te in a false estimate of me.'

Had Lady Jocelyn's intellect been as penetrating as it was masculine, she
would have taken him and turned him inside out in a very short time; for
one who would bear to see his love look coldly on him rather than endure
a minute's false estimate of his character, and who could yet stoop to
concoct a vile plot, must either be mad or simulating the baseness for
some reason or other. She perceived no motive for the latter, and she
held him to be sound in the head, and what was spoken from the mouth she
accepted. Perhaps, also, she saw in the complication thus offered an
escape for Rose, and was the less inclined to elucidate it herself. But
if her intellect was baffled, her heart was unerring. A man proved guilty
of writing an anonymous letter would not have been allowed to stand long
in her room. She would have shown him to the door of the house speedily;
and Evan was aware in his soul that he had not fallen materially in her
esteem. He had puzzled and confused her, and partly because she had the
feeling that this young man was entirely trustworthy, and because she
never relied on her feelings, she let his own words condemn him, and did
not personally discard him. In fact, she was a veritable philosopher. She
permitted her fellows to move the world on as they would, and had no
other passions in the contemplation of the show than a cultured audience
will usually exhibit.

'Strange,--most strange! I thought I was getting old!' she said, and eyed
the culprit as judges generally are not wont to do. 'It will be a shock
to Rose. I must tell you that I can't regret it. I would not have
employed force with her, but I should have given her as strong a taste of
the world as it was in my power to give. Girls get their reason from
society. But, come! if you think you can make your case out better to
her, you shall speak to her first yourself.'

'No, my lady,' said Evan, softly.

'You would rather not?'

'I could not.'

'But, I suppose, she'll want to speak to you when she knows it.'

'I can take death from her hands, but I cannot slay myself.'

The language was natural to his condition, though the note was pitched
high. Lady Jocelyn hummed till the sound of it was over, and an idea
striking her, she said:

'Ah, by the way, have you any tremendous moral notions?'

'I don't think I have, madam.'

'People act on that mania sometimes, I believe. Do you think it an
outrage on decency for a wife