sake of that boy who was so dear to them both! But there would be
the vile whispers, and dirty slanders would be dropped from envious
tongues into envious ears, and minds prone to evil would think evil
of him and of his. Had not Lady Milborough already cautioned him?
Oh, that he should have lived to have been cautioned about his
wife, that he should be told that eyes outside had looked into the
sacred shrine of his heart and seen that things there were fatally
amiss! And yet Lady Milborough was quite right. Had he not in his
hand at this moment a document that proved her to be right? 'Dear
Emily'! He took this note and crushed it in his fist and then
pulled it into fragments.

But what should he do? There was, first of all considerations, the
duty which he owed to his wife, and the love which he bore her. That
she was ignorant and innocent he was sure; but then she was so
contumacious that he hardly knew how to take a step in the direction
of guarding her from the effects of her ignorance, and maintaining
for her the advantages of her innocence. He was her master, and she
must know that he was her master. But how was he to proceed when
she refused to obey the plainest and most necessary command which
he laid upon her? Let a man be ever so much his wife's master, he
cannot maintain his masterdom by any power which the law places in
his hands. He had asked his wife for a promise of obedience, and
she would not give it to him! What was he to do next? He could,
no doubt, at least he thought so, keep the man from her presence.
He could order the servant not to admit the man, and the servant
would, doubtless, obey him. But to what a condition would he then
have been brought! Would not the world then be over for him over
for him as the husband of a wife whom he could not love unless he
respected her? Better that there should be no such world, than call