"She regarded me with a frenzied eye—'Dost thou threaten too?—Severely shalt thou suffer for this! This instant, Sir, deliver the key.'
"'For God's sake, my mother,' I cried, 'do not thus oppress me: long have I borne each ill you have inflicted, and nearly without a murmur; in pity, then, spare me; nor thus add to the sorrows of a heart that is already nearly broken.'
"'No trifling, Sir; my purpose is fixed; nor, by all that is sacred, will I be dissuaded from it! I will not be subjected to your control, or longer kept in awe by your pretensions!'
"'I do not wish it,' I cried; 'all I ask, is that which, if not possessed by me, cannot devolve to you.'
"She stamped with rage.—'The key, Sir; this moment give it me.'
"'I have already told your Ladyship, I cannot—I will not yield it!'
"Never before had my mother experienced such opposition from me. Her passions, already raised by the insinuations of Mallet, hurried her nearly to madness; she snatched a pen-knife from the table where I had been writing, her lips quivered as she grasped my arm—'Harry—if thou darest again refuse—thou forfeitest thy life!'
"'Then take my life,' I cried; the tears starting to my eyes, and so agitated that I could scarcely speak; 'when a mother seeks to destroy it, what hand shall be raised for its preservation!—Yet think not by depriving me of existence, to secure your safety. A charge of lunacy may screen the action from the knowledge of the world; but there is an all-seeing eye, Lady Corbet, that would mark it, and make you for ever dread to meet the face of Heaven!'
"She regarded me with an agitation, that too plainly showed the state of her mind, then cast me from her with violence, and hurled the knife to the further part of the room. I was hastening to secure it, when Mallet, either for the purpose of assisting her to search for the will, or from a motive of a darker nature, entered the chamber. He started on beholding me, and, with a well-counterfeited surprise, asked the reason of my being up at such an unseasonable hour?
"'Where the assassin dwells,' I replied, 'it is requisite to watch, instead of sleeping!'