Give her cause to thank me, feel that I have unwittingly been of service to her whom of her whole sex I hate the most, to one who from my earliest years I know regarded me with aversion and contempt; Malison, I would draw back on the instant did I think so.

But no, it will not, it shall not be; the life of her child as Countess of Alphingham will not be such as to bring peace to Mrs.Hamilton's heart: to some mothers it might, but not to hers.

She shall behold in this marriage the complete failure of her plans, the utter wreck of all her exclusive notions; she shall see that her pretended goodness and Christian example are not exemplified in Caroline at least.

She shall feel my power--aye, bitterly.

Thus will I triumph--in Caroline's disobedience will I be avenged for the contempt and dislike her mother has ever shown to me." She suddenly raised her slight figure to its full height, and looked on her companion with a countenance expressive of such malignant triumph, that all, save her companion in iniquity, must have shuddered as they beheld such youthful features so deformed.