for shame! Have you not one particle of manhood in your craven heart?"

"The bravest may tremble at guilt, and I am only astonished that you can be so perfectly calm and collected. Dear Jane, it is not yet too late to recede, but if the will be once destroyed-"

"Look you, Joel, I am not a person to be trifled with, nor to be frightened by bugbears from a resolution that I have once deliberately formed. We have gone too far in this matter to stop short, nor am I so weak and pusillanimous, woman as I am, as to lose the glorious prize when it is within my reach. I will do my duty to my dear boy, ay, and so shall you. You must not, nay, you shall not, flinch from your purpose. What? still peering with a timid eye at the window? Well, I will remove all your doubts and fears. Behold! I place this screen upon the dresser, and now, if there were a dozen men in the area, not one of them

could catch a glimpse either of us or our proceedings."

Suiting the action to her words, she effectually blocked up the window; and then, hurrying to the fire, thrust the will between the bars. As the paper rapidly disappeared, a bright flame arose, throwing a vivid, but momentary, radiance on two countenances of very opposite expression; that of the wife being flushed and animated with the anticipation of success, and the certainty that they had now gone too far to recede; while the husband, as he stood aghast with open mouth and distended eyes, appeared to be transfixed and stupified by the fearful responsibility of the deed, which he had never heartily approved, although he had wanted the resolution to prevent it.

"All is right," said Mrs. Lomax, waiting till the flame had quite subsided, when she replaced the screen in its former position. “We are enriched, but that is nothing, so far, at least, as I

shrinking. Strange! that you who have consented to this deed-you, who have thus far assisted in it-you, whose whole future life is to be made glorious by its success should prove a recreant, and desert me when it is to receive its final accomplishment. Be it so. Leave every thing to me. I am better without than with you; but mark me, Joel! if you will not assist, you shall not thwart me. Neither I nor my scheme shall be put in jeopardy by your miserable want of self-possession. Quit not your room. This is my positive injunction

nay, my command. To account for your absence I will pretend that you are indisposed; I will remain with Hoffman until he has executed the will, or refused to sign it; and, when I next return to you, it shall be with tidings that our prospects are either made or marred for ever!"

So saying, she hastened back to Hoffman's apartment, who awoke as she entered, and de

manded, in a peevish and weakened voice, at what hour the physicians were to meet, explaining the motive of this unexpected inquiry by adding that he felt much worse, was no longer so sanguine as he had been respecting his recovery, and wished them to witness his execution of the will. This was a hint which threw the mind of his auditress into instant activity.

Although the contemplation of a crime not infrequently blinds us as to its consequences, it sometimes renders us exceedingly quicksighted as to the means of its successful accomplishment. Such was the case with Mrs. Lomax, who, having observed that the sick man cherished a feeling of resentment against his partner, and was particularly anxious to conceal from him all knowledge of his testamentary dispositions, concluded that he would be much more likely to keep the will closely folded up at the time of its execution, if she

could persuade him that Vandermeulen was using underhand means to penetrate the secret of its contents. Throwing out hints, therefore, of his impertinent curiosity, she insinuated that he had been sounding her upon the subject, but that, in conformity to her solemn pledge, she had made no disclosure whatever, and had professed a total inability to satisfy his doubts.

"Goot! goot!" cried Hoffman, "dat is right, mine worthy Mrs. Lomax. Hah! he is gurious, is he? O de knave, de busy, prying, knave. He shall know ebery ding by and by. Where is de will? Hah, dere it is, I veel it onder mine billow, and dat reminds me what dere are dwo or dree directions I want to give in case I should never ged oop again."

"I shall be happy to receive any instructions," said Mrs. Lomax, drawing nearer to the bed.

"Virst and voremost, you must tell your