His object, therefore, was to expedite her demise with as little delay as possible, in order that he might become master of the patrimony.

With this generous principle for his guide, he made it a point to visit the Goodwins, and to see Alice as often as was compatible with the ordinary usages of society.

Had Caterine Collins not put the unsuspecting and timid girl on her guard against the influence of the Evil Eye, as possessed by Woodward, for whom she acted as agent in the business, that poor girl would not have felt anything like what this diabolical piece of information occasioned her to experience.

From the moment she heard it her active imagination took the alarm.

An unaccountable terror seized upon her; she felt as if some dark doom was impending over her.