addition, with a
hate incurred by himself, you protect from my vengeance, though
affecting to be utterly careless of his fate--and all this you conclude
with a profession of willingness to do for me whatever you can! What
miserable mockery is this?"

"And have I done nothing--and am I seeking to do nothing for you, Guy,
by way of atonement? Have I not pledged to you the person of my niece,
the sweet young innocent, who is not unworthy to be the wife of the
purest and proudest gentleman of the southern country? Is this
nothing--is it nothing to sacrifice such a creature to such a creature?
For well I know what must be her fate when she becomes your wife. Well I
know you! Vindictive, jealous, merciless, wicked, and fearless in
wickedness--God help me, for it will be the very worst crime I have ever
yet committed! These are all your attributes, and I know the sweet child
will have to suffer from the perpetual exercise of all of them."

"Perhaps so! and as she will then be mine, she must suffer them, if I so
decree; but what avails your promise, so long as you--in this matter a
child yourself--suffer her to protract and put off at her pleasure. Me
she receives with scorn and contempt, you with tears and entreaties; and
you allow their influence; in the hope, doubtless, that some lucky
chance--the pistol-shot or the hangman's collar--will rid you of my
importunities. Is it not so, Munro?" said the ruffian, with a sneer of
contemptuous bitterness.

"It would be, indeed, a lucky event for both of us, Guy, were you safely
in the arms of your mother; though I have not delayed in this affair
with any such hope. God knows I should be glad, on almost any terms, to
be fairly free from your eternal croakings--never at rest, never
satisfied, unless at some new deviltry and ill deed. If I did give you
the first lessons in your education, Guy, you have long since gone
beyond your master; and I'm something disposed to think that Old Nick
himself must have taken up your tuition, where, from want of
corresponding capacity, I was compelled to leave it off."

And the landlord laughed at his own humor, in despite of the hyena-glare
shot forth from the eye of the savage he addressed. He continued:--

"But, Guy, I'm not for letting the youth off--that's as you please. You
have a grudge against him, and may settle it to your own liking and in
your own way. I have nothing to say to that. But I am determined to do
as little henceforth toward