Among the early clients of Mr. Covert had been a distant relative
named Marsh, who, dying somewhat suddenly, left his son and daughter,
and some little property, to the care of Covert, under a will drawn
out by that gentleman himself. At no time caught without his eyes
open, the cunning lawyer, aided by much sad confusion in the emergency
which had caused his services to be called for, and disguising his
object under a cloud of technicalities, inserted provisions in the
will, giving himself an almost arbitrary control over the property and
over those for whom it was designed. This control was even made to
extend beyond the time when the children would arrive at mature age.
The son, Philip, a spirited and high-temper'd fellow, had some time
since pass'd that age. Esther, the girl, a plain, and somewhat
devotional young woman, was in her nineteenth year.
Having such power over his wards, Covert did not scruple openly to use
his advantage, in pressing his claims as a suitor for Esther's hand.
Since the death of Marsh, the property he left, which had been in real
estate, and was to be divided equally between the brother and sister,
had risen to very considerable value; and Esther's share was to a man
in Covert's situation a prize very well worth seeking. All this time,
while really owning a respectable income, the young orphans often
felt the want of the smallest sum of money--and Esther, on Philip's
account, was more than once driven to various contrivances--the
pawn-shop, sales of her own little luxuries, and the like, to furnish
him with means.
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