he affirmative. Never doubting it
was my husband, I lay there in pleased expectation of his entrance. He
came in and began to take off his coat in the dark. I spoke, telling him
that there were matches on the bureau. He did not reply, at which I was
surprised; but before I could repeat my words the outer door was burst
violently open, hurried footsteps crossed the entry, a light flashed
into my room, my husband stood in the door in full military uniform,
with a light in his hand and the aspect of an avenging demon on his
brow, and----

"Horror upon horrors! the half-undressed man in my chamber was Captain
Le Noir! I saw and swooned away!"

"But you were saved! you were saved!" gasped Herbert, white with
emotion.

"Oh, I was saved, but not from sorrow--not from shame! I awoke from that
deadly swoon to find myself alone, deserted, cast away! Oh, torn out
from the warmth and light and safety of my husband's heart, and hurled
forth shivering, faint and helpless upon the bleak world! and all this
in twenty-four hours. Ah, I did not lack the power of expression then!
happiness had never given it to me! anguish conferred it upon me; that
one fell stroke of fate cleft the rock of silence in my soul, and the
fountain of utterance gushed freely forth! I wrote to him, but my
letters might as well have been dropped into a well. I went to him, but
was spurned away. I prayed him with tears to have pity on our unborn
babe; but he laughed aloud in scorn and called it by an opprobrious
name! Letters, prayers, tears, were all in vain. He never had
acknowledged our marriage; he now declared that he never would do so; he
discarded me, disowned my child and forbade us ever to take his name!"

"Oh, Marah! and you but seventeen years of age! without a father or a
brother or a friend in the world to employ an advocate!" exclaimed
Herbert, covering his face with his hands and sinking back.

"Nor would I have used any of these agencies had I possessed them! If my
wifehood and motherhood, my affections and my helplessness were not
advocates strong enough to win my cause, I could not have borne to
employ others!"

"Oh, Marah, with none to pity or to help; it was monstrous to have
abandoned you so!"

"No; hush! consider the overwhelming evidence against me; I considered
it even in the tempest and whirlwind of my anguish, and never once
blamed and never once was angry with my husband; for I knew--not life,
but the terrible circumstantial ev