doing he could separate us. What would you gain by it? If you kill him
he is beyond our reach forever, and a crime remains to be atoned for. If
he kill you your blood will be upon my head, and where should I find
consolation for the loss of the one heart always true and tender?"

With the inexplicable prescience which sometimes foreshadows coming
ills, she clung to him as if a vision of the future dimly swept before
her, but he only saw the solicitude it was a sweet surprise to find he
had awakened, and in present pleasure forgot past pain.

"You shall not suffer from this man any grief that I can shield you
from, rest assured of that, my heart. I will be patient, though your
ways are not mine, for the wrong was yours, and the retribution shall be
such as you decree."

"Then hear your task and see the shape into which circumstances have
molded my design. I would have you exercise a self-restraint that shall
leave Gilbert no hold upon you, accept all invitations like that which
you refused when we passed him on the threshold of the billiard room an
hour ago, and seem to find in such amusements the same fascination as
himself. Your skill in games of chance excels his, as you proved at home
where these pastimes lose their disreputable aspect by being openly
enjoyed. Therefore I would have you whet this appetite of his by losing
freely at first--he will take a grim delight in lessening the fortune he
covets--then exert all your skill till he is deeply in your debt. He has
nothing but what is doled out to him by Babie's father, I find; he dare
not ask help there for such a purpose; other resources have failed else
he would not have married; and if the sum be large enough, it lays him
under an obligation which will be a thorn in his flesh, the sharper for
your knowledge of his impotence to draw it out. When this is done, or