y, either. No young mismated woman can escape them perhaps. The
universal opinion among men seems to be that, if you do not like the man
you have, you _must_ like some other one; and each one thinks it is
himself."

The piquant tone in which Mrs. Greyfield uttered her observations always
provoked a smile. But I caught at an intimation in her speech.
"Sometimes," I said, "you speak as if you acknowledged Mr. Seabrook as
your husband, and it shocks me unpleasantly."

"I am speaking of things as they appeared to others. In truth, I was as
free to receive suitors as ever I had been; but such was not the common
understanding, and I resented the advances of men upon the ground that
_they_ believed themselves to be acting unlawfully, and that they hoped
to make me a party to their breaches of law and propriety. I laugh now,
in remembering the blunders committed by self-conceit so long ago; but I
did not laugh then; it was a serious matter at that time."

"Was Mr. Seabrook jealous in his behavior, fearing you might fancy some
one else?"

"Just as jealous as vain and tyrannical men always are when they are
thwarted in their designs. No real husband could have been more critical
in his observations on his wife's deportment, than he was in his remarks
on mine. If I could have been guilty of coquetry, the desire to annoy
him would have been incentive enough; but I always considered that I
could not afford to suffer in my own estimation for the sake of
punishing him. When I recall all these things, I take credit to myself
for magnanimity; though then I was governed only by my poor uncultivated
judgment, and my impulses. For instance, Mr. Seabrook fell ill of a
fever not long after he appropriated my real estate. Of course, I was as
bitter towards him in my heart as it is possible to conceive, but I
could not know that he was lying unattended in his room, without
offering assistance; so, after many struggles with myself to overcome my
strong repulsion, I visited him often enough to give him such attentions
as were necessary, but not more. I had no intention of raising any false
expectations."

"I hope you took advantage of his being confined to his room, to collect
board-money," I said.

"I found out, in time, several ways of managing that matter, which I
would once have thought inadmissible. When I had begged some money from
a boarder, Mr. Seabrook discovered it when payday came, very naturally.
He then ordered me to do the m