"Didn't I say so? Nobody comes to see me now since poor Nephew Martin was taken from me. I feel about ready to die but for one thing."
"And that?"
"REVENGE!"
Her eyes snapped in their hollow sockets and the withered bosom heaved with inward emotion.
Mr. Ruggles emitted a laugh.
He was evidently pleased at the condition of the woman's feelings.
"I am glad to find you in this condition, Madam," he said, after a brief pause. "I am here to tell you how you can be revenged, if I mistake not the object on whom your hatred rests.
"It's that infernal Dyke Darrel."
"I knew it. You would smile and feel happy to see him suffer?"
"It would be as beefsteak to a starving man," said the woman, savagely.