"Driving through the village, to-day, I passed that queer old woman—Hagar, do they call her? She glared at me, oh! so savagely."
"She is an old hag!" Mr Arthur answered, with unnecessary fierceness. "I don't see what Satan has been about, all these years, that he's not taken her away to her proper atmosphere."
"Why," in pretty surprise, "I thought she used to be one of your servants?"
"She was a servant to my first wife," moodily. "I got rid of the baggage quick enough, when Mrs. Arthur died. She is an old viper, and put more disobedience into that girl Madeline's head, than I ever could get out."
"What a horrid old wretch she must be!" shuddering.
Then the conversation dropped, and Cora was satisfied.
"The old woman shall be my tool," she thought, triumphantly.