His object, therefore, was to
expedite her demise with as little delay as possible, in order that he
might become master of the patrimony. With this generous principle for
his guide, he made it a point to visit the Goodwins, and to see Alice
as often as was compatible with the ordinary usages of society. Had
Caterine Collins not put the unsuspecting and timid girl on her guard
against the influence of the Evil Eye, as possessed by Woodward, for
whom she acted as agent in the business, that poor girl would not have
felt anything like what this diabolical piece of information occasioned
her to experience. From the moment she heard it her active imagination
took the alarm. An unaccountable terror seized upon her; she felt as if
some dark doom was impending over her. It was in a peculiar degree the
age of superstition; and the terrible influence of the Evil Eye was
one not only of the commonest, but the most formidable of them all. The
dark, significant, but sinister gaze of Harry Woodward was, she thought,
forever upon her. She could not withdraw her imagination from it.
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