self to
his bed. It was as follows:--

Venice, Oct. 4, 186--.

SIR,

Information of a certain kind, on which I can place a
firm reliance, has reached me, to the effect that Colonel
Osborne has been allowed to visit at your house during
the sojourn of my wife under your roof. I will thank you
to inform me whether this be true; as, although I am
confident of my facts, it is necessary, in reference to my
ulterior conduct, that I should have from you either an
admission or a denial of my assertion. It is of course
open to you to leave my letter unanswered. Should you
think proper to do so, I shall know also how to deal with
that fact.

As to your conduct in admitting Colonel Osborne into your
house while my wife is there,--after all that has passed,
and all that you know that has passed,--I am quite unable
to speak with anything like moderation of feeling. Had the
man succeeded in forcing himself into your residence, you
should have been the first to give me notice of it. As it
is, I have been driven to ascertain the fact from other
sources. I think that you have betrayed the trust that a
husband has placed in you, and that you will find from the
public voice that you will be regarded as having disgraced
yourself as a clergyman.

In reference to my wife herself, I would wish her to know,
that after what has now taken place, I shall not feel
myself justified in leaving our child longer in her hands,
even tender as are his years. I shall take steps for
having him removed. What further I shall do to vindicate
myself, and extricate myself as far as may be possible
from the slough of despond in which I have been submerged,
she and you will learn in due time.

Your obedient servant,

L. TREVELYAN.

A letter addressed "poste restante, Venice," will reach me
here.

If Trevelyan was mad when he wrote this letter, Mr. Outhouse was
very nearly as mad when he read it. He had most strongly desired
to have nothing to do with his wife's niece when she was separated
from her husband. He was a man honest, charitable, and sufficiently
affectionate; but he was timid, and disposed to think ill of those
whose modes of life were strange to him. Actuated by these feelings,
he would have declined to offer the hospitality of his roof to Mrs.
Trevelyan, had any choice been left to him. But there had been no
choice. She ha