made
haste to the office, lest it should be printed without the precious
betterment.

Mary came before noon, and found sadness where she had left joy. When
she had heard as much as Letty thought proper to tell her, she was
filled with indignation, and her first thought was to compass the
tyrant's own exclusion from the paradise whose gates he closed against
his wife. But second thoughts are sometimes best, and she saw the next
moment not only that punishment did not belong to her, but that the
weight of such would fall on Letty. The sole thing she could think of
to comfort her was, to ask her to spend the same evening with her in
her room. The proposal brightened Letty up at once: some time or other
in the course of the evening she would, she fancied, see, or at least
catch a glimpse of Tom in his glory!

The evening came, and with beating heart Letty went up the back stairs
to Mary's room. She was dressing her mistress, but did not keep her
waiting long. She had provided tea beforehand, and, when Mrs. Redmain
had gone down, the two friends had a pleasant while together. Mary took
Letty to Mrs. Redmain's room while she put away her things, and there
showed her many splendors, which, moving no envy in her simple heart,
yet made her sad, thinking of Tom. As she passed to the drawing-room,
Sepia looked in, and saw them together.

But, as the company kept arriving, Letty grew very restless. She could
not talk of anything for two minutes together, but kept creeping out of
the room and half-way down the stair, to look over the banister-rail,
and have a bird's-eye peep of a portion of the great landing, where
indeed she caught many a glimpse of beauty and state, but never a
glimpse of her Tom. Alas! she could not even imagine herself near him.
What she saw made her feel as if her idol were miles away, and she
could never draw nigh him again. How should the familiar associate of
such splendid creatures care a pin's point for his humdrum wife?

Worn out at last, and thoroughly disappointed, she wanted to go home.
It was then past midnight. Mary went with her, and saw her safe in bed
before she left her.

As she went up to her room on her return, she saw, through the door by
which the gardener entered the conservatory, Sepia standing there, and
Tom, with flushed face, talking to her eagerly.

Letty cried herself to sleep, and dreamed that Tom had disowned her
before a great company of grand ladies, who mocked her from the