ry, he seems, up to that time, to have been
affectionate and generous."

"I believe every word of it," said the Doctor.

"Allowing for a man's natural bias on his own side, so do I. He had
allowed himself to become attached to another man's wife; but we need not,
perhaps, insist upon that." The Doctor moved himself uneasily in his
chair, but said nothing. "We will grant that he put himself right by his
marriage, though in that, no doubt, there should have been more of
caution. Then came his great misfortune. He knew that his marriage had
been no marriage. He saw the man and had no doubt."

"Quite so; quite so," said the Doctor, impatiently.

"He should, of course, have separated himself from her. There can be no
doubt about it. There is no room for any quibble."

"Quibble!" said the Doctor.

"I mean that no reference in our own minds to the pity of the thing, to
the softness of the moment,--should make us doubt about it. Feelings such
as these should induce us to pardon sinners, even to receive them back
into our friendship and respect,--when they have seen the error of their
ways and have repented."

"You are very hard."

"I hope not. At any rate I can only say as I think. But, in truth, in
the present emergency you have nothing to do with all that. If he asked
you for counsel you might give it to him, but that is not his present
position. He has told you his story, not in a spirit of repentance, but
because such telling had become necessary."

"He would have told it all the same though this man had never come."

"Let us grant that it is so, there still remains his relation to you. He
came here under false pretences, and has done you a serious injury."

"I think not," said the Doctor.

"Would you have taken him into your establishment had you known it all
before? Certainly not. Therefore I say that he has deceived you. I do
not advise you to speak to him with severity; but he should, I think, be
made to know that you appreciate what he has done."

"And you would turn him off;--send him away at once, out about his
business?"

"Certainly I would send him away."

"You think him such a reprobate that he should not be allowed to earn his
bread anywhere?"

"I have not said so. I know nothing of his means of earning his bread.
Men living in sin earn their bread constantly. But he certainly should
not be allowed to earn his here."

"Not though that man who was her husband should now be d