you must expect to bear a separation from your child; for that will
be most likely to follow."

"Did he speak of the law?" asked Mrs. Lane, in a still calmer voice,
and with a steady eye.

"It would not be right to conceal from you this fact, Amanda. He did
do so. And can you wholly blame him? It is his child as well as
yours. He loves it, as you well know; and, as its father, he is
responsible for it to society and to Heaven. This separation is your
act. You may deprive him of your own society; but, have you a right,
at the same time, to rob him of his child? I speak plainly; I would
not be your friend did I not do so. Try, for a little while, to look
away from yourself, and think of your husband; and especially of the
consequences likely to arise to your child from your present act. It
will not be a mere separation with passive endurance of pain on
either side. There will come the prolonged effort of the father to
recover his child, and the anguish and fear of the mother, as she
lives in the constant dread of having it snatched from her hands.
And that must come, inevitably, the final separation. You will have
to part from your child, Amanda, if not in the beginning, yet
finally. You know your husband to be of a resolute temper Do not
give him a chance to press you to extremity. If he should come to
the determination to recover his child from your hands, he will not
stop short of any means to accomplish his purpose."

Mrs. Lane made no reply to this; nor did she answer to any further
remark, appeal, or suggestion of her friend, who soon ceased to
speak on the subject and left her to her own reflections, hoping
that they might lead her to some better purpose than had yet
influenced her in the unhappy business. On the day after, Mr.
Edmondson met Lane in the street.

"I was about calling to see you," said the latter, "on the subject
of this unhappy difficulty, to which, so reluctantly to yourself,
you have become a party. It may be that I am something to blame.
Perhaps I have been too exacting--too jealous of my prerogative as a
husband. At any rate, I am willing to admit that such has been the
case; and willing to yield something to the morbid feelings of my
wife. What is her present state of mind?"

Mr. Edmondson looked surprised.

Remarking this, Lane said quickly, "Is she not at your house?"

"No," replied Mr. Edmondson, "she left us yesterday. We believed
that she had gone home. My wife had a long conversa