which he was threatened. His first
had a peculiar and melancholy, though, to spectators, a ludicrous effect
upon him. He was now so stupid, and made such blunders in conversation,
that the comic effect of them was irresistible; especially to to those
who were not aware of the cause of it, but looked upon the whole thing
as his natural manner. He had been, ever since his arrival at the
accursed Spa, kept by Doctor Doolittle upon short commons, both as
to food and drink; and what with the effect of the waters, and severe
purgatives administered by the doctor, he felt himself in a state
little short of purgatory itself. The meagre regimen to which he was so
mercilessly subjected gave him the appetite of a shark, Indeed, the bill
of fare prescribed for him was scarcely sufficient to sustain a boy of
twelve years of age. In consequence of this he had got it into his
head that the season was a season of famine, and on this calamitous
dispensation of Providence he kept harping from morning to night. The
idea of the dinner, however, was hailed by them all as a very agreeable
project, for which the squire, who only thought of the opportunity it
would give himself to enjoy a surfeit, was highly complimented. It was
to be in the shape of a modern table d'hote: every gentleman was to pay
for himself and such of his party as accompanied him to it. Even
the Pythagorean relished the proposal, for although peculiar in his
opinions, he was sufficiently liberal, and too much of a gentleman,
to quarrel with those who differed from him. Mr. Goodwin, too, was
a consenting party, and mentioned the subject to Alice in a cheerful
spirit, and with a hope that she might be able to rally and attend it.
She promised to do so if she could; but said it chiefly depended on
the state of health in which she might find herself. Indeed, if ever
a beautiful and interesting girl was to be pitied, she, most
unquestionably, was an object of the deepest compassion.

It was not merely what she had to suffer from the Evil Eye of the demon
Woodward, but from the fact which had reached her ears of what she
considered the profligate conduct of his brother Charles, once her
betrothed lover. This latter reflection, associated with the probability
of his death, when joined to the terrible malady which Woodward had
inflicted on her, may enable our readers to perceive what the poor girl
had to suffer. Still she told her father that she would be present if
her health pe