presence falling on them like a cold shadow.

"Two great babies," she said, a covert sneer in her chilling voice.

The joy went slowly out of their faces, though not out of their
hearts. There it nestled, and warmed the renewing blood. But a vague,
questioning fear began to creep in, a sense of insecurity, a dread of
hidden danger. The daughter did not fully trust her mother, nor the
husband his wife.

CHAPTER II.

_THE_ reception of young Granger was as cordial as Mrs. Dinneford
chose to make it. She wanted to get near enough to study his character
thoroughly, to discover its weaknesses and defects, not its better
qualities, so that she might do for him the evil work that was in her
heart. She hated him with a bitter hatred, and there is nothing so
subtle and tireless and unrelenting as the hatred of a bad woman.

She found him weak and unwary. His kindly nature, his high sense of
honor, his upright purpose, his loving devotion to Edith, were nothing
in her eyes. She spurned them in her thoughts, she trampled them under
her feet with scorn. But she studied his defects, and soon knew every
weak point in his character. She drew him out to speak of himself,
of his aims and prospects, of his friends and associates, until she
understood him altogether. Then she laid her plans for his destruction.

Granger was holding a clerkship at the time of his marriage, but was
anxious to get a start for himself. He had some acquaintance with a
man named Lloyd Freeling, and often spoke of him in connection with
business. Freeling had a store on one of the best streets, and, as
represented by himself, a fine run of trade, but wanted more capital.
One day he said to Granger,

"If I could find the right man with ten thousand dollars, I would take
him in. We could double this business in a year."

Granger repeated the remark at home, Mrs. Dinneford listened, laid it up
in her thought, and on the next day called at the store of Mr. Freeling
to see what manner of man he was.

Her first impression was favorable--she liked him. On a second visit she
likes him better. She was not aware that Freeling knew her; in this he
had something of the advantage. A third time she dropped in, asking to
see certain goods and buying a small bill, as before. This time she drew
Mr. Freeling into conversation about business, and put some questions
the meaning of which he understood quite as well as she did.

A woman like Mrs. Dinneford can re