ery, disputing with the maid. Neither her father nor
her mother heard her.

"Miss Westerfield is innocent of having wronged me, except in thought,"
Mrs. Linley resumed. "Do you tell me that on your word of honor?"

"On my word of honor."

So far his wife was satisfied. "My governess," she said, "might have
deceived me--she has not deceived me. I owe it to her to remember that.
She shall go, but not helpless and not friendless."

Her husband forgot the restraints he had imposed on himself.

"Is there another woman in the world like you!" he exclaimed.

"Many other women," she answered, firmly. "A vulgar termagant, feeling
a sense of injury, finds relief in an outburst of jealousy and a furious
quarrel. You have always lived among ladies. Surely you ought to know
that a wife in my position, who respects herself, restrains herself. I
try to remember what I owe to others as well as what they owe to me."

She approached the writing table, and took up a pen.

Feeling his position acutely, Linley refrained from openly admiring her
generosity. Until he had deserved to be forgiven, he had forfeited
the right to express an opinion on her conduct. She misinterpreted his
silence. As she understood it, he appreciated an act of self-sacrifice
on Miss Westerfield's side--but he had no word of encouragement for an
act of self-sacrifice on his wife's side. She threw down the pen, with
the first outbreak of anger that had escaped her yet.

"You have spoken for the governess," she said to him. "I haven't heard
yet, sir, what you have to say for yourself. Is it you who tempted her?
You know how gratefully she feels toward you--have you perverted her
gratitude, and led her blindfold to love? Cruel, cruel, cruel! Defend
yourself if you can."

He made no reply.

"Is it not worth your while to defend yourself?" she burst out,
passionately. "Your silence is an insult!"

"My silence is a confession," he answered, sadly. "_She_ may accept your
mercy--I may not even hope for it."

Something in the tone of his voice reminded her of past days--the days
of perfect love and perfect confidence, when she had been the one woman
in the world to him. Dearly treasured remembrances of her married life
filled her heart with tenderness, and dimmed with tears the angry light
that had risen in her eyes. There was no pride, no anger, in his wife
when she spoke to him now.

"Oh, my husband, has she taken your love from me?"

"Judge for yourself,