Harland remarked that he
had a _bet_ for me to decide.

"I cannot consent to be an umpire," said I. "I dislike betting in
ladies, and if gentlemen indulge in it, they must refer to their own
sex, not ours."

"But it has reference to yourself," he cried, "and you alone _can_
decide."

"To me!" I exclaimed, involuntarily glancing at Ernest.

"Yes! A friend of mine insists that he saw you walking in the ---- Park,
the other morning, with a gentleman, who was too tall for Mr. Linwood.
That you wore a gray shawl and green veil, but that your air and figure
could not possibly be mistaken. I told him, in the first place, that you
never dressed in that style; in the second, that he was too far from you
to distinguish you from another; and in the third, that it was
impossible you should be seen walking with any gentleman but your
husband, as he never gave them an opportunity. As he offered a high
wager, and I accepted it, I feel no small interest in the decision."

"Tell your friend, Mr. Harland," exclaimed Ernest, rising from his seat,
and turning pale as marble, "that I will not permit my wife's name to be
bandied from lip to lip in the public street, nor her movements made a
subject for low and vulgar betting."

"Mr. Linwood!" cried Mr. Harland, rising too, with anger flashing from
his eyes, "do you apply those remarks to me?"

"I make no application," answered Ernest, with inexpressible
haughtiness; "but I again assert, that the freedom taken with my wife's
name is unwarrantable, and _shall_ not be repeated."

"If Mrs. Linwood considers herself insulted," cried Mr. Harland, "I am
ready to offer _her_ any apology she may desire. Of one thing she may be
assured: no disrespect was intended by the gentleman to whom I allude,
and she certainly cannot think that I would forget her claims as a lady,
and as the wife of the man whom I had reason to believe my friend."

He spoke the last sentence with strong emphasis, and the blood mounted
high in the pale face of Ernest. I could only bow, as Mr. Harland
concluded, in acceptance of the apology, for I saw a thunder-cloud
darkening over me, and knew it would break in terror over my head.

"I have spoken hastily, Mr. Harland," said Ernest. "If I have said any
thing wounding to your feelings, as a gentleman, I recall it. But you
may tell your friend, that the next time he asserts that he has seen
Mrs. Linwood walking with a stranger, in a public place, when I _know_
she was i