There is, I fear, some bad principle in her; for surely
the fierceness and overbearing spirit of her pride, and the malignant
calumnies of her foul and scandalous tongue, can proceed from nothing
that's good."
"Well, Martha," observed her husband, "if the devilish and unaccountable
hatred which she bears her fellow-creatures is violent, she has the
satisfaction of knowing--and well she knows it--that it is returned to
her with compound interest; I question if the devil himself is detested
with such a venomous feeling as she is. Her own husband and children
cannot like a bone in her skin."
"And yet," replied Alice, "you would have made this woman my
mother-in-law! Do you think it was from any regard to us that she came
here to propose a marriage between her son and me? No, indeed, dear
papa, it was for the purpose of securing the property, which her brother
left me, for him who would otherwise have inherited it. And do you
imagine for a moment that Harry Woodward himself ever felt one emotion
of personal affection for me? If you do you are quite mistaken. I
knew and felt all along--even while he was assuming the part of the
lover--that he actually hated, not only me, but every one of the family.
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