born but a few months after Louise had left me,--that it must
be mine. And so, in my dreary woe, I faltered out, "But what of your
infant? Surely that has on me a claim that you relinquish for yourself.
You were not unfaithful to me while you deemed you were my wife?"

"Heavens! can you insult me by such a doubt? No!" she cried out,
impulsively and haughtily. "But as I was not legally your wife, the
child is not legally yours; it is mine, and only mine. Nevertheless, if
you wish to claim it"--here she paused as in doubt. I saw at once that
she was prepared to resign to me the child if I had urged her to do
so. I must own, with a pang of remorse, that I recoiled from such a
proposal. What could I do with the child? How explain to my wife the
cause of my interest in it? If only a natural child of mine, I should
have shrunk from owning to Janet a youthful error. But as it was,--the
child by a former marriage, the former wife still living!--my blood ran
cold with dread. And if I did take the child, invent what story I
might as to its parentage, should I not expose myself, expose Janet, to
terrible constant danger? The mother's natural affection might urge
her at any time to seek tidings of the child, and in so doing she might
easily discover my new name, and, perhaps years hence, establish on me
her own claim.

No, I could not risk such perils. I replied sullenly, "You say rightly;
the child is yours,--only yours." I was about to add an offer of
pecuniary provision for it, but Louise had already turned scornfully
towards the bank on which she had left the infant. I saw her snatch from
the child's hand some wild flowers the poor thing had been gathering;
and how often have I thought of the rude way in which she did it,--not
as a mother who loves her child. Just then other passengers appeared on
the road; two of them I knew,--an English couple very intimate with Lady
Janet and myself. They stopped to accost me, while Louise passed by with
the infant towards the town. I turned in the opposite direction, and
strove to collect my thoughts. Terrible as was the discovery thus
suddenly made, it was evident that Louise had as strong an interest
as myself to conceal it. There was little chance that it would ever be
divulged. Her dress and that of the child were those of persons in
the richer classes of life. After all, doubtless, the child needed not
pecuniary assistance from me, and was surely best off under the mother's
care. Thu