stance left in him.
It was she who came first to a decision as to what should be done--whether
a wise one I do not attempt to judge.

'I put it to you,' says she, when many useless self-reproaches and
protestations on his part had been uttered--'I put it to you whether, if
any manliness is left in you, you ought not to do exactly what I consider
the best thing for me in this strait to which you have reduced me?'

He promised to do anything in the whole world. She then requested him to
allow her to return, and announce him as having died of malignant ague
immediately on their arrival at Paramaribo; that she should consequently
appear in weeds as his widow in her native place; and that he would never
molest her, or come again to that part of the world during the whole
course of his life--a good reason for which would be that the legal
consequences might be serious.

He readily acquiesced in this, as he would have acquiesced in anything
for the restitution of one he adored so deeply--even to the yielding of
life itself. To put her in an immediate state of independence he gave
her, in bonds and jewels, a considerable sum (for his worldly means had
been in no way exaggerated); and by the next ship she sailed again for
England, having travelled no farther than to Paramaribo. At parting he
declared it to be his intention to turn all his landed possessions into
personal property, and to be a wanderer on the face of the earth in
remorse for his conduct towards her.

Maria duly arrived in England, and immediately on landing apprised her
uncle of her return, duly appearing at his house in the garb of a widow.
She was commiserated by all the neighbours as soon as her story was told;
but only to her uncle did she reveal the real state of affairs, and her
reason for concealing it. For, though she had been innocent of wrong,
Maria's pride was of that grain which could not brook the least
appearance of having been fooled, or deluded, or nonplussed in her
worldly aims.

For some time she led a quiet life with her relative, and in due course a
son was born to her. She was much respected for her dignity and reserve,
and the portable wealth which her temporary husband had made over to her
enabled her to live in comfort in a wing of the mansion, without
assistance from her uncle at all. But, knowing that she was not what she
seemed to be, her life was an uneasy one, and she often said to herself:
'Suppose his continued existence