shing the truth,
and would be better off to submit quietly. At all events, not one
encouraged me to resist Mr. Seabrook; and to overflow my cup of misery,
he contrived to find the important letter, which I had hidden, and
destroy it."

"Did you never go to men about your case, and ask for assistance?"

"At first I was afraid to appeal to them, having had so many unpleasant
experiences; and when I at last was driven to seek counsel, I was too
late, as I before explained."

"Too late?"

"Yes; I mean that the idea of my being Mr. Seabrook's wife was so firmly
seated in their minds that they could not see it in any other light. The
fact of my having written and received a letter did not impress them as
of any consequence. You will find this to be a truth among men; they
respect the sense of ownership in women, entertained by each other; and
they respect it so much that they would as soon be caught stealing, as
seeming in any way to interfere with it. That is the reason that,
although there is nothing in the wording of the marriage contract
converting the woman into a bond-slave or a chattel, the man who
practices any outrage or wrong on his wife is so seldom called to
account. In the eyes of these men, having entered into marriage with Mr.
Seabrook, I belonged to him, and there was no help for me. For life and
until death, I was his, to do what he pleased with, so long as he did
not bruise my flesh nor break my bones. Is not that an awful power to be
lodged with any human being?"

"But," I said, "if they were told the whole truth, that the marriage had
never been consummated, and why, would they not have been moved by a
feeling of chivalry to interfere? Your view of their sentiments
pre-supposes the non-existence of what I should call chivalry."

"There may be in men such a sentiment as you would call chivalry; but I
never yet have seen the occasion where they were pleased to exercise it.
I would not advise any other young woman to tell one of them that she
had lived alone in the same house with a man reputed to be her husband,
for seven months, without the marriage having been consummated. She
would find, as I did, that his chivalry would be exhibited by an
ineffectual effort to suppress a smile of incredulity."

"Can it be possible," I was forced to exclaim, "that there was no help
for you?"

"You see how it was. I have outlined the bare facts to you. Nobody
wanted to be mixed up in my troubles, and the worst of