good reason to be so. At any rate, he was extremely jealous;
and as he was of a harsh and cruel temper, he made his young wife
very miserable by the exactions and privations which he enforced upon
her, and by the violent invectives with which he continually assailed
her.

[Sidenote: Her unhappy marriage.]

The incessant anxiety and suffering which these troubles occasioned
soon began to prey upon the lady's health, and, at length, her father,
observing that she was growing pale and thin, began to inquire into
the cause. He soon learned what a dreadful life his daughter was
leading. Like most of the other great nobles of those days, he was a
man of violent character, and he immediately determined on rescuing
his daughter from her husband's power, for he considered her husband
as the party chiefly, if not wholly, to blame.

[Sidenote: Her marriage dissolved.]

[Sidenote: Pretext.]

[Sidenote: Her marriage annulled.]

He ascertained, or pretended to ascertain, that there had been some
informalities connected with the marriage. His daughter was distantly
related to her husband, and there were certain steps which it was
necessary to take in such cases to obtain a dispensation from the
Church, in order to render such marriage legal. These steps he now
alleged had not been properly taken, and he immediately instituted
proceedings to have the marriage annulled. Whether there was really
any sufficient ground for such annulling, or whether he obtained the
decree through influences which his high position enabled him to bring
to bear upon the court, I do not know. He, however, succeeded in his
purpose. The marriage was annulled, and his daughter returned home;
and, in order to obliterate as far as possible all traces of the
unhappy union into which she had been drawn, she dropped the name
which she had received from her husband and resumed again her own
maiden name.

[Sidenote: She becomes free.]

She now began soon to appear at court, where she almost immediately
attracted great attention. On account of the peculiar circumstances in
which she was placed, she enjoyed all the privileges of a widow,
combined with the attractiveness and the charms of a lovely girl.
Almost every body was ready to fall in love with her.

[Sidenote: Her admirers.]

Among her other admirers was the Duke of Somerset. He was a man of
high rank and of great accomplishments, but he was married, and he
could not, therefore, innocently make her