depth of depravity is truly inconceivable to an honorable
mind."

"I remember now, he has been somewhat familiar with Eveline; but I had no
idea the beggarly dog would dare think of marrying her. I must see to this
immediately."

"Remember to be cautious for my sake."

"Don't fear on that ground."

Thus the interview ended, Duffel having accomplished more by it than he had
expected. The more Mr. Mandeville thought on the subject, the more
thoroughly he became convinced of Hadley's guilt. Did not Duffel's
statement correspond precisely with that of his daughter? and how could it
be so without being true? It was an impossibility. The more he reflected,
the deeper became his conviction of the guilt of Hadley and of the
existence of a plot to defame Duffel. Another idea suggested itself: "Was
his daughter an intentional or an unintentional party to these
transactions? Might not her dislike of Duffel and her preference for Hadley
induce her to seek for some means to accomplish the disgrace of the
former?" While he was weighing this supposition in the balance of his mind,
he chanced to see his daughter walking with Hadley, and their manner of
conversation and the evident good-will existing between them, led him, in
his bewildered state, to conclude that Eveline was not as free from
implication as she might be. After harboring this thought for a day or two
longer, he charged her with the crime of confederating to injure Duffel, as
already related. Had he known that Duffel's story was made so fitly apt,
simply because he had basely eavesdropped and sacrilegiously listened to
the sanctitude of a conversation at the domestic hearth, how different
would have been the result!

CHAPTER III.

THE INVALID.

When Mr. Mandeville entered the house, as related at the close of the first
chapter, he found Eveline lying on the floor of her room, in a state of
insensibility. All his efforts to arouse her were unavailing, and leaving
her in the care of the distracted housemaid, he hastened off for the
doctor. When the stunning influence was removed, Eveline was still
unconscious. A burning fever was in her veins, and delirium in her brain.
All night long the doctor remained by her bedside, and when morning at
length compelled him to visit other patients, he left with an expression on
his countenance, which caused anything but a hopeful sensation in the
father's breast.

Days of anxiety and nights of sleepless watching passed