k to the ballroom. I couldn't have faced Amelia's
husband--I think I shall never be able to face him again," and Mary's
tears flowed anew.

Richard was stamping about the room, aimlessly moving things from their
places. "God Almighty! he shall answer to me for this. I'll go back and
take a horsewhip with me."

"For my sake, don't have a scene with him. It would only make matters
worse," she pleaded.

But Richard strode up and down, treading heedlessly on the flouncings
of her dress. "What?--and let him believe such behaviour can go
unpunished? That whenever it pleases him, he can insult my wife--insult
my wife? Make her the talk of the place? Brand her before the whole
town as a light woman?"

"Oh, not the whole town, Richard. I shall have to explain to Amelia...
and Tilly ... and Agnes--that's all," sobbed Mary in parenthesis.

"Yes, and I ask if it's a dignified or decent thing for you to have to
do?--to go running round assuring your friends of your virtue!" cried
Richard furiously. "Let me tell you this, my dear: at whatever door you
knock, you'll be met by disbelief. Fate played you a shabby trick when
it allowed just that low cad to put his head in. What do you think
would be left of any woman's reputation after Grindle Esquire had pawed
it over? No, Mary, you've been rendered impossible; and you'll be made
to feel it for the rest of your days. People will point to you as the
wife who takes advantage of her husband's absence to throw herself into
another man's arms; and to me as the convenient husband who provides
the opportunity"--and Mahony groaned. In an impetuous flight of fancy
he saw his good name smirched, his practice laid waste.

Mary lifted her head at this, and wiped her eyes. "Oh, you always paint
everything so black. People know me--know I would never, never do such
a thing."

"Unfortunately we live among human beings, my dear, not in a community
of saints! But what does a good woman know of how a slander of this
kind clings?"

"But if I have a perfectly clear conscience?" Mary's tone was
incredulous, even a trifle aggrieved.

"It spells ruin all the same in a hole like this, if it once gets
about."

"But it shan't. I'll put my pride in my pocket and go to Amelia the
first thing in the morning. I'll make it right somehow.--But I must
say, Richard, in the whole affair I don't think you feel a bit sorry
for me. Or at least only for me as your wife. The horridest part of
what happened was m