eld
her class as usual. So she continued, day after day, her accustomed
round of duties, with all her usual precision and care. Her self-control
annoyed me. She passed to and fro in the house, her face pale and wan,
though with a composed expression, and all my earnest entreaties that
she should seek rest or relaxation were met by the same calm refusal.
Saturday came, and I was glad to see she showed something like interest
in the prospect of the letters from England that would arrive that day,
and begged me to allow her to go as usual to get them at the
post-office. I willingly acceded to her request, thinking the fresh air
and sea-breeze would do her good. She returned with several letters, and
brought them to me, seeming to desire my company while she read them.
One was from Marmaduke, one from Mr. R----, her husband's lawyer in
Lincoln. The former puzzled me; it was vague and threatening, and yet
there were expressions in it almost befitting a love-letter. Lina read
it to me with hardly any change of expression, but dropped it from her
fingers as she finished it, with a look of mingled indifference and
disgust. The grave, business-like letter of the lawyer had still less
effect upon her. I read it to her,--for, although in English, I had no
difficulty in making out every syllable, so distinctly was it written,
and with such legal precision. It informed Lina that Mr. R----felt some
apprehension of her having trouble in substantiating her marriage, that
his conversation with Mr. Marmaduke Kirkdale had been (although somewhat
vague on the part of the latter) wholly unsatisfactory. This, and the
fact that no will had as yet been found among her husband's papers, made
him fear that she might be involved in lengthy and perhaps annoying
legal proceedings. At the close, he desired her to write out a careful
account of all the circumstances of her marriage, as it was most
important that he should know all the details of the case.

"'These things weary me so!' said Lina; 'but it does not matter,' she
added, sighing; 'for _his_ sake I must do this.'

"The few contemptuous words in answer to Marmaduke's letter were soon
written, and she then began her reply to the letter of her lawyer. This
seemed to cost her a great effort; she sighed frequently as she wrote,
and at the end of two hours, as she finished the last words, her head
fell on the sheet of paper before her, and she burst into tears. I could
not try to check this outb