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176 BLACK SHEEP.not in the least, though never had his recollectionbeen so detailed, so minute, so calm. No,he hated her.She wearied him; she had ceasedto be of any sendee to him; she was a constanttorment to him. So he came back to the ideawith which his reflections hacl commenced, ancl,as he entered on the perusal of the massof papersyvhich awaited his attention in his "chambers" inTokenhouse-yard — for he shared the businessabodeof theinvisible Flinders now — he repeated:" What a relief it would be to get away fromher for ever!"Only a feyv days now, ancl the end must come.He wasabrave manin his evil way,and he madehis calculations coolly, ancl scanned his criminalcombinations without any foolish excess of confidence,butwith well-grounded expectation. Fora little longer it yvould not be difficult to keepon fair terms with Harriet, especially as she hadrenewed her solitary mode of life, and he hadtaken the precaution of pretending to a reviveddevotion to play, since the auspicious occasion onwhich he had wonso largely at Homburg. Thushis absence from home was accounted for;and as