what remorse she suffered when she knew that he was going from her, and
then knew that he was gone, who can say? As man is never strong enough to
take unmixed delight in good, so may we presume also that he cannot be
quite so weak as to find perfect satisfaction in evil. There must have
been qualms as she looked at his dying face, soured with the
disappointment she had brought upon him, and listened to the harsh
querulous voice that was no longer eager in the expressions of love. There
must have been some pang when she reflected that the cruel wrong which she
had inflicted on him had probably hurried him to his grave. As a widow, In
the first solemnity of her widowhood, she was wretched and would see no
one. Then she returned to England and shut herself up in a small house at
Brighton. Lady Linlithgow offered to go to her, but she begged that she
might be left to herself. For a few short months the awe arising from the
rapidity with which it had all occurred did afflict her. Twelve months
since she had hardly known the man who was to be her husband. Now she was
a widow--a widow very richly endowed--and she bore beneath her bosom the
fruit of her husband's love.

But, even in these early days, friends and enemies did not hesitate to say
that Lizzie Greystock had done very well with herself; for it was known by
all concerned that in the settlements made she had been treated with
unwonted generosity.




CHAPTER II

LADY EUSTACE