over what I have written, and let me hear from you
again."

SECOND CORRESPONDENT: "How can you be so foolish, Sara, as to waste your
love on such a cold-blooded brute as your husband seems to be? To be
sure, I am not married yet, or perhaps I should not be so surprised at
you. But I shall be married one of these days, and if my husband ever
treat me as Mr. Macallan treats you, I shall insist on a separation. I
declare, I think I would rather be actually beaten, like the women among
the lower orders, than be treated with the polite neglect and contempt
which you describe. I burn with indignation when I think of it. It must
be quite insufferable. Don't bear it any longer, my poor dear. Leave
him, and come and stay with me. My brother is a lawyer, as you know. I
read to him portions of your letter, and he is of opinion that you might
get what he calls a judicial separation. Come and consult him."

THIRD CORRESPONDENT: "YOU know, my dear Mrs. Macallan, what _my_
experience of men has been. Your letter does not surprise me in the
least. Your husband's conduct to you points to one conclusion. He is in
love with some other woman. There is Somebody in the dark, who gets from
him everything that he denies to you. I have been through it all--and I
know! Don't give way. Make it the business of your life to find out who
the creature is. Perhaps there may be more than one of them. It doesn't
matter. One or many, if you can only discover them, you may make his
existence as miserable to him as he makes your existence to you. If you
want my experience to help you, say the word, and it is freely at your
service. I can come and stay with you at Gleninch any time after the
fourth of next month."

With those abominable lines the readings from the letters of the women
came to an end. The first and longest of the Extracts produced the
most vivid impression in Court. Evidently the writer was in this case
a worthy and sensible person. It was generally felt, however, that all
three of the letters, no matter how widely they might differ in tone,
justified the same conclusion. The wife's position at Gleninch (if the
wife's account of it were to be trusted) was the position of a neglected
and an unhappy woman.

The correspondence of the prisoner, which had been found, with his
Diary, in the locked bed-table drawer, was produced next. The letters in
this case were with one exception all written by men. Though the tone of
them was moderation it