that a specious outside at least should be preserved, and this he had succeeded in doing up to the present time.  In pursuance of his cunning policy, he was unwilling that even Joy should suspect him of unfriendliness, and for that reason had, in the course of the examination, excited the temporary vexation of Deputy Governor Dudley, by an observation which, to the unsuspecting Deputy, seemed indicative of a desire to screen Joy from punishment, and to Joy himself the interference of a friend; while, in fact, it was intended to entrap the prisoner into rash speeches, which would be prejudicial to his cause.  How effectually he undeceived Dudley, after Joy had been removed, we have seen.

The Assistant had attained his object.  Philip was in the first place to be imprisoned and fined, and afterwards banished, and the field was henceforth to be left free to himself.  With his rival out of the way, he did not doubt of succeeding with the girl by means of such arguments and temptations as it would be in his power to employ.  How he had begun by endeavoring to use the very affection of Prudence for her lover to make her betray herself, has been told; but thus far her simplicity and good fortune had been quite a match for his craft.  In the hope to obtain some advantage for Philip, she had granted the Assistant the interview which we have just witnessed, and wherein he disclosed his character in a manner he had never done to her before.  She now understood his designs thoroughly, but the knowledge was a secret which her fears suggested that she had better lock up in her own heart.  What chance would a poor unprotected girl have in a contest with the rich and powerful Assistant?  Who would take her word in opposition to his?  Spikeman well appreciated his advantage, and calculating with absolute certainty upon her silence, was, in consequence, the more audacious.

When the spy of the Assistant found him at his store-house, he was meditating upon the approaching interview with Prudence, the contemplation of which it unpleasantly interrupted.  The prospect of the soldier’s liberation was exceeding disagreeable.  It would interfere with, and perhaps defeat plans, which in blind passion he hugged to his heart.  But engrossed by his unworthy madness, he could not then mature any scheme not connected with its immediate gratification.  Machinations for the further accomplishment of his designs must be postponed for a calmer moment.  It came after the interruption occasioned by the arrival of his wife, and soon his active brain had shaped his ideas into definiteness.

Accordingly in the evening, as soon as it became so dark that features were not readily distinguishable in the streets, the Assistant took his way to the prison in which the soldier was confined.  It stood on the edge of the settlement, and was a low, one-story building, strongly made of unhewn logs, within a few feet of which was the dwelling of the jailer, but little differing from it in exterior.  In those