was dressed in
her best and we had an affectionate meeting. After tea I asked
her if she were married to E. She said "No." Then I said: "Who
are you married to?" She commenced to cry then, and told me
something of her life, the saddest I ever heard. When only 17 she
had been courted by a young man she did not care for, but who
prevailed on her parents by pretending he had seduced her, but
wished to marry her. Strange as it may seem, A. did not know what
marriage meant, her mother being one of those silly women who
don't like talking of these things and let their daughters grow
up in ignorance, expecting they will learn from some one. In nine
cases out of ten this happens, but A. was an exception. It was
this, and the fact that she had not a particle of love for her
husband, that gave her such a hatred of coition. When her mother
saw the sheets the morning after the marriage she burst out
crying; she did not like the young man and saw she had been
deceived.

A.'s husband soon showed his true character; he was in reality a
gaol-bird. He beat her, drank, and even wanted her to go on the
streets to earn money for him. She left him and went home; it was
then she began her theatrical career by entering the ballet. At
intervals her husband, drunk and desperate, would waylay and
threaten her in the street. One day after a rehearsal he
attempted to stab her. She got on in spite of all, being a born
actress, and played small parts in traveling companies. Then E.,
who had also gone on the stage, courted her and she listened to
him, not because she cared for him, but he protected her and
offered her a home. She joined him; but his drunkenness and
sensuality were so gross that he ruined his health and he
attempted to maltreat A. in a nameless way. And whenever she was
in the family way he would leave her alone and half-conscious in
the cellar for days. To add to her misery she had epileptic fits.
Then sometimes they would be out of an engagement and starving.
They had been so hungry as to steal raw potatoes out of a sack
and eat them thus, having no fire. She would often have had
engagements, but E. was jealous and would not let her act without
him. And he beat her as her husband had done, and her health
became undermined. It was just after one of the forced
miscarriages that she j