retia, as an ally against his father; for that father he
cherished feelings which, beneath the most docile obedience, concealed
horror and hate, and something of the ferocity of revenge. And if young
Varney loved any one on earth except himself, it was Lucretia Clavering.
She had administered to his ruling passions, which were for effect
and display; she had devised the dress which set off to the utmost his
exterior, and gave it that picturesque and artistic appearance which he
had sighed for in his study of the portraits of Titian and Vandyke. She
supplied him (for in money she was generous) with enough to gratify and
forestall every boyish caprice; and this liberality now turned against
her, for it had increased into a settled vice his natural taste for
extravagance, and made all other considerations subordinate to that
of feeding his cupidity. She praised his drawings, which, though
self-taught, were indeed extraordinary, predicted his fame as an
artist, lifted him into consequence amongst the guests by her notice and
eulogies, and what, perhaps, won him more than all, he felt that it
was to her--to Dalibard's desire to conceal before her his more cruel
propensities--that he owed his father's change from the most refined
severity to the most paternal gentleness.

And thus he had repaid her, as she expected, by a devotion which she
trusted to employ against her tutor himself, should the baffled aspirant
become the scheming rival and the secret foe. But now,--thoroughly aware
of the gravity of his father's objects, seeing before him the chance
of a 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