ers; and worse again, whom fathers had cause to fear for their daughters, and brothers for their sisters; a man who, with his belongings, dwelt, and must dwell, poles asunder from Lady Lufton and her belongings!
And it must be remembered that all these evil things were fully believed by Mrs. Robarts. Could it really be that her husband was going to dwell in the halls of Apollyon, to shelter himself beneath the wings of this very Lucifer? A cloud of sorrow settled upon her face, and then she read the letter again very slowly, not omitting the telltale postscript.
"Oh, Justinia!" at last she said.
"What, have you got bad news too?"
"I hardly know how to tell you what has occurred. There! I suppose you had better read it;" and she handed her husband's epistle to Lady Meredith, keeping back, however, the postscript.
"What on earth will her ladyship say now?" said Lady Meredith, as she folded the paper and replaced it in the envelope.
"What had I better do, Justinia? how had I better tell her?" And then the two ladies put their heads together, bethinking themselves how they might best deprecate the wrath of Lady Lufton. It had been arranged that Mrs. Robarts should go back to the parsonage after lunch, and she had persisted in her intention after it had been settled that the Merediths were to stay over that evening. Lady Meredith now advised her friend to carry out this determination without saying any thing about her husband's terrible iniquities, and then to send the letter up to Lady Lufton as soon as she reached the parsonage. "Mamma will never know that you received it here," said Lady Meredith.
But Mrs. Robarts would not consent to this. Such a course seemed to her to be cowardly. She knew that her husband was doing wrong; she felt that he knew it himself; but still it was necessary that she should defend him. However terrible might be the storm, it must break upon her own head. So she at once went up and tapped at Lady Lufton's private door, and as she did so Lady Meredith followed her.
"Come in," said Lady Lufton, and the voice did not sound soft and pleasant. When they entered, they found
