a stranger, who I could urge no claim of consanguinity upon him,
absolutely astonished them; and their resentment at his caprice--or
rather what they termed his dotage--was not only deep, but loud. To say
the truth, such an unexpected demise of property was strongly calculated
to try their temper. After the death of Agnes--an event which filled the
unfeeling and worldly heart of her aunt with delight--they made many a
domestic calculation, and held many a family council as to the mode in
which their uncle's property might be distributed among them, and many
anticipations were the result, because there was none in the usual
descent of property to inherit it but themselves. Now, in all this, they
acted very naturally--just, perhaps, as you or I, gentle reader, would
act if placed in similar circumstances, and sustained by the same
expectations.

In the meantime matters were not likely to rest in quiet. Murmurs went
abroad, hints were given, and broader assertions advanced, that the old
man had not been capable of making a will, and that his mind had been so
completely disordered and prostrated by excessive grief for the loss of
his daughter, that he became the dupe and victim of undue influence in
the person of a selfish and artful girl--that artful girl being no other
than Alice Goodwin, aided and abetted by her family. Every circumstance,
no matter how trivial, that could be raked up and collected, was now
brought together, and stamped with a character of significance, in order
to establish his dotage and their fraud. It is not necessary to dwell
upon this. In due time the matter came to a trial, for the will had
been disputed, and, after a patient hearing, its validity was completely
established, and all the hopes and expectations of the Lindsays blown
into air.

In the meantime, and while the suit was pending, the conduct of Alice