The Law and the Lady

. "It is a coinciden

little doubtful how I might receive wha

n," I

hat your husband, being in London, should pay a visit to one of his friends. And it's equally natural that we

ed. "I say there is some motive at the bottom of his visit to Major Fitz-David

s in that? Very well, then. Show me you have confidence in the mutton; please eat. There's the wine, again. No mystery, Valeria, in that claret-I'll take

ne with love, with its certain miseries, its transient delights, its cruel losses, its bitterly doubtful gains? The last autumn flowers in the window basked brightly in the last of the autumn sunlight. Benjamin's little dog digested his dinn

came back. I was once more a doubting, disconten

nothing rash," said Benjamin,

o to Major Fitz-

w he may receive you. Let me try first, and pave the way, as the saying is. Trust my

as due to my good friend to

ust with him, where the end to be gained was such an end as I had in view. It was not easy to say this to Benjamin without the danger of mortifying him. I made an appointment with the old man to call on me

ear. In your own inter

s last words when we

s spirits seemed to have revived since I had seen him last. He adva

had expected," he began, gayly. "Are your purcha

lp me!) to distrust his fits

an free fo

h-and next year too, for all I know to the contrary," he answ

as a telegram to the sailing-master of the yacht, informing him that we had arranged to return to R

rn," said Eustace, "to send

s he spoke to ring th

n't go to Ramsgat

ddenly changing his ton

me. Even a mere passing caress from him stole away my heart, and softly tempted me to yield. But the ominous alteration in his tone made another woman of

impossible for me (as I told you at Ramsgate) to

at

hat he had put upon his wife in marrying her under a false name. Fearing that I should answer rashly, that I should say something which my better sense might regret, if I spo

repeated. "I ask y

mits, failed me. The rash reply flew out of

d, "to accustom myse

pped up to me w

mean by your

thought I was Mrs. Woodville. I have

d turned so deadly pale that I feared he was going to drop at my feet in a swoon. Oh, m

Eustace," I said. "I spoke

s were tangible things-ruffling, worrying things, lik

iscovered?" he asked,

ng, Eu

ed, speaking to himself, "or she would not be here." He paused once more, and looked at me searchingly. "Don't say again what you

ound out some other truth besides the truth about the name, would it have prevented me from ever returning to my husband? Was that what he meant? Did the sort of discovery that he contemplated mean something so dreadful that it w

at me, lost in his own thoughts. Then

changed." He tore up the telegram with an air of sullen resignation as he spoke. "You are evidently determined

pt. I was too depressed about myself

ct seems a hopeless one. As long as I am shut out from your confidence, it

thought I had married a woman who was superior to the vulgar failings of her sex. A good wif

d to bear this? H

osity because I cannot accept the unendurable position in which you have placed me. Your cruel silence is a blight on my happiness and a threat to my future. Your cruel silence is estranging us from each other at the beginning of our married life. And you

h a stern and p

our ow

in silence. He was tr

nd heavily on my shoulder, he

! through no fault of mine! Every day of your life you will feel some new distrust, some growing fear of me, and you will be doing me the vilest injustice all the time. On my faith as a Christian, on my honor as a man, if you stir a step further in this matter, there is an end to your happiness for the rest of your life! Think seriously of what

ke. So he

in my place. It is true of me, that my husband's terrible warning-all the more terrible in its mystery and its vagueness-produced no deterrent effect on my mind: it only stimulated my r

ever of excitement that it was impossible for me to sit

ession in my favor, looking as I looked at that moment? For all I knew to the contrary, my whole future might depend upon the effect which

ea of the disordered and desperate condition of my mind at that time than by owning that I actually consulted this perfect stranger on the question of my personal appearance. She was a middle-aged woman, with a large experience of the world

, in a confidential whisper. "Don't speak

," I said, "and I have

rstand,

you und

"There is a gentleman in the case. Don't mind me, ma'am. It's a way I have. I mean no harm." She stopped, an

d with lace. I could wear nothing which suited me better. My hair, however, stood in need of some skilled attention. The chambermaid rearranged it with a ready hand which showed that she was

ou keep it?

do you

you like that. A touch of color you must have. Where do you keep i

ing to check her. I saw, in the glass, my skin take a false fairness, my cheeks a false color, my eyes a false brightness-and I never shrank from it. No! I let the odious conceit go on; I even admired the extraordinary delicacy and dexteri

hed. The chambermaid pointed with her wicke

d just see for yourself how you look now. You're the prettiest woman (of your s