'Well, I don't know: I never had occasion to try it; but I think if
Lowborough were to commit such improprieties, I'd make him cry. I don't
wonder at your being angry, for I'm sure I'd give my husband a lesson he
would not soon forget for a lighter offence than that. But then he never
will do anything of the kind; for I keep him in too good order for that.'

'Are you sure you don't arrogate too much of the credit to yourself.
Lord Lowborough was quite as remarkable for his abstemiousness for some
time before you married him, as he is now, I have heard.'

'Oh, about the wine you mean--yes, he's safe enough for that. And as to
looking askance to another woman, he's safe enough for that too, while I
live, for he worships the very ground I tread on.'

'Indeed! and are you sure you deserve it?'

'Why, as to that, I can't say: you know we're all fallible creatures,
Helen; we none of us deserve to be worshipped. But are you sure your
darling Huntingdon deserves all the love you give to him?'

I knew not what to answer to this. I was burning with anger; but I
suppressed all outward manifestations of it, and only bit my lip and
pretended to arrange my work.

'At any rate,' resumed she, pursuing her advantage, 'you can console
yourself with the assurance that you are worthy of all the love he gives
to you.'

'You flatter me,' said I; 'but, at least, I can try to be worthy of it.'
And then I turned the conversation.

CHAPTER XXVIII

December 25th.--Last Christmas I was a bride, with a heart overflowing
with present bliss, and full of ardent hopes for the future, though not
unmingled with foreboding fears. Now I am a wife: my bliss is sobered,
but not destroyed; my hopes diminished, but not departed; my fears
increased, but not yet thoroughly confirmed; and, thank heaven, I am a
mother too. God has sent me a soul to educate for heaven, and give me a
new and calmer bliss, and stronger hopes to comfort me.

Dec. 25th, 1823.--Another year is gone. My little Arthur lives and
thrives. He is healthy, but not robust, full of gentle playfulness and
vivacity, already affectionate, and susceptible of passions and emotions
it will be long ere he can find words to express. He has won his
father's heart at last; and now my constant terror is, lest he should be
ruined by that father's thoughtless indulgence. But I must beware of my
own weakness too, for I never knew till now how strong are a parent's
temptations to