she seemed to shrink instinctively from every person with whom she
had been in habits of intercourse previous to her misfortune. I
therefore consigned this helpless sufferer to the charge of the nurse
of my own infancy, Alice Wishart; whom, from her constant residence
at the Cross, Lady Greville had never seen.

"This trustworthy woman, and her husband, who was also an hereditary
retainer of our house, willingly devoted themselves to the melancholy
service required; and hateful as Silsea had now become to my
feelings, I broke up in part my establishment and became a restless
and unhappy wanderer, seeking, in vain, oblivion of the past, or hope
for the future. Would to God I had possessed sufficient fortitude to
remain chained to the isolation of my miserable home! for then had we
never met; and thou, my Helen, wouldst have escaped this hour of
shame and sorrow."






CHAPTER IV.


"Courteous Lord--one word--
Sir, you and I have lov'd--but that's not it--
Sir, you and I must part."--_ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA_


"Hitherto I have had to dwell in my recitation on the vices and