CHAPTER X. Deceit cannot otherwise be maintained than by deceit. Ir was far from the intention of Sackville, that Agnes should succeed in her application to Mr. Hawksworth. Viewing her fortune, as that which was to become virtually his own, he was naturally averse to any expenditure which should check its present accumulation. He also dreaded the precedent which might be afforded by compliance, and the habit which Agnes might acquire of proffering assistance; and no less did he fear, that Mr. Morton might learn to look for it from that source, and, with such a prospect of support, relapse into his former habits of extravagance. He had also fears respecting his engagement with Agnes. He knew that she was not attached to him, and had been driven into that engagement by the entreaties of her father, in order to save him from an exposure, which, after all, had not been averted. The only way in which her marriage could now be advantageous to her father, was by giving her an earlier power of assisting him; and this prospect, and the promise, were the only ties by which Sackville held her. The engagement of marriage was such as any disagreement might cause her to break. If, therefore, a present power of extending relief to her parents were to be given to Agnes, it was by no means impossible that pleas might be found for the postponement of her marriage with him till the arrival of a fit period for asserting her independence. Such were the results which Sackville apprehended from a compliance with the present request of Agnes; and, attributing to her, like most artful people, the same manœuvring disposition which he felt himself, he half suspected her of having in view, not so much the relief of her father, as her own eventual release from her engagement. He, therefore, resolved to frustrate her application at all hazards. The character of Sackville's colleague was very favourable to the success of his plans. Mr. Hawksworth was a very honourable man, but weak and confiding, to a degree that rendered him an easy mark for imposition. He was timid and nervous, and fearful of acting in cases of emergency; and Sackville, when he wished to have entirely his own way, could paralyze his operations at pleasure, by a skilful display of the difficulties of a case. An awful feeling of responsibility weighed like lead upon his.conscientious mind; and he was so beset with scruples, that he scarcely dared to do even what he believed to be right. He had a great respect for the abilities of Sackville, and was led, by his own goodness of heart, to think that the probity of his colleague was equal to his talents. Sackville had accurately noted all the qualifications of Mr. Hawksworth for a safe and passive coadjutor, and had himself dictated his selection to Mrs. Denham. Availing himself too of the retired habits of Mr. Hawksworth, he had prevented Agnes and her family from having much acquaintance with him, and he consequently found it not difficult to attribute to him any sentiments he pleased. While rendering him a mere puppet, entirely subservient to his will, he uniformly represented him to the Mortons as peculiarly intractable. The few traits of his character, which were allowed to appear, were ingeniously wrested for this purpose. His timid scrupulosity was construed into obstinacy, and a few antiquated notions were magnified into insurmountable prejudices. Thus it became easy for Sackville to plead the opposition of Mr. Hawksworth, as a cause of the rejection of any measure that he was himself unwilling to adopt. Sackville entered with apparent zeal into Agnes's project of writing to Mr. Hawksworth, and he promised to support her application by a letter from himself, which letter she was to see. He brought it to her, and after she had read it, and expressed her approbation of its contents, it was sealed and directed in her presence. He then took charge of that, and of her letter, promising to send them at the same time. This promise was never performed. Both letters were suppressed; and, in the place of that which he had shown to Agnes, he sent, on that same day, the following: "MY DEAR SIR, "During the two last days, I have had a good deal of conversation with our young charge, on the subject of her father's situation, and I am sorry to find, that she still entertains the same |