of late, I
take it," said the woman, with a gleam of the eye at once unpleasant and
triumphant.

Agnes colored with mortified vanity, but she answered, with a forced
laugh:

"A young girl of eighteen does not care to waste much energy on a
conceited old man, at any one's command. Still, if you desire it, I will
strive to be more agreeable."

"No," answered the woman, sharply, "I will control this matter hereafter
myself. That affair of the journal was badly managed, Agnes."

"I did the best in my power," replied the girl, with a tinge of
insolence in her manner. "But, how was it possible to force a knowledge
of the contents on the old man, after I had denied reading the book? He
must have opened at some unimportant passage, or a deeper interest
would have been excited."

"Are you certain that he did not read the book?" demanded the woman.

"I am certain that it lies unlocked in a drawer of his writing-desk,
this moment, where I saw him place it, while I turned to close the
library door after me."

"But, he may have read it."

"Impossible, for when I went to look, an hour after, one half of the
clasp had accidentally been shut into the book, a thing that could not
happen twice in the same way; and there it lies yet."

The woman dropped into thought an instant, with her eyes on the ground;
a shade of sadness came to her face, and she murmured regretfully:

"Indeed, how he must have changed: one so passionate, so suspicious,
so"----

She started and looked up, keenly regarding Agnes Barker, as if angry
that these broken thoughts were overheard--angry in vain, for the gentle
reminiscences of which she was ashamed had trembled away from her lips
in a deep sigh; and Agnes only saw a look of tender trouble, where
suspicion and anger had been a moment before.

CHAPTER XXV.

CONTINUED PLOTTING.

"Mammy," said Agnes, with a sudden gush of sympathy, "what is there in
General Harrington's family that interests you so much?"

The woman answered her with a keen glance and a single word:

"Everything!"

"And will you tell me nothing?"

"No, girl, I will not startle your nerves and confuse your intellect
with a history that, as yet, you could not understand. Do not importune
me again; I will not submit to it."

"Then I will do nothing more!" said Agnes, petulantly.

"I do not intend that you shall. The whole thing is, I find, beyond your
management. I might have known that your first step would be to