in the most cruel of positions--a
position which I am sure will command even your sympathy, though
under such circumstances I have little right to expect any from a wife
believing herself to have been cruelly wronged. Let me add that nothing
short of the compulsion of a court of law will suffice to unseal my
lips as to the details of the circumstances (which are, I trust,
misunderstood) alluded to in the malicious anonymous letter of which you
inclose a copy."

That very evening, as the Fates would have it, Lady Honoria and her
husband had a quarrel. As usual, it was about Effie, for on most other
subjects they preserved an armed neutrality. Its details need not
be entered into, but at last Geoffrey, who was in a sadly irritable
condition of mind, fairly lost his temper.

"The fact is," he said, "that you are not fit to look after the child.
You only think of yourself, Honoria."

She turned on him with a dangerous look upon her cold and handsome face.

"Be careful what you say, Geoffrey. It is you who are not fit to have
charge of Effie. Be careful lest I take her away from you altogether, as
I can if I like."

"What do you mean by that threat?" he asked.

"Do you want to know? Then I will tell you. I understand enough law to
be aware that a wife can get a separation from an unfaithful husband,
and what is more, can take away his children."

"Again I ask what you mean," said Geoffrey, turning cold with anger.

"I mean this, Geoffrey. That Welsh girl is your mistress. She passed
the night of Whit-Sunday in your room, and was carried from it in your
arms."

"It is a lie," he said; "she is nothing of the sort. I do not know who
gave you this information, but it is a slanderous lie, and somebody
shall suffer for it."

"Nobody will suffer for it, Geoffrey, because you will not dare to stir
the matter up--for the girl's sake if not for your own. Can you
deny that you were seen carrying her in your arms from your room on
Whit-Sunday night? Can you deny that you are in love with her?"

"And supposing that I am in love with her, is it to be wondered at,
seeing how you treat me and have treated me for years?" he answered
furiously. "It is utterly false to say that she is my mistress."

"You have not answered my question," said Lady Honoria with a smile of
triumph. "Were you seen carrying that woman in your arms and from your
room at the dead of night? Of course it meant nothing, nothing at all.
Who would dare to a