r the influence
of wine, and then his abuse of me is fearful to think of. If any thing
could waken a thoughtless creature sleeping on enchanted ground, it was
this.'

"'There has never been anything more than the semblance of love between
us,' she continued. 'The more intimately I came to know him, after
our marriage, the more did my soul separate itself from him, until the
antipodes were not farther apart than we. So we lived on; I seeking a
poor compensation in fashionable emulations and social triumphs; and he
in grand business enterprises--castles in the air perhaps. Living
thus, we have come to this point in our journey; and now the crisis has
arrived!'

"She paused.

"' What crisis?' I asked.

"'He demands a separation.' Her voice choked--'a divorce--'

"'On what ground?'

"'On legal ground.' She bent down, covered her face, and uttered a
groan so full of mental anguish, that I almost shuddered as the sound
penetrated my ears.

"'I am to remain passive,' she resumed, while he charges me before the
proper court, with infidelity, and gains a divorce through failure on
my part to stand forth and defend myself. This, or a public trial of the
case, at which he pledges himself to have witnesses who will prove me
criminal, is my dreadful alternative. If he gains a divorce quietly on
the charge of infidelity, I am wronged and disgraced; and if successful
in a public trial, through perjured witnesses, the wrong and disgrace
will be more terrible. Oh, my friend! pity and counsel me.'

"'There is one,' said I, 'better able to stand your friend in a crisis
like this than I am.'

"'Who?' She looked up anxiously.

"'Your father.'

"A shadow fell over her face, and she answered mournfully,

"'Even he is against me. How it is I cannot tell; but my husband seems
to have my father completely under his influence.'

"'Your mother?' I suggested.

"'Can only weep with me. I have no adviser, and my heart beats so wildly
all the time, that thought confuses itself whenever it makes an effort
to see the right direction. Fear of a public trial suggests passive
endurance of wrong on my part; but an innate sense of justice cries out
against this course, and urges me to resistance.'

"'If you are innocent,' said I, firmly, 'in the name and strength of
innocence defend yourself! All that a woman holds dearest is at stake.
If they drive you to this great extremity, do not shrink from the
trial.'

"'But what hope have I in