iron purpose.

And Althea! Oh! is it thus that the child of Ellice doth come to Della's
daughter?

And what hath this daughter as a shield from the tempter? Came he not
unto sinless Eve in Paradise; unto her even who had seen the Eternal
Majesty, and listened to His voice?

And Althea had not laid up her treasure in Heaven. She had not given her
wounded heart to Him who was wounded for our transgressions. She had not
poured her sorrows into the ear of the Infinite, nor laid her bleeding
hands upon the cross of Christ.

So turned Althea from a now unloved, ungracious husband; from a bitter
sorrow for her lost child, to human love and human consolation.

But Althea was not won so easily from her stronghold of duty. Nor would
she, on recovering from the shock of Hubert's first proposal, consent to
flee at once, putting the sea between them and Thornton Rush. Hubert
pleaded strongly and well, but could gain only this point. He would
return to Kennons, and dispose of his property and hers. She would
remain with her husband for the present. The first time he should raise
his hand against her, as he had already done, she would leave his house
and procure a divorce. With this was Hubert fain to be content; and the
day before the anticipated return of Thornton Rush, after his absence of
three weeks, he left Vine Cottage and the sad-faced lady who dwelt
therein, confident that ere many months he would have Althea as his
wife, and sweet revenge upon his old-time enemy.

CHAPTER XXIV.

JEALOUSY.

Naturally, Althea was a changed person in the eyes of her husband. A man
less jealously disposed might have attributed this to the sudden death
of an only beloved child. But to Thornton, the knowledge that Hubert
Lisle, a man his superior in mental, moral and personal accomplishments,
had associated with Althea during almost the whole period of his
absence, this knowledge, we say, was to Thornton as gall and wormwood.

"And how did you like your cousin?" he questioned with assumed
carelessness.

Had Althea answered equally carelessly, "Oh! very well," she would have
aroused suspicion, for she well understood her husband. So she said with
enthusiasm: "I liked him very much indeed. I wish you could have met
him. He is very agreeable and most intelligent."

"You speak as if you thought I was a stranger to him. I have seen Hubert
Lisle before to-day!"

"But you have not seen him of late. A six years residence abroad mus