reason why a cook should be
less trustworthy in such a matter than any other servant; and in
Mr. Trevelyan's household there was a reason why she should be more
so,--as she, and she alone, was what we generally call an old family
domestic. She had lived with her master's mother, and had known her
master when he was a boy. Looking about him, therefore, for some one
in his house to whom he could speak,--feeling that he was bound to
convey the order through some medium,--he called to him the ancient
cook, and imparted to her so much of his trouble as was necessary
to make the order intelligible. This he did with various ill-worded
assurances to Mrs. Prodgers that there really was nothing amiss. But
when Mrs. Trevelyan heard what had been done,--which she did from
Mrs. Prodgers herself, Mrs. Prodgers having been desired by her
master to make the communication,--she declared to her sister that
everything was now over. She could never again live with a husband
who had disgraced his wife by desiring her own cook to keep a guard
upon her. Had the footman been instructed not to admit Colonel
Osborne, there would have been in such instruction some apparent
adherence to the recognised usages of society. If you do not desire
either your friend or your enemy to be received into your house, you
communicate your desire to the person who has charge of the door. But
the cook!

"And now, Nora, if it were you, do you mean to say that you would
remain with him?" asked Mrs. Trevelyan.

Nora simply replied that anything under any circumstances would be
better than a separation.

On the morning of the third day there came the following letter:--

Wednesday, June 1, 12 midnight.

DEAREST EMILY,

You will readily believe me when I say that I never in my
life was so wretched as I have been during the last two
days. That you and I should be in the same house together
and not able to speak to each other is in itself a misery,
but this is terribly enhanced by the dread lest this state
of things should be made to continue.

I want you to understand that I do not in the least
suspect you of having as yet done anything wrong,--or
having even said anything injurious either to my position
as your husband, or to your position as my wife. But I
cannot but perceive that you are allowing yourself to be
entrapped into an intimacy with Colonel Osborne which if
it be not checked, will be destructive to