revelation that blotted out all
sun and moon and stars from my life,--that made earth a dismal Sheol
and the future a howling desolation,--a dreary wilderness of woe. In
my agony and shame I clenched my hands so savagely, one upon the
other, that my diamond betrothal-ring cut sharply into the quivering
flesh, and blood-drops oozed and dripped on my shining gossamer veil
and white velvet dress. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, my
whole nature was metamorphosed; and my coming years swept in panoramic
vision before me, beckoning me to the prompt performance of a stern
and humiliating duty. The blood in my veins seemed to hiss and bubble
like a seething cauldron, and my heart fired with a hate for which
language has no name, no garb, no provision; but my brain kept
faithful guard, and reason calmly pointed out my future path. When Mr.
Carlyle ended his tirade against me and his curses on his own folly, I
moved forward into the arch and confronted my dethroned and defiled
gods. If the tedious years of the primitive patriarchs could be
allotted to me they would never suffice to efface the picture that
lingers in deep, hot lines on my memory, and pursues me as ruthlessly
as the avenging cross followed and tortured the miserable fugitive in
Gustave Dore's '_Le Juif errant_,' or the Eyeless Christ that proved a
haunting Nemesis to the Empress Irene. Edith's lovely face was on his
bosom, and his false, handsome lips were pressed to hers. So, I met my
husband and my dearest friend, one hour after the utterance of vows
that were perhaps still echoing in the courts of heaven. Such
spectacles of human perfidy are the real Medusas that Gorgonize
trusting, tender, throbbing hearts, and in view of this one I laughed
aloud,--laughed so unnaturally that it was no marvel I was called a
maniac. At sight of my desperate white face Edith shrieked and
fainted, and Maurice blanched and stammered and cowered. Without a
word of comment or recrimination I silently passed on to my own room,
where Elsie was waiting to clothe me in my travelling-suit. In three
hours the steamer would sail, and I had little leisure for resolution
and execution. Summoning the lawyer to whose care my estate was
entrusted, I requested him to call Mr. Wright and Mr. Carlyle into the
dressing-room that adjoined my apartment, and there I held an audience
with the three who were most interested in my career. Briefly I
explained what had occurred, and announced my dete