“Get money, Mullholland-get money.  It takes money to make love strong.  Say what you will, a woman’s heart is sure to be sound on the gold question.  Mark ye, Mullholland!—­there is an easy way to get money.  Do you take? (His fingers wander over his forehead, as he watches intently in George’s face.) You can make names?  Such things are done by men in higher walks, you know.  Quite a common affair in these parts.  The Judge has carried off your property; make a fair exchange-you can use his name, get money with it, and make it hold fast the woman you love.  There are three things, George, you may set down as facts that will be of service to you through life, and they are these:  when a man eternally rings in your ears the immoralities of the age, watch him closely; when a man makes what he has done for others a boast, set him down a knave; and when a woman dwells upon the excellent qualities of her many admirers, set her down as wanting.  But, get money, and when you have got it, charm back this beautiful creature.”

Such is the advice of Mr. Soloman Snivel, the paid intriguer of the venerable Judge.

CHAPTER XXV.

A slight change in the picture.

The two lone revellers remain at the pier-table; moody and hectic.  Mr. Snivel drops into a sound sleep, his head resting on the marble.  Weak-minded, jealous, contentious-with all the attendants natural to one who leads an unsettled life, sits George Mullholland, his elbow resting on the table, and his head poised thoughtfully in his hand.  “I will have revenge-sweet revenge; yes, I will have revenge to-night!” he mutters, and sets his teeth firmly.

In Anna’s chamber all is hushed into stillness.  The silvery moonbeams play softly through the half-closed windows, lighting up and giving an air of enchantment to the scene.  Curtains hang, mist-like, from massive cornices in gilt.  Satin drapery, mysteriously underlaid with lace, and floating in bewitching chasteness over a fairy-like bed, makes more voluptuous that ravishing form calmly sleeping-half revealed among the snowy sheets, and forming a picture before which fancy soars, passion unbends itself, and sentiment is led away captive.  With such exquisite forms strange nature excites our love;—­that love that like a little stream meanders capriciously through our feelings, refreshing life, purifying our thoughts, exciting our ambition, and modulating our actions.  That love, too, like a quick-sand, too often proves a destroyer to the weak-minded.

Costly chairs, of various styles, carved in black walnut, stand around the chamber:  lounges covered with chastely-designed tapestry are seen half concealed by the gorgeous window curtains.  The foot falls upon a soft, Turkey carpet; the ceiling-in French white, and gilt mouldings-is set off with two Cupids in a circle, frescoed by a skilled hand.  On a lounge, concealed in an alcove masked by curtains pending from the hands of a fairy in bronze, and nearly opposite Anna’s bed, the old Judge sleeps in his judicial dignity.  To-day he sentenced three rogues to the whipping-post, and two wretched negroes-one for raising his hand to a white man-to the gallows.