"
"She is very artful, and is politic enough to
treat him well. She has lost no opportunity
of prejudicing him against me. If he were
not an invalid she would find her task more
difficult."
"Did she have any property when your
father married her?"
"Not that I have been able to discover. She
is scheming to have my father leave the lion's
share of his property to her and Peter. I dare
say she will succeed."
"Let us hope your father will live till you
are a young man, at least, and better able to
cope with her."
"I earnestly hope so."
"Your father is not an old man."
"He is fifty-one, but he is not strong. I
believe he has liver complaint. At any rate,
I know that when, at my stepmother's instigation,
he applied to an insurance company to
insure his life for her benefit, the application
was rejected."
"You don't know anything of Mrs. Crawford's
antecedents?"
"No."
"What was her name before she married
your father?"
"She was a Mrs. Cook. That, as you know,
is Peter's name."
"Perhaps, in your travels, you may learn
something of her history."
"I should like to do so."
"You won't leave us to-morrow?"
"I must go to-day. I know now that I must
depend wholly upon my own exertions, and
I must get to work as soon as possible."
"You will write to me, Carl?"
"Yes, when I have anything agreeable to write."
"Let us hope that will be soon."
CHAPTER VII.
ENDS IN A TRAGEDY.
Carl obtained permission to leave his trunk
at the Vance mansion, merely taking out what
he absolutely needed for a change.
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