that he, as husband, was paramount. This
Mary did not deny, but, paramount as the authority was, she would not,
in this instance, be governed by it.

It was a miserable day to them all. Many callers came, asking after
Lady George, presuming that her speedy departure from the ball had been
caused by her accident. No one was admitted, and all were told that she
had not been much hurt. There were two or three stormy scenes between
the Dean and his son-in-law, in one of which Lord George asked the Dean
whether he conceived it to be compatible with his duty as a clergyman
of the Church of England to induce a wife to disobey her husband. In
answer to this, the Dean said that in such a matter the duty of a
Church dignitary was the same as that of any other gentleman, and that
he, as a gentleman, and also as a dignitary, meant to stand by his
daughter. She refused to pack up, or to have her things packed. When he
came to look into himself, he found that he had not power to bid the
servants do it in opposition to their mistress. That the power of a
husband was paramount he was well aware, but he did not exactly see his
way to the exercise of it. At last he decided that he, at any rate,
would go down to Cross Hall. If the Dean chose to create a separation
between his daughter and her husband, he must bear the responsibility.

On the following day he did go down to Cross Hall, leaving his wife and
her father in Munster Court without any definite plans.

CHAPTER XL.

AS TO BLUEBEARD.

When Lord George left his own house alone he was very wretched, and his
wife, whom he left behind him, was as wretched as himself. Of course
the matter had not decided itself in this way without very much
absolute quarrelling between them. Lord George had insisted, had
stamped his foot, and had even talked of force. Mary, prompted by her
father, had protested that she would not run away from the evil tongues
of people who would be much more bitter in her absence than they would
dare to be if she remained among them. He, when he found that his
threat of forcible abduction was altogether vain, had to make up his
mind whether he also would remain. But both the Dean and his wife had
begged that he would do so, and he would not even seem to act in
obedience to them. So he went, groaning much in spirit, puzzled to
think what story he should tell to his mother and sisters, terribly
anxious as to the future, and in spirit repentant for the rashn