to decide that."

"Has he told you that I have refused to obey him, Lady Milborough?"

The Countess paused a moment before she replied. "Well, yes; I think
he has," she said. "He asked you to do something about a letter,--a
letter to that Colonel Osborne, who is a man, my dear, really to be
very much afraid of; a man who has done a great deal of harm,--and
you declined. Now in a matter of that kind of course the husband--"

"Lady Milborough, I must ask you to listen to me. You have listened
to Mr. Trevelyan, and I must ask you to listen to me. I am sorry
to trouble you, but as you have come here about this unpleasant
business, you must forgive me if I insist upon it."

"Of course I will listen to you, my dear."

"I have never refused to obey my husband, and I do not refuse now.
The gentleman of whom you have been speaking is an old friend of my
father's, and has become my friend. Nevertheless, had Mr. Trevelyan
given me any plain order about him, I should have obeyed him. A
wife does not feel that her chances of happiness are increased when
she finds that her husband suspects her of being too intimate with
another man. It is a thing very hard to bear. But I would have
endeavoured to bear it, knowing how important it is for both our
sakes, and more especially for our child. I would have made excuses,
and would have endeavoured to think that this horrid feeling on his
part is nothing more than a short delusion."

"But my dear--"

"I must ask you to hear me out, Lady Milborough. But when he tells me
first that I am not to meet the man, and so instructs the servants;
then tells me that I am to meet him, and go on just as I was going
before, and then again tells me that I am not to see him, and again
instructs the servants,--and, above all, the cook!--that Colonel
Osborne is not to come into the house, then obedience becomes rather
difficult."

"Just say now that you will do what he wants, and then all will be
right."

"I will not say so to you, Lady Milborough. It is not to you that
I ought to say it. But as he has chosen to send you here, I will
explain to you that I have never disobeyed him. When I was free, in
accordance with Mr. Trevelyan's wishes, to have what intercourse I
pleased with Colonel Osborne, I received a note from that gentleman
on a most trivial matter. I answered it as trivially. My husband saw
my letter, closed, and questioned me about it. I told him that the
letter was still there, and that