CHAPTER II.

THE reception of young Granger was as cordial as Mrs. Dinneford chose to make it.  She wanted to get near enough to study his character thoroughly, to discover its weaknesses and defects, not its better qualities, so that she might do for him the evil work that was in her heart.  She hated him with a bitter hatred, and there is nothing so subtle and tireless and unrelenting as the hatred of a bad woman.

She found him weak and unwary.  His kindly nature, his high sense of honor, his upright purpose, his loving devotion to Edith, were nothing in her eyes.  She spurned them in her thoughts, she trampled them under her feet with scorn.  But she studied his defects, and soon knew every weak point in his character.  She drew him out to speak of himself, of his aims and prospects, of his friends and associates, until she understood him altogether.  Then she laid her plans for his destruction.

Granger was holding a clerkship at the time of his marriage, but was anxious to get a start for himself.  He had some acquaintance with a man named Lloyd Freeling, and often spoke of him in connection with business.  Freeling had a store on one of the best streets, and, as represented by himself, a fine run of trade, but wanted more capital.  One day he said to Granger,

“If I could find the right man with ten thousand dollars, I would take him in.  We could double this business in a year.”

Granger repeated the remark at home, Mrs. Dinneford listened, laid it up in her thought, and on the next day called at the store of Mr. Freeling to see what manner of man he was.

Her first impression was favorable—­she liked him.  On a second visit she likes him better.  She was not aware that Freeling knew her; in this he had something of the advantage.  A third time she dropped in, asking to see certain goods and buying a small bill, as before.  This time she drew Mr. Freeling into conversation about business, and put some questions the meaning of which he understood quite as well as she did.

A woman like Mrs. Dinneford can read character almost as easily as she can read a printed page, particularly a weak or bad character.  She knew perfectly, before the close of this brief interview, that Freeling was a man without principle, false and unscrupulous, and that if Granger were associated with him in business, he could, if he chose, not only involve him in transactions of a dishonest nature, but throw upon him the odium and the consequences.

“Do you think,” she said to Granger, not long afterward, “that your friend, Mr. Freeling, would like to have you for a partner in business?”

The question surprised and excited him.

“I know it,” he returned; “he has said so more than once.”

“How much capital would he require?”

“Ten thousand dollars.”

“A large sum to risk.”