angry, she was unapproachably so,
as frigid as an iceberg. The crisis had come. Her husband had dared
to command.

The next morning there was not the turn of an eyelid that could be
construed into penitence. A brawling woman is but little less
endurable than a perfectly silent one. You may almost as well "flee
to the house-top" from one as the other. What few words were spoken
by Mr. Eldred at the breakfast table received no replies.

In the course of the forenoon he went to fulfil an engagement a few
miles in the country, where he was detained till late in the day. He
sat in his study in the gathering twilight longing for, but not
expecting, a word from his wife of contrition and conciliation. He
was summoned to tea, but no wife appeared. After a little he went in
search of her. She was not in the house. It was growing dark. He was
perplexed and anxious. Again he went to their room, hoping to find
some explanation of the strange absence. On the mantel lay a note
addressed to him. As he read he gazed about to assure himself that it
was not a horrible dream, half expecting his wife to gleefully spring
into his arms from some hiding-place; but all was silent save his own
moans of pain.

Vida had gone! Had "fled to her mother for protection from a tyrant."
So the letter ran; it was in her own graceful hand; her name was
affixed. It was no cruel joke. She said, moreover, that it was
evident that their tastes were not congenial; it was out of the
question for her to be tied down to the sort of life he expected of
her; that she had borne reflections on her conduct that she had not
tolerated from any other being! Tyranny was of all things most
hateful to her; the climax was now reached when he ventured "_to
command_."

"She recognised no such right. She never would; she would not be
called to account every time she stepped over a forbidden imaginary
line; it was plain they had been mistaken in each other, and
disappointed; they did not add to each other's happiness, as
appeared from the gloom enveloping him day and night; the last months
were months of discord; she felt neglected; he was poring over books
or seeking other society in an interminable round of calls; plainly
what he needed in a wife was a sort of co-pastor; it was not too late
to secure such a person, since the law granted divorce for wilful
desertion."

With this last sentence the letter closed. Not a word betrayed the
faintest regret at severing so sole