it
may be said that the words she used were so tender, and that they were
urged with so much love, so much sympathy, and so much personal
approval, that Hester's heart was touched. 'But he is my husband,'
Hester said. 'The judge cannot alter it; he is my husband.'

'I will not say a word to the contrary. But the law has separated you,
and you should obey the law. You should not even eat his bread now,
because--because--. Oh, Hester, you understand.'

'I do understand,' she said, rising to her feet in her energy, 'and
I will eat his bread though it be hard, and I will drink of his cup
though it be bitter. His bread and his cup shall be mine, and none
other shall be mine. I do understand. I know that these wicked people
have blasted my life. I know that I can be nothing to him now. But his
child shall never be made to think that his mother had condemned his
father. Yes, Margaret,' she said again, 'I do love you, and I do trust
you, and I know that you love me. But you do not love him; you do not
believe in him. If they came to you and took Robert away, would you go
and live with other people? I do love papa and mamma. But this is his
house, and he bids me stay here. The very clothes which I wear are his
clothes. I am his; and though they were to cut me apart from him, still
I should belong to him. No,--I will not go to mamma. Of course I have
forgiven her, because she meant it for the best; but I will never go
back to Chesterton.'

Then there came letters from the mother, one letter hot upon the other,
all appealing to those texts in Scripture by which the laws of nations
are supposed to be supported. 'Give unto Caesar the things which are
Caesar's.' It was for the law to declare who were and who were not man
and wife, and in this matter the law had declared. After this how could
she doubt? Or how could she hesitate as to tearing herself away from the
belongings of the man who certainly was not her husband? And there were
dreadful words in these letters which added much to the agony of her who
received them,--words which were used in order that their strength might
prevail. But they had no strength to convert, though they had strength
to afflict. Then Mrs. Bolton, who in her anxiety was ready to submit
herself to any personal discomfort, prepared to go to Folking. But
Hester sent back word that, in her present condition, she would see
nobody,--not even her mother.

But it was not only from the family of the Boltons t