h men of
doubtful reputation; particularly in the absence of her husband."

This paragraph was pointed out to me by one of my patients. I read it
with a throb of pain. A little while afterwards I passed Mr. Floyd and
Mr. Dewey in the street. They were walking rapidly, and conversing in an
excited manner. I saw them take the direction of the depot.

"Here is trouble!" I said, sighing to myself. "Trouble that gold cannot
gild, nor the sparkle of diamonds hide. Alas! alas! that a human soul,
in which was so fair a promise, should get so far astray!"

I met Mr. Floyd half an hour later. His face was pale and troubled, and
his eyes upon the ground. He did not see me--or care to see me--and so
we passed without recognition.

Before night the little warning sentence, written by the Saratoga
correspondent, was running from lip to lip all over S----. Some pitied,
some blamed, and not a few were glad in their hearts of the disgrace;
for Mrs. Dewey had so carried herself among us as to destroy all
friendly feeling.

There was an expectant pause for several days. Then it was noised
through the town that Mr. Dewey had returned, bringing his wife home
with him. I met him in the street on the day after. There was a heavy
cloud on his brow. Various rumors were afloat. One was--it came from a
person just arrived from Saratoga--that Mr. Dewey surprised his wife in
a moonlight walk with a young man for whom he had no particular fancy,
and under such lover-like relations, that he took the liberty of caning
the gentleman on the spot. Great excitement followed. The young
man resisted--Mrs. Dewey screamed in terror--people flocked to the
place--and mortifying exposure followed. This story was in part
corroborated by the following paragraph in the Herald's Saratoga
correspondence:

"We had a spicy scene, a little out of the regular performance, last
evening; no less than the caning of a New York sprig of fashion, who
made himself rather more agreeable to a certain married lady who dashes
about here in a queenly way than was agreeable to her husband. The
affair was hushed up. This morning I missed the lady from her usual
place at the breakfast-table. Later in the day I learned that her
husband had taken her home. If he'll accept my advice, he will keep her
there."

"Poor Mrs. Floyd!" It was the mother's deep sorrow and humiliation that
touched the heart of my Constance when this disgraceful exposure reached
her. "She has worn to me a t