it. And he had heard of it, and been driven almost mad by it. He
had flown off to Lady Milborough, and had reduced his old friend to
despair by declaring that, after all, he began to fear that his wife
was--was--was--infatuated by that d---- scoundrel. Lady Milborough
forgave the language, but protested that he was wrong in his
suspicion. "To continue to correspond with him after what I have said
to her!" exclaimed Trevelyan. "Take her to Naples at once,"--said
Lady Milborough;--"at once!" "And have him after me?" said Trevelyan.
Lady Milborough had no answer ready, and not having thought of
this looked very blank. "I should find it harder to deal with her
there even than here," continued Trevelyan. Then it was that Lady
Milborough spoke of the small town in the west of France, urging
as her reason that such a man as Colonel Osborne would certainly
not follow them there; but Trevelyan had become indignant at this,
declaring that if his wife's good name could be preserved in no other
manner than that, it would not be worth preserving at all. Then Lady
Milborough had begun to cry, and had continued crying for a very long
time. She was very unhappy,--as unhappy as her nature would allow
her to be. She would have made almost any sacrifice to bring the two
young people together;--would have willingly given her time, her
money, her labour in the cause;--would probably herself have gone
to the little town in the west of France, had her going been of any
service. But, nevertheless, after her own fashion, she extracted no
small enjoyment out of the circumstances of this miserable quarrel.
The Lady Milboroughs of the day hate the Colonel Osbornes from the
very bottoms of their warm hearts and pure souls; but they respect
the Colonel Osbornes almost as much as they hate them, and find it
to be an inestimable privilege to be brought into some contact with
these roaring lions.

But there arose to dear Lady Milborough a great trouble out of this
quarrel, irrespective of the absolute horror of the separation of a
young husband from his young wife. And the excess of her trouble on
this head was great proof of the real goodness of her heart. For, in
this matter, the welfare of Trevelyan himself was not concerned;--but
rather that of the Rowley family. Now the Rowleys had not given Lady
Milborough any special reason for loving them. When she had first
heard that her dear young friend Louis was going to marry a girl from
the Mandarins, s