settled establishment at Laughton, a positive and influential connection
with Lucretia; and on the other hand a return to the poverty he recalled
with disgust, and the terrors of his father's solitary malice and
revenge,--he entered fully into Dalibard's sombre plans, and without
scruple or remorse, would have abetted any harm to his benefactress.
Thus craft, doomed to have accomplices in craft, resembles the spider,
whose web, spread indeed for the fly, attracts the fellow-spider that
shall thrust it forth, and profit by the meshes it has woven for a
victim, to surrender to a master.

Already young Varney, set quietly and ceaselessly to spy every movement
of Lucretia's, had reported to his father two visits to the most retired
part of the park; but he had not yet ventured near enough to discover the
exact spot, and his very watch on Lucretia had prevented the detection of
Mainwaring himself in his stealthy exchange of correspondence. Dalibard
bade him continue his watch, without hinting at his ulterior intentions,
for, indeed, in these he was not decided. Even should he discover any
communication between Lucretia and Mainwaring, how reveal it to Sir Miles
without forever precluding himself from the chance of profiting by the
betrayal? Could Lucretia ever forgive the injury, and could she fail to
detect the hand that inflicted it? His only hope was in the removal of
Mainwaring from his path by other agencies than his own, and (by an
appearance of generosity and self-abandonment, in keeping her secret and
submitting to his fate) he trusted to regain the confidence she now
withheld from him, and use it to his advantage when the time came to
defend himself from Vernon. For he had learned from Sir Miles the
passive understanding with respect to that candidate for her hand; and he
felt assured that had Mainwaring never existed, could he cease to exist
for her hopes, Lucretia, despite her dissimulation, would succumb to one
she feared but respected, rather than one she evidently trifled with and