uite certain
that next season Caroline Hamilton mingles in the most fashionable
circles as the Viscountess Alphingham; and to obtain such a triumphant
end, in my opinion, no means are faulty."

"Most assuredly not. Not only the young lady herself, but her whole
family ought to be eternally grateful, for without such manoeuvring I
doubt much whether the perfect daughter or the self-satisfied mother
would obtain an establishment in all things so desirable. Enraged as she
will be at first at such unexpected conduct in the child she has so
ill-treated, she will thank you in the end, Miss Grahame, depend upon
it."

"If I thought so, Malison, on my honour, I should feel disinclined to
proceed one step further in the business. Give her cause to thank me,
feel that I have unwittingly been of service to her whom of her whole
sex I hate the most, to one who from my earliest years I know regarded
me with aversion and contempt; Malison, I would draw back on the instant
did I think so. But no, it will not, it shall not be; the life of her
child as Countess of Alphingham will not be such as to bring peace to
Mrs. Hamilton's heart: to some mothers it might, but not to hers. She
shall behold in this marriage the complete failure of her plans, the
utter wreck of all her exclusive notions; she shall see that her
pretended goodness and Christian example are not exemplified in Caroline
at least. She shall feel my power--aye, bitterly. Thus will I
triumph--in Caroline's disobedience will I be avenged for the contempt
and dislike her mother has ever shown to me."

She suddenly raised her slight figure to its full height, and looked on
her companion with a countenance expressive of such malignant triumph,
that all, save her companion in iniquity, must have shuddered as they
beheld such youthful features so deformed. Some other conversation
passed between her and her able confidant, but as little more was said
on the subject most interesting to us, we will not follow them further.
Annie's evil schemes are already too clearly displayed; her mind unable,
as Miss Malison's, to comprehend the exalted nature of Mrs. Hamilton's
character, looked upon it with detestation; the more so, as feeling she
was ever _acting_--she believed it hypocrisy; that the worth for which
even those who visited her not gave her credit, was not her real
character, but an artful veil to conceal evil qualities. The quick
penetration of Miss Grahame had even in childhood