come upon me so suddenly that I
cannot take it all in at once, with all its consequences.'

"'I know what you think,' he said finally: 'You suspect me of making up
this thing to be revenged on you for preferring Seabrook to me. I'd be a
damned mean cuss, to do such a turn by any woman, wouldn't I? As to
consequences, if the story is true, and I believe it is, why your
marriage amounts to nothing, and you are just as free as you were
before!'

"I fancied his face brightened up with the idea of my freedom, and a
doubt of his veracity intruded upon my growing conviction. Distracted,
excited, pressed down with cares and fears, I still had to attend to my
daily tasks. I begged him to go away, and not to say a word to any other
mortal about what he had told me; and he gave me the promise I desired.
That was a fatal error, and fearfully was I punished."

"How an error? It seems to me quite remarkable prudence for one in your
situation."

"So I thought then; but the event proved differently."

"Pray do tell me how you bore up under all this excitement, and the care
and labor of a boarding-house? The more I know of your life, the more
surprised I am at your endurance."

"It was the care and labor that saved me, perhaps. At all events, here I
am, alive and well, to-night. I sometimes liken myself to a tree that I
know of. It was a small fir tree in a friend's garden. For some reason,
it began to pine and dwindle and turn red. My friend's husband insisted
on cutting it down, as unsightly; but this she objected to, until all
the leaves were dry and faded, and the tree apparently dead. Still she
asked for it to be spared for another season; and, taking a stick, she
beat the tree all over until not a leaf was left on a single bough; and
there it stood, a mere frame of dry branches, until everybody wished it
out of the way. But behold! at last it was covered with little green
dots of leaves, that rapidly grew to the usual size, and now that tree
is the thriftiest in my friend's garden, and a living evidence of the
uses of adversity. But for the beating it got, it would now be a dead
tree! I had my child to live and work for; and really, but for this last
trouble, I should have thought myself doing well. I had found out how I
could make and lay up money, and was gaining that sense of independence
such knowledge gives. Besides, I was young, and in good physical health
most of the time before this last and worst stroke of fortune.