determined to go abroad. My absence will depend upon you. If you can bring yourself to give up your unfounded suspicions-which I solemnly declare have not a shadow of truth in them, for in thought, word and deed I have fulfilled the solemn pledge I made at the altar-then, indeed, we may live happily together. To prove to you that the lines that caused our quarrel were marked for you, I have now before me a letter dated a fortnight before our marriage, in which you say, 'Never shall I forget those charming lines you read to me yesterday; they will for ever be cherished in my heart of hearts; that they may be realised is the fondest wish and most devout wish of your devoted Mary.' In order to save any scandal at my unexpected departure, I have written to your father and sister to say that business of importance takes me abroad. Canada is my present destination, a country in which I, in youth, passed many a happy day. Now, alas, the brightness will be turned into dark despair. In the meantime I have instructed our bankers to honour all cheques drawn by you, merely appropriating to myself sufficient means to lead the most economical life. By so doing you will be enabled to live as you have hitherto done. I dare not trust myself to say what I feel in thus parting from one I love and still adore. May God bless you. May His Holy Spirit turn your heart, and may the day arrive when you will again take me to thy loving arms, and say, 'henceforth all jealous doubts and fears are banished from my mind; and I trust you, knowing now full well that you are worthy of such trust.' I will send a telegram when I reach my destination across the Atlantic. page is wetted by my tears. Heaven preserve you. "Your unhappy, heart-broken This "HUSBAND." To describe the state of mind produced upon Lady Albert after perusing the aboveletter would be impossible. It bordered on temporary insanity. To follow her husband was her first thought, but then she was ignorant from what port he would embark; it might be from Liverpool, from Queenstown, from Southampton, or from Havre. Then, anxious to prevent a scandal which might naturally irritate the absent one, she felt that all that was left her was to wait patiently, and hope against hope. But patience was very well in theory, though difficult in practice, so ordering her carriage, she drove to the telegraph office and there despatched telegrams to the agents of the respective steam packet companies at every port from which vessels sailed for Quebec, requesting them to inform any person of the name of Wittingham that letters of importance awaited him at the postoffice. The entire morning was devoted to this, and had he received the penitential letters that his now distracted wife had sent him his plans might have been changed, though a struggle would have arisen in his breast whether such a hasty repentance could be depended upon. He would have VOL. II. E feared a return of the "monster," and would probably have felt that it required months, perhaps years to bring his wife to a sense of what was due to him as a loyal husband, and to eradicate from her mind that strife-breeding jealousy which had embittered the lives of both. For the present we must take leave CHAPTER IV. For me no more the path invites, No more I climb those toilsome heights, Leaps my fond fluttering heart no more BEATTIE. WEEKS passed away and no telegram reached the now thoroughly disconsolate wife, when one morning she received a communication from a kind friend of her father's at Liverpool, saying he had at last ascertained that Lord Albert had sailed from that port on board the merchant brig "Ocean Queen" for Quebec, a fast sailing vessel, which would be due there in about three weeks from the date of his letter. Without a moment's hesitation Lady Albert determined at once |