and Lady Anne and some of the children were coming. Lord Farintosh's
mother and sisters were to follow. It was to be a reunion previous to
the marriage which was closer to unite the two families. Lady Clara said
Yes to her husband's orders; rose mechanically to obey his wishes and
arrange for the reception of the guests; and spoke tremblingly to
the housekeeper as her husband gibed at her. The little ones had been
consigned to bed early and before Sir Barnes's arrival. He did not think
fit to see them in their sleep; nor did their mother. She did not know,
as the poor little creatures left her room in charge of their nurses,
that she looked on them for the last time. Perhaps, had she gone to
their bedsides that evening, had the wretched panic-stricken soul been
allowed leisure to pause, and to think, and to pray, the fate of the
morrow might have been otherwise, and the trembling balance of the scale
have inclined to right's side. But the pause was not allowed her. Her
husband came and saluted her with his accustomed greetings of scorn,
and sarcasm, and brutal insult. On a future day he never dared to call a
servant of his household to testify to his treatment of her; though many
were ready to attend to prove his cruelty and her terror. On that very
last night, Lady Clara's maid, a country girl from her father's house at
Chanticlere, told Sir Barnes in the midst of a conjugal dispute that
her lady might bear his conduct but she could not, and that she would no
longer live under the roof of such a brute. The girl's interference was
not likely to benefit her mistress much: the wretched Lady Clara passed
the last night under the roof of her husband and children, unattended
save by this poor domestic who was about to leave her, in tears and
hysterical outcries, and then in moaning stupor. Lady Clara put to sleep
with laudanum, her maid carried down the story of her wrongs to the
servants' quarters; and half a dozen of them took in their resignation
to Sir Barnes as he sat over his breakfast the next morning--in
his ancestral hall--surrounded by the portraits of his august
forefathers--in his happy home.

Their mutiny of course did not add to their master's good-humour; and
his letters brought him news which increased Barnes's fury. A messenger
arrived with a letter from his man of business at Newcome, upon the
receipt of which be started up with such an execration as frightened
the servant waiting on him, and letter in han