and I appeal
to her." He is reduced to that! But should any innocent man be so
reduced by the wife of his bosom?

I am speaking of undeserved jealousy, and it may therefore be thought
that my remarks do not apply to Mrs. Furnival. They do apply to
her as much as to any woman. That general idea as to the strange
goddesses was on her part no more than a suspicion: and all women who
so torment themselves and their husbands may plead as much as she
could. And for this peculiar idea as to Lady Mason she had no ground
whatever. Lady Mason may have had her faults, but a propensity to rob
Mrs. Furnival of her husband's affections had not hitherto been one
of them. Mr. Furnival was a clever lawyer, and she had great need of
his assistance; therefore she had come to his chambers, and therefore
she had placed her hand in his. That Mr. Furnival liked his client
because she was good looking may be true. I like my horse, my
picture, the view from my study window for the same reason. I am
inclined to think that there was nothing more in it than that.

"My dear!" said Mr. Furnival, stepping back a little, and letting his
hands fall to his sides. Lady Mason also took a step backwards, and
then with considerable presence of mind recovered herself and put out
her hand to greet Mrs. Furnival.

"How do you do, Lady Mason?" said Mrs. Furnival, without any presence
of mind at all. "I hope I have the pleasure of seeing you very well.
I did hear that you were to be in town--shopping; but I did not for a
moment expect the--gratification of finding you here." And every word
that the dear, good, heart-sore woman spoke, told the tale of her
jealousy as plainly as though she had flown at Lady Mason's cap with
all the bold demonstrative energy of Spitalfields or St. Giles.

"I came up on purpose to see Mr. Furnival about some unfortunate law
business," said Lady Mason.

"Oh, indeed! Your son Lucius did say--shopping."

"Yes; I told him so. When a lady is unfortunate enough to be driven
to a lawyer for advice, she does not wish to make it known. I should
be very sorry if my dear boy were to guess that I had this new
trouble; or, indeed, if any one were to know it. I am sure that I
shall be as safe with you, dear Mrs. Furnival, as I am with your
husband." And she stepped up to the angry matron, looking earnestly
into her face.

To a true tale of woman's sorrow Mrs. Furnival's heart could be as
snow under the noonday sun. Had Lady Mason gone to