her and told her
all her fears and all her troubles, sought counsel and aid from her,
and appealed to her motherly feelings, Mrs. Furnival would have been
urgent night and day in persuading her husband to take up the widow's
case. She would have bade him work his very best without fee or
reward, and would herself have shown Lady Mason the way to Old
Square, Lincoln's Inn. She would have been discreet too, speaking no
word of idle gossip to any one. When he, in their happy days, had
told his legal secrets to her, she had never gossiped,--had never
spoken an idle word concerning them. And she would have been constant
to her friend, giving great consolation in the time of trouble, as
one woman can console another. The thought that all this might be so
did come across her for a moment, for there was innocence written in
Lady Mason's eyes. But then she looked at her husband's face; and
as she found no innocence there, her heart was again hardened. The
woman's face could lie;--"the faces of such women are all lies," Mrs.
Furnival said to herself;--but in her presence his face had been
compelled to speak the truth.

"Oh dear, no; I shall say nothing of course," she said. "I am
quite sorry that I intruded. Mr. Furnival, as I happened to be in
Holborn--at Mudie's for some books--I thought I would come down and
ask whether you intend to dine at home to-day. You said nothing about
it either last night or this morning; and nowadays one really does
not know how to manage in such matters."

"I told you that I should return to Birmingham this afternoon; I
shall dine there," said Mr. Furnival, very sulkily.

"Oh, very well. I certainly knew that you were going out of town.
I did not at all expect that you would remain at home; but I thought
that you might, perhaps, like to have your dinner before you
went. Good morning, Lady Mason; I hope you may be successful in
your--lawsuit." And then, curtsying to her husband's client, she
prepared to withdraw.

"I believe that I have said all that I need say, Mr. Furnival,"
said Lady Mason; "so that if Mrs. Furnival wishes--," and she also
gathered herself up as though she were ready to leave the room.

"I hardly know what Mrs. Furnival wishes," said the husband.

"My wishes are nothing," said the wife, "and I really am quite sorry
that I came in." And then she did go, leaving her husband and the
woman of whom she was jealous once more alone together. Upon the
whole I think that Mr. Furni