n company with some of the first ladies of the city for
benevolent designs, I shall call him to account for such gross
misrepresentations."

And I heard this in silence,--without contradiction.

Oh! how must the woman feel who has deceived her husband for a guilty
purpose, when I, whose motives were pure and upright, suffered such
unutterable anguish in the prospect of detection? If I were hardened
enough to deny the assertion,--if I could only have laughed and wondered
at the preposterous mistake,--if I could have assumed an air of
indifference and composure, my secret might have been safe. But I was a
novice in deception; and burning blushes, and pale, cold shadows
alternately flitted across my face.

It was impossible to resume the conversation interrupted by a scene so
distressing to some, so disagreeable to all. One by one our guests
retired, and I was left alone with Ernest.

The chandeliers were glittering overhead, the azure curtains received
their light in every sweeping fold, cherubs smiled bewitchingly from the
arching ceiling, and roses that looked as if they might have blossomed
by "Bendemere's stream," blushed beneath my feet,--yet I would gladly
have exchanged all this splendor for a spot in the furthest isle of the
ocean, a lone and barren spot, where the dark glance which I _felt_, but
did not see, could not penetrate.

I sat with downcast eyes and wildly throbbing heart, trying to summon
resolution to meet the trial I saw there was no means of escaping. If he
questioned, I must answer. I could not, dared not, utter a falsehood,
and evasion would be considered equivalent to it.

He walked back and forth the whole length of the parlor, two or three
times, without speaking, then stopped directly in front of me, still
silent. Unable to bear the intolerable oppression of my feelings, I
started up and attempted to leave the room; but he arrested me by the
arm, and his waxen fingers seemed hardened to steel.

"Gabriella!"

His voice sounded so distant, so cold!

"Ernest!"

I raised my eyes, and for a moment we looked each other in the face.
There was fascination in his glance, and yet it had the dagger's
keenness.

"What is the meaning of what I have just heard? What is the meaning of a
report, which I should have regarded as the idle wind, did not your
overwhelming confusion establish its truth? Tell me, for I am not a man
to be tampered with, as you will find to your cost."

"I cannot answer