"Better give me an answer now."
"I wish to consider."
"You have only to choose between twenty thousand dollars and the whole fortune. With your means at command, much reflection is not needed."
"Show me the papers, and I will decide at once."
"No."
"Then I must consider whether your pretensions are well founded."
"I will not be over nice; but any attempt to play me false shall rest heavily on your own head."
"Honor!" said Jaspar, with something like a smile, but more like a sneer.
With compressed lips, and the scowl of a demon, Jaspar witnessed the departure of the overseer. His case looked desperate, and he felt something like the gloominess of despair. Dalhousie could be disposed of, but the niece!—the niece, if she yet lived, would be the destruction of all his avaricious schemes.
As usual when agitated, he paced the room; and, as he reflected upon the danger, and the desperate remedies which suggested themselves, his manner grew more and more demoniacal. He resolved to trust no man. This was a dark thought, and could proceed only from the darkest mind.