looked as handsome as my mistress; that Noah was a very fortunate
fellow; and if he had not been going to marry his own dear Elinor, he
would have married me himself.'

"This was all a joke then. My mistress did not like it, however. She did
not laugh, and looked very grave for some minutes, and was very hard to
please for some days after the wedding.

"It did not strike me then, for I was too happy and too vain to think of
anything but myself; but it has often struck me since, that Mrs. Carlos
was jealous of me from that hour.

"Mr. Carlos took his bride to Italy, and we went with them to a great
many different countries and large cities. It was rather dull for me,
for I could not speak the strange outlandish lingo of those foreign
lands; and by the time one began to know a few words, we were off to
another place, where we were as ignorant as we were before.

"After the first three months of our marriage, my husband grew very
cross, and was jealous of every man who spoke civilly to me, though, God
knows, at that time I was very fond of him, and never gave him the least
cause for his suspicions. He was an obstinate, stern-tempered man, a
strict Presbyterian, and very averse to any innocent amusements, in
which I greatly delighted. Thus matters went on from day to day, until I
not only ceased to love him, but wished, from my very heart, that I had
never married him. I no longer tried to please him, but did all in my
power to vex and aggravate him, in the hope that he would put a
favourite threat of his in practice, and run away and leave me.

"My master always reprimanded my husband when he spoke sharply to me,
and told him that he was not worthy of such a treasure; but his
interference only made matters worse.

"I often complained to Mrs. Carlos of Noah's cruel treatment, but she
always excused him, and said that it was _I_ that was to blame; that I
made crimes out of every little freak of temper, and that, instead of
conciliating my husband, I made the breach wider by insults and
reproaches, and took no pains to please him; that if she was to behave
in the same way to Mr. Carlos, she should not wonder at his disliking
her.

"These observations wounded my pride. I thought them cruel and unjust,
and I left her room in tears. Mr. Carlos met me on the stairs. I was
crying bitterly, partly out of anger, and partly in the hope of making
my mistress sorry for what she had said.

"He asked me what grieved me so, and I