our
love  alone,  in  the  gay  luxuries  of  some  European  capital."

"  O,  I  ought  to  have  known,"  cried  the  artful  woman,  feigning
to  credit  every  word  of  falsehood  he  uttered  ;  "  nay,  I  might
have  sworn  that  you  would  never  prove  false  in  your  heart  to
me  ;  and  now  I  will  never  more  harbor  one  suspicion  of  your
fidelity."

Of  these  two  souls  thus  pretending  fondness,  but  feeling
immortal  hate,  and  bent  on  each  other's  destruction,  by  all  the
base  means  of  guile  and  cunning,  which  will  conquer  ?  The
match  appears  nearly  equal,  the  chances  are  well  balanced,  by  his


PLOTS   AND    COUNTER-PLOTS.  13 1

shrewdness  and  bravery  on  one  side,  and  by  her  hypocrisy  and
bewitching  beauty  on  the  other.  Time  alone,  the  everlasting
Sphinx,  must  read  her  own  riddles,  written  on  this  crime-pollu
ted  page.
