Then his hand dropped, and he regarded Bluewater with a surprise he neither affected, nor wished to conceal.

He did not doubt his friend's sanity, but he greatly questioned his discretion.
"This is a very simple, but a very ingenious arrangement, to disturb the order of society," he said; "and to convert a very modest and unpretending, though lovely girl, into a forward and airs-taking old woman! What is this Mildred Dutton to you, that you should bequeath to her L30,000 ?" "She is one of the meekest, most ingenuous, purest, and loveliest, of her meek, ingenuous, pure, and lovely sex, crushed to the earth by the curse of a brutal, drunken father; and, I am resolute to see that this world, for once, afford some compensation for its own miseries." "Never doubt that, Richard Bluewater; never doubt _that_.

So certain is vice, or crime, to bring its own punishment in this life, that one may well question if any other hell is needed.

And, depend on it, your meek, modest ingenuousness, in its turn, will not go unrewarded." "Quite true, so far as the spirit is concerned; but, I mean to provide a little for the comfort of the body.

You remember Agnes Hedworth, I take it for granted ?" "Remember her!--out of all question.