ou had this evidence? How did
he act?"

"He swore it was a conspiracy; and declared that now he had borne enough
of such contumelious conduct; he should soon bring me into subjection.
He represented himself to me, as an injured and long-suffering man; and
me, to myself, as an unkind, undutiful, and most unwomanly woman. He
told me, what was true, that I need not expect people to believe such a
'cock and bull story;' and used every possible means of intimidation,
except actual corporeal punishment. _That_ he threatened long after; and
I told him if he ever laid a finger on me, I should certainly shoot him
dead. But we had not come to that yet."

"Long after!" I repeated. "You do not, you cannot mean that this wretch
continued to live under the same roof with you, long after he knew that
you would never acknowledge him as your husband?"

"Yes, for years! For years after he knew that I knew he was _what he
was_, he lived in my house and took my earnings; yes, and ordered me
about and insulted me as much as he liked."

"But," I said, "I cannot understand such a condition of things. Was
there no law in the land? no succor in the society about you? How could
other women hold still, and know that a young creature like you was
being tortured in that way?"

"The inertia of women in each other's defense is immense," returned Mrs.
Greyfield, in her most incisive tone. "You must not forget that Portland
was then almost a wilderness, and families were few, and often 'far
between.' Among the few, my acquaintances were still fewer; for I had
come among them poor and alone, and with all I could do to support
myself, without time or disposition to visit. The peculiar circumstances
I have related to you broke my spirit and inclined me to seclusion.
However, I did carry my evidence, and my story together, to two or three
women that I knew, and what do you suppose they said? That I 'should
have thought of all that before I married!' They treated it exactly as
if, having gone through the marriage ceremony, I was bound, no matter
how many wives Mr. Seabrook had back in Ohio."

"They could not have believed your story," I said; not being able to
take in such inferior morality.

"What they believed I do not know: what they said I have told you. I
incline to the opinion that they thought I might be a little daft--I am
sure I must have looked so at times, from sheer sleeplessness and
exhaustion. Or they thought I had no chance of establi