man who claimed her as his wife, and did not think that Phineas Finn
was guilty of the murder. Her Emilius,--her Yosef Mealyus, as she
had delighted to call him, since she had separated herself from
him,--was, as she thought, the very man to commit a murder. He was
by no means degraded in her opinion by the feeling. To commit great
crimes is the line of life that comes naturally to some men, and was,
as she thought, a line less objectionable than that which confines
itself to small crimes. She almost felt that the audacity of her
husband in doing such a deed redeemed her from some of the ignominy
to which she had subjected herself by her marriage with a runaway
who had another wife living. There was a dash of adventure about it
which was almost gratifying. But these feelings she was obliged,
at any rate for the present, to keep to herself. Not only must she
acknowledge the undoubted guilt of Phineas Finn for the sake of her
friend, Mrs. Bonteen; but she must consider carefully whether she
would gain or lose more by having a murderer for her husband. She did
not relish the idea of being made a widow by the gallows. She was
still urgent as to the charge of bigamy, and should she succeed
in proving that the man had never been her husband, then she did
not care how soon they might hang him. But for the present it was
better for all reasons that she should cling to the Phineas Finn
theory,--feeling certain that it was the bold hand of her own Emilius
who had struck the blow.

She was by no means free from the solicitations of her husband, who
knew well where she was, and who still adhered to his purpose of
reclaiming his wife and his wife's property. When he was released by
the magistrate's order, and had recovered his goods from Mr. Meager's
house, and was once more established in lodgings, humbler, indeed,
than those in Northumberland Street, he wrote the following letter to
her who had been for one blessed year the partner of his joys, and
his bosom's mistress:--

5, Jellybag Street, Edgware Road,
May 26, 18--.

DEAREST WIFE,--

You will have heard to what additional sorrow and disgrace
I have been subjected through the malice of my enemies.
But all in vain! Though princes and potentates have been
arrayed against me, [the princes and potentates had no
doubt been Lord Chiltern and Mr. Low] innocence has
prevailed, and I have come out from the ordeal white as
bleached linen or unsullie