The Law and the Lady

or never was the time to decide what it was my du

married life that had begun so brightly. We might live together, so as to save appearances. But to forget what had happened, or to feel satisfied with my position, was beyond the power of my will. My tranquillity as a woman-perhaps my dear

d myself what was to be done next, hopeless confusion, maddening doubt, filled

ate despair, I threw myself on my bed, and fell

y a knock at the

to me. Was some new trial of my patience and my fortitude a

y's voice a

you for a moment

, though I had left home and friends for his sake-it was a relief to me,

ger satisfied with merely asserting herself as my equal. Ascending another step on the social ladder,

gan. "I hope you will do me the justice to beli

and sai

al indeed. However, I have a duty to perform. It is disagreeable, but it is not the less a duty on that account. I am a single woman; not from want of opportunities of changing my condition-I beg you will understand that-but from choice. Situated as I am, I receive only the most respectable persons into my house. There must be no mystery about the positions of my lodgers. Mystery in the po

t no longer. I s

ish to give us notice to quit your

, lean, red hand, in a sorr

do-now do please try and control yourself. I put it to your own common-sense (we will say a week for the notice to quit)-

laimed. "Wha

t." She paused for a moment, and suddenly seized my hand in a perfect frenzy of friendship. "Oh, my poor dear!" cried

t of hers, and rose a

u mad?"

with the air of a person who had deserved ma

rateful woman, to a person who doesn't appreciate a sisterly and Christian sacri

again?"

a martyr, and assuming the character of a vixen in its place. "I blush when I think

me no longer. I dropped back again into my chai

amsgate. I went back by train to Ramsgate. She walked to her lodgings. I walked to her lodgings. Behind her. Like a dog. Oh, the disgrace of it! Providentially, as I then thought-I don't know what to think of it now-the landlord of the house happened to be a friend of mine, and happened to be at home. We have no secrets from each other where lodgers are concerned. I am in a position to tell you, ma

used my temper by this time. The doubt that she had cast o

Macallan's add

the background, and the landlady's

e you are going to the ol

call it) may be enough for you; it is not enough for me. How do we know that Mrs. Macallan ma

of the moment. Substantially, as I have already said of her, she was a good-natured woman. Her fits of temper (

re! if I give you the address, will you promi

romise, and received

ady, suddenly resuming all

ed, with all possible

I was at my mother